Piper and I drew up first in the run order on Saturday. I think Jennifer was greatly amused. I saw it as an opportunity to get the dreaded "run first" experience under our belt.
And - just as I predicted - Piper was standing in first place after our run. In golf terms "the leader in the clubhouse" with the score to beat. It lasted for a brief glorious eight minutes or so - until the second dog (Jeff Blackstone and Dusk) ran. I could not get a picture of the leaderboard with Piper in first because they did not post scores after only 1 dog.
All seriousness - Piper ran well for me on Saturday. The course was pen and then shed. We were unable to get the pen and thus also lost the shed points. Inability to get the pen was fairly common on the first several runs so I am not terribly concerned about it. Piper's run until that point would actually have been competitive so I was very happy with her. Still work needed on the drive but it was much better than it has been.
Sunday was a different story. Sunday was an interesting lightning bolt shaped fetch with a double dogleg through two sets of panels. We made the first and barely missed the second. The outwork was actually pretty good. The drive started well but went into full disaster mode at the first panel. Unlike Saturday we got the pen with minimal problems and moved on to the single. Piper came through on the first opportunity but never turned and took control of the single. Then the sheep left the ring. A quick glance at my watch said we had less than 30 seconds but I decided we would keep working it and just try as quickly as we could. It paid off as we got the split and Piper came through. The sound of my watch going off and Judge Angela Akers (who did a great job BTW) calling "good" were almost simultaneous. In fact I was expecting to hear "time" instead. We only had 1 point left on the split but the much more valuable lesson was to keep working the sheep until the very end.
Rylee had a rough weekend. Her outruns and lift were both very nice but she was overly cautious and Saturday completely would not bring the sheep past me to complete the fetch. Sunday she reluctantly brought them around my feet and started the drive before I retired her with a torn paw pad. She would not have completed the drive due to time. This is an issue we need to work on and we are coming up with a plan. More in a later post.
On Saturday after Rylee's run Piper and I went up to work in the pens after relaying the sheep back up to the top. Piper did yeoman's work at the top and I was very pleased with her. Unfortunately I started feeling ill and had to spend a fair amount of time sitting in the shade. This was no problem as I was able to direct Piper on her relays from my chair and she did a great job at this.
My illness continued through the night and I unfortunately missed the fabulous pot luck dinner and party on Saturday night. Since this was the 4th trial this year where I have become ill I finally decided to go see a Doctor the following week. It was definitely a wise decision and I believe we have identified the cause and how to deal with it.
like your blog!
ReplyDelete