My dog trialing adventures are already covered separately but there was so much to report from this trial that I decided to post some Odds and Ends (in random order):
First, Congratulations to Jennifer Ewers and Soot for winning the High Combined Overall Open Trophy/Award. It was well deserved.
Second, Congratulations to all my friends and acquaintances for their runs. Even going to the post at Zamora is an accomplishment and many of you did very well on top.
Third, food news. Bummer that Bill and Kathy's is now closed. Was looking forward to the fried chicken with country gravy. Enjoyed Granzella's two nights in a row in Williams - just wish it was not 20 miles north.
Fourth, probably should have been first but oh well, Big Thank You to the Slaven Family for hosting us, Terri Pelkey for all the work in organizing from nearly 500 miles away and at the trial site, Roy Pelkey and Katy Deardorff for setting, the sheep for cooperating and God for giving us such a fabulous place to run a sheep dog trial.
Fifth, Thank You Laura Hicks for pre-installing an outrun on Piper. We sure used it at Zamora.
Sixth, Thank You Jennifer for all the support and training that made it possible for us to even attempt this trial. When we first came for training about 2 1/2 years ago I was struggling with my dog to get a 100 yard outrun and we could not drive.
Seventh, Thank You Elizabeth Baker and Stephanie Goracke for my newest sweetheart, Rylee. We are coming together and I think - from Casablanca - this is the start of a beautiful friendship.
Eighth, Thank You Amy Coapman for a very pleasurable conversation while watching the trial on Saturday as we both waited till for our attempts. Also, for the beautiful Corian whistle. I tried it in the hotel and I think I am going to like the sound. I was not brave enough to switch whistles for the trial though.
Finally, thank you to everyone who passed on words of encouragement and nice thoughts on completion of our first ever Open Run.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Zamora - Nursery Report
The Final Day at Zamora was for Nursery followed by Pro-Novice. Rylee ran Nursery and we stayed through the first seven Pro-Novice dogs to watch a few friends before hitting the road back to So Cal.
The course was very similar to the Second Open Course except that the sheep were set further down in the hill. Estimates on the distance ranged upwards of 400 yards but the most reliable estimate seemed to be 350 yards. The set out was definitely further up the hill than it was last year for Pro-Novice. Whatever the actual distance it was a long way for the young and less experienced dogs and there was still danger that the hills would kick them down and either narrow or crossing over. The drives were both shortened and we had 8 minutes.
Before getting to Rylee a word of congratulations to Dr. Bob Schooley, DVM, and his dog Spike. They ran Pro-Novice and made it all the way around the course timing out at the pen. They have been working extremely hard and it is paying off. I think it was probably the farthest Bob has ever sent Spike on an outrun and I am pretty sure it is their first time completing the PN course (only the 2d or 3d try I believe). The outrun was beautiful, the run controlled and I am pretty sure Bob's heart rate may be back to normal by Sonoma.
Rylee ran eight of twelve Nursery Dogs. My plan was to attempt the drive this time - as opposed to our first trial where we did a planned retire. Based on the current state of our partnership I did not really expect her to do particularly well on the drive but I wanted to give it a try as long as I did not think I was putting to much pressure or stress on her. If I saw signs of stress I intended to retire. But I thought it would be good to get her some experience with me on a different field with different sheep.
I sent her "come bye" and her first few steps were pretty straight up the middle so I gave a more stern "COME BYE". That seemed to do the trick as she bent out and up the face of the hill to the left. As she went up the face she bent out further - which was good since the tendency and fear was that the hill would kick the dog back toward the center. When she got deep enough so she was fairly well behind the set out she kind of turned and came in on sort of a flat trajectory and stopped and lied down on her own at about 10:30 on the clock face. A big difference from Piper.
It took some encouraging to get Rylee up and walking in on the sheep. To those who have not seen her it undoubtedly looked like she was being stared down by the sheep and losing the stare down. Knowing her careful approach and that I could see her slowly inching forward I was not really worried that she would be unable to lift. Sure enough she eventually lifted them - much more calmly than a Piper explosion lift.
