Bluegrass and TableTop Day 1

So i guess i should do some catching up. I'm sitting in the camper at the TableTop SDT near Colorado Springs with a cold blustery wind ripping away outside, so it seems a good time to do it!

The Bluegrass was well run and well organized as usual but it just wasn't my week there. I was very pleased with the dogs, and felt like Zeke and Bill both learned a good deal from the sheep but we were well out of the placings with every run. Bill had never run at the BG before and never been on that sort of sheep, and i was pleased with the huge improvement from his first to his second run. By the end of his first run, his eyes were all lit up and i could see he was having a ball working the difficult lambs. On his second run he really mastered them quite well but with 2 lambs breaking different directions, a high score just wasn't meant to be. Zac ran quite well. His first lot of sheep had a real rotten one in it and i was very proud of the job he did with it. Unfortunately containing it meant we were short on time so no shed or pen. Even without, he was in the running for the double lift with a 63. His second run was at the very end of the day in difficult light, and he had trouble with the sheep stalling out on the fetch due to their empty bellies and some poor handling on my part, so the DL was not meant to be. Zeke was quite full of himself on the novice field but was running out very well and showing good confidence on his driving. We have much work still to do on his fetch as he was bullying the sheep at the top end of it. It probably was a bit soon for him to be running really, as i feel he needs to be a little further along in his training. I may hold off on running him again until we can get home and get him evened out, perhaps by the fall.

We bugged out of the BG late morning on Saturday and started pounding pavement west. After 22 hours of driving and one nasty thunderstorm spent overnighting in a Walmart parking lot, we pulled in here at the TableTop SDT. It's a big, beautiful field with Pike's Peak in the background, with fresh range sheep. There are 4 Open trials across the week with 4 different courses. The weather has been interesting to say the least. The first day started nice but by the end of the day we'd seen about all the types of weather you could think of. Well, until the next morning when we awoke to rain followed by about 2 inches of hail! And the wind, wow. This morning is blustery but the sun is peaking out.

On Monday Zac was quite perplexed by the range sheep, which were more than happy to come out of their neat group of five and smash into a dog that didn't show authority. The outrun was about 500 yards and he ran out reasonably well and lifted the sheep, but lost his confidence and blasted through the group for a DQ. I think he just didn't know what do to move them, and when he ran out of options, he lost his head. Bill was quite spectacular on these range sheep though. I could see that the lessons he'd picked up at the Bluegrass would hold. Outrun and lift were perfect. When he arrived at the top end, the sheep were split and he just neatly tucked the single into the group and motored them right on down the field. Fetch was straight with a narrow miss on the fetch gates. When these sheep would get up on the ridges running through the field, they'd spin around and test the dogs, feeling confidence from being higher than the dogs. This happened not too far from the handlers post and Bill showed great poise in working his way through it. The turn around the post was difficult as the sheep would stall out and fight, not wanting to go downhill on the first leg of the drive. With 3 big sheep facing him off, Bill kept his cool and turned them down the field. First leg was good with a little stall on a ridge but about half way across the crossdrive the sheep stalled out badly. They weren't fighting any more but put their heads down in a green patch of grass and just refused to move. It took a long time but Bill finally took a good bite and got them moving but unfortunately all the stalling ate up our time and we timed out just before entering the shedding ring. Unfortunate since we didn't get our drive points and would have placed. The going was very tough on the first day.

I'll post something about Day 2 later on….

And we're off!

We're all set and ready to roll! Camper is packed to the gills, truck hitched up, just got to wait until the morning and we'll be gone. I have the dogs about where i want them in terms of their work. Of course it would be nice to have a little more experience on Zeke, but that's what the trip is for. I feel like all 3 boys are working well, and Zac and Bill and were even ready a bit early, so we've been in a holding pattern this last week or two. It's all been light work, just a little tuning here and there. I do wish i'd done a better job conditioning them. Unfortunately my big plans for that never really materialized. There just aren't enough hours in the day for everything. I'm also wishing i hadn't scratched Moon from the Bluegrass. She's working well and it would have been fun to see how she did. Joe has gone on an adventure of his own - he's staying with his breeders for the month. I suspect he'll be quite spoiled by the time i get home and wishing i'd stay gone!

