Hepnner St. Patrick's Day Trial - third report

Donnie's run held up yesterday so he has won his first open trial on his first time to the post! The last 4 runs of the first trial didn't upset any of the other scores so what I reported yesterday stayed the same.
Scott said the weather today was beautiful. Sunny but not too hot to run dogs. He was pleased with both of his dogs today but he didn't score as well as yesterday. Donnie got a 79 and Scott said he looked his age (barely 3) and needed some more seasoning. They missed the drive gates and had a wide last leg but what hurt him the most was no pen which apparently was a handler error
Maid was much better today and scored an 84 with no pen so she was able to redeem herself from yesterday.
Scott has a long haul tonight to get to Washington for a clinic so he was unable to stay until the end but said that Karen Child and Rock had a 96 and were leading. With their 86 from the day before, it looks like she will have the overall wrapped up too since the other contenders didn't have as good of runs today as they did yesterday.

Heppner St. Patrick's Day Trial - second report

The first day's trial is not over - they ran out of daylight and have 4 more dogs to run tomorrow so my information is still unofficial but I can give you what I have. I am proud to say that Scott's luck has improved and Donnie is sitting in first with a 92! This is Don's first open run and I'm happy to say he is showing good stuff. Scott said it was not an easy run and described the sheep as "pushing rope" because one wanted to run and the other two wanted to graze. Obviously they got it done anyway. In second is still Lavon Calzacorta with his 89 and behind him is Diane Deal with Angie with an 88. There were three with 87s - Lynn Johnson, Elizabeth Baker and her tried and true Rye and Anne MocK with Taff. After that there was a cluster of those with an 86 : Francis Chai and Belle (this dog was in open when my Bob was just a pup so she's got to be at the very least 12 and could be much older!), Norm Close and Gwen (with two missed gates! It must have been a nice run, way to go Norm!) Patrick Shannahan with Riggs and Karen Child with Rock. Pearse Ward had an 85. A couple of honorable mentions: Vickie Close got an 83 with Gail and a 77 with Hanna - good job! and Sandy Johnson with her young/new dog Dusty got a 77.
The last four to run for the first day's trial are, Karen Stanley and Meg, Sue Wessles and Ajax, Laura Vishoot and Ripley, and Francis Chai and Chime. I will let you know how it all plays out when Scott reports in tomorrow.

Heppner St. Patricks Day Trial 2010 - first report

Scott's trial season has started! But I'm afraid the first run of the year hasn't been so hot -hopefully it's not a sign of things to come!
The weather at Heppner started a little cold and rainy and the wind is in your face but Scott said the dogs are hearing so it's ok, and the sun has started to peak out.
His run with Maid didn't go anywhere. The sheep were getting grumpier as the day progressed and maybe that has to do with the wind. Scott thought he had a plan to keep her off the sheep on the lift. It seemed to work well for others but it didn't go that way for Maid. She lifted them off the hay and had them moving when Scott stopped her to give them some room to move. It was the wrong thing to do and the sheep tried to go back to the hay by pushing on Maid. Long story short, Maid ate one and Scott retired.
Hopefully Don's run will go better this evening.
As of 2PM Pacific time the leader was Lavon Calzacorta (with Tess I believe) with an 89. Lynn Johson (with Jessie I think) and Elizabeth Baker with Rye were tied for second and third with an 87. Diane Deal (and Zorro maybe?) and Patricia Peterson with Jen were both tied with an 81 and Joe Haines and Rain had an 80. He also said that Ken Johnson with our old Drift had a great run but gripped out at the pen. (better luck tomorrow, Ken!) While he was giving me his report, he said that Pearse Ward and Riell had just had a nice one but he didn't have a score on him yet.
His next report will probably not be until tonight but I will post what I hear.

