Broken Back SDT

The first weekend in November was the Broken Back trial in Cowpens, SC.  This trial always provides tricky, trial-wise hair sheep with lots of field pressure, and I'd wanted to go to give Gabe some experience working on such sheep.  I'd decided not to run Livy and from what I heard of the novice classes, that was a smart move.

The course was different this year than in the past.  Since there is an incredibly strong draw to the left for the exhaust, we kept on the right side of the field and had some interesting course arrangements.  You had to be on your toes going around the course because many groups of sheep, who seemed to be settled and walking nicely, up and ran off with little warning.  I guess there were some dogs that the sheep felt they could get away from.  The shedding ring was expanded in order to give handlers a chance to keep them in the ring, and even so, most people lost their sheep out of the ring at least once.  The sheep were very hard to shed because they knew how to run and curl around the handler, and they were also very difficult to pen, too, sometimes choosing to do laps around it instead of going in it.

 

Saturday's course: fetch panels on far left, drive-away in middle,

cross-drive on the right (out of pic).

Tiny yellow dot is Jan in the shedding ring

 

Gabe was first up for me and his sheep left before he got there (even though I sent into the pressure, they ran back TOWARD him?!), so we were playing catch up right from the start.  We missed the fetch panels but he didn't yet have them under control, so I wasn't upset.  He finally was able to take hold of them on the first leg of the drive and we got that panel, but partway across the cross-drive we had the dreaded wrong flank and the sheep took off.  Neither of us panicked and we recovered control after missing the panel.  The sheep had a tendancy to run the third leg straight through the shedding ring en route to the exhuast, and we had a pretty good pace going but my timing to send him to their heads was just a little off.  They each put maybe 1 foot out of the ring.  After that he had a beautiful shed and pen to finish the course.  Our score was respectable and though it wasn't great, I was thrilled with his handling of the sheep.  He's never seen such twitchy, reactive sheep and he kept his head and neither of us got rattled.

Spain was very slow to lift and I was getting impatient with her.  Later, the spotter told me she was reading her sheep really well and knew they were wanting to bolt, but she's been slow to lift in the past so I'd not given her the benefit of the doubt.  Her sheep did take off as soon as she lifted them and she was a little excited in getting them under control.  The fetch was decent, lines around the course were good and her sheep were settled.  Into the ring and she had not 1, but 2 missed attempts.  She finally came through on a good shed and we timed out on the pen.  So I wasn't too happy with the outcome there because I thought she was a better shedder.

Sunday I again decided to run Gabe first.  I sent him right this time, as did most people, even though that totally doesn't make sense as far as the field pressure is laid out.  Anyway, it made no difference to him and he gave me a lovely outrun, but again his sheep left early.  He had to work way, way off of them the whole way down the fetch, but lucky for us it was right online.  This time the turn was around a round bale placed in between the post and the fetch panel, and when it came time to turn Gabe was finally able to work closer to the sheep.  He had a great first leg and was really driving smoothly with small flanks and good pace to help settle the sheep.  Through the panels and we had a good line going until the sheep started running (I think there was a wrong flank that caused it, so when he released the pressure they bolted).  They ran fairly straight and Gabe caught them without too much trouble, but we just missed the panel.  The return leg was good and this time I wasn't letting them out of the ring.  He had another great shed and put them neatly in the pen.  All in all, a really nice run for us under tough conditions.

 

Sunday's course: fetch panels on left, hay bale for the turn, drive-away in the middle,

cross-drive out of sight to the right

Cy at the post.

 

Rest of the field; cross-drive on far right, shed then pen.

Cy starts the drive.

 

Spain had a decent gather with running sheep, turned tightly around the hay bale, and for whatever reason I had trouble picking out the line from the bale to the panel.  It was a little wobbly but we made the panel and the cross-drive was dead on, good return leg and again we fell victim to 2 missed attempts in the ring.  She came in well the third time and we got the pen. 

