Plumb Lucky '10 - Day Four

Yesterday, the last day of Plumb Lucky, was another beautiful day. Such a nice farm and wonderful people put this trial on that it was good to see them have mild weather to go along with the great trial. The wind came up again in the afternoon but it's not that there was no hearing, the dogs just had to be more careful and listen. Hemp tried very hard to listen and was working well but sometimes he'd have great short flanks and then I'd ask for a big flank and he'd over run it a little. I don't think he was being disobedient because he was trying really hard to be good. I'm happy with him. We again missed the crossdrive gate but had a great pen and I was so proud of his shed. We had a good cut and there is no hesitation in him about coming in and holding and it boosts my confidence to know he'll always come in. We ended up with an 87 AND got his first 6 USBCHA points of the year! I'm really happy with him.
Maid definitely had some difficulty with the hearing but stuck with it and Scott used it as a training opportunity to square out her flanks on the shed.
Scott had a great run with Donnie.

Don on the fetch

Really nice around the course but when he missed the crossdrive gates he knew he wouldn't win so he trained on him at the pen and shed instead.

Scott and Don at the pen

He finished with an 83 and was in 14th place.
Nursery was rough again. Scott said he was again happy with Kuro and Sweep but the sheep running for the barn was just too difficult at this point in their training. They worked hard and learned alot and should be ready for the next trial.

Sweep catching running sheep

Sava and Scott did well in the Open Ranch. She had a big improvement over the day before. She had a reasonable outrun but the sheep ran for the barn again and the fetch gates were missed. Other than that she had a 73 and was fifth. Scott really liked my Megan in this class. He still retired her early but he said the she didn't get pushed around on the fetch which he liked. She had some trouble on the drive away so he retired before she learned any bad habits.
Scott was very pleased with the Ranch dogs, Badger and Kyzer. Badger really shined and took first place!!! Kyzer wasn't far behind and was third!
Many thanks again to the Fleming family, Thad, Kelly Whitney and Wyatt. Additional thanks to Deb and John Cleveland who do all the paperwork and help keep the trial running smoothly.
We are off to Michigan for a week of training on our own dogs and Scott has a clinic. We will get to Shaker Village at the end of next week.

Open 3
1. Alasdair MacRae and Star 95
2. Alasdair MacRae and Nap 94
3. Stephanie Goaracke and Liz 94
4. Kathy Knox and Sal 94
5. Vergil Holland and Dally 93
6. Mariana and Penny 93 (a daughter of Scott's Pleat!)
7. Tricia MacRae and Cap 91
8. Chuck Dimit and Luke 88
9. Jennifer Glen and Hemp 87
10. Nancy Duley and Ben 86

Nursery 4
1. Alasdair MacRae and Nick 86
2. Stephanie Goaracke and Gwynn 85
3. Vicki Kidd and Macy 85
4. Vergil Holland and Scott 81
5. Don Russell and Molly 81
6. Tricia MacRae and Tess 80
7. Paul Tucker and Tyne 77
8. Alasdair MacRae and Hoss 77
9. Chuck Dimit and Cole 76
10. Ron Enzeroth and Jake 74

Open Ranch 2
1. Alasdair MacRae and Hoss 82
2. Linda Meyer and Faith 82
3. Don Russell and Molly 82
4. Catherine Laria and Rae 79
5. Scott Glen and Sava 73
6. Mike Schragel and Jake 73
7. Orville Maxwell and Elva 70
8. Steve Kunkle and Dollar 70
9. Robin Reasoner and Hawke 69
10. Lise Anderson and Mack 58

Ranch 2
1. Scott Glen and Badger 71
2. Vergil Holland and Trim 70
3. Scott Glen and Kyzer 68
4. Lyle Lad and Billy 68
5. Alasdair MacRae and Nick 67
6. Chuck Dimit and Cole 65
7. Nancy Duley and Jock 59
8. Susan Abrams and Kacee 58
9. Caryn Miller and Tess 57
10. Marianna Schreeder and Soot 54

Novice 2
1. Sam Smith and Pip 57
2. Terry Wright and Witt 43
3. Whitney Fleming and TJ 37

Plumb Lucky Trial Nursery Day One

Leeton, Mo. The weather has so far been with us as it is a beautiful day with a light wind - going in the right direction. Today's trial didn't start until 4PM and was only a single nursery class. The sheep are Katahdins and it is a rolling green grass field. An added distraction for the dogs was the addition of some curious guinea fowl who were prowling the trial field.

Guineas on the trial field

Unfortunately, they did confuse one dog who left on his outrun only to come in behind the birds and try to bring them towards their handler. Scott is splitting up his nursery dogs so today he only ran Jess and Whiskey. (I know, I've never mentioned Whiskey - update in a minute) Jess was keen to start her outrun but was a little confused by the hills and came in too early on her outrun. She did stop every time Scott asked and even gave ground but just couldn't understand that if she'd look a little further up she'd see them. She crossed over and picked up the sheep from the other side. The sheep lifted to our left and stayed on the left side of the fetch line, missing the panels (a common problem with the young dogs).

Jess on the fetch

Around the post and then a wobbly line to the drive panel. The drive panel was made but Jess was again confused on the crossdrive and as the sheep started to go low she froze. By the time Scott and her were working together again the sheep had missed the panel and they were on their way to the pen. She did a nice job at the pen and Scott closed the gate on them before the time was up.Penning with Jess

Whiskey - (belongs to us - out of Dal Kratzer's Tib, mother of National Champion Star and his Shep) was also uncertain about the hills on the outrun. However, Whisk did look up enough to see the sheep and managed to pick up his sheep on the same side he was sent. Again there was a fetch to the left of the line and missed panels.

Whiskey on the fetch

His turn around the post was good and his line to the first panel was on but there was some wobbling in front of the panel. Finally, he got them through and then had a nice line on the crossdrive until he hesitated right in front of the crossdrive. All was well though and he did make the panels but unfortunately, the time ran out just as Scott was closing the pen door so there were no points for that.

Whiskey

Alasdair MacRae dominated the day with 3 dogs in the top 5.
Nursery Day one: (unofficial) 18 dogs
1. Alasdair MacRae and Fox
2. Alasdair MacRae and Hanna
3.4. (tie not broken) Alasdair MacRae and Fox and Rose Anderson and Buzz
5. Lyle Lad and Jig
6.Rose Anderson and Jing
7. Mike Goracke and Sam
8. Emile Ludeke and Ladd
9. Mickey Welsh and Bo
10. Wyat Fleming and Victor