Bluegrass '12 Day Two

Sorry I didn't get to put up a post last night but it got pretty late after catching dinner.  We had a pretty good day yesterday (with one glaring instance of stupidity).  Starting in the morning, I missed Missy Parker's Tex and Scott as they were first to the post in Nursery.  This is only Tex's second time to the post ever and first in nursery and he aced it with an 83.  It wasn't beat all day and he now has his first nursery leg. 
Dianne Page's Wynn and Scott weren't far behind and took a second place with an 80 and his second leg for the finals.  We're pretty proud of Wynn and he's definitely in first hole to go with Scott to the finals as his nursery dog.
Bliss managed to stay in there with a 70 and get a 5th place and her second leg.  Bliss is just blowing me away with these beautiful fetches and starts her drive nicely but argues a little with Scott just as the sheep start putting pressure on her before the panels.  Yesterday she took a wrong flank in front of the drive away panels and missed them.  She's had less training than the other nursery dogs traveling with us so Scott isn't worried.  She's qualified now so he'll just keep giving her miles for experience.
Jane did much better yesterday but Scott used it as a training run and worked on opening up her flanks.  Her owner, Marianna Schreeder has been judging on the open field for 2 days and hasn't seen her dog work yet.  Today she'll get to see her for the first time so Jane better pull out all the stops and impress her.  Tomorrow, Marianna judges the nursery but not the pro novice, so Jane won't be able to run in the nursery.  She'll do the pro novice instead.
Nan looked beautiful in Open Ranch and other than a missed panel, could have won it.  I believe she ended up in 5th.

Nan and Scott at the pen in Open Ranch

Hemp was the absolute worst yesterday.  He had a good outrun, a good lift and THEN left his sheep to go back and sniff the set out dog.  When he came back to his sheep, he then proceeded to run the sheep down the fetch as would be expected from a dog stupid enough to go sniff the set out dog.  I'm not even that disappointed and I have to say that I really am not that surprised except to say that I would have thought it would have happened sooner.  Hemp really fancies himself a Casanova and since I don't consider him good enough for breeding, I have toyed with neutering him.  He just made that decision for me so we might see a completely different, settled,  dog during next year's trial season. (I hope).  Heading down the drive line, he was still acting up and after the sheep tried to get back up the hill to my post, I retired the run.  I wouldn't mind getting some more points on him and running him in the finals this year (post neuter).  He's got over 6 now so hopefully, he'll settle down for his Saturday run and do something good.
The highlight of the day was Scott and Donnie's run.  Scott told me specifically not to brag about it but (shhh) it really was a good one with lots of clever moves from him and Donnie.  So that being said, I'll play it low key from here on out.  It started with some horrible sheep.  They just would not go to the set out post.  They ran up and down the tarp line in front of the set out and tried to jump back in.  At one point, we all thought it was time to quit and get another set but they finally got them (It must have taken close to 10 minutes to set them) and Scott sent Don.  When he got behind them, they came running as if they had a fire behind them.  Donnie opened up his flanks and stayed back, trying to settle them and they stayed on line and made the fetch panels but never slowed until Don caught them directly behind the post.  Scott stopped Donnie then and the sheep stopped and they all sat there for what seemed forever.  Literally, I was getting nervous that they were eating up too much time but Scott just continued to wait and give the sheep time to settle.  Finally, they started to move along the right hand drive line.

Don making the drive panels

  I'm sure their pause made some sort of a difference, but not much and Donnie had to work hard to get the drive away panels but had a great turn on to the crossdrive.  As they neared the crossdrive panels, the sheep slipped past them just low and Don caught them on the low side.  The problem now was that Don was on the wrong side to make the turn without either losing his sheep to the exhaust or crossing his course.  Scott fixed the problem by bringing them back in front of the panels and making them on his second attempt.  This is risky because it's bad enough to miss them the first time, but if you miss them a second time you lose even more points, however it was needed to allow Don to be in the correct position to make the turn.  They did it and were on to the shed.  I think both Scott and I were worried about this with Don's recent history of not coming in on the shed, but he rose to the occasion and came in and held a crazy one.  Then they had to quietly put them back together because she was contemplating diving into the spectators.  Then Don needed a break in the water.