So part 1 of the big adventure starts tomorrow. I'm hoping the weather cuts us some slack. It's been really rainy in Kentucky this spring and i hear it's rained most of the last two days. Sure would be nice if it would clear up for the trials.

I'll try to post here as well as on Facebook with how things are going. If you want more regular updates and pictures of the scoreboards, "friend" me on Facebook.

Belle Grove SDT

A couple of weeks ago, the dogs and i went to the first Belle Grove SDT at the site of last year's Finals. It was a terrific trial, hosted by David Clark and Cheryl Branibar. The field was different than the field used for the Finals but plenty challenging. The sheep were David and Cheryl's home flock of Montadales and were very fit and up to the challenge of 3 days of Open runs. The novice and nursery classes were held on yet another field, which was quite "interesting" - steep hills on the left and right, with a narrow valley between, where the sheep were set and the fetch was to be. The sheep were Barbara Ray's dorper/katahdin crosses. It wasn't a long course but the terrain sure bamboozled some of the young dogs.

I was very happy with the dogs' performances. Bill and Zac both ran very well both times out. I think i was more rusty than either of them! In spite of me, they both placed well. Bill was 3rd the first day and 4th the second. Zac was 7th the first day, and i think he was just out of the placings on the second (haven't seen the final results yet). He had a rough group the second go and i was thrilled with how well he handled them. It was a chore just keeping them on the field, much less getting around as well as he did.

Zeke started off well with a reasonably good run in Nursery, just out of the qualifying spots. Next he ran in PN and i felt like he was stiffening up on his flanks and getting a bit sticky. So in his next Nursery run, i got after him a bit to get him listening better and especially getting on him for not taking his stops. At this stage of his training, i think it's way more important to get good experience and training in than it is to worry about placing. We had the chance to try a 3rd Nursery run and i was happy to see the training paying off, as Zeke was pretty good. I also ran Moon in her first ever trial and she did pretty well! I was mostly happy with her PN run. It wasn't stellar but she got out nice enough to her sheep and kept her head, and finished the course. Since she'd done pretty okay, i put her in that 3rd Nursery class and i was just thrilled with her. She had a decent outrun and a very nice fetch (few and far between on that course), and was listening pretty well. She had a really lousy draw of sheep and at the turn around the post they started splitting and breaking back on her towards the exhaust. She didn't have a clue how to handle it but trusted me to help her as much as i could, and kept her head really well. I fiddled with it a little bit for the sake of getting some training in with her, and when i felt she'd had enough, we walked off. But i was just so pleased with her. I still think i'll be selling her if i find the right fit, but she's coming along.

So that's the quick trial report. Life is crazy hectic with trying to get ready to leave next week. I hope to have lots of good news to report from the Bluegrass. Zac and Bill will be running in the Open (Bill's first time there) and Zeke is entered in the PN and Nursery. It'll be a busy week!

The Countdown Begins

Six weeks. Six weeks from today, the dogs and i leave on our big spring trip. It feels like it's racing up on me! We'll leave May 17 and head to KY for the Bluegrass, then go from there to Colorado Springs, CO for the Tabletop trial May 23-27. After that, we head to Bowman, ND for the Big One and Slash J trials from June 1-7. And from June 8-12 we'll attend and help out at lessons and clinics with Aled Owen at Joni Swanke's place in Bowman. June 13 we start the long trek home and should arrive here June 15th. Probably on our hands and knees after all of that travel!

There is so much to be done and so many things to fret over with such an extended trip looming. I've always felt like us sheepdog handlers are nearly as obsessive-compulsive as our border collies, and a big trip sure brings it out in me. I try to remember that the dogs are the biggest thing i need to concentrate on though, and to that end conditioning and training are foremost in my mind at the moment. I'd have liked to have started running them more for fitness a bit sooner, but our weather was just lousy last week so i've started this week. Last night was our first serious fitness run, a solid 30 minutes behind the ATV, up and down hills, at a good constant jog. Zac, Zeke and Moon all flit along, bouncing and racing and having a grand time on these runs, but they're more that type of dog and tend to keep pretty fit for shorter bursts like this with just their approaches to life in general. Bill on the other hand, is Mr Steady and very conservative with his energy in general, so he settles in to a pace and jogs right beside me. I'll have to work harder to condition him but he'll also make up for it on the trial field where he controls himself and doesn't waste a lot of energy. The other three are more likely to "hit the wall" so i'll have to work on stamina with them, and that'll come as i extend run times.

