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.