Recalibrating

For over a year our goal has been to make it to Open and survive. We made it and survived our way around the course.

Now it is time to reset the goal. Now it is time to get to where we have a chance to be competitive. We need to do more than just "get around" an Open Course. And it is clear that our major emphasis has to be in cleaning up the drive and getting our communication together in that area.

I need to step up as a handler and Piper needs to listen to me on the drive. She has shown enough glimpses that I know she is capable but they have not transferred well to the trial field (for the most part). Our danger area seems to be making the turn and getting going on the cross drive.

We don't plan on trialing for another two months and our work requirement is clear. Maybe soon we will become an Open dog/handler team instead of just a dog that is running in the Open Class and surviving.

We started that process in earnest yesterday. It is clear we still have a long way to go.

Good Outrunners

It seems I am blessed to have two good outrunners.

In four judged outruns over the weekend in Soggy Sonoma we lost a total of 4 points. Three of those came on one whistle to Piper her first time on the tricky hill field.

In two rounds of Nursery there were a total of two runs scored zero off the outrun. They both belonged to Rylee - one to each side.

So my dogs can outrun - it's what happens after and once I get involved that gets us in trouble.

Storms in Sonoma

This was the 17th year for the Sonoma Wine Country Sheepdog Trial. It was my third year - first with a dog in Open. By all reports it was the worst weather in the history of the trial. Cold and torrential downpours on the field Friday and Saturday. Poor Bonnie Richardson got to run her Pro Novice dog in a hailstorm for almost her entire 7 minute run - and had a very nice run. There was a tornado in Santa Rosa - first one in about ten years. Trees (BIG TREES) were blown down overnight Saturday blocking major roads and the trial entrance for Sunday morning.

Yet - in the face of it all Sandy Milberg and crew (special note to computer guru Jack Mathieson, The Healdsburg FFA, the set out crews - Amy Coapman, Bill Swan, Derek Fisher and Sandi Anderson) for persevering in the face of some of the most adverse weather conditions in a long time. For a while we thought we were at Zamora.

Amanda Milliken was sending her friends links to the song "It Never Rains in California" as a joke. It was probably the best comment of the weekend.

I ran Rylee in both rounds of Nursery on Friday. I really did not expect her to be competitive yet as we had never completed a drive in the three trials we had run before. For us this was about getting trial mileage together and I also wanted to see how she would do with a second run on the same field - hoping to see a learning curve kick in.

I am very fortunate that both of my dogs seem to have arrived with a good outrun built in. The first Nursery Run at Sonoma is combined with the Pro Novice. Their were 51 dogs in the run order. There were only a handful of full point outruns. I sent Rylee to the right and she had a gorgeous and deep outrun for one of those full pointers. Her lift was cautious but I thought pretty good (the judge thought it was worth 4 points off). From there the sheep pulled hard to my right (their preferred route of escape on the fetch Friday) and Rylee had trouble covering them. She did get them back and around the post so we could start the drive but we rightfully lost most of her fetch points. It was not as bad an escape as the prior week at Poway but she still needs to cover it better. We had trouble getting it together on the drive and timed out.

Second run Rylee showed herself to be an apt pupil. Hopefully it was a glimpse into the future.

For her second run I decided to send Rylee left for two reasons. First, viewing Nursery as a training ground my philosophy is to send opposite directions on a second run unless there is a strong reason not to (like there was at Poway last week when I blew it.) Second, by this point the sheep had already run the field once and the lifts were starting to lean to the left toward the exhaust so the pressure had shifted from the first run. Rylee did another full point outrun. Her lift was a little better.

Then came the learning part. This time she held the sheep pretty straight on the fetch line and even took some steering. Five points off the fetch for a 12 point improvement from the morning. We worked our way through the drive and it was cautious but she took most of my directions and we made it through the drive for the first time. Judge took 22 points but I thought that was a bit much - felt more like a 15 to me. But that's why it is a judgement call. Anyway the big news was that we completed the drive.

We got to the pen with under a minute left and range ewes that - while pennable - were not entirely thrilled with going into the pen. And Rylee and I had NEVER penned together before - we had only even practiced once. Knowing our time I did not think we had a chance but thought we should work it as well as we could. Working together we got the sheep into the mouth of the pen and I started to apply pressure by bringing the gate around (careful not to hit the sheep). Rylee went to the back of the pen and amazingly enough the sheep went in just as time expired. It did not count by half a second but I was very proud of her.