Don taking a break in the water before his pen

 It was pretty warm and he'd been running hard and coming down from Canada, he wasn't used to the heat yet. When he was ready, they had less than a minute to get their pen and closed the door with 12 seconds left to win the day with an 83.
Today we have another day of nursery, pro novice and Lad and Don run in the open.  BTW, Laddie was 16th overall for the first round with 122 dogs and got 11 points towards the finals!

Bluegrass Trial Scores

Try this : http://dogtrialentry.com/rpt_orderOfGo_NewDB.php

Bluegrass Day One

Well we had good things and bad things happen today.  I'll start at the beginning. On the underclasses field, this morning was a blood bath.  In Open Ranch, there were very few runs that even made it down the fetch line.  The sheep are the same sheep from the open, only this year, they have never been worked- were shorn right before they rode on a truck up here from Texas that was stuck on an interstate for several hours and then were rained on the night they got here.  They are not happy.   Fall brockle faced wool lambs who have no idea what they want to do but they know it has nothing to do with the dogs that keep bothering them.  Scott sent Nan to the right and she pulled up short.  He blew her over but she pulled up short again.  It was unusual for her to do this but the sheep ran back to the set out to the handler's left and that was the end of that run.  Because it had just been a disaster for the runs before Ford, I decided to send him and immediately run up the field.  I could keep his outrun honest and make sure his first contact with his sheep was good.  He had 7 more runs on this field this week and I wanted to make sure the first one wasn't a disaster.  He had a nice outrun and I was at the fetch panels when he lifted them.  On our fetch down the field, I realized that although he didn't have real open flanks, he was opening up to cover the sheep who were constantly trying to go around him back to set out.  He did a nice job and we got them exhausted.  I felt pretty good about that and vowed to let him do it by himself that afternoon in the nursery.
Scott then ran Bliss.  She looked really good!  I was very surprised but her open flanks and patience made the sheep very comfortable with her.  She got only a 54 but it ended up in 3rd place.
Over on the open field, Scott ran June.  She did a great job but the sheep just didn't cooperate.  They ran almost the whole way and on the drive away, she and Scott handled a very difficult drive away panel in a clever way that I couldn't even explain.  Unfortunately, the sheep were still very jumpy by the time they got to the shedding ring and it just didn't happen.  I am having trouble accessing the scores.  They are on www.dogtrialentry.com but they don't seem to be working so I will give you the link when I figure it out.  I think June got a 54.
Lad then ran on the open field.  I didn't think anything good was going to come of it because he hasn't been  shedding and the judges were making you hold the shed for a VERY long time.  Kiss of death for Lad.  He struggled on the fetch but it was probably due to the fact that the run before ours took over 10 minutes to exhaust while my sheep contentedly grazed at the set out post.  By the time Laddie got there, they really didn't see any reason to come down the field.  He got them down but it wasn't pretty and we missed the fetch panels.  We had a nice drive and I was pleased with him but the sheep were running and Laddie loves running sheep.  When they got to the shedding ring, I took a deep breath and tried to not worry too much about it.  Fortunately, the sheep gave me that shed by having one hang way back, Lad came right in but kind of floated about between the two sets until I "shushed" him onto his single and he not only focused on her, but dodged over and held her when she tried to break back and the judge mercifully called the shed.  We headed over to the pen.  Scott said we rushed it a little bit and we didn't get it. I was a little worried when there was some sort of chaos behind the pen that looked alot like it could have possibly been a grip and I wouldn't have been surprised if one of the judges had DQ'd me.  They don't know that Lad isn't a gripper but even I couldn't really tell you what went on back there.  I know that my final score was a 68 and that wasn't bad at all for today.
 On to the nursery.  I didn't see Bliss but I hear this time it looked good again and she got another 54.  However, I think it dropped to 4th place but I think she got her first nursery leg.
Jane was pretty grouchy about these sheep and kept trying to get a grip in but she never quite got it done and Scott felt like he got some good training on her.   

