Bluegrass Classic 2013

Once again the Bluegrass and it's volunteers demonstrated why it is one of the premier trials of the country.  We never miss this trial and I was so happy to hear announced at the handlers dinner that for the first time all the helpers were making plans for next year instead of thinking about not having it again.  Top dogs and handlers come from all around, and this year, we even had a Welsh competitor, Nigel Watkins, a former judge of the Bluegrass, compete in addition to the usual handlers who come from as far as Oregon and us, of course, from Western Canada.
The Bluegrass is great for seeing what our young dogs have under the hood.  The underclass' field is quite a test and weeds out the men from the boys because of it's hill, small course and difficult sheep.  Ford showed me he wasn't ready.  He brought me sheep each time, which was oh, so brave for a dog who is afraid of them, but he wasn't competitive and the wheels started to fall off after 4 runs so I didn't run him his last two times.  He was listening better but was starting his "not calling off" game after the pen when his sheep were to be exhausted.  I decided this wasn't doing us any good so I didn't run him anymore and we will work a little while we are visiting friends this week before our next trial and we'll see if we can make any improvements.
The other young dogs got better and better.  Scott was a little peeved with Alice and her no stop but she actually did quite nice, making it into the top 10 in the nursery more than once.  Skippy was very nice and over the 4 days of nursery, he put himself into contention for the overall nursery dog, but Scott didn't realize this and on the last day, he thought it would be easier not to run him so he could concentrate on June's run, so that took him out of the race.  Erin improved every day and even got a leg in the nursery one day.  Her top score in Pro Novice was pretty impressive when she got an 89 out of 90!  Bliss won the first day of Open Ranch and then placed second the next day (to Jimmy Walker's nice dog) and won the overall!
The open dogs pleased us too.  June started everything off by getting a good score on the first day and late on the last day, we all held our breath hoping her second run would be good enough to get into the double lift on Sunday.  She had a dramatic crossdrive panel and an audible cry was heard from the audience when she flanked and almost missed, then corrected and flew on the other flank to save the other side and finally a happy sigh when she pushed them through and finished with a good score.
Don ran at a very difficult time on his first run.  The sheep had tuned sour and runs around him weren't getting getting sheep around.  When he lifted them, Scott tried to help him by whistling some commands but he realized that Don knew better what was happening up there and by following Scott's flanks, it was getting harder.  Scott finally just gave him some walk up whistles and let Don bring them down the difficult fetch by himself and he did a great job and when he got them to Scott's feet they had a nice drive and finished the course nicely.  It wasn't a a great score so his second run needed to have very few mistakes and it didn't.  We were very excited when Don hung in there to get in the double lift on Sunday.
Laddie didn't have a very good Bluegrass which is unusual for him. I found out when he finished his run on the first day, that he had picked up a little virus that a couple of our dogs had, and had very bad stomach cramps and diarrhea.  It probably explained his multiple stops on the outrun, but he bravely did the rest of the course.  I had a couple of handler's errors that unfortunately made things alot harder for Lad.  Had I known he wasn't feeling well, I wouldn't have run him but it was only a 24 hour problem and he was good to run the second day.  However, his handler's errors continued and when he drew tough sheep I tried to correct his line too soon and Laddie being the biddable boy he is, did what he was told and the sheep got back to the set out.  He got them off the set out 4 more times, but the sheep had a taste for it now and got him beat.  I had to call poor Laddie off and we both made the walk of shame down to the exhaust.
