Dry Lake - Open Education

I ran Piper in Open at the Dry Lake Sheepdog Trial. It was quite an education for both of us.

The field is a 3500 acre pasture that appears essentially flat at first appearance. It is definitely not flat. The outrun was set at about 600 yards. After about 300 yards there were dips in the field deep enough so that the outrunning dogs lost sight of their sheep. Either they needed to be on an already good path at that point or trust their handlers. Many dogs got lost getting out to their sheep. They crossed over. They ran past. They circumnavigated. They stopped and looked back confused. I should have been forewarned. Should have !

I sent Piper to the left. She was on a beautiful route for about 350 yards. Unfortunately the sheep were at 600 yards. At about 400 yards she started to turn in and cut across. I tried to blow my redirect whistle but for some reason I could not get it to blow. I shouted LIE DOWN !!! She ignored it and continued across. I shouted "come bye" and she sped up on what was already a come bye route. (I needed to give her a "get out" but did not think to do it.) She continued on, gaining speed as she crossed over a good 150 yards in front of the sheep, never seeing them. She eventually made it to the group of pine trees a full 100 yards to the right of the set out. Finally she took a recall whistle and I waved thank you to our judge Patrick Shannahan and walked out to meet Piper on her return trip.

Afterwards a couple handlers tried to tell me I was wrong to walk. One said I should have stayed until the judge told me to leave. One suggested that by not taking the opportunity to walk her out to find sheep (it was an available option day one) that I was just punishing myself. My thoughts were that I was sure not going to reward her for not listening to my attempts to redirect her and also that Open is not the time to be training my dog. Talking it over with Jennifer later I think it was the right decision. I could not get her out to the sheep on the original trajectory and best not to teach her she can take a figure eight route, ignore me, and still get her sheep.

So we made a plan. Second run she was going to listen and get redirected. Otherwise it was going to be a very long drive never to find sheep.

Sunday I sent Piper left again. This time after about 30 yards I lied her down. Then told her to get out. She immediately went way wide. Then at about 400 yards she took one step in and I gave her an immediate lie down. This time she took it. Then she took the get out command and travelled the rest of the way on a good routing arriving well behind her sheep. Her fetch was off line at the top as the sheep wanted to pull toward the set out (which they did to a lot of dogs) but she got them on line near the fetch panels and finished the fetch well.

The drive was a bit wild and quick but we did make both panels. In all it was certainly not good but better than she has been doing on the drive.

The sheep - which had been getting difficult to shed late in day 2 of open - actually parted for me like the Red Sea and Piper came in on them and turned on a group of two as asked. It may have been a bit sloppy but it was a clean shed. We did have some difficulty at the pen sending the sheep around twice before getting them to stop in the mouth of the pen. Then Piper walked them in for a completed course.

Final score 63. Just out of the top half. Work to do but improved.

I learned that I need to be aggressive in handling Piper and get in her head early if necessary.

Dry Lake - Nursery Report

Rylee ran in the Nursery at Dry Lake. There were two Nursery Runs - the first class had 15 entrants and the second had ten. Three dogs earned qualifying legs in the first go and two in the second go. We were not among them.

The Nursery course was a significantly shortened circuit from the Ope Course - the outrun was ONLY about 300 yards. More importantly though the topography for the first 300 yards let the young dogs see their sheep the whole route on the outrun so they did not have as much trouble as the Open dogs.

Rylee's first run she had gorgeous outwork. A nice wide and deep outrun to the right. Followed by a slow and steady lift. On the fetch the sheep tried to lean on her a bit but she steered them nicely. 0-1-2 off for a total of three points lost on the gather. When the drive got a little bit out of control though I decided to retire her rather than put too much pressure on.

The second run started much the same but the sheep leaned harder toward the exhaust on the fetch and Rylee was a bit behind on the steering so we were off line on the fetch. We got the drive underway and it was a bit wild at the turns but I decided to hang on and see if she would cover. By this point in the trial the sheep were getting a bit difficult and I wanted to see what she could do as long as it was not getting truly out of control.

I was a bit late giving her the flank to cover the exhaust draw on the cross drive. But despite the sheep wanting to make it to exhaust Rylee covered them. I actually could not see Rylee because she was behind a slight dip but I saw the sheep stop and turn their heads. So I presumed she had them and when they turned around and started walking my way I went to the pen. Rylee did a nice job putting them in the pen and we finished in 3d place.

She is coming along a little bit each time we go out.

Dry :Lake - The Travelogue

Just got back from Dry Creek and there is so much to report that I will split it into multiple posts.

The first post is devoted to the journey. It was a long one. But fun !

I carpooled to the trial with Ron and Jennifer Ewers. I had decided to tent camp due to the trial field being twenty miles from the nearest hotel. Jennifer suggested I ride with them and I took her up on the generous offer. It was a fun ride both ways but LONG.

On the way up we stopped at a wonderful RV Resort called Boulder Creek in Lone Pine, California in the High Desert foothills of the Sierra. It was a nice campground and earned a 5 star rating from the Ron and Jennifer RV dog travel rating system. Here is a pic taken at the camp.

The second night we made it to Reno where we were guests at Marla Corey's house. Marla certainly made us feel welcome pulling out all the stops for a wonderful brisket dinner. Best of all she has a great backyard that the RV barely managed to fit in and the dogs all had a great time playing in the yard. Thanks mucho Marla.

But no trip to Reno would be complete for this crew without a trip to outfitters Mecca. Marla generously drove us over and Ron got some new rain pants at this place.

Day 3 we made it the rest of the scenic route up to Dry Lake. We arrived just in time to help Geri Byrne lay out the shedding ring and get a look at the outrun ahead. The field was a several thousand acre grass pasture with trees at one end for camping. Except for the weather it was ideal and the dogs had a fabulous time running themselves crazy.

The tent managed to stay dry and reasonably warm despite the best efforts of mother nature.

On the way home our trip was interrupted by high winds closing US 395 just north of Mono Lake. After searching around we finally found a nearby RV park that would take 10 dogs. It was on an alpine lake setting and was lovely. Once again the dogs enjoyed themselves greatly.