The sheep leaned on her to my right all the way down the fetch line. Rylee did take my come bye flanks and we had a bit of steering on the fetch but we certainly need to work on getting more, As seems to be common for me we had a bit of a problem at the post getting the sheep lined up to go around the proper side. After coming down the right side most of the way down the fetch line I over corrected and put the sheep on the wrong side of the post. We had to unwind them to get around and start the drive.
On the drive the sheep were a little to the right and then a little to the left. Rylee took my flanks without being too harsh on the sheep. (That's my memory - I have to check the tape.) We narrowly missed the drive away panels to the left (memory again) and made the turn for the drive away. The sheep were coming down low back toward me and I knew we were running short on time (I was late starting my watch) so I just tried to get them headed in the right direction and make as much progress as I could.
Then I heard a beep from the judges area. About ten seconds later my own timer went off but the Judge still had not called "time". When I saw the exhaust dog coming for my sheep a few seconds later I asked the Judge "That's time, right ?" He confirmed time was indeed up.
I was very pleased with Rylee because I thought she was listening to me and trying hard to do as I asked. The partnership seems to get just a little more well founded every time we go out. Give us time and I think we will make a good team.
The course was very similar to the Second Open Course except that the sheep were set further down in the hill. Estimates on the distance ranged upwards of 400 yards but the most reliable estimate seemed to be 350 yards. The set out was definitely further up the hill than it was last year for Pro-Novice. Whatever the actual distance it was a long way for the young and less experienced dogs and there was still danger that the hills would kick them down and either narrow or crossing over. The drives were both shortened and we had 8 minutes.
Before getting to Rylee a word of congratulations to Dr. Bob Schooley, DVM, and his dog Spike. They ran Pro-Novice and made it all the way around the course timing out at the pen. They have been working extremely hard and it is paying off. I think it was probably the farthest Bob has ever sent Spike on an outrun and I am pretty sure it is their first time completing the PN course (only the 2d or 3d try I believe). The outrun was beautiful, the run controlled and I am pretty sure Bob's heart rate may be back to normal by Sonoma.
Rylee ran eight of twelve Nursery Dogs. My plan was to attempt the drive this time - as opposed to our first trial where we did a planned retire. Based on the current state of our partnership I did not really expect her to do particularly well on the drive but I wanted to give it a try as long as I did not think I was putting to much pressure or stress on her. If I saw signs of stress I intended to retire. But I thought it would be good to get her some experience with me on a different field with different sheep.
I sent her "come bye" and her first few steps were pretty straight up the middle so I gave a more stern "COME BYE". That seemed to do the trick as she bent out and up the face of the hill to the left. As she went up the face she bent out further - which was good since the tendency and fear was that the hill would kick the dog back toward the center. When she got deep enough so she was fairly well behind the set out she kind of turned and came in on sort of a flat trajectory and stopped and lied down on her own at about 10:30 on the clock face. A big difference from Piper.
It took some encouraging to get Rylee up and walking in on the sheep. To those who have not seen her it undoubtedly looked like she was being stared down by the sheep and losing the stare down. Knowing her careful approach and that I could see her slowly inching forward I was not really worried that she would be unable to lift. Sure enough she eventually lifted them - much more calmly than a Piper explosion lift.
The sheep leaned on her to my right all the way down the fetch line. Rylee did take my come bye flanks and we had a bit of steering on the fetch but we certainly need to work on getting more, As seems to be common for me we had a bit of a problem at the post getting the sheep lined up to go around the proper side. After coming down the right side most of the way down the fetch line I over corrected and put the sheep on the wrong side of the post. We had to unwind them to get around and start the drive.
On the drive the sheep were a little to the right and then a little to the left. Rylee took my flanks without being too harsh on the sheep. (That's my memory - I have to check the tape.) We narrowly missed the drive away panels to the left (memory again) and made the turn for the drive away. The sheep were coming down low back toward me and I knew we were running short on time (I was late starting my watch) so I just tried to get them headed in the right direction and make as much progress as I could.
