Bon Voyage, Spain!

Yes, it was hard.  I've never parted with a dog, but it was time for Spain to move on.

She was progressively showing me that she didn't want to trial in Open any longer. In fact, the last several trials she had to be on leash before our turn or she'd run off and not come to me. I have *never* treated her harshly in the least bit and really, didn't put much training pressure on her at all.

We had a long year of hitting a lot of trials.  I gave her a couple months off. I checked her for tick diseases and have her on thyroid meds, but she just lost her spark when working.  She was perfectly happy to be a pet and loved to race around with the other dogs, but I was worried she'd get lost in my pack and not get the attention she deserved.  Whatever was going on, she wasn't happy working for me anymore, and she is still so young and talented that I thought if a suitable novice home presented itself, I'd place her.  Several people were interested in her, but for various reasons I didn't find them to be the perfect match, and I wasn't going to settle for anything but the best for everyone involved.

It just sort of worked out that a friend who wasn't even looking for a dog was tempted enough to convince her husband to add a 3rd dog.  Lynn has Gabe's younger brother and a puppy.  She is thoughtful and compassionate, and understands Spain's needs as a working dog and pet. We talked a lot and decided it could be a good fit, so I decided this might be 'the one.'

The closer the time came to give her Spain, the more I felt sad about placing her.  But it wasn't fair for her to stay with me and not get what she deserves, she is a special girl!  My bitches were never mean to her, but she was low in status, didn't like all the activity in the house, and preferred to keep to herself. I could tell that she wanted to be a bigger part of my life, but was too intimidated by the rest of the pack.

Spain has now been in her new home for almost 2 weeks.  She has opened up and sounds to be doing great, friendly with the other dogs, cat, and family members.  Her new household is much quieter than mine and with 2 younger males as her housemates, she is experimenting with being the Top Dog!  She even went to work for Lynn her first time out, which was something I worried (too much) about.  Yay!!

All in all, I am happy, but it's still weird to see pictures of her on someone else's FB page!  Lynn takes far better photos than I do, anyway.

 

At Rural Hill, our last trial

 

 

 

 

2013 USBCHA Finals

 

 

Thanks for the fun, Spainie!  Love you!

Rural Hill SDT

This year was another fun Rural Hill trial and festival.  Chilly mornings but unseasonally warm temperatures during the day.  I ran all 3 Open dogs in a field of about 80 dogs and again can't remember the details of most of their runs this far out.  The first round had the standard split, pen, single.  Even though it didn't feel like one of our better runs, Spain ran well enough to place 12th in the first round!  Gabe didn't listen very well in either run and I wasn't very happy about that, though this field does have some very notorious dead spots and tends to bring out lots of hearing issues in the dogs. 

 

Gabe rounds the post

 

 

Gabe's first run; got it together after a bad fetch

 

Gabe's second fetch was better than the first, still not great,

and left a lot to be desired around the course

 

 

Even though Spain was the one in the money, Livy was really my star of the weekend.  It was the first time she's run close to what she's capable of.  First run she pulled a goof-ball moment and stopped on her outrun to look back at me. One redirect got her going and another got her bent out nicely. Excellent lift, not upset by the horses at all (which was a relief because she's never picked up off of horses before), and listened very well on the fetch, making the panels and taking her time. Good drive all the way around and made all the panels. She was just smooth as can be, flanking nicely, calm, pacing. Into the ring quietly and in control, but she wouldn't come in on the split, which was disappointing because that was about all I had practiced with her that week in preparation for this trial. She came in on the second attempt, easy pen, and only 1 point off the single. She was jusr 5 points out of placing!!!!  I thought her fetch and drive lines were a little better than her score, but no matter, she worked so well and I was so happy with her :D

Second turn we had to go first in the class. She gave a beautiful outrun all on her own!!! We had a little trouble holding the fetch line on her bad side, got her back after missing the panels and had a heck of a first drive leg til the one really bad dead spot where she couldn't hear me and started bringing them back. Got her righted and we made the panels, a bit wobblier on the cross drive but I've always had trouble picking that line out on the second day, made the panels but couldn't prevent a pull through (again a tough spot hearing and pressure wise). Nice into the ring but again didn't take the split right away. Got her in, penned, and then we had to single a collared sheep. Yes, only one was wearing a collar. I've never done that. It was intense and I was scared of her but thanks to some awesome athleticism and keenness on her part we got it done on the first attempt!!!! Score was killed because of going the wrong way on the drive away and the pull through, and she wasn't as smooth as before where I had to help her with some verbal flanks, but she was very willing to be my partner and was mentally under control.