Hemp blew me away this trial.  Neutering him was obviously the best idea and he is now working like a charm.  I've never had him work so nice but he's been getting better every trial and it was nice to walk to the post with some confidence. He ran early the first day and just trotted his sheep nicely down the fetch and around the drive.  I wanted to turn around to Scott in the audience to say, "Are you seeing this?"  It was like I was working some other magical dog and when I finished the shed I knew we had something special going - unfortunately, when we got to the pen, I think, as I started to get nervous about how well it was going, it translated to Hemp who was was pretty tired (remember he has been injured since August and is very out of shape) and he slid through his stop and missed 3 flanks so we didn't get a pen.  It was no matter, and he finished the round in 7th place.  His second run wasn't as perfect around the course but was still quite good and he had a dynamite shed and this time we penned and qualified for the double lift in 5th place overall!  That night, at the handler's dinner, we found out he had won the "Top End" award which is given by the set out crew to the dog they think handled the top end the best.  They said he walked on the most confident and courteous of all the dogs.  I was so honored.  Especially since this was the trial that caused me to neuter him after last year's lift when he left the sheep to try and breed the set out dog.  It's a different solid minded dog that I walked to the post with this year and I am so excited to take him to the finals this year.  He hasn't qualified since his nursery year because we usually get a few points at the start of the year and then when the bitches come in heat, he would fall apart.  Not this year.  Our fun ended there though. I knew the double lift would be difficult for him because with his injuries, he hasn't heard a turn back in over a year, let alone tried an International shed.  He wasn't sure when I asked him to turn back and crossed over and I had to ask him a few times before he finally went back but I think it was good practice for him. It was very hot and his sheep were heavy and Hemp is out of shape so getting around the course was like pulling teeth but he had decent lines and made all his panels but at about 20 yrds from the shedding ring, Hemp had enough and gripped.  I thought it might help us and the judge let it go but it didn't do much for motivating the sheep into moving, so Hemp tried again and this time, when he grabbed the sheep's hock, he was called off.  It was ok though, I was so happy to get that far.
June was nice around the course.  She did need a second turnback whistle but then she took off and had nice lines.  In the shedding ring, it was just starting to heat up and the sheep only wanted to graze.  They got down to one sheep who just wouldn't leave, and one collared ewe, who was willing to take her place.  Scott fought with them to the very end but didn't get the uncollared one dug out so no shed.
Don was a star!  Usually, the Bluegrass is won by someone who draws in the morning in the first second or third spot.  Alasdair MacRae had drawn the coveted 3rd spot this time and he didn't waste it.  He had to use two turn back whistles but the rest of the run was beautiful and his dog did a spectacular save in the shed.  Scott and Don had their work cut out for them to run in the heat in the 9th spot and beat such a nice run, but they did it.  Don did his best turnback ever and only needed his first whistle when he went back with confidence.  They also had no points off their shed and no points off their pen to win the trial!  Scott has won this trial twice before, once with Dan and once with Pleat but it meant alot for him to win it with Don because twice before he had almost won it with him but lost out to Don's mother Star, when Scott made a handler's error.  This year, there was no handler's error and he was proud to win.
Many thanks to everyone involved in the Bluegrass Classic.  We appreciate you all and are so glad you will be back next year!
Thank you to Alice Urquhart for the pictures!