Then I heard a beep from the judges area. About ten seconds later my own timer went off but the Judge still had not called "time". When I saw the exhaust dog coming for my sheep a few seconds later I asked the Judge "That's time, right ?" He confirmed time was indeed up.
I was very pleased with Rylee because I thought she was listening to me and trying hard to do as I asked. The partnership seems to get just a little more well founded every time we go out. Give us time and I think we will make a good team.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Zamora - Open Report
They say the definition of insanity is to repeatedly do the same thing and expect a different result. I came up with a new definition over the weekend. At least as applied to sheepdogging.
Insanity is moving up to Open at Zamora. By this definition I am insane. Piper and I just moved up to Open together this weekend and we did it at Zamora.
Zamora is one of the most difficult dog trials on the West Coast. The outrun is nearly 700 yards and the field is bounded by large hills. The sheep - always range ewes - are set in the saddle between two hills. There is a creek- about ten feet wide - about 75 yards in front of the normal handlers post. The turn to start the drive is about 150 yards in front of the handlers post and on the opposite side of the creek.
Throw in nearly a week of rain and the creek becomes an obstacle that sheep do not willingly cross without strong encouragement. Add fog on the morning of the first Open Trial leading to a 2 1/2 hour delay getting started. Reduce time to 9 minutes due to late start.
Result is a very tough dog trial. And because of that some of the very top dog/handler teams make sure to make it to the trial.
Open started on Friday but we did not run until Saturday so used Friday as a travel day. When we arrived at about 4 pm it was in time to learn that the trial had been even tougher than usual. No one had made it into the pen and only a small handful had even made it across the creek that marked the end of the drive. Scores were very low with only three scores to that point in the 60's and four in the 50's.
Piper ran third from last in Round One and about one third of the way through the Saturday order.
I sent her away into the hills to the right. The left hills almost guaranteed a bad approach. At least on the right there is a chance. Piper was not as wide as she usually is and I had to give her an away whistle on the slope of each of the three peaks on the right side. She took all three and bent out but not as much as they would like and she was to my mind still a little tight at the top. Her outrun was scored six off.
The lift was a bit like a bowling ball and the sheep were startled. Scored three points off but I think I might have hit it even harder. On the fetch Piper kept coming on two strong and splitting off one sheep. Then she would regain her senses enough to put the group back together. A year ago I would have blamed luck at getting bad sheep. Reality is Piper was causing it with her pressure. But she did keep putting it back together. On the bottom third of the fetch we let the sheep get too far to the wrong side of the post for the turn. I was too late giving the cover whistle and by the time Piper had them headed they were on the edge of the creek. Trying to get them out one ewe went into the creek - out of bounds - and we were DQ'd. I was still proud of her.
For Round 2 of the Open the course was changed in an effort to accommodate the time constraints. The handlers post was moved forward about 125 yards and across the creek. The handlers post was also now the turn to start the drive. The pen was eliminated and a single was substituted (we were only using three sheep). The drive was deemed to be completed as soon as you made or missed the cross drive panel. The result was that scores were much better and many more handlers finished.
Again Piper was near the end of the run order so we did not run until about 3 p.m. Sunday. Again I sent right for the same reasons. This time Piper went out on a good wide trajectory up the face of the first of (now) three hills. She disappeared over the ridge with 8:30 approx to go. But Piper appeared to be eyeing the sheep as she disappeared over the first peak into the valley between the first two hills. Thirty seconds of visual stealth and there was a Piper spotting on the top of the ridge line. Then she disappeared over the ridge behind the second peak. After more no sight outrunning she appeared on the ridge line of the final peak and came around deep and on balance. Zero points off the outrun and it was well deserved as the outrun was truly breathtaking - for me at least.