I got so many compliments on her! She is essentially an unknown based on her limited trial experience, and she really impressed a lot of people this weekend. I was so, so proud of her. Maybe we are starting to get there :)  I guess we'll see!

 

Livy fetching in the first round

 

 

Livy in the shedding ring

 

All photos courtesy of C. Koval

Quiet Acres and Edgeworth SDTs

I've been trying to write this entry for a very long time, but Blogger has been out to get me.  I thought it wasn't jiving with my iPad, but it hasn't been working on my laptop either.  How rude!

I feel like it always sinks in that fall is here when it's time for Quiet Acres and Edgeworth.  I hate fall, because it means that winter is on its way with its darkness and cold.  But these are always such nice trials!  QA was held mid-week on the days before Edgeworth.  A smaller entry at maybe 35-40 dogs, seems that many locals were either still recovering from the Finals or couldn't afford more time off from work.  Still an abundance of top competition made it out for the always challenging trial.

The first day we ran a new course which incorporated some of the most challenging parts of the trial field as far as the terrain goes.  The course also featured a 3 panel weave at the drive-away, something I've never seen before!  Always fun to try new things.  I ran all 3 dogs and really don't remember details (especially this far out)!  In short, Spain was just out of the placings, Gabe had a very competitive run going except that we couldn't get our shed, and Livy was her overly-excited self on her outrun and found some guard dogs on her way out to go investigate (apparently she did a big "OOPS, those aren't sheep!" when she got there).  After that nonsense she ran a nice course and even got her single.

 

Livy would've had a competitive run without the outrun disaster.

 

 

That evening we had the annually-fabulous handlers' dinner inside the warmth of Sylvia's house, great food and great company.  Dad came to the trial and we watched a good movie in the camper with a few of the dogs snuggled up.

Next day we did the usual course.  Gabe didn't listen, so I trained hard on him in preparation for the next day's run at Edgeworth.  Spain finished 9th, and Livy was again silly on her outrun, though I will take a lot of the blame for trying to give a safety redirect at a bad time.  In retrospect, I think she would've gotten out fine on her own.  After getting her back mentally, she had a nice rest-of-her-outrun (I think it's a little short of 450 yards?), then was rather keyed up on her fetch and first drive leg where she gripped off on her away flank as the sheep were running off.  I saw it coming and retired as she was getting DQ'ed.  I could've managed her better, so I was disappointed in myself.  Just getting experience, I keep telling myself.

At the end of the trial there was a double lift with the top 5 combined scores.  I'd already left for Edgeworth because I'd only wanted to give it a go with Gabe, but it turns out that Spain made the last spot (or was 1 point out, but I'll trust the trial secretary's word on it!).  Sorry, Spainey!

 

I think I was about to shield my face from the sun (photo by S. Payne)

 

 

 

Spain's run (S. Payne)

 

 

At Edgeworth, we can often expect that Tommy will throw us a curve ball, and he didn't disappoint. We were back on the big field this year (yay!), but he set sheep on the left side of the field with a fetch that ran diagonally across the field and incorporated a very long blind segment where dogs disappeared deeply down in a valley.  Outrun of 500ish yards I'd guess. The sheep were 4 wool lambs and provided their own challenges.  Gabe ran first for me and gave me a nice run.  Lovely outrun over the tough terrain, not such a good fetch but listened well around the rest of the course, good split, pen, and single.  Very proud of him and he earned a respectable score his first time on this field.  Spain ran next and also gave a great outrun, decent fetch, good around the course but slow, got our split and barely got the pen door shut as time ran out.  Spain scored respectably, too.  Livy ran early the next morning and did her "I'm going to run out to a point where I think they'll be, then come in and take your downs but ignore your redirects."  We were able to leave the post and help our dogs find sheep in this first go, which is what we had to do.  When I got her calmed down and sent her on the most difficult part of the outrun, she did it perfectly.  Nice to see that she could do it, but still frustrating that she couldn't get there the first time.  More experience.  I was tired and could feel a cold coming on, so I spent that Friday night in my camper watching movies in bed.  Gotta love having the new camper!!

