Drift

Drift is currently Scott's number two dog.

Drift

He was purchased just before his 3rd birthday so he missed out on his nursery year. He almost missed the next year too. He was coming along nicely in his training when he went into our barn to bring a sheep out. A big Suffolk ewe was surprised by him and went strait up in the air, only to land on Drift's front foot. He ended up with a deep laceration and a broken bone. Needless to say, his training was put on hold and he was not released to work again until the day before his first run at the Bluegrass. Scott was a little afraid that it might be a disaster since Drift had not seen sheep for over 2 months and had never trialed before but it was a nice surprise when he placed 5th in the Open Ranch/Advanced Pro-novice class. His good work continued that year when he took the overall Open Ranch win at the Thistle Dew trial

Scott and Drift at the Thistledew Trial '08

and did the same at the Buffalo, Alberta trial. Buffalo was also Drift's debut in the open class (and so far his only open run) and Scott was pleased with his work.
Drift was born in December 2004 to a little black bitch named Mij. It's often hard to believe that a big rangy dog like Drift came out of such a small mother.

Drift

Mij was a daughter of Jim "The Bomber" and RC Tomlinson's Penny. Scott had bought her as a pup and trained her. He trialed her in one nursery class where he always remarks how changed a dog she became after her first trial run. "She just blossomed" he said. Shortly after that Mij was bought by Alasdair MacRae who bred her to Michele Howard's Spot. Spot is a Bobby Henderson bred dog and goes back to to his International trial winner, Sweep and Johnny Wilsons's Spot, also an ISDS champion. Alasdair and his wife Tricia got Drift a good start on his training and then sold him to Scott.

Drift training at Alta-Pete Farm

Drift's biggest weakness at first was his shed but as his training and confidence progressed, it ended up being his best move. Scott is looking forward to seeing Drift settle into being a good open dog. Perhaps by the end of the season he'll be challenging Maid for first position.