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.