When Piper got to balance I bellowed a lie down and she at least slowed. The lift was better and I lost 1 point. The top end of the fetch was fast but reasonably on line. The bottom half the sheep escaped to my right after I put Piper on the ground. The sheep went way off line to the right and we had to bring them in basically sideways to round the post. Fifteen points lost.
The drive was a bit wild but we were generally on line except blowing the panels themselves due to a case of handler panel panic induced over flanking. Seventeen points lost.
However, where many dogs had made it through the panels with thirty seconds or less to accomplish the single, Piper and I had over 2 minutes left for the task. After checking my timer and seeing this I took a deep breath and tried to set up my first ever competition single as calmly as I could. We had an opportunity after about thirty seconds and a split. Piper came into the hole and turned on the single but apparently did not take enough control to satisfy our judge (Patrick Shanahan). So we put them back together - tried to get everything settled - and soon got another split. This time Piper came through, turned on the single and took enough control to satisfy the judge. Course finished and still a minute on the clock.
It was an incredibly exhilarating eight minutes and it took a good half hour for my heart to stop racing.
I am extremely happy and proud of my little girl but at the same time we clearly have a lot of work to do.
Piper's score of 52 placed her somewhere around 50th out of 84 dogs.
Insanity is moving up to Open at Zamora. By this definition I am insane. Piper and I just moved up to Open together this weekend and we did it at Zamora.
Zamora is one of the most difficult dog trials on the West Coast. The outrun is nearly 700 yards and the field is bounded by large hills. The sheep - always range ewes - are set in the saddle between two hills. There is a creek- about ten feet wide - about 75 yards in front of the normal handlers post. The turn to start the drive is about 150 yards in front of the handlers post and on the opposite side of the creek.
Throw in nearly a week of rain and the creek becomes an obstacle that sheep do not willingly cross without strong encouragement. Add fog on the morning of the first Open Trial leading to a 2 1/2 hour delay getting started. Reduce time to 9 minutes due to late start.
Result is a very tough dog trial. And because of that some of the very top dog/handler teams make sure to make it to the trial.
Open started on Friday but we did not run until Saturday so used Friday as a travel day. When we arrived at about 4 pm it was in time to learn that the trial had been even tougher than usual. No one had made it into the pen and only a small handful had even made it across the creek that marked the end of the drive. Scores were very low with only three scores to that point in the 60's and four in the 50's.
Piper ran third from last in Round One and about one third of the way through the Saturday order.
I sent her away into the hills to the right. The left hills almost guaranteed a bad approach. At least on the right there is a chance. Piper was not as wide as she usually is and I had to give her an away whistle on the slope of each of the three peaks on the right side. She took all three and bent out but not as much as they would like and she was to my mind still a little tight at the top. Her outrun was scored six off.
The lift was a bit like a bowling ball and the sheep were startled. Scored three points off but I think I might have hit it even harder. On the fetch Piper kept coming on two strong and splitting off one sheep. Then she would regain her senses enough to put the group back together. A year ago I would have blamed luck at getting bad sheep. Reality is Piper was causing it with her pressure. But she did keep putting it back together. On the bottom third of the fetch we let the sheep get too far to the wrong side of the post for the turn. I was too late giving the cover whistle and by the time Piper had them headed they were on the edge of the creek. Trying to get them out one ewe went into the creek - out of bounds - and we were DQ'd. I was still proud of her.
For Round 2 of the Open the course was changed in an effort to accommodate the time constraints. The handlers post was moved forward about 125 yards and across the creek. The handlers post was also now the turn to start the drive. The pen was eliminated and a single was substituted (we were only using three sheep). The drive was deemed to be completed as soon as you made or missed the cross drive panel. The result was that scores were much better and many more handlers finished.
Again Piper was near the end of the run order so we did not run until about 3 p.m. Sunday. Again I sent right for the same reasons. This time Piper went out on a good wide trajectory up the face of the first of (now) three hills. She disappeared over the ridge with 8:30 approx to go. But Piper appeared to be eyeing the sheep as she disappeared over the first peak into the valley between the first two hills. Thirty seconds of visual stealth and there was a Piper spotting on the top of the ridge line. Then she disappeared over the ridge behind the second peak. After more no sight outrunning she appeared on the ridge line of the final peak and came around deep and on balance. Zero points off the outrun and it was well deserved as the outrun was truly breathtaking - for me at least.