Piper ran on the "Flat" Field on Saturday. Her outrun was its usual gorgeous self losing 1 point. Her lift was better than normal as I was able to slow her down a bit - also losing only one point. The sheep pushed hard on her to my left - toward the exhaust side - and the fetch was off line the whole way. We got around the post and the drive away was going reasonably well until we tried to make the turn after narrowly missing the panels.

Try as I might I could not get Piper to take the inside flank and she brought the sheep down more than halfway to my feet before we got them started back where they belonged. It looked like she was trying to take the sheep on a wine tasting tour of all of Sonoma County and I should have retired. But stubbornly I did not and when Piper took her second ride the side of a sheep grip the Judge made the decision for me.

Sunday we got another chance on the Hill Field. The terrain is such that the sheep are set on top of a hill and if the dog is anywhere close to right the dog is hidden from the handler's sight for the last part of the outrun and the entire lift. Given my need to put control on Piper and slow her for the lift this was a recipe for potential disaster.

I sent Piper to the right - really the only way to send. When she started to cut in early I hit her with a big AWAY whistle and she took it well. When she disappeared behind the terrain Piper seemed to be on a good trajectory so all I could do was wait and watch the sheep for signs that Piper had arrived. For many dogs that sign was a calm and subtle lift of the head. Not Piper. She arrived with the subtlety of a hand grenade and suddenly the four sheep turned and started down the field - but pretty straight. Judge did not like the lift and hit us for 7 points.

On the fetch Piper stayed on the muscle and the sheep wanted to split a bit - but she kept them mostly together and on a fairly straight line. I think we got two through the fetch gates. Then we had a stall and continued down the rest of the fetch. The turn was a tad wide but not horrendous. Ten points lost on the fetch.

Then the drive. Again it started fairly well but ran into problems after sliding just to the outside of the drive away panels. An away over flank brought the sheep through the panels the wrong way. We did make it through the two trees marking the early part of the path before she went to the high side again and brought the sheep probably 30 yards off line toward me. Some forceful voice commands got Piper listening again and we made it to the general vicinity of the cross drive panels finally missing them high and turning them down to the shedding ring.

This was my first attempt at a shed pen single and we made it to the shedding ring with nearly five minutes left. She got the shed on the first split without too much back and forth and Judge called it OK. There must have been something he did not like though because he took 7 points. Then it was on to the pen with a reluctant group, We worked them into the mouth several times and one reluctant ewe broke away in an attempted escape. Ultimately we got the pen and moved back to the ring for the single with over two minutes still left. One ewe split off the front but the judge had said "any single" so I decided to call her in. Piper came in and turned on the single for a completed full open course.

From the "So and so always gets the good sheep" department: On Friday, one of the Pro-Novice Handlers posted on Facebook that the morning runs were lucky because even though the weather was better in the afternoon the sheep were "tougher" or "worse" and harder to handle. Well "magically" once we went back to the Nursery dogs the sheep suddenly got "better" and "easier" to handle. Perhaps the dogs handled them better (no coincidence that the top Nursery dogs also did very well in the combined PN standings.).

Rough Weekend in Poway

We went to a (relatively) local trial in Poway over the weekend. Open and Nursery both Saturday and Sunday. Total of four runs. No numbers.

But before getting to the details congratulations to a friend who had a very productive weekend. Mike Burks and Sport won the Open on Saturday for 7.8 points giving him just under 30 points to qualify for the USBCHA Nationals. That point total should be safe for qualifying. Then, to complete a good weekend, Mike and Mia won the Nursery Class on Sunday to get Mia's second Nursery leg and qualify for the Nursery Nationals. Good Job, and good weekend Mike.

Also Thanks to Mike for running my video camera for Piper's two runs, and to Tierney Graham and Ron Ewers for taping Rylee. Thanks also to Jennifer Ewers for a more detailed post mortem than usual from the Judge.

Now, to our runs. Piper ran fairly early on Saturday. She went out slightly narrower than usual (but not too bad) and was a little flat at the top. Three points lost from the outrun. Her lift was not the explosion it sometimes can be but was probably just slightly on an angle to my left, which Piper quickly fixed it and actually a better than usual lift for Piper.