As it turned out, Gabe's 83 held on to 7th place out of 47 dogs, our first Open placement!  I couldn't believe he was able to place at such a trial...there was a lot of tough competition and the sheep were light, which has been a weakness of ours.  He ran really well both days and adjusted himself to suit the sheep.  I was so happy with him the whole weekend and the placement made it extra special.

Spain was right there, too.  Her 79 was only one out of the placings, so those missed shed attempts really hurt us.  I was troubled by the fact that both days she didn't come in, and while there were many other teams who had missed attemps, Gabe and I didn't have any trouble.  Plus, considering Spain's history with shedding and how hard I've worked at it, I was extra disappointed in those misses.

But anyway, this was Gabe's weekend! 

 

First half of the score-board. Go Gabe!

Water Cress SDT (The Last Hurrah)

The end of October brought the end of a truly FABULOUS trial hosted by Jan Thompson in Limestone, TN.  It has been such a lovely trial in the past and this year was no exception.  Her hair sheep were fat and delightfully unlike the usual trial-wise hair sheep...these girls were slow  and heavy!

 

Field

With over 80 entries the Open class was big enough to run over 3 days.  The field is big with a few rolling hills and a couple trouble-spots as far as hearing goes.  Spain was my first up and she had a very tidy go around the course, but it was slow.  I was having trouble getting set up for the shed and waited just a split-second too long to go for the Hail Mary...while she was taking the single away I stood there waiting for the judge to call it, when instead he called time.  What a huge bummer, we'd have ended up 4th-ish with those shed points!!  That was a hard pill to swallow...I was aware of my time, but miscalculated how long it would take the Hail Mary to play out.  Shoot.

Friday a bunch of us got together for a fun dinner in Jan's house.  Great food and great company, it was hard to call it quits and head to bed, but we all had dogs to run the next morning and several of my friends were key players in keeping the trial running smoothly, so they had plenty on their plate that weekend.

Gabe had a pretty nice go.  He didn't quite flank as well as I'd like on the fetch, though I'm not sure if it was hearing-induced or pressure-induced.  Whatever was going on, there were many dogs who didn't take their flanks on the fetch.  His fetch wasn't bad, just that the first part was a little offline and he wasn't doing what was needed to correct it until halfway through.  His drive was one of his better ones to date.  I think he only took 2 wrong flanks, and I was even able to throw in a couple steady whistles on the crossdrive (usually we're too busy fixing the line).  He even made the cross-drive panel which was a tough one to hit in the first round.  Pen was fine and he finished up with a rather impressive shed and a respectable score!  I was really happy with him!

Spain ran at the very end of the day and again had great lines around the course, but still slow.  This time it was shed then pen, and we were already short on time when I got to the ring.  A quick not-full-point-but-need-to-take-what-I-can-immediately shed and then rushed to the pen, but needed another 10 seconds there to complete the run.  It wasn't that I didn't learn my lesson the first go, I tried everything I could think of to speed her up around the course, but she was just too slow.  Something that I know can be an issue sometimes, but I'll try to work on it, because that makes for disappointing finishes.

Saturday night was the spectacular handlers' dinner catered by Cy's brother Phillip.  He did a remarkable job preparing the meal and we all sat down together to enjoy it with each other.  A bunch of us lingered well into the night and again had to tear ourselves away from the fun.

Sunday Gabe ran pretty early in the day and it wasn't pretty.  He didn't flank well on the fetch and was missing (ignoring or not hearing?) my downs.  On the way to the post I downed him a bunch of times to try to correct him in, but the driveaway consisted of a couple missed downs and wrong flanks, so I just quit.  Whatever was going on, it wasn't meant to be that day.  But I had to laugh, apparently the run wasn't going nearly as badly as it was in my own mind, because the handler after me said at the exhaust "Why did you retire?"  To which I said "Because he didn't take a single correct whistle out there!"  Poor Gabe, I know not to get mad at him, but I was.  I need to do better.

I went home from the trial to celebrate Dad's birthday Sunday evening and then brought him back with me to watch LIVY run on Monday.  Yes, I actually ran Liv, just in the Pro-Novice since she's been a bit excited away from home.

