Lazy J Farm Classic

A month later and we returned to Dawn's for her February trial with an entry of 60 some dogs this year.  This was my first time attending and I was really impressed with the trial that drew not only the local handlers, but those from far away who were heading south to FL.  The field was different from the one we used in January and offered a tricky tiered and undulating 500yd outrun with sheep set on horseback.  The drive was huge and was extremely difficult based on the rolling ground and difficult hearing for the dog and sight for the handler (especially short ones like me!).

Spain ran around lunchtime and had a perfect outrun, but was very hesitant on the lift.  I think the horse bothered her like it did at Rural Hill.  She lifted perfectly straight and controlled, but painfully slow, so I let her run a little wild the first part of the fetch to help get her going.  After reigning her in for the fetch panels, the rest of the run was extremely tidy, but slow.  We finished with maybe 10 seconds left.  I was happy but would've liked to see her work faster and stronger.  Our 88 turned out to be good enough for 6th place.

In other news, Gabe actually got to run again for the first time since his injury in November!  He was totally unprepared and was not physically fit enough to handle such a big course, plus was very out of training.  We'd done a little balance work prior to the trial and that was it.  He ended up crossing on his outrun for the first time in his life, but it was my fault for not seeing it in time and for expecting him to run out 500 yards when he's only run out 20 yards in the last 3 months!  I got him stopped when he was directly in front of the sheep, so wasn't sure if he could figure out where they were, but he got up and went about his work like nothing ever happened, nice end to the crossed-over outrun and lift, but got a little mixed up on his whistles on the fetch.  I switched to voice and he did much better, had good control of them on the drive though he was working a little faster than I liked, made the fetch panels at a good clip and then just missed the cross-drive panels.  We got to the shedding ring and I could see he was tired.  I called him in and he didn't fly in like usual, so I retired.  It wasn't a pretty run but his method was very nice, so I was really happy with him!

On Sunday Spain had a much better run.  She lifted much quicker and took charge of her sheep around the course.  I hit all my markers on the cross-drive and somehow ended up way high of the panel.  I was so surprised and confused that I had to lie her down and just think for a second, since I second-guessed that I really was that high.  I flanked her and then ended up too low on the panel, and sort of gave up on it right at the last second.  We had a marked single and ours was the leader, so she had to come in on it's butt.  I was really happy she did this because in the past she thought this was just wrong (meaning, I didn't teach her how to do that).  Finished with a good pen and a score that ended up being 3 spots out of placing.  Really, though, I was far happier with her work in that run than in the day before's, so it was all good.  My goof-up at the end of the cross-drive was what hurt us, otherwise she held up her end quite well.

Gabe learned from Saturday's mistake and did a fine outrun.  Good lift, but then we just weren't together on the fetch and he was actually very confused about what I was trying to do.  We weren't speaking the same language, my timing was off, and we putzed around down the side of the field.  Got it righted for the second part of the fetch and had a decent start to the drive, but we were having some more communication problems and I could see that he was really tired in that he was much slower to respond to the sheep and to me, so we called it quits.  Poor guy simply wasn't ready to run at the trial, but since I'd had him entered I decided to get him out for just a bit, and that's what we did.  Have to start back somewhere!  Just having him able to be on the field with me was the best feeling.

 

My boy got to run!  His right side is still regrowing hair.

 