Piper's fetch was pretty straight but brisk (not out of control fast - but definitely moving at a good pace.) We got three of four sheep through the fetch gates and got things calmed down for a pretty nice turn around the post. This was a major accomplishment as the sheep definitely wanted to run to exhaust on most people near the post. Six points lost on the fetch (there was one 3 point fetch and one 5 point so our 6 point fetch was one of the better ones for the day.)

We got the drive away started toward one of the other draws and had it going on a pretty straight and fairly controlled line. It was looking much better than usual and then suddenly we went over the edge of a cliff. Near the panels I gave an away flank when I probably should have just tried to hold the line. Piper took my away whistle as a come bye - which was even worse. Turned the sheep back and gripped. DQ.

So it was actually some of her better work, right up until it suddenly was not. And with Piper, when the run loses control it can go bad quickly, and did.

Rylee's Nursery run on Saturday was also abbreviated. She did a gorgeous full point away outrun. The lift was slow and cautious - but not as slow as at Zamora - and the sheep came off calmly but on a slight angle to the left. Unfortunately they stayed on that angle and I could not get Rylee to take my away flank and put them back on line. When she came around in front and crossed the course I retired so as not to put too much pressure on her. We need to work on that steering on the fetch line. Anyway as soon as I walked from the post Rylee regained control and exhausted the sheep rather nicely.

Piper ran late in the run order on Sunday. The run was almost a repeat of Saturday's although there were subtle differences. First, her outrun - she started to bend in early and I caught her with a redirect which she took nicely going deeper at the top. Interestingly, although we got there by different methods we lost the same three points. Her lift was very similar to Saturday's and sh again lost two points.

By this point in the trial, the sheep (which had been rerun) were pulling more strongly toward the draw than they were on our Saturday run. But Piper took my come bye flanks and though we were slightly off line due to the pull she put them back on a pretty good line fairly quickly and I was actually very happy with the level of steering she gave me. As we approached the post I over corrected the line a bit to get on the right side of the post and our turn was not as clean as Saturday. We lost nine points on the fetch but I actually thought she did better work on Sunday due to a more difficult group of sheep. Nine points was a fair deduction.

The drive was a little bit more difficult to set up but again we had it started and largely on line. Then when the sheep leaned inside Piper took the inside come bye flank and zoomed the sheep a bit much. From there it fell apart quickly. When the sheep made it back to some cattle holding pens it was another DQ. Then she calmly brought them off the cattle pens to exhaust.

Rylee on Sunday fell victim to my bad decision. Because of the fetch problem we had on Saturday I sent her left. Big Mistake. Her sheep, which were never really fully at the set out to start with, took the opportunity of no pressure coming from the draw side to take off well before she even reached 9 o'clock. From that point the chase was on. Unfortunately Rylee did not give a full speed chase and we never really got them back from their planned escape to the cattle pen draw. We did find a surprise group of ducks that wandered across the path between Rylee and the sheep though. Rylee politely decided to lie down and allow the ducks to pass losing her last chance to gain control of her sheep.

Next week, Sonoma - hoping for better finishes.

Cow Doggin'

I went to my first USBCHA Sanctioned Cow Dog Trial on Sunday. It was a small trial held at Stockdog Ranch - Anna Guthrie's place in Pala just across Hwy 76 from the Pala Casino. I had never been to a Cow Dog Trial and thought it might be fun to go.

On Saturday I got drafted to be "scorekeeper" because Anna needed help and asked. Once I figured out what the job entailed I agreed to pitch in and it was a lot of fun.

Actually there were two trials - a morning trial and an afternoon trial. Fittingly the morning trial (across the street from the casino) was a "Gamblers Choice." Dogs could earn points by going through designated obstacles of their choice but had to do at least one other obstacle before returning to the prior obstacle. There was also an option to assist your dog by walking the course with the dog but exercising this option would mean all obstacles were worth only half points.

It was a lot of fun and my role as scorekeeper was limited to keeping time and counting heads of cattle that went through the obstacles. Ten points for each head through an obstacle or 5 points per head if the handler walked with the dog. There were no elements of the trial that were judged so it was purely practical get the job done as quickly as you can and then move on to the next obstacle of your choice. This looked like a really fun format and would translate well to a fun trial on sheep as well - maybe a fun thing to do in conjunction with a more traditional trial or just a stand alone fun day.

