Pauma Valley Operation Recovery SDT

We made our second and third attempts at a Pro-Novice Trial over the weekend of May 1 - 2, 2009 at the Pauma Valley SDT to benefit Operation Recovery (a returning veterans organization).

The field was a flat rectangle with fairly high grass. Unfortunately because of the topography of the field and the height of the grass a number of the dogs had some difficulty spotting the sheep at set out. Honestly, from the spectators viewpoint it was almost impossible to see the dog after about halfway out on the outrun. The view from atop the bale of hay at the handler's post was better though.

Maggie was my first dog in the run order on Saturday and as we walked to the post she never really saw where the sheep were and clearly was confused as to why I was dragging her out into a large field with seemingly no sheep. I tried to send her "come bye" and she was having none of it. I was almost ready to retire her without her even leaving my feet when she flopped over to the away side so I sent her that way. She then did a nice outrun but only about halfway to the sheep where she cut in almost to the centerline where she looked back at me as if to say - "See, I told you - no sheep !!". She did take an away redirect and went and got her sheep. By this time she was discombobulated and wanted to circle on the fetch so we retired.

Piper did not have the same trouble on her outrun. I'm not sure if she saw her sheep but she trusted me enough anyway to take a "come bye" and ran nice and deep behind the sheep. She took my whistle to turn in but came in a little fast and busted the sheep up a little. Still the lift was an improvement over Sonoma but not what we have been getting in practice. The fetch was a bit of a breakneck speed and somewhat offline but she did take a couple downs and we made it around the post but not much further before retiring.

Overall I was very happy with Piper and I was particularly pleased whn Jennifer commented after the run that I looked like I knew what I was doing instead of being in panic and react mode.

Sunday the dogs ran in reverse order. This time I set Maggie up to go away and I still don't think she saw the sheep but she trusted me enough to go anyway. At least she went off more at her usual speed and started wide. After a slight turn in about halfway she took my "away, get out" (not sure why I did not lose points for that but I didn't) and bent out nicely and came up behind the sheep. She lifted them a bit fast and to the left, though. She was still clearly a bit out of her comfort zone as she had trouble putting them on - line and did one circle on the fetch (I said out loud that if she did one more we were retiring). We got the sheep around the post - despite their desire to snack on the handlers post hay bale - and she actually started to drive them away. She did not get far and started to stress out so I decided to retire her before her mind was completely blown. Big improvement from Saturday and -- according to at least one observer who has not seen us for a while - big improvement over where we used to be.

Piper's run on Sunday falls more into the realm of steady improvement and getting a bit farther around the course. The outrun was again lovely and deep. She did not take a full lie down but she did give me some hesitation and pace. The lift was much better and she lifted the sheep straight and - while at a brisk pace - it was not a race. She brought them pretty straight down the fetch line - or at least it seemed that way to me until I check the videotape. When we made some directional adjustments to maneuver around the post the sheep escaped on her by about twenty yards and while she covered nicely I think this is where we lost our 4 points on the fetch.

We managed to get about two thirds of the way to the drive away panel mostly on line before the sheep made a left turn for the road and an open spot in the fence. When the sheep got too close to the fence, the Judge called our run about 1 second before I was going to retire her anyway. We then successfully retrieved while guarding against the escape.

For the weekend 3 RT's and 1 DQ but I am still very happy with the progress. We are making it a bit further around each time (except for Maggie on Sat).