The ceremony before the double lift

Hemp and I

And then there was one - June and Scott fight one last sheep in the shed

Me setting up Hemp for the first outrun

Hemp

Hemp argues with a sheep on the 3rd leg of the drive, leading to a grip off

Don navigates the first leg of the drive

Donnie cools down before starting the International Shed

Scott and Don close the gate and end their run

Scott and Don the 2013 Bluegrass Champions

Borders On Paradise 2013

We are in Turbotville, Pennsylvania in the heart of Amish country and pre-civil war main streets, at a great trial put on by Dave Fetterman every year.  The weather has been pleasant, not too hot and not too cold with only a few runs to be done in the rain.  Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures as I have been battling an upper respiratory infection that just won't go away.  When talk of pneumonia was brought up, Scott pretty much confined me to the camper and told me to sleep.  I was feeling better on Saturday so I got some pictures on that day but today has a colder wind blowing so I didn't get to see much.  Linda Tesdahl was our judge and the sheep were hair-ish crosses who never stop moving.  They were mostly easy to pen, except for a few sets and were very difficult to shed, so we saw all kinds of desperate sheds and it made the clean sharp sheds all that more impressive.
Scott ran Don early on Friday and things just didn't come together.  He was never able to get his running sheep to settle so he only ended up with a score of 76.
Laddie ran midday but just isn't himself.  He's acting ok and it's likely just the fact that he's out of shape, but he just didn't try very hard to be right this weekend.  In his first run, he pulled up very short, which many of the dogs were doing, but at his age, he should know better and I was unprepared for how very short he was going to be.  He ended up pushing the sheep off  the wrong way and really didn't try very hard to fix it.  I finally got him to flank over to try to get onto the fetch line, but when he missed the panels, we retired.  If he is still off when we get home, I'll run a blood panel on him, but like I said, he's acting well and he's never had a ton of motivation anyway so perhaps the fact that he was laid up for the winter with a shoulder injury and isn't in shape, is the reason he's not really performing.
Hemp was wonderful. If his winter injuries and lack of fitness are bothering him, I can't see it.  I have been very happy with him these past two trials and he is proving that the decision to neuter him was the right one.  He even had a bitch in heat run right before him and he never cared at all.  That is not the same Hemp who tried to breed the set out dog at the Bluegrass last year!  He had one of the rare, deep outruns for the weekend  and although a little fast on his fetch I settled him down and we had a nice drive but missed the hard to hit crossdrive panels.  One missed attempt on the shed and we got an 80 and were in 8th place.
Amanda Milliken with Monty and Bev Lambert with her young Joe surged to the lead with a tie score of 87 and it looked like there was going to be a run off, until June smoothed her way through her run (she did have one missed attempt on the shed) and beat them by one point with an 88!
On Saturday we had some rain but even the real serious deluges didn't seem to affect the runs.  Vicki Kidd had a horrible down pour while she was trying to hit the crossdrive panels and we were worried that her dog wasn't going to hear her but she pushed through and made them anyway.
June ran in the morning and the sheep were challenging the dogs a little more on the top early in the day.  They wanted back to set out and were willing to run over the dog to get there.  Scott saw this and figured he'd be in trouble with June as long as they were running like that and sure enough, they tried to get around her and she gripped one and was DQ'd.
Laddie ran midday again and he was a little better this time.  I was ready for him to pull up short and gave him a couple of blow overs at the top.  He felt ok around the course, but we missed the crossdrive panel and had a missed attempt at the shed, before we got it (I would like to say, when he did come in on the single, he was very committed to holding it and we've been working on that so I was pleased)  and we only got a 70.
Hemp was a little harder to hold on the second day but perhaps this was my fault.  He's starting to accumulate points and it's looking like qualifying for the finals is within our reach (for the first time) so I'm probably tensing up.  I've been running him for the joy of it and just working like we were at home but now it's starting to matter so I would guess I was just not treating him like the reliable work dog he is.  I will try to relax more at the Bluegrass this week.  We had another missed crossdrive but a great shed and got an 83 for 7th place.
Scott and Don ran at the end of the day and did it as smooth as June did the day before.

Donnie on the fetch

 He had a ewe challenge him around the post and when she wouldn't back down, he gave her a perfect nose hit and she behaved herself the rest of the time with only a little grouch in the shedding ring.  It was going to take a pretty decent score to beat Amanda Milliken's 92 set in the early morning, and then Bev got a 93 with Joe but  Donnie topped them with a 95 to win.

Don and Scott take a single

 We ran the underclasses today and Scott and I are not feeling very good about our youngsters right now.  Ford was the first dog to go to the post and was terrible.  He stopped several times on his outrun and still came in flat on the top.  I don't know where that stop went on his fetch because after his lift I never saw it again until he got the sheep to my feet. Oddly, even with no stop or square flanks, he was lucky to have a straight line and made his panels.  He always settles down on his drive and listened well there.  He did think about not flanking after making the drive away, but decided to go with it.  His crossdrive was a little low and he was good about taking some flip floppy flanks in front of the panels and oddly, he was the only dog I had that made the crossdrive panels all weekend.  He brought the sheep to the pen without taking a stop and they didn't go right in so some flanking was required.  He was a little tight but we managed to put them in the mouth but on the gate.  I had to move around to try and get them in and that excited Ford who pushed them out, singled one off and tried to grip it on the head (I know you are saying, Jenny, in the past you haven't been able to get him to grip and now you are complaining that he wants to grip) we got them back together, put them again in the mouth but at that point, I knew it was only going to be a one point pen so I wasn't worried when the timer went off as I was shutting the gate.  I'm hoping the several runs at the Bluegrass will settle him down.  Ford gets nervous and gets stupid, and in turn, this gets me nervous and mad.
Scott ran Skippy but had to use it as a training exercise when he wasn't listening and wouldn't stop or bend so they retired.