Her outrun was a little more shallow than I'd have liked, but I knew I couldn't fix her at that point, so let her be.  Great lift and fetch, turn, and did a good job on the drive.  I am still trying to get with her as far as running a course goes, and so my timing was a little off, but she listened great and did just what I told her.  One wrong whistle on her end, but I'm fine with that.  For the pen I was REALLY holding her back.  She doesn't quite understand penning yet (hmm, maybe we should practice before a trial?), so I really had to keep the reins on her so she didn't head them.  But these sheep walked right in.  Livy ended up 2nd!

There was a second PN class that included a cross-drive.  I decided to send her the other way since I wanted to use it as a training experience, and again she was a little shallow.  I fussed at her but I don't think it really changed her trajectory (which is a problem I'm having at home, so no shocker to me, really).  But her lift and fetch were quite nice and her first drive leg was much smoother than the previous run.  Her turn was tight and we ever so neatly drove half-way across the drive too high.  I finally realized this and got her to correct the line and we made the drive panels, good return leg and again holding her back as they walked in the pen.  She got another 2nd place for that run and more importantly, I was really happy with what I saw.  Though she was incredibly wound up, she listened so well to me and tried really hard to do what I asked her to.  I just need to get her settled and thinking on her outruns away from home.  She's still so yeeeeahhhh here I go to get sheep!!!  She knows better, but you don't get a mulligan at a trial :)

Many thanks to Jan, Cy, Bob and Bobbie, and Sue for putting on such a wonderful trial.  It was the most fun trial weekend I've had in ages.  It is so sad to think that this was the last year for it, but I'm glad I was able to go enjoy myself one last time with so many friends who made the trip.

 

 Happy Birthday, Dad!

Quiet Acres SDT

I was lucky to be able to get away from work one morning to run Gabe and Spain at the Quiet Acres Open SDT hosted by Sylvia King.

Gabe had the privilege of being the first dog on the course.  And I mean that sincerely, because in light of the recent passing of our friend, fellow shepherd, trialer, and Quiet Acres owner Dan King, you come to realize that being able to run your dog at a dog trial is indeed a privilege and is something that we can easily take for granted when we get caught up in the competition.

The outrun is an undulating 425 yards and was directly into the morning glare.  I couldn't see Gabe's top end well because of the sun, but I think it was at least OK based on where I finally caught sight of the activity.  There is a long portion of the fetch that is out of sight; some dogs and sheep were gone for nearly 30 seconds.  It was quite a surprise where your sheep emerged and you had very little time to make the fetch panels.  Gabe's came up a little to the left, much better than I'd planned, and we just skimmed the outside of the left panel.  His group of 4 did not appear to be friends and split themselves into 2 groups of 2 right from the start, a formation that they maintained through the fetch and onto the first part of the drive.  The middle of the drive was in a low spot and again the dogs and sheep were out of sight for a long time.  The hearing appeared to be distorted as well, as I remembered from last year.  Gabe did a good job and we persevered to make the first panel, but had some trouble on the cross-drive after a wrong flank.  Poor cross-drive, missed the panel, and when we got to the ring, we couldn't regain that lovely 2-2 formation required for a split.  Instead, a lamb kept breaking off to create a 3-1 split, and I couldn't convince anyone to go with her.  We eventually timed out in the ring, the situation was one that we'd never encountered and a lot of the problem was that I just didn't know how to help him.

 

Gabe's sheep go 2-2 (photo by C. Koval)

 

 

In the shedding ring. No, we didn't get the split,

but there is so much I love about this photo! (C. Koval)

 

 

Spain also had a very nice outrun but was slow to lift; her sheep split right as she got there and I was trying to let her work it out on her own, but she eventually needed some help.  Our fetch was a little squirrelly and though I expected her to come out of the valley online, she didn't.  We struggled with the drive during the part where she couldn't hear me; she continually circled them and started bringing them.  Gabe is a good driving dog and when he encountered that spot, he just kept going, whereas Spain was looking for input from me and when she never received any, the best she knew was to bring them back.  After a few failed attempts to get going in the right direction, we eventually retired.  It just wasn't meant to be that run.