 

Gabe pens the lambs (C. Koval)

 

 

I had to leave the trial on Saturday to return home for work on Sunday, and my first dog was up early enough in the second go that I got to get a second run in for Gabe.  This course was similar to the regular course with the 600 yard outrun, turn in front of the post and right hand drive, but the cross-drive was very far up the field a long distance from the handler.  We ran groups of 2 hair ewes and 2 wool ewes; the first shed was to split the hairs from the woolies, pen, and then take one of 2 collared ewes.  Gabe ran during a very strong headwind that made hearing really difficult for many dogs around that time.  He gave me a lovely outrun but the sheep left before he was even close to the top of the hill and hid behind a ridge so that neither my dog nor the set-out could see them.  Since they stayed put hidden there, I tried to help him find them, and he sure tried his hardest to figure out where they were.  At one point I was afraid he was going to jump the fence to the set out pens.  Eventually we got a re-run.  I was a little worried that he would be confused after his first weird trip up the hill, but he ran out beautifully and found them with no trouble.  Made the fetch panels, had some hearing issues but the sheep were forgiving and though we took the extremely scenic route, we made the turn and drive-away panels, recovered for a good cross-drive and third leg, but I really held him back speed-wise on that leg in an attempt to keep him listening to me.  Got a nice split and he worked well at the pen to get the notoriously difficult-to-pen sheep in.  We ran out of time just as we were entering the ring and I was getting ready to set up a hail mary shed.  The run wasn't pretty but again we had a pretty good score.  Happy with Gabe for his first time on the big field!

 

Gabe penning second go (S. Payne)

 

 

Got 'em (S. Payne)

My First Finals

Belle Grove 2013: My first Finals experience as a participant.

Spain was easily qualified with 42 points on the year.  Gabe started his first Open season a little rough but we were figuring things out by late fall.  Too bad the big chunk of time over winter and early spring where he was injured really squashed all trialling momentum we were gaining and set us back.  He didn't get in even though he has become my top Open dog, so that was a little disappointing.  

To prepare Spain, I mostly worked on confidence building and fitness.  She is a pretty sharp listener and knows what to do out there, so I didn't really feel like I had much I wanted to work on with her.  However, the week before the Finals Spain started acting very strangely while working.  She had no stamina and seemed to have lost her heart.  She would walk on her outrun, take wrong flanks, and refuse to come in on her shed.  Aside from working, she seemed 100% normal.  Tick Snap test was negative, but I started her on doxycycline just in case it was RMSF.  After 3 days on doxy (now it's just a few days before I have to leave for Belle Grove), still no improvement.  It then occurred to me to check her thyroid and it turned out to be low.  I finally had something to go on!  Took her off the doxy and started her on thyroxine.  After a few doses I took her out one more time before leaving to see how she worked...no change.  This is Sunday before the Finals and I was strongly considering scratching her.  But I really wanted to go to my first Finals, especially since it was so close to home!!!

Well, I ended up going.  I decided to have fun and just go experience the Finals, and if Spain felt like working, that would be a bonus.
 

The Minnie Winnie Compound

 

For months I had envisioned how the week would go.  And then, it pretty much didn't go anything like that!  Belle Grove 2013 will forever be known as the mud fest.  Aside from a brief period of sunshine during the handlers' meeting, it rained all.the.time.  Lots of mud, lots of wet dogs, lots of rain gear.

 

At the Handlers' Meeting; the weather seemed so promising!