I'm searching out larger fields for the dogs to work on, as well as just different fields for the youngsters, small or large. That's part 2 of the dog prep. Part 3 will be nutrition but i haven't quite decided what i'll be doing along those lines just yet. All 3 dogs are healthy and young, so hopefully it won't be as big of an issue as when running an older dog.

So, other than obsessing about the more mundane things (ever tried to pack for a month on the road?!), that's the big focus right now. Dogs, dogs, dogs. I'm going to try to keep a conditioning and training log and will post it here maybe once a week or so if it seems interesting at all.

Long Shot SDT

(photos by Michelle Dobbs)

I decided last week to pack up the dogs and head to the Long Shot SDT in Church Hill, MD this past weekend. It had been about 7 years since i'd gone to this trial, hosted by Sherry and David Smith, assisted by Sandy Hornung. I always enjoy the people who trial in the NorthEast, though getting there is a pain in the neck, having to drive through DC. Once there, the people are just lovely, very welcoming and generally enjoyable to be around. This trial was no exception to that general statement. The field was in nice shape and the sheep were fat and happy, bred ewes in very good condition. We stayed in a hotel since i still have the camper winterized, and it was one of the best ones i've stayed at (clean!) with a fabulous seafood restaurant across the street, all set on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Crab cakes to die for, yum!

Since we drove up early friday morning for the Novice day, I missed running Zeke in the first Nursery class. We did make it in time for the 1st ProNovice class though, and he had a very nice run. I sent him to the right, which is his favored side right now. He was a little tighter than i'd like, but not too bad. He kind of poked into the sheep after the lift but from that point it was all very clean and nice. Final score was a 72 (out of 80), good for second place. The second PN class was immediately after the first, and Zeke was back up again very quickly. The second run was pretty bad - i sent left to see if he'd widen a bit but he was really tight and not willing to stop or redirect at all. Fetch was good but he was overflanking on the drive really badly and the sheep kept doubling back on him, so i retired rather than fighting over it. The second Nursery class ran at the end of the Open on saturday, and i debated whether to run Zeke since his outruns had been bad in PN. I went ahead and ran him, hoping that the extra space and length would encourage him to widen a bit, and also so that he could do a much longer drive and hopefully get into more of a rhythm on it of pushing the sheep along. Fortunately, both of those happened. I sent him right and he bent out nicely as he made contact with his sheep. He was still a little tight on the back side, but his attitude was more correct. The fetch was pretty good and the driving was lovely except for when i very carefully steered high above the crossdrive panels. Pen was clean and final score was 79 (out of 90) for third place. If not for my poor steering, Zeke would have had his first Nursery leg in his first Nursery run ever. I was very pleased with my youngster! It was a pretty good place for running the young dogs and i wished i'd entered Moon in the PN. They were too full to add any extra dogs though, so she had to make do with some good socializing and learning to hang out and relax at dog trials. Joe had a ball charming every person and dog he could reach. He's quite the social butterfly.

Saturday brought out the big dogs for the Open. Zac was my first up and ran out fast and tight, not his usual outrun. He overshot the top end a bit but flanked back when asked, and then overworked the draw to the right by pushing the sheep well offline to the left. I don't know if he was in a dead spot on the field or it was just the adrenaline of a dog trial after a layoff rushing in his ears, but i couldn't get control of him at all until the fetch panels, even though i was yelling my guts out. From that point on it was a nice, controlled run but it sure started like a wreck. Bill's run later in the day was very nice but i just couldn't get the shed, no matter what i tried. The sheep in this flock can be awfully hard to separate and we just had a group that knew how to keep from splitting. It was unfortunate as we would have had a high placing score.