Jane

 She didn't get any placing but we are hoping she will be better when she runs tomorrow.
Wynn didn't believe Scott when he told him to widen out his outrun and he almost crossed but then got out and around his sheep with a nice deep lift.

Wynn

It was looking like it was going to go very well until the crossdrive panels when he started to argue with Scott about which flank was appropriate to make the panel.  After arguing for a few minutes, Scott retired him.
Ford ran last in the nursery and he went from hero to zero today.  I have to preface this story by going back a few weeks.  If you didn't read on facebook, you wouldn't have known that I had gone to a friend's farm to get Ford out on light sheep and a new field.  Unfortunately, he didn't get to work the light sheep he worked some head hunters that plowed him into the ground.  At his age, this is disastrous and Scott and I had to work quickly in the couple of days before we left to try and build his confidence again.  He needs to learn to grip but we felt that with his first trial one week away, it wasn't the time.  He didn't have any trouble in those first few trials but with these difficult sheep today, it showed up big time.  I sent him to the left and he did a nice outrun, and stopped behind his sheep.  Then he lifted them and started on his fetch, but before he got very far, there was a banging in the pens behind him.  I don't know if this scared him or if the sheep thought they were going to get to go back to set out and started leaning on him, but he left his sheep and came running back to me.  I sent him back up there and walked up the field.  The sheep ran back to the set out and Ford actually went back and lifted them several times off the tarps covering it but he could only get them a few yards.  Then the sheep stopped bothering with him and he got worried and tried to circle instead of helping me drive them down the field.  The set out people had to help me move them down the field.  After his run, when he cooled down a little, he was ready to exhaust the next run and cut in a little as he went around them, cut out a single and NOW was going to bite it on the shoulder but I had to settle him down since it wasn't the time or place. I was very disappointed but not really surprised after he had been pummeled by the sheep before we left. I will give him one more chance tomorrow but if we have similar problems, I will pull him from the rest of the runs and try him again in NY where I know the sheep will come down the field.  Poor Ford it blew his little mind!

Borders On Paradise - The Under Classes

Thank goodness for our young dogs.  They redeemed the kennel's status.We started the morning with the nursery class. Scott ran Bliss first.  Scott said he wasn't disappointed with Bliss but she missed her fetch gate and ended up in 5th place with a 66.   Then Lori Cunningham ran Ford's sister, Anna and the showdown was on!

Lori Cunningham and Ford's sister, Anna, tremble in fear at the prospect of going up against Ford

 This is Anna's first time to the post and Ford's 3rd time.  Both pups are just getting experience and we were having our own competition between us to see which pup could get the farthest in the course. The pressure on the right hand side of the field was strong and it helped the dogs to be more open to the left but the sheep were often leaving early if you sent to that side.  So Lori sent Anna to the right but Anna quickly disagreed and crossed in front of her. As predicted, the sheep left early and ran back to set out.  Lori retired her run and started to walk up the field to help Anna but before she could get very far, Anna picked up her sheep and brought them down the field.  It was a positive end to Anna's first trialing experience.
Then Ford ran.  I was able to keep him on the right side of his outrun, but he was a little tight and didn't bend very far when I asked him to.  He pushed his sheep off a little bit to my left at the top but when I blew his stop whistle, he stopped on a dime and stayed down.  This was the biggest new step for him!  We worked all week on stopping at the top and not popping back up.  He took every stop all the way down the fetch but he doesn't have open flanks so he was not able to get them on line until shortly in front of me.  He turned them around the post and we started on the drive.  The line wasn't good but he took the flanks and the stops and the "there" commands like a good boy.  We made one flank too fast and ended up turning short in front of the panels.  Even though I knew we were not in competition with anyone (well, except Anna and we'd already won that contest) it was tempting to try again to hit the panel.  However, good sense won out and I remembered that most importantly, this needed to be a good experience with Ford.  The sheep had helped us with the turn, unlike in our last trial, and they trotted down the cross drive line.  Ford didn't have to push, he just had to follow and take a few flanks.  We missed the crossdrive panel, but he made a nice turn to catch the sheep before they ran back to the exhaust and then we were on our way to the pen.  At this point, we were farther than we had ever been and Ford had never seen a pen.  I opened the gate and gave Ford a running flank to guard the far side as the sheep ran in the pen.  All Ford knew was that they looked like they were getting away and instead of stopping in the mouth, he continued around to the back of the pen. Fortunately, the sheep liked being in the pen and I was able to shut it before they left and then send Ford around the front to show him where to stop, before I took them out again.  He got his first score and although it was horrible (36) I was very pleased.  He listened and was biddable and gave me what could with the training he had and I was over the moon that he took all his stops!
Back to the real competition.  Scott ran Wynn next.  Wynn was also feeling the pressure on the right hand outrun and needed a redirect but didn't really give enough.  The rest of his run was pretty good and was enough to give him a 3rd place.
The last dog Scott ran was Marianna Schreeder's Jane.  Jane was really good today.