 

I didn't run til the last dog on Thursday, so I had plenty of time to just hang out.  I did some exhausting with Gabe and that was really enjoyable.  Ella got to go shopping with me at the vendors, the other dogs got to take in the trial from the handlers tent (Ella can't keep her mouth shut when watching).  It was a great experience for Lena to learn about the business.

By the time I was set to run, I was thoroughly and ridiculously nervous.  It was raining hard.  I didn't even know if my dog would run out.  But she sure surprised me!  She spotted her sheep and ran out beautifully and enthusiastically.  Good lift (ie not too slow and careful like she can be), but then they pulled hard toward the exhaust on the first half of the fetch.  She was flanking but was not aggressive enough to fix the line.  And to my horror, she had a difficult ewe who wanted to fight her from the get-go.  It is no secret that Spain is not blessed with tons of power or confidence, so I have to be extra smart in handling her and keeping her out of bad situations.  But she hung in there and stood up to the ewe multiple times, and we had the line fixed by the second half of the fetch.  Right at the post I goofed and gave her a wrong flank and we nearly turned the post the wrong way.  There was a substantial standoff with that ewe and for possibly the first time in her life, she hit it on the nose!!!  I was so proud of her!!  I had her release the pressure then and we were able to continue on and made the drive away panels.  Just when I thought maybe we'd broken the sheep, we got to one of the troublesome spots on the field that I'd been afraid of: the turn to start the cross-drive.  The pressure was strong and she was directly behind the panel, so I couldn't see what was going on to be of much help to her.  We tried and tried but she eventually gave in to the pressure and circled the sheep.  I knew she was done then.  She took some wrong flanks and I retired feeling defeated.

 

 

Photo thanks to D. Mickey

 

After some time to myself, I was able to more clearly evaluate my run, and I've come away feeling very proud of what Spain and I accomplished.  Months ago she wouldn't have been able to fight that ewe for so long.  She was right in her face for much of the run and even cleanly gripped her.  I have put in so much work to ease her tension and to build her confidence, and I do think it showed during that run.  Her strength is light sheep and these were far from Spain-friendly sheep, but she still tried her best.  That is all I can ask of her and I'm proud we even got to the Finals in the first place. Not to mention the fact that she was feeling poorly and not even wanting to work sheep just a few days before her Finals run!  Good girl, Spain.  Thanks for the experience!

Movin' On Up

Ready or not, I moved Liv up to Open last weekend.  She was scheduled to debut a few weeks ago, but suffered an injury while working that required extensive dental surgery to remove two teeth and do a root canal on an upper canine.  After two weeks of rest, I was pretty sure we were not ready.  Livy is the kind of dog who needs regular work, and then some.  I could only attend one day of the GSDA trial at Patterson's Farm, so was feeling disappointed that I wouldn't even get a second chance to run her.  But I drove down to run her, Spain, and Gabe on a small but very challenging course that featured difficult terrain, pressure, and sheep. 

Spain was my first dog and we were incredibly rusty.  As in, there were times I couldn't remember my whistles rusty.  After a frustrating run, she gripped off in the shedding ring, something I knew she was very capable of, but I hadn't seen it in a long, long time.

There were almost 30 dogs in between her run and Livy's run, which provided me with plenty of time to get super duper nervous!  I was worried enough about running her when she was unprepared, plus I was scared she would grip and damage her recently-healed mouth.

Liv doesn't fully understand the concept of looking for sheep.  It's really hard with her because when we go to the post she stares at me just waiting permission to go.  We have really been working on it, and I think it will come with more experience, but for now she is still really excited to be at the post.  I had told her where the sheep were, but in her defense, it was difficult to see due to the harsh sun at the time.  She was starting to come in early when in a blind spot, so I had to give her a couple redirects to get her in a proper position, but when she found her sheep she cast thoughtfully and stopped for a nice, controlled lift.  She was listening really well for the first part of the fetch, made the panels, and then for the second part she was able to bring the sheep on her own without any input from me.  The pace was much slower than what SHE would have liked.  Dogs were really struggling to move sheep who were hot and tired, but she kept on and to my surprise, kept her head about her.  Nice turn and decent first leg until we missed the panel.  Cross-drive was offline but she was still working really well for me, missed the cross-drive panels, but a nice return leg.  As I went to the pen, I couldn't believe she hadn't yet gripped in frustration of the slow pace.  We had a nice pen and then I took my sweet time going to the shedding ring in hopes of keeping her calm.  I had planned to be very cautious in calling her in because that had recently been a common gripping trigger, and because I'd never singled with her!  She behaved herself and came in to the gap but turned on the wrong sheep!  I quickly got her on the single and she held it very nicely!  OMG!  We finished our first Open run!  The score wasn't pretty but she did end up finishing about middle of the pack of 40 some dogs, and most importantly, she was working very well for me.  I was handling her very cautiously because frankly, I was scared of her!  So I have plenty to improve upon on my end.

