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