Jane and Scott turn the post

 She had lost her temper at the last trial, her first trial, but this time there was no hint of that.  Jane was confident and cool and the sheep liked her.  She ended up in 4th place and Scott was very happy with her.
In the ranch class, Scott ran Nan first and she did a great job.

Nan

 She had only one major fault and that was missing the crossdrive panel but other than that she was bang on and nicely won it by 4 points over sixteen year old Kyra Costanzo and her Sue dog who was dangerously close to winning it.  This teenager is going to be one to watch when she moves to open because she never gets flustered.
Scott also ran John today but it wasn't really fair to the dog.  The trial had originally been full and John had lost his spot in the class.  Since he was going home to his owner Annette Haithcox this week, he didn't get work while all the other dogs prepared for the trial.  When some people canceled, Scott threw John back in.  John wasn't bad but because he is green broke and a little out of practice, he had some troubles.

John leaves on his outrun

 He did have a great outrun and lift but the sheep broke back to the set out.  John got them back and started around the course but took a wrong flank and got himself in a tight spot so they retired.  I'm sure Annette will have him back to his polished ways very soon as they get to know how each other works.
In the Pro Novice class, Ford passed this run up but his sister tried it again. This time she had a better outrun to the left, made her fetch panels and had a nice turn before she decided she just didn't know how to drive well enough to move on so Lori retired her.  Progress.  Ford and Anna will have a rematch in a month in New York at the Fetch Gate Nursery Trial and Anna will have alot more training by then so Ford better watch his back!
Scott ran Missy Parker's Tex and he didn't disappoint.

Tex

 He kept his cool, made all his panels and pen and ended up in second place at his first trial with a 69.
First place went to Scott and Jane.  Jane is really getting the hang of this and smoothly put the sheep through their paces, winning with a 74.
We will move on tomorrow and head down to Kentucky to the big show, the Kentucky Bluegrass Classic!

OPEN 2 Sat (53 dogs)
1. Bev Lambert and Joe 90
2. Tom Wilson and Sly 90
3. Sue Schoen and Ester 86
4. Lori Cunningham and Mat 85
5. Scott Glen and Don 83
6. Carla King and Sage 80
7. Carla King and Emma 79
8. Scott Glen and June 79
9. Gene Sheniger and Jet 79
10. Joyce Geier and Jim 78

Nursery (8 dogs)
1. Bev Lambert and Joe 82
2. Tommy Wilson and Roy 79

Open Ranch (20 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Nan 80
2. Kyra Costanzo and Sue 76
3. Liz Sharpe and Joss 68
4. Mary Brigoff and Lance 67
5. Warren Mick and Shep 62
6. Jim Murphy and Hemp 60
7. Bev Lambert and Meg 60
8. Linda Fosseta and Murk 55
9. Sherry Farster and Sue 54
10. Maggie Chambers and Strike 49