Skippy on the fetch

 Alice really wasn't that bad although she was a little fired up by the running sheep but she was unable to make her fetch panels and then couldn't get the sheep to line out on the drive.  They ran back and forth too much when her excitement was making them touchy.  So Scott retired her too.
I missed Erin and Ben in the Pro-Novice but Scott said that Ben crossed over and then wouldn't take a comebye so he retired him.  Ben is very young and is going to need another year to mature.  He's a nice dog so Scott is making sure that when he messes up on the field, that he knows and understands it.  It was important not to try to continue the run since the main thing is to build a dog for next year.  He might even pull him from a couple of trials if he thinks it would be better for the dog.  We'll see how he goes at the Bluegrass but we have high hopes for him next year and need to give him good experiences this year.
The same goes for Erin - she did get out better on the uphill outrun, and only lost a couple on her lift but Scott was more concerned about her learning to take her flanks properly and stopping when she was told to worry about her lines at this point.  He retired her at the pen when it wasn't going well but she did fine.
Many thanks to Dave Fetterman for having us all to this fun trial and Jim and Joanne Murphy for doing all the clerical work and doing a little bit of everything, and a big thank you to the boys in the set out who did a great job holding difficult to stand sheep. 
Tomorrow we will head down to the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky.  I hear the weather is supposed to be in the low 80s all week, that could be very nice to run the dogs in and beat my cold!
OPEN 1 (79 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and June 88
2. Amanda Milliken and Monty 87
3. Bev Lambert and Joe 87
4. Amanda Milliken and Dorey 81
5. Joyce Geier and Jim 81
6. Lori Cunningham and Matt 81
7. Ivan Weir and Jim 81
8. Jennifer Glen and Hemp 80
9. Carol Guy and Will 80
10. Polly Matzinger and James 79

OPEN 2 (78 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Don 95
2. Bev Lambert and Joe 93
3. Amanda Milliken and Monty 92
4. Viki Kid and Macy 88
5. Jeanine VanDerMerwe and Sam 88
6. Barb Klein and Crista 85
7. Jennifer Glen and Hemp 83
8. Tommy Wilson and Roy 83
9. Joe Evans and Mist 82
10. Bev Lambert and Nan 82

Ranch and Nursery were the same  run but not all dogs were entered in both classes so the placings are different.
Nursery (14 dogs)
1. Bev Lambert and Rose 78
2. Amanda Milliken and Howell 70
3. Amanda Milliken and Feist 65
4. Viki Kidd and Reed 55
5. Barb Klein and Craig 55
6. Lori Cunningham and Anna 52
7. Jennifer Glen and Ford 49
8. Joanne Murphy and Gil 42
9. Sue Schoen and Rue 37
10. Tom Hoeber and Quinn 30

OPEN RANCH (15 dogs)
1. Pam Davies and Jet 74
2. Fran Sharon and Liz 71
3. Mary Thompson and Paris 66
4. Amanda Milliken and Feist 65
5. Jim Murphy and Hemp 54
6. Jennifer Glen and Ford 49
7. Sandra Meilhan and Troy 46
8. Nancy Liptak and Rusty 44
9. Joanne Murphy and Gil 42
10. Linda Fossetta and Murk 39

PRO NOVICE (24 dogs)
1. Gene Sheniger and Ket 63
2. Barb Leverett and Bob 60
3. Renee Billadeau and Tally 58
4. Joyce Geier and Jack 56
5. Lori Cunningham and Anna 55
6. Jim Murphy and Speed 50
7. Linda Clark and Lyn 44
8. Pam Davies and Ben 44
9. Linda Clark and Meg 41
10. Megan Quigley and Dot 40

