Eye On The Prize

It's hard to think about the 2011 National Finals while we are hunkered down at home, in the snow, but winter is when we should be thinking about it the most. Alta-Pete Stockdogs doesn't trial at all in the winter. Instead, we spend the time training the dogs, fixing the problems we saw in the open dogs (many, many in mine!) and preparing the up and coming nursery pups for their debut in the Spring.
The 2011 USBCHA National Finals is going to be held in Carbondale, Colorado this year. It's going to be absolutely beautiful scenery.
VIDEO

National Finals '10 - Double Lift

It's in the history books now. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs are the new National Champions and Tommy Wilson and Sly are reserve. Congratulations to them both! Patrick and Tommy are gracious winners and Alasdair was very classy as he stepped down from his past domination of the finals. (he and Scott plan to fight it out for the win next year)
I'm sure everyone watched the webcast so there is no need to go into details about Scott's runs but I can add a little information from behind the scenes. Maid's rerun was given because she was unable to turn back without a crossover due to the fact that the horses setting the first lot of sheep stayed out to watch the run. When she looked behind her that was all she saw. The judges decided to give her a rerun but they elected to keep her crossover. It was an odd decision but Scott said they might not have given him a rerun at all so he was happy enough. Maid showed she could have done it perfectly and was one of only two dogs to do a turn back without crossing over (the only other dog was Spot) so it was unfortunate that she wasn't given the credit for it. We are just happy that the new way Scott has been training Maid is keeping her head cool and she still didn't grip today.
The other little tidbit is that one of the judges told Scott that until Donnie's grip (Scott said he got a little desperate when the sheep started to rejoin) he was in third place. Not a bad run for a dog who was only 3 yrs old this past January. Scott was very happy with Don. It was the most difficult trial he had ever been at and he showed great command of his sheep.
If you were watching the webcast at home and you noticed in the first few runs they didn't follow the dog on the turnback but followed the sheep, you can thank my buddy Louanne for getting that fixed. She told me on the phone during the runs that they weren't following the dog so I relayed her information to the camera man who thanked her for her direction and changed his camera angle for the rest of the trial.
Wendy Schmaltz and Gin won the overall stockdog of the year award for being the highest placing dog at the cattle dog nationals (7th) and at the sheepdog nationals (4th). She said she couldn't be happier. She's a celebrity now after her heart stopping run and it felt good to scream with everyone else when she shut the pen gate.
Debbie Bailey and her Huck (who showed tons of heart when you realize he was running with a torn tendon in his rear leg and still finished the course) won rookie of the year. Congrats!

Some pictures from today...

Maid and Scott wait for sheep

Maid pushes on a challenging ewe at the pen

She could have gripped but she didn't!

Half time procession - Cy Peterson from Georgia holds the Canadian flag

My favorite dog and handler team (other than Scott and his dogs) : Lori Cunningham and 2 year old Matt

Donnie studying the runs before his

Donnie stops a collared ewe in the shed

Wendy Schmaltz and Gin accept the All Around Stockdog of the Year award

The top 17 handlers and their dogs with the judges

National Finals '10 - Semi Finals

I am sooo tired so forgive me if this blog is heavy on pictures instead of words. We had some young dogs that felt the need to be walked 4 times last night. Yes 4 times. Then Donnie, who is sleeping in the camper with Maid and us because he has earned it, told me he needed to go out. I thought he had drank too much water and had to potty but no. He wanted to visit the girls we have in the truck who are in heat. I fell for that ruse twice. I'm a slow learner. Just ask Laddie. Anyway, Don and Maid were wonderful today and both got in the double lift, along with our fellow Albertan, Wendy Schmaltz and my favorite dog, Lori Cunningham's Matt and his father, Tom Forrester's Pete. I am happy for all of them.
It was tough running today because the sheep didn't just run, they made the dogs prove they could be moved around the drive. I'm sure everyone saw the webcast. You should have. If you didn't, go to the link on the side of this blog and watch it. You won't be disappointed.
Don has drawn up 17th tomorrow. A good slot. The sheep have been sweet at the end of the day but it will be cooler all day tomorrow. At least they will know what they have to do to get it done. Maid is 4th. Not a bad draw at all. Tommy Wilson has the danger spot of 2nd place. He's going to be hard to beat with that draw. Alasdair is 15th. He's amazing no matter where he draws.
I'm going to bed and get some sleep and hope that Scott, Maid and Don get a good night's sleep
as well.
Some pictures from Don's run:

Don schools a wayward ewe on the art of flocking

Donnie with a good crossdrive line

Scott and Don get the pen

Donnie being filmed for the webcast

Don and Scott do a shed

Maid's pictures:

Maid making the fetch panels

Scott helps Maid take the sheep around the post

Maid on the crossdrive

Maid taking the sheep through the ditch on the crossdrive

Scott calling Maid in on an exciting shed

National Finals '10- Day Four Open

The heat was almost unbearable today. There were alot of runs that retired early because of it. There are some grumblings that the dates for the nationals should be pushed back to October. Fortunately, they are expecting only 85 tomorrow and a nice 71 for the double lift.
So Scott and Maid and Don made it into the semis tomorrow. Alberta girl, Wendy Schmaltz did too with her bitch, Gin (a granddaughter of Scott's Dan - shameless plug). I reminded Wendy that they will be broadcasting her on the live webcast and that the camera adds 10 pounds so remember to wear something slimming.
My favorite run of the whole trial? Tom Forrester's Pete. They ran today and had the best fetch and what would have been the best drive except that Tom apparently didn't know where the line was on the crossdrive because he marched them brilliantly across but just low the whole way. He made all his panels though and had a wonderful finish. Even with the crossdrive being off, he ended up 5th place overall. I don't think it's a coincidence that Lori Cunningham's Matt is a son of his.
The most shocking run and the one I was most wanting to see was Alasdair MacRae and Star. I love watching Star and comparing Donnie to her. I hope for him to have as great a career as she has had. Unfortunately, today Star was not at her best and took off wide on her outrun. Real wide. So wide that when she got to the three strand barbed wire in the distance, she went through it and kept running. Alasdair tried to get her to come back through but she only came in a little and continued running on the outside of the fence. Finally, Alasdair called her back and walked off (or was DQ'd I'm not sure which). When she reached his side, the audience clapped for her and Alasdair gave her a pat and left the field. In her defence, there was something odd going on for the last few runs on the outrun. Nothing I could see but Vickie Kidd, Jack Knox and Alasdair's dogs all ran wide. Maybe the light was funny.
I have not heard what the running order will be for tomorrow yet. Scott is out helping to set the course again. Don't forget to watch the webcast!

National Finals '10 - Day Three Open

Hot Hot Hot! (and I don't mean my looks- just kidding) Today reached 95 before it started cooling off in the late afternoon. When Maid and Scott drew up it was about at it's peak. Just before their run the sheep were at their worst. Anne Mock had a set that had two stop in the shade of the tree and the other two kept racing down the fetch line. She couldn't get her dog around the runners to take them back up the field and ended up having to retire. Alan Mills and Sis, who was a nursery dog last year that took third in the national finals open double lift in Oregon, had a set of two and two unless they were 5 singles by themselves. He finally had to retire at the drive panels. So we were hoping that when they took a short break to take more sheep to the top that they would improve. We didn't realize it at the time but there wasn't an improvement.

Maid and Scott wait for the sheep to be set

Scott thought Maid was just being on the muscle and stopping late on the fetch and drive away. On the crossdrive she opened up at bit, but what we found out later from the set out people was that she had a very bad single ewe that they had a difficult time setting. When we went back and reviewed the pictures I took, it was much more obvious that there was a ewe that continuously was trying to run off but we didn't notice it so much during the run. Points for Maid! She had a slightly tight outrun and Scott whistled her once but she didn't really take it. However, she bent when she saw them so no harm done. She had a nice lift and a straight enough fetch although Scott was fighting her alot.

Just after Maid's lift

Good turn around the post and a good line, although, not an easy one, to the panels. After the panels they tried to get past her to the exhaust on the left of the field but Maid did some good work getting them broke and back on the crossdrive.

Maid struggles to control the sheep at the drive away turn

There was some line struggling on the crossdrive and they almost missed the panels on the high side but they got it done and took a good shed.

Maid gets her grumpy hot sheep set up for the shed

The sheep are penning very easily so that was not an issue,

Maid and Scott pen the sheep

but like Don, after they took the sheep out, she figured she was done and she was hot so she went to the water.

Maid cools off in the tub before her single but keeps an eye on the sheep

The sheep were standing nicely, so Scott let her have a minute in there to cool down since it had been such hard work and it was so hot. When Scott called her back she came right to the ring and did her single.

Maid and Scott take the single

She ended up with a 163 which currently puts her in 21st place with the top 40 to go to the semis. It looks like she should make it in but tomorrow is the last qualifying day.
There were some more good runs today. Robin French had a another very good run, this time with Zac and Vergil Holland had a great one with Dally. I have to brag a little bit on Dally - Scott trained her many years ago to the pro-novice/open ranch level long before Vergil owned her. Vergil has had her several years and has made many improvements and handled her wonderfully today but I don't think he'll mind us riding on his coat tails a little bit. The other great run that made us proud was Marianna Schreeder and Penny. Penny is out of Scott's Pleat and Fly and he trained her and trialed her before selling her to Marianna. They are a perfect match and she actually runs better for Marianna than she did for Scott. Their run today made us so proud.
Speaking of proud, I couldn't be more proud of Lori Cunningham and Matt unless it was me and Lad. I've always said that Matt is Laddie's brother from another mother because, although he is better than Lad, he reminds me very much of him. I have to point out that you heard it here first when I declared in May of 2009 that Matt was going to be a dog to watch. He ran nursery here at these finals but like me, Lori said she had a handler error (in the same place no less!) and they didn't do very well. The open was another story. Lori stated ahead of time that she wouldn't make that mistake again and she didn't. I just about busted at the seams with pride when they posted his score of 181 today in the open, putting him currently in 7th place!
One more day of hot and one more day of qualifying. Scott is going to run over to Dan King's tomorrow where he has received an invitation to work the dogs again to prepare them for sat. (thanks Dan and Sylvia!) and I will stay behind and enjoy the trial- oh, yeah, and continue to sweat!