Pro Novice (17 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Jane 74
2. Scott Glen and Tex 69
3. Werner Reitboeck and Sigi 65
4. Kim Lippolis and Becky 56
5. Joanne Murphy and Speed 54
6. Gene Sheniger and Teg 52
7. Pam Davies and Teilo 43
8. Barbara Klein and Crista 43
9. Sally Malloy and Sid and 42
10. Kyra Costanzo and Tess 38

Borders On Paradise Day One and Two

We are enjoying our time at this trial in Turbotville, PA despite the terrible job we and our open dogs are doing.  Dave Fetterman puts on a great trial but it just hasn't been working out for our dogs.  On the first day, June was our only good dog with a 4th place in Open with and 82.

June saves the crossdrive panels

 It was good enough to add some more points to her trial numbers and she should have enough now to qualify for the Nationals.  Don ran late in the day and by then the sheep had rerun this course and had decided that they were done with it.  It was difficult to keep them right.  He ran well but it just didn't come together.  The most surprising part was that he didn't come in on the shed and Scott retired since it wasn't competitive.  I did likewise with both of my runs.  Hemp was actually running well but that is a foreign concept for me and my timing was off all the way around.  It was a pen/shed and I retired at the pen when I knew we weren't going to get any better.  Laddie ran late in that bad time and I was a little late lining him out because I misjudged the volume needed on my whistles.  A little breeze had come up and it just made the sound a little funky.  I blew not so loud whistles to keep it light for Lad but he didn't hear them and I increased the sound but by they we were off line and I just never got it back.  I had 4.39 minutes to get a shed and it took me all of 4 minutes to get an opening.  However, Lad has reverted back to the sheds of last year,- that is, none at all.  He started to come in but when I asked him to flank through, he just regathered.  Not good one week before the Bluegrass.  It was too hard to get the hole again to train on the shed so I walked off before the timer sounded.
Vickie Kidd and Merle ended up tying with Tommy Wilson and Sly and had a run off with Vickie the victor.
Today got better and worse.
June was early again but they missed the crossdrive panel and then brought them back through.  Her highlight of the day was penning sheep #45.  The judge (George Northrup) had stated in the handlers meeting that no one had penned her.  The sheep had been rerun several times and she was not going in.  He said he'd stand up and applaud anyone who got her in.  Scott and June drew her, and they broke her down and put her in the pen.  The judge stayed true to his word and gave them a standing ovation.  I believe she got a 79 (I don't have today's scores yet) and didn't place.

June gets her shed

Hemp ran well until he got to the crossdrive panel, I was low and asked for a flank but it had gotten very hot by that time and when Hemp gets hot, he quits stopping.  So he took the much needed flank but stopped late, causing them to miss it high.  He got a pen, no thanks to himself.  The sheep were running in at that time and you just had to get out of the way.  Hemp still sliced that flank (another heat problem) but the sheep went in anyway.  In shedding ring.  I couldn't get the sheep to respond to me and I needed a flank from Hemp to get a gap but the sheep didn't want to help me and Hemp wouldn't stop when I moved him so we ran out our time in the ring and got a 76.
Laddie did a nice job today and I got a few compliments on him including from set out.  It didn't score well but he wasn't bad.  He made all his panels but had a wide turn around the post.  In the shedding ring, I got a gap, called him in, held the single for him and repeated That'll do, THAT'LL DO! until I got him in the gap.He looked at the sheep behind him and then held the single he was supposed to.  It wasn't great but made me feel more confident about getting a shed at the Bluegrass.  He scored a 75.
Don actually did the best today.