Stirling Acres Trial - Open and Nursery Day Two

Day Two was overcast, and cool with the same heavy winds that remind us of home.
June ran first in the open and really did well.  She smoothed out today and other than Scott turning the drive away panel just a little short, she had a wonderful run.  Despite that, she scored a 90 and placed 5th.
Hemp was also nice today.  His fetch improved and he held a nice line until his crossdrive.  I expected he would do his normal line once I placed him on it so I looked over to the panels to assess our position on the line and when I looked back, he was wandering around off the line.  It hurt us with the loss of the points and we ended up in 7th place with an 88.
Donnie looked wonderful. There wasn't anything that needed changing with his run, EXCEPT, Scott misjudged the crossdrive panel and missed it high.  The rest of the run was very nice and they scored a 92 and placed 3rd.
Laddie was also good today and had a fetch that was dead on with almost no help from me.  However, on his drive away, I assumed he'd take his usual short flank after we made the panels and I blew him around to start the crossdrive, but I was wrong and he took a big fast one that put them back through the panels.  This hurt very badly and we lost 12 points on the drive, dropping us to 14th place and got an 82.
George Stambulic and Kate (Pleat daughter - Bliss' mother) handily won the class with the high score of 94!
The wind really picked up for the nursery class but it didn't really affect their hearing.  Skippy ran well and placed 3rd, getting his first nursery leg.
Louanne Twa's Gus

Louanne Twa's Gus, a son of Scott's Don was second in the nursery class

 (Don son, Alice littermate) got his first leg with second place and Alice won the class getting her qualifying leg for the Nationals.
Erin had a much better run today and placed 4th, just out of the points, and Scott used the run to help Ben learn how to lift off a stranger and walked up the field to help him.

Diane Pagel's Ben

 Ford was antsy in the blind and charged hard on the fetch, not backing off when I told him.  He had to be told to stop walk, stop flank and had no smoothness. 

Ford on the fetch - photo by Lee Lumb

His drive away and crossdrive were fine but after he made his crossdrive panels, he wouldn't take his comebye flank to bring them back to me.  Some people felt the wind caused him not to hear me but if that was so, he was the only dog of 13 dogs that had that problem.  Because yesterday, he had taken the wrong flank on both drive panels after making them, I believe that he felt an uncomfortable pressure and didn't want to take it.  I finally got him to start the flank but then he pulled out and drove them up the field so I walked off and made him behave.
Many thanks to Lee Lumb and Brian Revel (and Carly) for a great and beautiful trial!

Our host, Lee Lumb and her 14 1/2 year old Shay keep an eye on the trial

 We loved it!

Open II (44 dogs) 
1. George Stambulic and Kate 94
2. Thad Buckler and Nic 93
3. Scott Glen and Don 92
4. Carol Nelson and Zip 92
5. Scott Glen and June 90
6. Lee Lumb and Cass 89
7. Jennifer Glen and Hemp 88
8. George Stambulic and Nan 87
9. Bob Stephens and Pete 84
10. Charmane Henderson and Reo 83

Overall Open: Scott Glen and Don

Don's overall Open buckle and ribbon donated by the Schweb family.

Nursery II (13 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Alice
2. Louanne Twa and Gus
3. Scott Glen and Skip

Overall Nursery: Carol Nelson and Tiki

Stirling Acres Trial - Open and Nursery

OK, now that I actually have the name of the trial right (it's IN Coldstream, but AT Stirling Acres), we can talk about the open trial!  Scott and I both decided to send our dogs to the right today into the water.  Donnie was the first of ours to go and charged out well to the right, when he hit the water, his little legs pumped through it and shooed off the geese bathing there.   Not bothered at all, he went to the top, had a good lift and a good fetch.  His drive away was was good but on the crossdrive, even though he was direct and moving them nicely, they split into two and two.  Donnie did an incredible job of working the front two to get through the panel and then getting the back two.  Back and forth, back and forth and only lost 7 on his drive.  Obviously, the shed was easy (although it was one of the few) and then a good pen.  Even with the difficult drive, Donnie placed 4th today.
Because of Donnie's nice geese clearing, Laddie had it easier but he went right into the water and pretty much had to swim/slog through it so that when he got to the top he was exhausted (remember he's out of shape because he was injured all winter).  He felt like an old dog moving around the course.  He needed one blow over the top to get a little deeper - he was a little lost in the water, and he took it nicely and had a good fetch.  A little bobble on the drive away and one of the few really good crossdrives (most people were very low). Unfortunately, I guessed too low on the 3rd leg and lost some points there. In the shedding ring, the tricky sheep got the best of me and I didn't set it up right, getting two missed attempts before getting it and then doing an easy pen. He was 13th place.
June went out to the right and didn't really get bogged down in the moat, but I don't think those nice lesson sheep had ever seen anything with her energy before and they took off like a shot! 