 

 

Turning the post.

 

 

 

 

Pen.

 

 

 

 

Liv's first single.

 

Gabe ran at the very end of the trial and laid down a very nice run...only problem was that he surprised the heck out of me and crossed on his outrun!  What?!  He was a handful and I really had to sit on him around the course, but he worked really well and handled the sheep well, too.  He would've placed without the cross-over :(  Even though my throat hurt after running him, I was very happy with him.  He hasn't had a ton of work lately due to the weather's effect on the hay season.  The other dogs have things to work on at-hand on my small farm, but for the most part, he needs course work.

Seasoning

Spain has it; Gabe is getting there; Livy is just beginning.

Spain came to me a "professional Ranch dog"...she'd been running successfully in Ranch for a couple of years before we teamed up.  Once I (re)taught her to shed, she really didn't need to gain any more trial field experience, just that the two of us needed to get together.  It was nice to have a seasoned dog to go to the post with; Rae spoiled me in that regard.

Gabe was just starting to get rolling at trials when he got injured last winter.  It took him some time to heal, regain physical condition, and get back to training in order to pick up where we left off.  He made a huge leap forward in the maturity department when I ran him as my only Open dog at the Bluegrass last spring. 

The BG outrun is sizable, the sheep can be hard to get ahold of at the top end where they're set on horseback with a strong draw to the set out, the terrain provides a trap in the first part of the fetch, and the weather is often a factor. 

Both of Gabe's runs were during extremely hot and humid times, and he was not in his prime physical condition as he was still coming back from his injury.  I have always had to sit on him at the top end so that he is thinking and not overflanking or acting like a wrecking ball, but at this trial I knew I'd have to trust him to bring them on his own for at least the first little bit.  I wanted him to have control of the sheep no matter what the line before I started interfering due to the distance and difficulty of the sheep.  Though I was really scared to leave him to his own devices, he handled it beautifully!  I should've posted earlier because I forget the details of his runs, but he was working very, very well for me and handled the sheep beautifully.  We missed some drive panels, our lines weren't great, and we didn't get them penned as he was exhausted and getting sloppy, but I was SO proud of him!  The memories that stick with me are: his top ends, making the fetch panels, making my first drive panels at the BG (Rae didn't get around and didn't make any drive panels), getting two great sheds, and attempting the pen...all with my first self-trained dog!

 

Gabe fetching the lambs.

 

 

 

 

Shed.

 

 

Livy ran on the Novice field in Ranch.  I don't know why I even entered her, it's such a tough set-up for inexperienced dogs.  She was really excited and acted like an idiot until it was time to exhaust, then she was lovely.  But I wasn't very happy with her.

Then we went to Dr. Ben's where the Open dogs ran well and Livy didn't find her sheep.  She was too darn excited to even look upfield and I was again very disappointed in her.

After bad runs at Hop Bottom by the Open dogs, not necessarily their fault but unfortunate nonetheless, we took a few weeks off before getting back out there.  We went up to Keepstone Farm where I ran the Open dogs twice and Liv in Ranch three times.  Spain wasn't happy about the heavy sheep and I did all I could to jolly her around the courses.  Gabe, on the other hand, ran like a rock star and finished 5th his first run and ended up WINNING with his second against some top competition!  Livy got her head out of her butt and ran almost like she can in practice, and she ended up winning a Ranch class!  Really happy with those two at that trial, it seemed like we were finally starting to make progress.