Monday brought the invitational double lift.  Neither Spain nor I had ever done this before and so I felt totally unprepared.  I'd hoped to be able to practice a bit before the trial, but it just didn't work out that way.  Actually, I'd only worked Spain once in the last month, and that was 2 weeks prior to the trial.  I'd done a short turnback with her one time.  Ha!  Sooo I was a bit unsure whether she could go back so far in the fog/rain to get a second group on horseback.  The first outrun was to the left and she needed a redirect to keep from heading towards the setout from the past 2 days.  She lifted strongly off the horse and brought them nicely through the panels.  She dropped them on the cone and before I knew it she was heading upfield for more sheep!  Yay!  Her path was too tight and the outrun was blind for much of the time, so I gave her a redirect to kick her out and she landed nicely behind the second group.  Another good lift and through the fetch gates to combine with the first packet.  We put them around the course very well, I had an oops as I let one slip on the inside of the drive-away panel, and then we headed to the (underwater) shedding ring.  We were only using 10 sheep total, 4 collareds and 6 uncollareds, and that, combined with the layout of the course, proved to make it a very difficult international shed.  We could only get 2 or 3 set up for the first cut, and that didn't make for much of a draw.  They all wanted to go to the exhaust, but that was a bad spot to put your cast-offs because it was right behind the pen.  My 3 uncollareds didn't stay where I put them and 2 ended up drifting to the exhaust while the other went partway and then baa'ed for her friends.  We had a very determined collared who wanted badly to go with her friends, so we spent most of the time fighting with her.  Spain didn't like when I used my stick to help put pressure on that ewe, a bit of fallout from a very bad lesson on international shedding that we had not long ago.  So I did a little training to get her excited again and we eventually timed out.  Minus that part, I was very happy with our run.  I didn't do a perfect job and neither did she, but it was a good start for both of us.  I know we can do the shed better, we'll revisit it in training and try again sometime.

Soggy day for a DL

Lazy J Farm SDT

I've been meaning to get to a trial at Dawn Boyce's for a couple years now and finally was able to make it to her January one.  The weather turned out to be unseasonably warm with temperatures in the mid-70s and high humidity.  Gabe was still recovering from his injury, so I only took Spain and Livy with me.  The trial ran two fields at the same time, one for Novice, PN, and Nursery and then another for Open and Ranch.  I was asked to work in the pens at the Novice field and was extremely happy that the work required a dog.  Livy got 2 hours of non-stop work on Saturday and then 3 hours on Sunday, which was just the sort of thing that she needed.  She started off too excited and I had to remind her what was expected of her, but she quickly caught on and figured out how to sort and load the chutes and crowd pen.  She got into a good rhythm where I barely needed to speak to her.  A thinking Livy is a very good Livy, and she is the kind of dog who gets better the longer and harder the work is.  I was very happy that I had this opportunity with her!

Setout pens at Novice field

Liv is on a little hiatus from trialing at the moment.  She is so keen to work that her first gather right out the truck is too fast and thoughtless.  Her attitude is just not correct though her score would be fine.  I'm working on fixing her attitude away from the trial field for now and will hold off on running her for a little.  Having said that, I was curious to see what she would look like after working off that extra energy on Saturday morning, so I ended up running her last in the Ranch class.  Dark was quickly approaching, but since I just wanted to do a gather I wasn't concerned about seeing the course.  The Ranch/Open outrun was probably the most difficult she's done and I was extremely pleased with how she handled it...she walked the sheep to my feet with very little input from me.  This was reassuring, but I'm still going to take it slow with her and let her mature at her own rate.

Spain ran early in Open and had a decent go.  We got to run 3 hair lambs and my group consisted of 2 Barbs!  They were really squirrelly and made it a fun experience for me.  I need to practice more on super light sheep in order to improve my timing.  Spain handled them well, it was my mistake that cost us the drive-away panel.  There was a podium at the post and it actually didn't occur to me to climb back on top of it after the post-turn.  Being up there definitely would've helped my depth-perception at that panel!  Still, we got a respectable score and ended up 3 spots out of the placings.

Open field

 

 



 

Sleepy Livy

 

Sunday morning was spent in the pens again with Liv and then I hung around until it was my turn with Spain.  I was super tired, had a headache, and not all that excited about waiting for my turn at #48.  This time we we were running lambs and ewes, still light but not quite as feral as the day before!  A 96 was leading, a 93 was put up shortly before my turn, and host Dawn ran a 98 the run before me.  Not too inspiring.  Spain had a hesitant lift but a great fetch, a little touch-and-go around the post, and then a beautiful drive.  Finished with a good pen and shed, good enough for a 93 and tie for 3rd, but bumped to 4th on the gather.  So between Livy and Spain, we really had a fun and productive weekend at the trial.

 

Spain had fun

Tuckahoe SDT

The VBCA had its Winter trial at a new location this year, the lovely Tuckahoe Plantation which was the childhood home of Thomas Jefferson.  The sheep were fresh-fresh-fresh cheviots trailered on-site and were absolutely awesome to work!  They were good to dogs who treated them right and made it very clear when they didn't care for a dog.  These girls had not been worked in small groups, had never been through the sort system, hadn't been penned or seen panels.  A nice treat for us!