June on the fetch

Her fetch and drive were good despite them but she was hesitant to come in on Scott's running shed and had two missed attempts before getting it done and then putting them in the pen. Still, she finished in 7th place.
I decided to send Hemp left since I didn't need to aggravate his winter injury in the water, and I needed him to save energy since he is in worse shape than Laddie.  He did well on the outrun and lift but surprised me on the fetch by not being straight on his own.  I was hoping he would fix it on his own, since asking him to flank on these touchy sheep was dangerous.  I waited too long for him to fix it and we missed the fetch panels.  Shortly after, we got it nicely under control and had a nice drive with another really good crossdrive.  I had the sheep a little better figured out in the shed,

I call Hemp in on the shed

and of course, Hemp is better at coming in anyway, and he had nothing off with a perfect pen. He placed 16th.
Next was the nursery.  They brought the outrun back in to the pro novice set out and moved in the crossdrive panels but left the long drive away.
Skippy had a great outrun and lift but on the fetch it was becoming obvious that his sheep were going to try to split up like they did with Don.  It got bad on the crossdrive and Skippy didn't understand how to fix it so Scott retired so he could help him.

Skip turns the post

 Ben was next and had a nice outrun but was a little worried about the set out person so Scott retired to help him, but he had a very nice fetch after that.  He'll get some more training with a set out person next week so hopefully his next few trials will go better.
Erin was good at the top but in trying to be good, she was often far off her sheep and concerned about them.  Scott retired with her to help her build her confidence.
Ford and I were next.  All in all, he wasn't bad but he had some mistakes that need work.  He had a good outrun to the left, and came in on a nice lift, but as expected, he was charging them a little too fast so I chewed him out to settle him down and flanked him too late to make the panels.  Once he was at my feet, he had a good drive away with a little bobble in front of the panels but still made them and had a nice turn and start on the crossdrive.  I tried to open his inside flank by asking him to that'll do towards me, but I was in the wrong position, and it caused him to spin instead and after making the crossdrive panels, he took a wrong flank and had to make a very big  turn once I set him straight.  He did a nice job with his pen.  I ran him a little scared today and I vow to settle down and run him bravely tomorrow.
Alice was the star of our kennel and even though the first leg was so obviously already won by Carol Nelson and Tiki, Alice was second best and got second place, getting her first leg towards the nationals!

Alice on the fetch

 Her littermate, Louanne's Gus also looked very good and it's just a matter of time before his confidence is up enough to get his own final's legs.

Open I (44 dogs)
1. Jennifer Macdonell and Deisel 93 (won in a run off)
2. Lee Lumb and Nan 93
3. Carol Nelson and Taff 91
4. Scott Glen and Don 89
5. Chris Hanson and Teak 87
6. Carol Nelson and Zip 87
7. Scott Glen and June 86
8. Lynne Schweb and Dex 86
9. Lee Lumb and Cass 86
10. Thad Buckler and Nick 82

Nursery I (13 dogs)
1. Carol Nelson and Tiki
2. Scott Glen and Alice

Coldstream Trial - Pro Novice

After a long cold winter, Western Canadians wake up from their hibernation to see what their dogs are doing at the Coldstream trial at Lee Lumb's beautiful farm in BC.  It's warm and green and we run on farm flock, hair sheep on a flat field.  The left hand outrun has a draw for the sheep near the top, which caused a few dogs to pull up short, and the right hand outrun has alot of water - ALOT of water that several geese were bathing in and it slogged the dogs down on their path. Today's judging was done by Chris Hanson, and assuming her flight finally gets in tonight (it was canceled at first), tomorrow's runs of Open and Nursery, will be Vicki Kidd.
Because of the large entry (a good problem to have in Western Canada where we rarely fill trials) you could run Pro Novice or Nursery but not both.  Today's Pro Novice had 34 dogs. The sheep were hard to settle at the top so there were alot of free bees on the lifts but after that, the sheep were great. Both of Bliss' runs were nice and Scott was happy with her and she placed 5th in her first run and 7th in her second run. 