When Piper got to balance I bellowed a lie down and she at least slowed. The lift was better and I lost 1 point. The top end of the fetch was fast but reasonably on line. The bottom half the sheep escaped to my right after I put Piper on the ground. The sheep went way off line to the right and we had to bring them in basically sideways to round the post. Fifteen points lost.
The drive was a bit wild but we were generally on line except blowing the panels themselves due to a case of handler panel panic induced over flanking. Seventeen points lost.
However, where many dogs had made it through the panels with thirty seconds or less to accomplish the single, Piper and I had over 2 minutes left for the task. After checking my timer and seeing this I took a deep breath and tried to set up my first ever competition single as calmly as I could. We had an opportunity after about thirty seconds and a split. Piper came into the hole and turned on the single but apparently did not take enough control to satisfy our judge (Patrick Shanahan). So we put them back together - tried to get everything settled - and soon got another split. This time Piper came through, turned on the single and took enough control to satisfy the judge. Course finished and still a minute on the clock.
It was an incredibly exhilarating eight minutes and it took a good half hour for my heart to stop racing.
I am extremely happy and proud of my little girl but at the same time we clearly have a lot of work to do.
Piper's score of 52 placed her somewhere around 50th out of 84 dogs.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Whistles as Language
I had an epiphany the other day while watching my Nationals Finals Sheepdog DVD. Diana, called out from the bedroom, asking if those damn whistle noises drove me crazy. Without thinking I replied no because they were like a language to me instead of just noises. Then it dawned - they are becoming like a language and even other people's whistles make more sense to me than just random noises. Now if I could just speak the language more consistently.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Bad Dress Rehearsal Good Show
There is an old theater superstition that says a Bad Dress Rehearsal Leads to a Good Show on Opening Night.
I hope it holds true for dog trialing.
Our "Open"ing night will be in less than a week at Zamora when I run Piper in the Open for the first time. It will be the first time in Open for both Piper and for me. And we could not have picked a more difficult test for our first attempt.
Yesterday at Jennifer's was our final tune up session before the big jump. Jennifer has been devising some tough exercises for us the last few weeks to help us all get ready for Zamora. From our Saturday group there will be four (Jennifer, Jeff, Tricia and me)of us running six dogs in Open. There will be at least three (Sara, Nina, and Sharon) from Jennifer's Wednesday class also running four dogs in Open. There will be two (Ron and Dr. Bob) of us running two dogs in Pro Novice. Two of us (Jennifer and me) will be running a total of three dogs in Nursery.
Of the group I am the only one using Zamora to make the transition to move up a level.
I am the least ready for the challenge of next weekend but possibly looking forward to it the most. To be clear I have been told I am jumping the gun but we will see how Piper does. My impatience got to me and I did not want to wait another year to have a go at that fabulous field.
Yesterday we started working on a very difficult outrun with the sheep placed up on a bluff in some scrub. Virtually every dog had trouble with it at firsts and many dogs crossed the face of the hill at the bottom below the sheep. Multiple redirects and restarts were required. Piper struggled with this portion of the day's drills but - with a multitude of redirects - we got her out there. Her fetches were somewhat offline and this was the bad dress rehearsal part.
Later we did a driving drill on some lighter sheep where Jennifer put traffic cones out extending back from the inside opening of the drive panels about fifty yards to mark the drive lines. She did the same for the cross drive. In theory this should have simply made it easier to see the drive lines. In theory, that is. In practice it created a psychological barrier and many of the dogs struggled with getting the sheep in the lane, Piper included. Eventually we started to get it together and Piper did some good driving.