 

Gratuitous ribbon photo!

 

 

Entering the fall I have two very different training foci: to get Spain ready to run in the National Finals, but also to get Gabe and Livy ready for the fall trials.  I have moved Liv up to Open, ready or not, because she's been trained for a long time now and we need to start getting experience on the trial field.  She's been a slow one to mature, nearly over-the-top in her keenness, but I was warned of this from early in our training journey.  Gabe used to be like this and the two of us used to really struggle to get together, so I'm prepared for the growing pains that Livy and I will likely experience in her first year of Open.  So here we go!

Still here

Oops, haven't posted here in ages!  Wouldn't even know where to start...

Went to some trials in the Spring:  First was the Deuce Cook Benefit Trial at Fair Wether Farm in KY.  Deuce was Livy's brother who unfortunately lost his battle to lymphoma at the tender age of 3.  It was an emotional weekend but I was glad to be part of it.  Most of my runs weren't anything to be excited about, I used it for training on Spain (get around the course as fast as possible) and Livy (get out to sheep on a blind and tricky outrun).  Gabe did some marvelous work all on his own as the setout dog split up his sheep before he arrived on one run.  He went around a pond to bring back a single and then pull the other two off the setout, all blind to me, but relayed to me by the other handlers who were spectating.  He finished one out of the placings when we couldn't get a pet sheep to get off me during the shed.  As we were walking off the judge joked, "Feel free to smack that sheep!"

 View from set out of PN; Liv worked in the pens.

Next we went to the GSDA trial at Hubert Bailey's.  I was in a minor car accident that shook me up on the way to the trial, but Livy managed to brighten my day but running very well in the Ranch.  She only had 5 off her gather and was working beautifully up to a point on the cross-drive where I fried her brain and she ran through her sheep.  We got it together to finish well.  I don't know why but I was out there running her like one of my Open dogs, and it was just too much for her to take, especially considering she's been in maybe 3 trials?  Gabe had 2 tremendous gathers, both with very few points off, but also fell apart on the drive, and Spain had fair runs but no placements.  She didn't listen too well, but really I'd only had her out running sheep around and keeping her happy, no formal schooling in a couple months for her, so I wasn't really surprised.

In May we went to the Bluegrass, which deserves its own post.  Then we had the NC State Trial at Dr. Ben's.  Gabe had two really good runs, and if he wouldn't have boogered up his outrun Sunday (how can he go from a perfect outrun to being silly in just one day??), he'd have been in the placings.  He only lost a handful of points the rest of the way around which included split, pen, and single.  Spain had a very good run Saturday and would have placed had I not gotten excited and pushed her last sheep out of the pen prematurely.  Sunday we had a very nice go and ended 4th amongst some top competition and large entry.  The top 3 combined scores made the double lift; I think we were 4th or 5th.

 

Sunday's scoreboard: Linda Fogt, Dwight Parker, Alasdair, ME AND SPAIN, Bruce Fogt, Jenny Glen, Bob Washer, Robin French, Scott Glen, and Bob Washer again.

For Father's Day weekend and my belated birthday celebration, I traveled to PA to go to the PA State Championship trial.  No luck for Gabe or Spain with tricky sheep and poor hearing, and I chose not to run Livy but head home early instead.  Regardless, I had a very fun weekend with my Dad and the Williams are awesome hosts, as always!

Dad and the gang at Hop Bottom.  Spain didn't want her picture taken.

After that, I took a little time off from the dogs and did some "other" things.  I did my continuing education at a beach resort in Florida, what fun that was!! 

Destin, FL

I started a relationship that was great while it lasted, but in the end wasn't meant to be.  No hard feelings.  I actually bought his dog off him. Though I really wasn't in the market for a dog, she had lived with me for a couple months and I'd invested a lot into her.  I just couldn't let her go.  So here is Lena:

 

Lena in July, 12 mo old. 

Daughter of Hubert and Dee's nursery dogs; 

granddaughter of Jennifer Clark-Ewers' Sweep x Jesse

and Carla King's Floss x Tom Conn's Jim.