To paraphrase Charles Dickens - It was the worst of runs, it was the best of runs. And that was all in one run - our second.
Just back from the Pt. Pleasant Sheepdog Trials hosted by Tom and LisAnn Spencer in Pt. Pleasant - about 20 miles South of Sacramento. The trial was open and Nursery on Saturday, Open and Open Double Lift on Sunday, and Pro-Novice (2 runs) and Nursery on Monday. We only made it for the Monday Pro Novice and Nursery so that is all I can report on - other than that Suzy Applegate and Lyn won the Open Double Lift on Sunday.
I am told the weather was beautiful Saturday and Sunday. Not so on Monday. When I walked Piper at 7 a.m. at the Holiday Inn (nice place BTW) the weather was lovely. After enjoying the included breakfast buffet it was starting to rain as we left for the trial field shortly after 8. It was rain off and on for the rest of the day only clearing up as the trial was finishing. Then rain - sometimes heavy - made the drive home extra fun.
In the Nursery Tierney Graham and her dog (Briscoe I think) had a very nice run and managed to take home first place in something of an upset over Suzy Applegate and her dog Dot who was 6th in the recent Nursery Nationals (I think I heard Dot won the first day of nursery). Good job Tierney !
The Pro-Novice had 17 dogs in the first run and 10 in the second. The field is very flat and a lot of the dogs seemed to have trouble locating the sheep. There were a lot of redirects - an unusually high number of crossovers - and a few outruns straight up the middle through the fetch panels. Some of the dogs never found the sheep at all and some found them after they had basically lost most or all of their outrun points.
The sheep were range ewes and I think they were probably a little difficult for some of the younger dogs but they were actually very fair and worked very nicely - as long as the dog was right. A great big thank you to Tom and LisAnn for bringing in range ewes and then letting we mere Pro-Novice handlers work them. Range ewes are hard to find at pro-novice trials so it was a real treat to get to work on them. It is especially good if you view Pro-Novice as training period trying to make it to Open.
I did not write down the results so this is a bit from memory but I think Carolyn Crocker won the first PN run with Lyn - the same dog that Suzy ran in open, Suzy Applegate also placed with one of her young dogs although I can't remember which one. The second go round of PN had Patti Sowells in first and third and Carolyn with Lyn in 2nd. Piper retired in the first go round and we were 4th out of 10 in the second go round.
Anyway - back to Dickens. Our first run was the worst of times. The lift was off line and Piper did not seem to wish to acknowledge my presence in the same state. The fetch was wild and at least 30 yards off line. We did manage to get around the post and get started on the driveaway when a train came by blowing its whistle about 200 yards from where I was standing -- one of only two trains all day. By that time it really did not matter. The sheep came around the post and wanted to make a run for it in the general direction of back toward set out. Piper managed to get them turned but a couple of overflanks later they were coming back to my feet and Piper was still not really listening to me. I left the post to retire and naturally she immediately decided to listen to my requests as we exhausted. In Dickensian terms it was the worst of runs.
The second run was showing signs of being a repeat of the first as the sheep lifted off line and the fetch was going for Mr. Toad's wild ride on another 30 yard off line fetch. She did start to take my come bye flank and when she got wide enough and in position to turn their heads she miraculously took a "lie down".
After that she was a completely different dog. She calmly walked up - took my "time" commands and we got the sheep around the post. As with the first run they wanted to run toward the set out. She took the proper away and we turned them back toward the panel - a bit too far at first - but a proper come bye got them lined up and trotting toward the panels. Three of the four trotted nicely through the panels and the other slid by on the left - all the while Piper was taking my commands - taking time and lying down when asked.
As they broke through the panel they wanted to keep going so I sent Piper "come bye" and she turned them about 10 yards past the panel and again took the "there" and started walking up taking "time". We got them back even with the drive away panels and with minimal flanking and much "time now" she WALKED in on them taking time and keeping her proper distance on the bubble. Once or twice she started to pick up the pace but took the "time now" commands and slowed down nicely. I thought we were a bit low but as the sheep approached the panels they were lined up perfectly and walked right through. "Come Bye" and again she stopped in the proper position to bring them to the pen. They slid by the pen high with only about 30 seconds left and by the time we got them back to the mouth we only had ten seconds so we did not get the pen. Only 8 points off the drive.