Heppner Final Day Placings

Open Second run: (unofficial)

1. Francis Chai and Belle (beautiful run)
2. Lana Rowley and Blue
3. Karen Stanley and Meg
4. Bob Dias and McCloud
5. Scott Glen and Lucy
6. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs
7. Scott Glen and Roo
8. Francis Chai and Chime
9. Sue Wessles and Lexie
10. Scott Glen and Maid

Overall open:
1. Scott Glen and Maid
2. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs
3. Scott Glen and Roo

Nursery Day Three: (9 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Don
2. Karen Child and Chance

Heppner Day Three

Well, Maid gets to keep her shotgun position. Although her run didn't score as well today, Scott was over the moon with how she worked. She had it won until the crossdrive when she had some running and lagging sheep and ended up with a messed up line and a panel missed. She had sheep facing her more than once and she walked into them every time with no gripping, which, if you know Maid at all, is a big step for her. Unfortunately, with the second round time shortened by 2 minutes, she ran out of time at the pen and ended up in 10th place for the day. However, she won the overall so we are very proud of her.
Lucy looked good today too. She had a missed attempt on the shed that confused Scott but after he got the sheep penned he found that she had a blind one that explained it. She was tied with Roo with a 78. Scott will be giving me the final placings this evening but he did say that 3 of the dogs ended up in the top 10.
Tuque looked better today and although the run still wasn't competitive, he was glad he chose to run her. He said she's learning alot with these sheep and smoothing out. Her last run was so much better than her first. She was still having a little trouble with her drive, but a valid excuse was that the crossdrive was the same distance as the open.
The best news was that Donnie looked stellar today and handled the sheep well, winning the nursery .
I will have the top 10 open and top 3 nursery orders up tonight.

Heppner Day Two

Unofficial placings from the first round of Open:
(ties have not been broken)
1. Scott Glen and Maid
2. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs
3. Scott Glen and Roo
4./5. Donna Eliasen and Zach
Scott Glen and Drift
6. Noel Williams and Gael
7./8. Karen Child and CBK Rock
Lana Rowley and Blue
9./10. Noel Williams and Nap
Francis Chai and Belle

Nursery first round:
1. Diane Deal and Annie
2. Patrick Shannahan and Andy
3. Patrick Shannahan running Bobbie Anderson's Tater

Scott said the wind and rain were in your face today on and off. He swore it seemed to come in every time he went to the post but then relaxed when he was done running. Drift did well in his first run today but the second run for the second round of open was not as good. The sheep are pulling hard to the exhaust and at the crossdrive gate the sheep fooled Scott. He thought they would go through but just squirted to the side at the last minute. He did finish his course but with a wide turn around the post and a bad start to the drive, he didn't think they were going to place as high in the second round. Roo was sitting second at the end of the day with a 78 but Scott didn't think it was going to hold that place. He missed a fetch gate today. Maid and Lucy will run tomorrow but currently Lana Rowley and Blue are in the lead.
In today's nursery, Scott felt that Tuque definitely handled the sheep better. The sheep kept trying her on the drive and continuing to stop and stare at her but today she walked into them. Scott said that it took too much time to get around and at the end the sheep whipped by the crossdrive gates just short of them. Scott saw that they were running out of time and the sheep ran by the pen to the exhaust. They gave him a retire which is not what he actually did but the score wasn't going to be competitive so it didn't matter. He said if the sheep are as difficult tomorrow he might not run the nursery again.
Happily, I can report that Don won today! However, Scott said this nursery was a little too hard for his young dogs but he did say that Patrick Shannahan's dogs were handling them well.
Day 2 nursery placings:
1. Scott Glen and Don
2. Patrick Shannahan and Andy
3. Karen Stanley and Clare

Tomorrow should be a shorter day with the last runs of open to go and the final run of nursery