Don today

 It was clear he was giving the winning run all the way up to the shed when he again didn't come in to the gap.  Scott thinks he was carrying a chip on his shoulder from the last time, last week, that he schooled him on his shed.  He said he will have to rethink how to handle the problem.  They ended up with an 83.
Tommy again tied with the leader today only this time it was Bev Lambert and her young Joe.  Again Tommy took second place with Bev edging him out.
Tomorrow we run the babies.  Ford will meet up in a head to head with his sister, Lori Cunningham's Anna.  Neither of us expects to even get the drive.  I have, however, challenged Lori to a duel.  Since neither pup will have any chance of winning, we will declare our little private competition won by whoever gets the farthest in the course.  Next year, we will continue our rivalry for real.
I only have the first day scores right now.  Joanne Murphy is doing a great job of keeping track of it on her computer and printed me out a copy.  I will get her to give me today's copy tomorrow.

Open Day One (51 dogs)
1. Vickie Kidd and Merle 88
2. Tommy Wilson and Sly 88
3. Dick Williams and Mirk 82
4. Scott Glen and June 82
5. Lori Cunningham and Mat 81
6. Lori Cunningham and William 80
7. Bev Lambert and Hemp 76
8. Werner Reithboeck and Roy 75
9. Carla King and Sage 71
10. Dick Wiliams and Mick 70

Missouri Hospitality

While we are staying a week at the Fleming Farm (Plumb Lucky,) we have been getting some really good work on our dogs.  On Saturday morning, before it got too hot, we went to a cow pasture about 15 minutes from the house to work.  While we were there, the owner of the field stopped by to say HI.  We told him we would be coming back that evening and he said he might stop by and watch us.  That evening, as we drove up to the pasture, we saw a sight.  Not only had the owner, Mike, stopped by to watch us, he brought about 15 friends, neighbors and their kids! 

Our Audience

And they brought a tractor and a flat bed, a dune buggy, a bb-q, (and burgers) a camp fire and various dogs to watch. It was a regular sheepdog training tailgate party! It was a blast!  Scott and I agreed that working dogs had never been so much fun.  The people of Leeton, MO (and the surrounding area) love to come out and support any activity.  They were very excited that the 2013 cattle dog finals was going to be in their town and all evening they continued to come by and hang out and watch.  They only worried that they might be a little loud when we were working.  I assured them that it wouldn't bother the dogs one bit and everyone enjoyed themselves.  Scott and I and Thad Flemming  got quite a bit of work done on our young dog's outruns because the field was flat at the bottom but had some tricky hills to go up. 

Thad gathers sheep to set out with his Nell dog

 There was also a ditch running through the base of the hills with about 4 inches of running water in it, which made it nice for whoever was setting out to cool their dog.  And you couldn't beat the double lift set up!

Scott works Don on a double lift

We stayed until the fireflies came out and the camp fire burned down, said good bye to our new friends, and then gathered the sheep to go home by the light of the super moon.

What Ford And I Have Learned This Week

What Ford Has Learned This Week:
1. A stop whistle means lie down on your belly
2. A steady whistle means turn in right there, and maybe slow down
3. There are sheep that grow hair instead of wool - and they can run really fast
4. Thunder isn't so bad if there are sheep to watch
5. Sometimes outruns are farther than you think - better keep going or you'll hear about it
6. When we go someplace new, there is likely to be sheep there to work
7. Water is your friend when it's 83F with a 79% humidity
8. Swimming/fetching a stick in water is fun
9.  There's no winning when Laddie wants the stick

What Jenny Has Learned This Week:
1. Don't underestimate Hemp especially in the fog
2. Just when you think you have Laddie's shed in the bag, you don't
3. Ford really needed a stop whistle (I was only running him on voice)
4. Since Ford now has a stop whistle and therefore also a "there/steady" whistle - I can see glimpses of the dog I really wanted and what he'll become with experience, and it makes me happy.
5. Ford still needs to learn to take an off balance flank for the first flank on the crossdrive (he can do it after that)
6. Without that first flank on the crossdrive, you can't finish the course
7. June is not unbreakable and after two flips at a trial in long grass, she can come up lame.  (hopefully the chiropractor can fix her today)
8. Ticks can be really small and hide between your toes (I know TMI!)
9.  It's really humid in Missouri
10. We have some really great friends in the sheepdog trialing world (ie The Gorackes and The Flemmings)