Zac was my first up again Sunday and did something i've never seen him do - going out to the right, he pulled up at 3 o'clock and walked in to the sheep directly from there. He was between the sheep and the setout pen and i guess he decided to hit that pressure point and hold it. I couldn't get him to flank at all either. Very strange. Afterwards it occurred to me that perhaps all those people who've run at this trial a hundred times knew what they were doing when they were sending left! I got him down just after the sheep lifted and got them online pretty quickly, and then went to schooling on him since i knew we were out of any kind of score at that point. I thought i'd get some training in since we were there and it wasn't a jam packed entry. The rest of the run was actually really pretty though i'm sure it sounded terrible with me growling at him and making him really listen. He probably wasn't too far out of the placings in the end. Bill's run was quite good though he pulled up a hair short at the top, lifting slightly offline and fighting me when i was trying to get the sheep back online for the first half of the fetch. They weren't far offline and he was determined to bring them straight, but i needed to move them over a bit. The rest of the run was very clean. I left before the trial was over but i heard he ended up placing about 5th.

So that was our weekend adventure. I'm very glad we went as this gives me a good idea what i need to be doing with the dogs before the next trial, in 4 weeks. It looks like outruns and long fetches are in order, as well as establishing some flexibility again. Our big KY/CO/ND trip starts 6 weeks from tomorrow so we'll be working hard on conditioning as well, starting today.

Trials and Dogs

Catching up, yet again. It's been a busy late winter/early spring so far. There's the new Shoofly dog, Joe (formerly known as Hawk) and he's keeping the big dogs and i on our toes. He's very sweet and friendly, and oh-so-Zac-energetic. Moon and Zeke are tag team trying to keep him entertained. They're both very good with him in different ways. Moon is somewhat mother like with him, playing and teaching him games, and setting rules - he's not allowed to chew on her. Zeke is more like a brother and they wrestle and tumble and Joe chews on Zeke's neck mercilessly, having to get way overboard before Zeke will correct him. Zac ignores Joe and Bill keeps him at arm's length. It's always interesting watching the pack dynamics when they change like this. Gael was always a good puppy nanny and i'm glad Moon has decided to step up with her out of the house.

Last weekend was the 4th trial at the farm, held again to raise funds towards ovarian cancer research at Duke. It was bittersweet after losing Joan in January. I couldn't quite bring myself to call it Whistle For a Cure with her gone, but most of the trial proceeds will go to the usual fund (you can still contribute here). It was a lovely weekend weather wise and a big success. Even more people than usual pitched in and it all went off very well.

My young dogs, Moon and Zeke, are coming along really well these days and i'm quite excited about both of them. They're still very young at 19 months old, but looking pretty good and getting pretty trained up. They couldn't be any different. Zeke is very steady and natural, while Moon is my pocket rocket and needs a good bit of handling to keep things under control. They're going to keep me on my toes for sure! While very different, i think they both have a lot of potential. I've come very close to selling Moon several times but i think she's going to be a good one, though that may still be a little more time away. She's certainly exciting anyway. Zeke is a good guy, somewhat like Bill was to train. He's just my guy all the way and a real partner. They're both trying really hard in their own ways. Both are nearly ready to run Nursery, at least on good sheep. Moon probably isn't ready for big trial excitement on sheep that try to run away with her, not just yet anyway. Zeke is probably a little more ready to handle that just because of his nature but i'm not sure about longer outruns with him just yet. I think they're both ready for ProNovice though, and have Zeke entered in both PN and Nursery at the trial we're going to next weekend. I may run Moon if it seems like a good situation for her.

The Open dogs are finally getting out for a little tuning up and conditioning. They're both a little rusty but not too bad. Zac is a little wild for something to do and both are a little out of shape but we'll be working on that. We're heading to Sherry Smith's Longshot trial this coming weekend and it'll be fun to see how they run and to shake some of the cobwebs off of my handling as well! I'll report on the trial when we get back.

Moon-shine

I got a little video of Moon this evening and thought i'd share. She's coming along nicely now though she's still pushy pushy pushy. There's a ton of come forward there and she's the most amazing athlete i've ever had. There's plenty she's still doing wrong but the bigger things (like sometimes not "seeing" all the sheep or letting one or two break off) are just young dog things that i'm sure she'll grow out of. In this video she's needing more than one stop command, which i hate, but she'd already been working for awhile and had been taking them nicely. She was getting a little brain-tired plus i had the camera keeping me from moving around or being quite as insistent as i might be without it. Just this evening she finally started giving me pace on the drive. You'll hear an embarassing number of "time!" commands but she's a really forward little dog and needs lots of reminders to hold her back out of the sheep. I was really thrilled with her today and can't wait to see how she does tomorrow!

Link to video: Moon at 19 months