Chinquapinwood Trial Stockdog class and Nursery

No fog this morning so we were able to start the Stockdog/Nursery class at 7:30AM. The morning started out overcast but warmed up as the sun came out. The course was the same as open, minus a shed. Tuque was the first of our dogs to run in the first class. Unfortunately, Tuque is not performing as well as she was a few trials ago. That's young dogs. They can't be perfect all the time and since she is already qualified for the nationals, the trick will be to keep her from developing any bad habits. After the Bluegrass, if she still needs it, Scott will get some more training on her to prepare her for the finals. Since the main part of her problem was her stop, Scott decided to pull her from the second class and put River in her place.
Sleat is getting better all the time.

Diane Pagel's Sleat

She had a good outrun lift and fetch and the start of her drive on her cross drive she took a wrong flank and missed her panels.

Sleat on the fetch

However, up until that time she had a nice and controlled drive but ran out of time at the pen. Her final score was a 67.
Don had an off day too. His fetch was a little rough and he made his drive away panels but his crossdrive suffered and his flanks weren't up to par. He also timed out at the pen and only got a 43.
Alasdair MacRae won the class with an 89! (that's out of 90)

Stock Dog Class first round: (36 dogs)
1. Alasdair MacRae and Hanna
2. Emil Luedecke and Lad
3. Vergil Holland and Scott
4. Linda Myer and Gnat
5. Alasdair MacRae and Sara
6. Vickey Russell and Devi

Nursery day one: (21 dogs)
1. Emil Luedecke and Lad
2. Vergil Holland and Scott
3. Alasdair MacRae and Sara
4. Vickey Russell and Devi

On the second run of the stockdog/nursery class the sheep got more difficult but our dogs got better. The sheep had been good this whole trial but they were hot and tired and just wanted to go to the exhaust. They got much harder to push around the drive.
Sleat still didn't get her qualifying leg but she is almost there. Her outrun and lift were good as usual and she pushed on those heavy sheep and only had difficulty right in front of the crossdrive panels. She did make them but it was very wobbly. Her score was a 74.
Donnie moved his sheep alot faster and was taking his flanks better since the sheep weren't leaning on him as much with the quicker pace.

Don on the fetch

This time he got his pen and ended up with a 70.

Don and Scott at the pen

Scott knew that the sheep were going to be difficult for River.It had just gotten too hard for a green young dog. He ran at the end of the class in the heat of the day when the sheep had decided they had enough. So his plan was to use the run to give River some training experience and retire him when it got too much. First we weren't sure how his outrun would go since he didn't run in the previous class with all the other dogs. Scott only had to give him one blow on the whistle and River corrected his outrun and finished it up wonderfully. He continued on and had a great fetch too. Many dogs lost sheep going around the post as they ran back to the set out. River kept his under control and started on the drive. He did a good job of trying to move them up the drive line. They wanted to stop and graze and River kept picking them up and moving them along but right in front of the panels it got too hard and he circled them. Scott helped him straighten them out and then retired and had River bring them back to him. River was pretty proud of himself and we were just as proud of him. He did better than we had expected.

Stockdog Class Second Round: (36 dogs)
1. Jim Swift and Molly
2. Alasdair MacRae and Hanna
3. Emil Luedecke and Lad
4. Mary Thompson and Rio
5. Vergil Holland and Scott
6. Maureen Robinson and Newt
Nursery Class Second Round: (21 dogs)
1. Jim Swift and Molly
2.Emil Luedecke and Lad
3. Vergil Holland and Scott