Fetch Gate Nursery '10 - Day One and Two

While we are in New York state doing a clinic at Roger and Heather Millen's Fetch Gate Farm, they hold a nursery trial every year. The field is a great one for schooling the young dogs in a trial. It is lush green with a gentle slope (unless you are walking up it, then it feels like a big slope) and dog broke Katahdin sheep that are easy for the dogs to see. This year there were 8 dogs in the trial.

On the first day, Rainey did very well. Her outrun was the best it's ever been and her lines were pretty nice.

Diane Pagel's Rainey

She had a little trouble with the drive away but other than that she did well until the pen when she had some difficulty getting them in. She placed 3rd on the first day! On the second day her fetch and drive lines were not as nice so she didn't place.
Scout (the kelpie) also had a good trial. She had some trouble covering on the fetch on the first and second day due to pulling up short on the outrun but her drive was pretty good and she had a good pen both days.

Sherri Purcell's Scout

On the second day, Scout came in third - a personal best!
Kuro didn't have a good run either day. Some dogs do well when they sit for a few days and some don't. Kuro needs to be worked and had been sitting while we were clinicing. Fortunately, since he was already qualified, Scott was able to use the time to train on him and fix some problems that he would probably let go if he was still needing a leg for the finals.

Diane Pagel's Kuro

On the other side of the coin, Jr./Sweep showed that he could do really well if he has some time to sit and relax between trials. His biggest problem had been his outrun and on this field he really figured it out. He had a great outrun and a nice fetch.

Scott's Sweep/Jr.

His drive was nice too except for Scott's mistake. On both runs he turned short of the drive panel. On the first day it cost him the win but he was still able to hold onto second place and get his first leg for the nationals. On the second day, he still won and got his third leg for the nationals. Very good Jr!

Bluegrass '10 Day One

Oh, boy! There have been alot of runs here today. I'll try to remember the highlights of our dogs. I'm sorry that I don't have much about other people's runs today but between trying to catch Scott's runs on both fields and my own run, I haven't seen much of anyone else's. I can tell you that on the open field, Lyle Lad and Shep had a beautiful straight fetch and on the nursey field, Ron Enzeroth was awesome running in the middle of a horrible storm and ended up 2nd I believe.
The definite hero of the day for our kennel has been Donnie.

Don on the fetch

These sheep are very hard to get off the top of the open field. They try to keep running around the dog until about 50 yrds high of the fetch panel - and this is a 450yrd or so outrun! Certain times of the day they have been very heavy. The weather started out cool and rainey. We had the BIGGEST claps of thunder I have ever heard in my life (yes, Bob lived through them although he didn't believe he would). Then, when the rain left, it got warm and SUPER humid. Now at about 6:30 it is cooling down. They are still running on the open field and are about 2 hour's behind schedule.
When Don ran it was still cool and rainey. He lifted them off the top like they were no problem and kept his characteristic cool head. We wondered how he'd react to these sheep because he is just 3 years old and has never encountered a fetch or sheep like this. He was off line to the right for a little while before the fetch panels but got them back just as he passed through them. He had a nice turn around the post and made all his drive panels, even with a clap of thunder on his crossdrive. His shed was quiet and calm and he and Scott made it look easy.

Scott and Don in the shed...

They were patient at the pen and made it in with no points lost. They have an 86.5 and there is still a whole day to go tomorrow but they are near the top right now.

Lad was our other open dog today and I'm afraid our run was a bitter pill to swallow. Lad was very good and people keep telling us what a spectacular run we had but unfortunately things didn't work out for us. It was blazin' hot when he ran but it didn't affect him that much. It was the first time he had done an outrun here at the bluegrass without needing help to get to the top and only pulled up a little short by my calculations (and Scott's) but the judges seemed to feel he was dramatically short and took 6 points off of him. The sheep were heavier at 3PM and so he was slow to lift but wasn't too far off line and made his fetch panels. He had a wonderful drive and got a 27 out of 30 points but our downfall was the shed. The sheep spread out quite easily and got to eating so I called Lad in and he made one pass through and back again on the sheep. I thought it was good enough (and so did Lad who turned to regather) but the judges are consistently having the dogs hold longer. So we reshed. And reshed. And reshed again when they finally called it. I had 50 seconds to make the pen and Lad was extraordinary there. He never let the sheep settle or run behind the pen. Back and forth as fast as he could he wore the sheep down (who were harder to pen than Stampede sheep) until they went in. THEN, I made the mistake of trying to close the pen a fraction of a second too soon and one popped out. It ran behind the pen and Lad got it and put it in without loosing the other two out of the pen but before I could shut the gate they called time. 63 disappointing points.

The lower classes have been rough but the dogs have now been up the field and should be better tomorrow. Kuro in the nursery, had one redirect on the outrun and just missed the fetch panels. His turn was going to be good but the sheep slipped around the post the wrong way. From then on, Scott did some training, knowing he couldn't place today but hoping tomorrow he could do better. He got a 65.
Jr./Sweep had a crossover but then had a great drive. Hopefully, he understands the outrun now and will show his talents tomorrow. He had a 51.
Due to a mix up in entering dogs, Scott decided to throw a dog in the Pro-Novice that he trained over the winter for Roger Millen. Rock hasn't been tuned up to trial but was game to give it a try. He finished with a very respectable 67.
Rainey is also running this evening but as of yet I haven't heard how she did.
For all of the scores check out the Bluegrass website http://www.bluegrassclassicsdt.com/index.html

DJR Sweep

Sweep- AKA Jr.

Ok - there's Old Sweep, Alasdair's Sweep, Little Sweepy, and Jr. It can be a little confusing to keep them all straight. I'll make an attempt...
DJR Sweep, also known as Junior, is one of Scott's nursery prospects this year. Jr. is a son of Little Sweepy who used to be owned by Scott and was third in the 2005 USBCHA Nursery Nationals. He also made the double lift the next year placing sixth at the 2006 USBCHA Nationals. He was later sold to Don Russell of Missouri.

Scott and Little Sweepy - photo by Vickie Close

Little Sweepy was a son of Alasdair MacRae's Sweep who was a son of his Nan (the only dog to win both the ISDS International and the USBCHA Nationals) and Ben. (also a USBCHA National Champion) Little Sweepy's mother was a bitch named Dhu who was a daughter of Scott's Fly (2001 USBCHA Reserve National Champion) Fly was a daughter of Scott's Old Sweep, the foundation sire of Alta-Pete Stockdogs. Got that straight?
Jr.'s mother is Don's Ettrick Belle who goes back to Dryden Joe. (that side of the pedigree is easy)
Although he has the expression and color of his father (and his grandfather Sweep, and his great-grandmother, Nan!) Jr. is a much larger dog than his father. His confidence in his training is picking up and he seems to be one of those dogs who doesn't upset sheep.

Jr. in training at Alta-Pete Farm

Jr.'s first trial will be at the Plumb Lucky trial in Missouri, in mid April.