Livy was my first to run and she had a decent PN run.  Her outrun was tighter than I like and I stopped her twice, but she didn't give me very good redirects.  The trip around the course wasn't great as far as lines go, but I REALLY liked how she handled her sheep.  Penning these sheep proved to be very hard all weekend with only a handful of successful pens, but the experience was great for Liv who doesn't yet understand how to pen (other than sheep that practically pen themselves).  We'd get them all pushed into the mouth but then when I moved myself to put pressure on them from behind, she'd scoot around behind the pen to balance them to me, so they'd run back out.  She was really thinking and even though she was excited and pushing hard, her flanks were appropriately square when needed.  We got 3/4 into the pen with the last one lagging in the mouth when she couldn't help herself and rushed at the lagger, which bumped all of them back out.  Oh well, it was a good try.  She ended up 4th.

Spain got to work the exhaust for the lower classes and it was actually quite a task.  She had to take sheep off the field, through the parking area, and put them into a barn.  Many times they'd split on the field, through the cars, or around the barn and she'd have to figure things out on her own since I couldn't see to help her.  It was good work for her.  She then went on to work pretty well for her run, but I misjudged the driveaway panel and caused her to miss those.  The rest of the run was very nice, she had a good shed but we couldn't get them in the pen.  I didn't think it was a great run by any means, but it turned out good enough for 3rd.

Gabe was on the disabled list and didn't get to participate.  I really missed running him.

Later that evening we had our annual awards dinner in a really cool historical building on the farm.  Rae received her Open Champion belt buckle and it reminded me how much fun I had running her.  She was such a perfect dog for me to start with and I'm forever grateful to her and to Renee for letting me have her!

 

Rae's belt buckle

 

 

Sunday morning the sheep started out winning.  Livy ran out a little better but I still fussed at her to stay out.  She had a really nice fetch going, and although it was very fast she was moreso trying to keep up with them rather than pushing on them.  The turn at the post proved to be the downfall for most of the NN and PN runs as the sheep bolted for the exhaust and many dogs lost their sheep.  Well, Livy was not about to lose her sheep, but she did lose her temper and grabbed ahold of one who tried to beat her.  That was a little too exciting for her, but I'd much rather have my dog do that than not care about sheep running away.

I decided to move her up to Open Ranch and so she got another turn at these tricky sheep.  As an experiment, I let her do what she wanted to for her outrun.  It was very nice until about 10:00, then she sliced the top and came in very shallow.  Grr.  The sheep were moving quickly but she managed to flank well on the fetch and had a good turn.  She was working very well for me even though we missed the fetch and driveaway panels and had a major banana to make the cross-drives.  She had a good return leg and this time I let her do everything herself at the pen, since anytime I moved she moved in response to me.  She really had to work, but in the end she got them penned and I was super happy with her!  She actually ended up 3rd, though later on I was informed that VBCA rules do not let you run a dog competitively in two classes on the same day, so technically her run was a N/C.  Doesn't matter to me, aside from her outrun I was thrilled with how she handled those sheep.

Spain was laying down a really good one for her run until we got to the shedding ring.  Due to the setbacks I'd seen at recent trials, I was very cautious about calling her in on risky attempts.  The sheep glommed on top of each other and we just couldn't get a hole, so I never did call her in.  It wasn't worth it to me to risk a failed attempt, so we eventually timed out with no shed or pen.  The rest of the run was good enough to put us in 5th place, and surprisingly to me she ended up Reserve Open Champion.

 

Robin and Zac

 

 

Open champs Barbara Ray and Stella, judge Tom Lacy, me and Spain

 

 

VBCA handling system with Jesse and Jim working hard

 

It was a fun weekend with a casual trial in a new location.  Everybody pitched in as needed and I enjoyed working the top of the field with some new friends.  And the dinner was excellent.  A nice little club trial.

Rural Hill SDT

Another Rural Hill is in the books.  Pretty much the same story as previous years: Dr. Ben's hair sheep set on horseback, good size course, questionable hearing for the dogs, and lots of spectators and their pet dogs running amok.  I couldn't get off work to run Livy on Thursday, and I was a little concerned about her picking up of a horse without ever meeting one before, so I wasn't overly bummed to miss a chance at running her.  As it turned out, the novice classes were pretty brutal and it was probably good I didn't run her.