The afternoon trial was a mounted trial where the handlers were on horseback - just one more reason I can't do cow trials since I can't ride a horse. The course was laid out in three adjoining fenced arenas. The outrun, lift and fetch were in the first arena. Then the next task was to move the cattle through an open gate into the second arena where they were to be driven through two barrels and then into a catch pen at the far end of the second arena. From there they needed to be let out and walked across a narrow road into a catch pen in the third arena. In the third arena there was a chute with a side escape hole that the cattle needed to go all the way through for full credit (half credit if they popped out the side escape hole). Finally they needed to be pushed to a sort of holding pen are where the three arenas all came together (this would make a lot more sense with a diagram). Anyway - it is basically what I would think of as a ranch course with practical skill sets on display. Again, no judging - only time and points for each head of cattle going through an obstacle.

The whole thing was very different than what I am used to at a dog trial - not necessarily either better or worse - but different. Some of the differences are due to the time and points scoring system and some are due to the difference of working cattle. Talking with Anna at dinner afterwards she said the trial was fairly typical though small. The Gamblers portion was not as common but the overall work was.

It was strange to watch a dog trial where lines simply are not judged. I was going to say they do not matter - and to an extent that is true - but since the shortest path - both distance and time - is still a straight line, good lines are still somewhat rewarded. But if the dog crossed the course in front of its stock, no problem, whereas at a sheep trial it would be major deduction. If you serpentined all the way down the fetch but happened to hit your panels that's ok because you get full credit. Stalls and grips were fairly common and, except for the loss of time, no penalty.

I don't mean this to sound as critical because it is really meant as an observation but generally the work was somewhat wilder than I am used to seeing at a sheepdog trial. The precision that I have come to expect of top handler/dog teams at a sheepdog trial was not there. By that I mean that there was not the same concern for constant pace and precise lines. Much more of a get the job done - style points do not matter.

The dogs were able to get away with a lot more than I have come to expect at a sheepdog trial. Certainly this was not true of all of the dogs and the top teams worked pretty calmly and had reasonably straight lines (just not the precise lines I have seen at Sheepdog trials). Some of it was probably due to differences in the handler/dog teams but generally to me the work did not seem as controlled as what I am used to.

In some ways it seemed to me the handlers do not have as many choices or decisions to make as at a judged sheepdog trial. For example, if the dog starts the outrun poorly there was no decision to make whether to start blowing a whistle to correct or hope the dog is going to figure it out. Go ahead and blow the whistle because there are no points lost for blowing. Or if your lines have been straight to a panel but the livestock is going to slide by start b;lowing because your straight lines to the mouth of the panel mean nothing for points.

The other thing that was odd to me was starting with zero points and adding points based on making obstacles. This was a change after sheep trials where you start with a set number of points and then lose points for flaws.

In all it was very interesting and a fun day.

More Training

Today was our first day back to training after Zamora.  Last week we were snowed out (in San Diego believe it or not) so this was our first week back - and only week before Sonoma.

Piper was good Piper today.  I think in part it was because I was a better handler today also.  I did not let her get away with getting out of control in the first instance.  We found that as long as I micromanage her on the fetch and drive she can actually be pretty good and have pretty straight lines and controlled pace.  After finally making the goal of moving up to Open without embarrassing ourselves at Zamora I think I may have relaxed a bit and handled better.  We still need to step up the game but today was a good day.  Pretty straight lines, controlled pace, good shedding, actually worked on cutting a smallish group down in multiple passes as a precursor to an international shed.  Piper walked the one group well off and took her look back nicely.

It seems Piper is pretty good on her outrun and shedding.  It's those pesky parts of the course in between that seem to bother us.

Rylee continued her pattern of being just a bit better for me each time out.  Jennifer said we were going to train on Rylee today instead of just running her  and we did.  After the first mostly silent gather to our feet - we made Rylee take some directional commands on the next fetch.  Halfway down we made her turn the sheep to the left and cross drive.  The beginnings of steering.  She is still being extremely cautious and is hesitant about flanking off pressure but we are getting it together a little more each time.

Next two weeks are trial time.  First Poway and then Sonoma.