National Finals ' 10 - Day Two Open

Poor Laddie. He is saddled with an incompetent owner. He doesn't seem to mind but it is his lot in life. In my defence, it was 98 degrees when we ran today. Laddie was fine. I had hosed him down several times leading up to his run and he ate 4 handfuls of ice cubes right before we went on which must have gone a long way to lowering his core body temp. Anyway, when he left the post, he was not panting. My mind is the one thing that wasn't working. There were a few DQs around my run and we were talking about it and I have to think that the main mistake I made was probably because I just didn't have my mind fully on the run. When it's that hot, you get worried about the dog and don't pay as close attention to details as you should. It's something you can't afford when you are competing against this deep of talent with these kind of tricky sheep. Well, I think that was my problem anyway.
I sent Lad to the left and he did his customary pull up short. It was a little too short but I stopped him and since the pull to the left was so hard, the sheep came back on line. We held the line for a little while but then got off just enough to miss the fetch panels and then got them back on line with a nice turn around the post. We had a great drive line going and there was no way we were going to miss the panels except for my misjudgement. I don't know why I thought I would make the only tight turn at those panels when better runs had failed. I figured I'd hang on to a few points and dazzle them all while I was at it. The only problem was that I wasn't through the panels when I made the turn. This caused us to have to catch the sheep again and do some bobbling to try and at least pass the plane. Lad and the sheep got confused and when they split, Lad thought about it and figured the best way to put them back together was to circle the last one and put them back. I didn't have time to react to this before he made that decision but alot of points were gone there. We settled it down and made the panel and even made a halfway decent turn and got past the first 1/4 of the crossdrive where most dogs have problems. It was a wobbly crossdrive but not far off the line. As we went into the ditch the sheep started leaning on Lad (probably because we had lost our athority with them with the crazy drive turn) and pushing him farther down the field. There is a hill there and I couldn't see what he was doing but he was no longer anywhere near the crossdrive panels and had yet to pass the plane. I could tell it wasn't getting any better or the sheep would be back in my line of sight. At this point we had lost too many points to get to the semis and there was no reason to make Lad continue to work this hard in that hot of weather. I called him off and told him to go get in the water. He was doing fine and could have finished the course but there was no point with that many points gone.
The sheep go in varying degrees of difficulty. Our time was about the worst but in the late afternoon there were some really good runs as the sheep became more agreeable. Ron Enzeroth had a spectacular run and Debbie Bailey and Huck would have surged to a huge lead but Huck was thinking about eating his single so Debbie had some trouble calling him in and keeping him from gripping. She ended up not finishing, but the run was so good, she'll still be in there for Sat.
Tomorrow, Scott runs Maid at about the same time I ran today and it's supposed to be very hot again. I'm hoping they will do better than I did. As for Laddie and I, we will relax and enjoy ourselves and try to stay cool. Fortunately, it is supposed to start cooling down on Saturday and I will keep my fingers crossed for Donnie's run!

National Finals '10- Day One Open

We are very proud of Donnie! He worked very hard for his run today and ended the day in third place. Robin French and her nursery dog, Bill, a son of Joanie Swanke's Lew won the day with a stellar run and Carla King was second. Alasdair and Nap also worked hard for their run and should have no trouble advancing to the semis along with Tricia MacRae who had a great run but didn't get her single. Even without that her run will advance, I'm sure.
Don was sent to the left on his outrun and overran slightly at the top

Scott prepares to send Don on his outrun

(there is a plateau there where the dogs and sheep don't see each other) it caused no damage and he had a nice lift but as in so many other runs, the sheep tore off down the left side of the field. Donnie got them stopped before the fetch panels and then fought them to the line and through the fetch panels. It was a difficult turn around the post and the drive line was good but just as hard as it was for all the dogs. They had a nice turn and a very good crossdrive line.

Don turns the sheep at the drive away panel

At the end of the line, there is a ditch that the sheep have to go through and they came out on the high side so Donnie and Scott had to do some maneuvering to get through the panels.

Don takes the sheep into the ditch on the crossdrive

They had a nice shed (you must take the one collared ewe with one of any of the other collared ewes) and had to work for the pen

Don catches a belligerent ewe at the pen

(they got much easier to pen as the day went on and went as far as running into the pen for some handlers, like Patrick Shannahan). After the pen they went back to the ring and shed off one uncollared ewe and it was done.

Scott and Don take a single

Both Scott and Donnie were hot and happy when it was over.
Tomorrow Lad and I are due up around 2PM. Unfortunately, they are expecting 93 degree heat with a chance of showers which equals humidity. I will play it by ear as to what I will do. I won't hesitate to quit my run early if the sheep continue to be difficult and it gets too hot. I am just excited that Don has done well enough to move on to the semis and Laddie and I will take what comes.