Back to Dickens - It was the worst of runs - then it was the best of runs.
Just back from the Pt. Pleasant Sheepdog Trials hosted by Tom and LisAnn Spencer in Pt. Pleasant - about 20 miles South of Sacramento. The trial was open and Nursery on Saturday, Open and Open Double Lift on Sunday, and Pro-Novice (2 runs) and Nursery on Monday. We only made it for the Monday Pro Novice and Nursery so that is all I can report on - other than that Suzy Applegate and Lyn won the Open Double Lift on Sunday.
I am told the weather was beautiful Saturday and Sunday. Not so on Monday. When I walked Piper at 7 a.m. at the Holiday Inn (nice place BTW) the weather was lovely. After enjoying the included breakfast buffet it was starting to rain as we left for the trial field shortly after 8. It was rain off and on for the rest of the day only clearing up as the trial was finishing. Then rain - sometimes heavy - made the drive home extra fun.
In the Nursery Tierney Graham and her dog (Briscoe I think) had a very nice run and managed to take home first place in something of an upset over Suzy Applegate and her dog Dot who was 6th in the recent Nursery Nationals (I think I heard Dot won the first day of nursery). Good job Tierney !
The Pro-Novice had 17 dogs in the first run and 10 in the second. The field is very flat and a lot of the dogs seemed to have trouble locating the sheep. There were a lot of redirects - an unusually high number of crossovers - and a few outruns straight up the middle through the fetch panels. Some of the dogs never found the sheep at all and some found them after they had basically lost most or all of their outrun points.
The sheep were range ewes and I think they were probably a little difficult for some of the younger dogs but they were actually very fair and worked very nicely - as long as the dog was right. A great big thank you to Tom and LisAnn for bringing in range ewes and then letting we mere Pro-Novice handlers work them. Range ewes are hard to find at pro-novice trials so it was a real treat to get to work on them. It is especially good if you view Pro-Novice as training period trying to make it to Open.
I did not write down the results so this is a bit from memory but I think Carolyn Crocker won the first PN run with Lyn - the same dog that Suzy ran in open, Suzy Applegate also placed with one of her young dogs although I can't remember which one. The second go round of PN had Patti Sowells in first and third and Carolyn with Lyn in 2nd. Piper retired in the first go round and we were 4th out of 10 in the second go round.
Anyway - back to Dickens. Our first run was the worst of times. The lift was off line and Piper did not seem to wish to acknowledge my presence in the same state. The fetch was wild and at least 30 yards off line. We did manage to get around the post and get started on the driveaway when a train came by blowing its whistle about 200 yards from where I was standing -- one of only two trains all day. By that time it really did not matter. The sheep came around the post and wanted to make a run for it in the general direction of back toward set out. Piper managed to get them turned but a couple of overflanks later they were coming back to my feet and Piper was still not really listening to me. I left the post to retire and naturally she immediately decided to listen to my requests as we exhausted. In Dickensian terms it was the worst of runs.
The second run was showing signs of being a repeat of the first as the sheep lifted off line and the fetch was going for Mr. Toad's wild ride on another 30 yard off line fetch. She did start to take my come bye flank and when she got wide enough and in position to turn their heads she miraculously took a "lie down".
After that she was a completely different dog. She calmly walked up - took my "time" commands and we got the sheep around the post. As with the first run they wanted to run toward the set out. She took the proper away and we turned them back toward the panel - a bit too far at first - but a proper come bye got them lined up and trotting toward the panels. Three of the four trotted nicely through the panels and the other slid by on the left - all the while Piper was taking my commands - taking time and lying down when asked.
As they broke through the panel they wanted to keep going so I sent Piper "come bye" and she turned them about 10 yards past the panel and again took the "there" and started walking up taking "time". We got them back even with the drive away panels and with minimal flanking and much "time now" she WALKED in on them taking time and keeping her proper distance on the bubble. Once or twice she started to pick up the pace but took the "time now" commands and slowed down nicely. I thought we were a bit low but as the sheep approached the panels they were lined up perfectly and walked right through. "Come Bye" and again she stopped in the proper position to bring them to the pen. They slid by the pen high with only about 30 seconds left and by the time we got them back to the mouth we only had ten seconds so we did not get the pen. Only 8 points off the drive.
Back to Dickens - It was the worst of runs - then it was the best of runs.
No comments:
Post a Comment