Bliss on the fetch

The first round was won by Bliss' littermate, Penny Ohanjanian's Druid, a son of Scott's Don and George Stambulic's Kate (a daughter of Scott's Pleat).

Pro Novice I (34 dogs)
1. Penny Ohanjanian and Druid  83
2. Pam Boring and Bob 83
3. Gord Lazzarotto and Oakley 81
4. Lee Lumb and Rando
5. Scott Glen and Bliss 77
6. Jennifer MacDonnell and Boomer 75
7. , 8. Lee Lumb and Gus 74
          Wayne Roberts and Rex 74
9. Louanne Twa and Craig 71
10., 11. Gord Lazzaroto and Chica 70
             Lynne Schweb and Toss 70

Pro Novice II (34 dogs)
1. Lee Lumb and Gus 86
2. Lynne Schweb and Toss 79
3. Doe Shires and Dottie 78
4. Sue Wessles and Skid 77
5. Louanne Twa and Craig 76
6. Wayne Roberts and Rex 75
7. Scott Glen and Bliss 75
8. Gord Lazzaroto and Oakley 72
9., 10. Doe Shires and Hawk 71
           Pam Boring and Bob 71

CWS Alice

Scott's second nursery dog this year is, Alice.

CWS Alice owned by Alta-Pete Stockdogs

 Alice was born in November of 2011 so she will actually be nursery next year too.  This year will be a practice year, but she has shown a maturity that might make her competitive.
Her mother is Wendy Schmaltz's Gin (2010 All Around Stockdog) who is a daughter of  Ian Zoerb's tough bitch, Gyp and Denis Nagel's Finn.  Finn was a son of Milton Scott's Sue and Scott's Alta-Pete Dan going back to Scott's original Sweep.
Alice's father is Scott's Don (2011 Canadian Champion, 2010 USBCHA Nursery Champion) who is a son of the three time USBCHA National champion, Star.
We were very excited about this breeding and the first time this cross was done, we got Mikey who we were impressed with enough to get Alice out of the second breeding.

Alice working this Spring at Alta-Pete Farm

There are a few other dogs in this cross from both litters, Wendy's, Kelly and Kye,(the father to my 7 month old pup, Try),  Brian Nelson's, Jake, and Louanne Twa's, Gus, who are also looking good and will be starting in nursery this year.
A dog with an early interest in working is no guarantee of greatness, but it was nice to see that at the mere age of 8 weeks, Alice was not only interested in working sheep, she was balancing them to a handler. 

Alice eying up sheep at 8 weeks old

Her interest only grew and as she started to mature, Scott put more and more time on to her and she absorbed the training like a sponge.

Alice

 We are looking forward to watching her develop in her first nursery year and her first trial will be Lee Lumb's Stirling Acres trial in BC, in just a few weeks.

Skip

Scott's main nursery dog for this year is Skip.

Scott's 2013 nursery dog, Skip

Skip was born in January of 2011 and is a smooth coated male.  He was bred by Doug Brewer and is out of his Imp. Taff and Imp Tess.  Taff came from Wales and goes back to Ceri Rundle's Bwlch Hemp, Aled Owen's Welsh National Champion, Ben and Paul Turnbull's English National Champion Nap.
Skippy's mother is also from Wales and goes back to Jim Croppers's English National Champion, Cap, Butchers's Mac and Bobby Dalziel's International Champion, Wisp and his Scottish National Champion, Dot.
Skip was well started in Tennessee by Bob Ford and trialed once in a pro-novice class when he was 16 months. We were happy to get the chance to buy him.

Skip working at Alta-Pete Farm

 Skippy's first nursery trial will be at the end of April in British Colombia at Lee Lumb's Stirling Acres trial.

Skippy

 Scott plans on running Skip on the difficult sheep at the Canadian Nurseries this year, and if he can get qualified, he'll take him to the USBCHA Nursery Nationals.