 

Lots of extracurricular activities: dock diving

 

 

Flyball and frisbee

(So tempting not to take Ella over for a turn at flyball, she used to be super fast!)

 

I'd gotten up at 4am to arrive on time for the handler's meeting Friday.  Gabe was up pretty early so I had to be there, anyway.  It didn't look promising from the time I got him out of the car.  Livy's been in heat and he was absolutely beside himself.  Gabe has always been wound up at trials, but holy cow I've never seen him so stupid-excited.  He ran out nicely to the right and stopped when I told him, but it went downhill from there.  He lifted hard and missed some downs, then proceeded to take wrong flanks on the fetch.  I'd been working on getting him to flank into the pressure, and not only did he flank hard into the pressure, he kept going and pushed them a good way across the field.  When I tried to get him back on balance he continued to flank off balance and nearly headed them.  The second part of the fetch wasn't bad and I hit him with several hard downs at the post, trying to get him listening.  His drive started OK but then he hit one of the deadzones, I couldn't get a good flow going and he couldn't hear me, so we quit.  I wasn't too pleased with that performance.

Spain had a fair go.  She had a little bit of a wonky lift, and I'm wondering if she was concerned about the horses.  Spain came from a home where she saw lots of horses, but was discouraged from interacting with them (understandably).  We're not sure if she's picked up off of them prior to this run or not!  She was slow to lift, but otherwise she was fine around the course.  Had trouble hearing at the cross-drive panel and just missed it at the last second.  I can't remember much about the run, except she had trouble hearing at many times, one was right at the cross-drive panels which we just missed, but I think it was so-so and we ended up not good enough for a placement.

 

Flag presentation

 

I was at home working and taking call on Saturday since I didn't have any runs til Sunday.  Gabe was my first dog on Sunday and I arrived *just* in time for his turn.  I saw one completed run before his, and that run wasn't a good demonstration of where the cross-drive line was.  Since the second round of Open started Saturday, I'd missed the handlers' meeting and so missed picking out any markers.  A little flustered, I sent Gabe and he did a great outrun and lifted softly.  He was working with a great attitude and listened very well, and we ended up with a steady and very straight fetch.  Good turn and a nice first leg, through the panels and he was still listening really well all the way across the field.  Since I wasn't quite sure where the line was, we ended up a shade low at the panels, and this was one of the trouble spots on the field with regard to hearing.  We tried, but he just couldn't hear me to save that panel.  Back to the ring for a clean split, put them in the pen with no trouble, and then returned to the ring for a great single.  I couldn't believe it, that was one of our best runs EVER!  I wanted to turn around to the crowd and say "Oh my gosh, is anyone seeing this??!"  I was so unbelievably proud of our run!  He ended up just 5 points out of placing in a very big trial with lots of top competition.  There was lots of really nice work that he did during that run, and he really got stroking it on his drive.  It was the first run that really felt smooth the whole way around.  Too bad I boogered up the cross-drive line!  Still, I was immensely happy with him.

Spain was the last run of the trial.  She ran out fine but her sheep left before she got there.  She hesitated a step before covering them, so I think the horses did have her a little unsure.  We got them under control and she had a good fetch and good first leg, but she had trouble hearing at the first panel.  We saved it and made the panels at the last possible second.  By now I'd watched many runs and knew where the line was, and we hit it well.  To the ring, good split and pen, and back to the shedding ring for the single.  One walked off the front of the group and I thought twice about taking it.  I knew the judge had said to take *any* sheep, but I just had it in my mind that I needed to do it "right," and since I had plenty of time, I put her back.  We shifted them around a little and I went to call her in and the rascal didn't come in!  Oooh was I mad.  We tried to get it set up again and when one walked off the front, this time I took it.  Spain wasn't enthusiastic about it and I had to jazz her up to fully take charge of it.  Later, I realized I may have never taught her to take the first one on the butt.  So our run ended in a bummer.  We were 1 point out of placing, so that missed attempt really hurt us (plus the 2 and 2 off at the top of the field, though Spain maintains her innocence!). 

I need to revisit Spain's shedding, but was very happy with Gabe's turn-around after acting like a goof the first go.

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.