Heppner Day One

The first day of Heppner started at 7Am and ran until dark. It was a little windy and cold today with no sun but Scott called it "a nice day for dog trialing." They did not finish all the open runs today so none of my information is final but it is current for the first day. At this point, Maid is in first place with an 89. Scott said she was a little high on her crossdrive but other than that it was a good run. There were very few pens today and Maid's was the first.
Lucy was the next to run. He was also happy with her. She is known to be extremely biddable and it's good to know that she carries that into a trial. Her youth was the only thing that got in her way with a wide turn around the post and a missed flank which caused her to miss a drive panel. She also had a rough shed. She came in nicely but Scott said it took a little time to set it up.
As of this evening, Patrick Shannahan was in second place but I didn't find out if it was with Riggs or another dog.
Roo, I am proud to say, is in third with a 79. Scott said he had a good outrun but got hung up on the trailers. If you ask me, this is because all last year he would cut in on his outruns and make a mess of the lift so he's never seen trailers on the outrun! It's a good lesson for him tho and Scott said that once he was past that he was very very good and alot of people liked the way he was working.
Scott said that after 3rd there was a crowd of people in the high 60's and that was where Lucy scored so he didn't know what place she was in.
Drift hasn't had the chance to run yet and will go tomorrow.
The nursery was a little disappointing but Scott says he has confidence that the dogs will improve on their second go tomorrow. He said Donnie was very good and perhaps he shouldn't have tried as hard to hit his fetch panels as he did. By that time the sheep had been rerun and were pulling hard to the exhaust. Don got stuck into them and didn't have as nice of flanks as he usually does. They did get their first drive leg done but Scott felt the sheep were just too much and he walked off so Don didn't loose confidence.
Tuque's run went much the same. She had a very good outrun, despite the fact that because it was dark he was sure she didn't see the sheep when she left his feet. Her fetch was also very good but on the first leg of the drive the sheep started facing her and she'd never experienced that before. She was hesitating so Scott left the post to help her out so she'd learn from it. He said he was happy with both the nursery dogs but this is just a very difficult trial for a first time out.
Actually, he was happy with all the dogs. If can get him to call in tomorrow at the end of the first trial I will post in the afternoon but otherwise, I'll get another update tomorrow night.

Off to Heppner

Yea! The first trial of the year! Boo-hoo! I don't get to go!
Scott left today for Heppner, Oregon for the St. Patrick's day trial.

Lucy and Roo waiting in their crates in the truck to leave this morning.

We still have some customer dogs here at our farm that are finishing up training and Scott likes to do a clinic at the end of this trip at Fido's Farm in Washington State, so I always stay home and mind the fort and dogs. He'll be home in 10 days to finish up training the customer dogs and then we will have 2 weeks left to finish up our trial dogs. Scott will have a jump on the season by going to Heppner where he can get a feel for how his dogs are working. It's a flat field with lambs to work so it tends to be a very difficult trial. It's not ideal for the first outing of the year but it will let him know what still needs to be worked on and how the young dogs are going to react at their first trial.
He'll be running 4 open dogs, Maid, Drift, Roo and Lucy and 2 nursery dogs. We decided to make a change for this trial with the nursery dogs. He'll still be running Don, but he's going to wait to debut Sleat until the Plum Lucky trial in April. These lambs are difficult, sometimes running and sometimes not moving so it didn't seem right to run Sleat on them when she has just started to show some confidence in driving. Tuque on the other hand, has a little bit more experience at this time of the year and is a confident driver. It seemed prudent to run her instead. (be sure to read Tuque's bio in the entry below this one)
Last year Scott thought it would be a good idea to sleep in the truck at the trial with only my Hudson's Bay blanket for warmth. After all, Admiral Byrd took one on his expeditions to the Antarctic. But Admiral Byrd must have taken several to the Antarctic because Scott found out he was not near warm enough and picked up a horrible flu. This year he is much more prepared, leaving early this morning and staying in a hotel during the trial. It should make for a much more enjoyable trip.
Maid had shotgun as they left because she won this trial last year but shotgun for the rest of the trip will be based on the dog's performances.

Maid keeping Scott company on the trip.

Scott has promised to give me updates tomorrow night. I will drag what information I can out of him but in the future, when I am at the trials, I promise pictures and scores from the top 10. I can tell you now that at Heppner there will be 53 open dogs and 15 nursery dogs. They are going to run 2 open runs over 3 days and 3 separate nurseries. The judge is Don Helsely from Idaho.