Our initial attempts at a shed were total failures as we could not get the sheep to settle well enough to get a split. We asked for and received another try at the end when the sheep were a little tired and less likely to run. We ended the session on a high note getting three in the ring sheds on our last go. So we are as ready as we are going to get.
Rylee was - for the most part - pretty good yesterday. Her come bye outrun (the sheep were set in the flat for the younger dogs) was very nice and she did a nice fetch. For some reason she simply would not go all the way out on her away outrun and required major schooling to eventually get around.
Her driving was good although I am often still having to use "here, here" to get her started on an inside flank. She is very cautious and stylish walking in on her sheep although if she gets to the side a bit much she does want to go their heads. She is paying better attention to me each time we go out and I am hopeful we will be able to complete the full Nursery course at Zamora.
Two things from Saturdays lessonwith Rylee - Jennifer suggested I stop drawing out my "Theeerrre" command and it seemed to work getting Rylee to turn in more sharply if I shortened the command to a quick "there". Second the "shh shh" sound will get Rylee to pick up her speed when needed. Both of these are good to know.
Anyway I hope the theater superstition holds true.
I hope it holds true for dog trialing.
Our "Open"ing night will be in less than a week at Zamora when I run Piper in the Open for the first time. It will be the first time in Open for both Piper and for me. And we could not have picked a more difficult test for our first attempt.
Yesterday at Jennifer's was our final tune up session before the big jump. Jennifer has been devising some tough exercises for us the last few weeks to help us all get ready for Zamora. From our Saturday group there will be four (Jennifer, Jeff, Tricia and me)of us running six dogs in Open. There will be at least three (Sara, Nina, and Sharon) from Jennifer's Wednesday class also running four dogs in Open. There will be two (Ron and Dr. Bob) of us running two dogs in Pro Novice. Two of us (Jennifer and me) will be running a total of three dogs in Nursery.
Of the group I am the only one using Zamora to make the transition to move up a level.
I am the least ready for the challenge of next weekend but possibly looking forward to it the most. To be clear I have been told I am jumping the gun but we will see how Piper does. My impatience got to me and I did not want to wait another year to have a go at that fabulous field.
Yesterday we started working on a very difficult outrun with the sheep placed up on a bluff in some scrub. Virtually every dog had trouble with it at firsts and many dogs crossed the face of the hill at the bottom below the sheep. Multiple redirects and restarts were required. Piper struggled with this portion of the day's drills but - with a multitude of redirects - we got her out there. Her fetches were somewhat offline and this was the bad dress rehearsal part.
Later we did a driving drill on some lighter sheep where Jennifer put traffic cones out extending back from the inside opening of the drive panels about fifty yards to mark the drive lines. She did the same for the cross drive. In theory this should have simply made it easier to see the drive lines. In theory, that is. In practice it created a psychological barrier and many of the dogs struggled with getting the sheep in the lane, Piper included. Eventually we started to get it together and Piper did some good driving.
Our initial attempts at a shed were total failures as we could not get the sheep to settle well enough to get a split. We asked for and received another try at the end when the sheep were a little tired and less likely to run. We ended the session on a high note getting three in the ring sheds on our last go. So we are as ready as we are going to get.
Rylee was - for the most part - pretty good yesterday. Her come bye outrun (the sheep were set in the flat for the younger dogs) was very nice and she did a nice fetch. For some reason she simply would not go all the way out on her away outrun and required major schooling to eventually get around.
Her driving was good although I am often still having to use "here, here" to get her started on an inside flank. She is very cautious and stylish walking in on her sheep although if she gets to the side a bit much she does want to go their heads. She is paying better attention to me each time we go out and I am hopeful we will be able to complete the full Nursery course at Zamora.
Two things from Saturdays lessonwith Rylee - Jennifer suggested I stop drawing out my "Theeerrre" command and it seemed to work getting Rylee to turn in more sharply if I shortened the command to a quick "there". Second the "shh shh" sound will get Rylee to pick up her speed when needed. Both of these are good to know.
Anyway I hope the theater superstition holds true.
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