Cattle Trial!

Well, that's it, I am hopelessly addicted!! I loved it, loved it, loved it!! Cruz ran first and got a score. It's quite different- and very challenging to simply or not make the obstacles. Since there are no line points, you get diddly for almost. The cows were rather hard to lift. They wanted to split and bee-line back to the set out, and the outrun was really far if you needed to help a dog not especially experienced in cattle. Cruz did not go on the outside of the -5 point pole on the outrun. I knew right off the bat he was too tight to make it, but I also felt he was plenty far off to properly lift the calves, so I left him alone. He lifted them perfectly. He got them to my feet without much trouble, and I don't recall which fetch panels we made and missed. I opted to not even worry about the first set of drive-away panels, because nearly every person (including Tom and Pete) were either losing, or nearly losing their calves back to the set out on the drive. We played it safe and made the cross drive nicely, but didn't make the cross drive barrel/pole obstacle. Some of the calves went thru the right hand drive panels and we got most of them thru the chute. We got them almost into the pen and I went into sheep-mode and forgot I could let go of the gate. We kept the calves at the top of the field, but didn't get them penned before time. I was really, really proud of Cruz and was glad that run was over- I was incredibly nervous!

The more runs I watched, the better I felt about what Cruz did. Gwen got almost to the calves and second-guessed what I wanted. She swung around the calves in a cross-over right in front of them. In their true MO of the morning, they went in 3 directions back to the exhaust. I hustled down the field, got them collected and let her drive them back to the barn. I felt like she would very well do it on the 2nd run. Deal's run was similar- too far to help her with the lift mess, she got them collected with my help and we drove them up.

Cruz's 2nd run was great until the turn. At the turn we had a black calf that was hell-bent on being back at the barn. Cruz was stellar and did a wonderful job working the calf on his own, as well as doing exactly what I asked. We finally got him headed off the barn and the rest of the run was very nice, making a few of the obstacles. But because of the barn mess, our time ran out at the chute.

Gwen's 2nd run! OMG do I have a cow dog!! You would have thought there was months of training between her 2 runs!! She needed one quick re-direct on her outrun, but then went far and deep and lifted them beautifully. I don't remember what we made and what me missed, but she was just awesome. She handled them so well and did every single thing I asked her to do. She got really 'spent' towards the end of her run and decided she needed to incorporate a quick trip thru the pond edge when I flanked her comebye on the way to the chute. I didn't blame her- it's not like she got in and forgot she was working. She was "squeaking", so I knew she was really at her limit- adrenaline. I got to the pen when we timed out. I was so incredibly proud her that I could have burst! She is a nice sheep dog, but she is a killer cow dog!! It's her calling for sure. I actually think it is for Cruz too. Deal, not so much. I didn't even look to see her score (that's how much it matters to me right now), so I'm not sure what she did. She may have placed and/or gotten some Nursery points, I don't know. I honestly don't remember what we actually made for obstacles. You can actually have a very pretty, but all near-misses run and end up with squat! Very different than sheep trials.

Deal's 2nd run wasn't worth staying for. She got them lifted (improvement) and half way up the fetch line (improvement) and I asked to fix the line in hopes of making the panels. We had to turn them hard, and when we did they ran back to the set out. Again, too much distance with too much inexperience. She could not get them back on her own. I left the one that went all the way back, and just brought the 2 others up (there was only one more run after us). Deal does not like it when stock spreads out, and she doesn't stay honest on her flanks at a great distance when that happens. I don't think cows are her calling. Yes, she can and does work them, but not with the same talent that Gwen and Cruz do. The two of them are very natural about kicking back to keep re-grouping. Deal isn't, and it irritates her after awhile. Next cattle trial will just be Cruz and Gwen. I reckon Gwen and Cruz's offspring will be wonderful cow dogs.

The attitude of the trial was great, it was more like a group of people just working dogs. Dwight Parker sure has some nice dogs, as does another gentleman named Richard from TN. Dwight was kind enough to tell me they enjoyed watching me run my dogs. It's words like that that really stick with you when you're entering a new venue! I'd actually never seen Roy Johnson work a dog before, and I've decided I want a Sonny pup! LOL! Whata team. They remind me of Cruz and I. Roy works Sonny very much on verbal, and will actually have a whole conversation with him & Sonny seems to completely understand. Reminds me of Cruz. My friend Kay Sander had some stellar runs with several different dogs. I hope she will have a little luck on top of her and her dogs' talent at the Finals in May.

My friend Ella was kind enough to drive her van to the trial, and drive home again due to my crazy job hours. She enjoyed herself, and it was good for Wren to get out. I took Clare. Wren was a little yappy at first, but settled right down in a very short amount of time. I kept telling Ella that's why she was there and that she just needs to keep hauling her everywhere she goes. All puppies need to be out, but some need it more than others. Ella took a few pictures that I will try to get on here over the next few days. No promises though. Luckily due to rain, both my noon lesson and the kids' baseball were cancelled, so Dylan and I got a real good start on his project that's due on Weds. and Ben got him pretty far on cleaning his room. It was time for one of those- "to the bottom of things" cleanings. He got his G. pig's cage cleaned out and re-bedded too.

Our friend who owns the Boxer/Pit mix I was working with took Rosco back with him and is going to let a single friend of his have him. I'm fairly glad. He'd been here for 2 weeks and was beginning to show signs of wanting to fight with the other dogs. He's 8 months old. I told our friend it was my opinion that he was going to become dog-aggressive as he matured. Probably not looking for a fight, but was not going to back off from one. I don't think that Pit's are necessarily quicker to bite or fight, it's simply that the damage done is the difference between stitches and surgery.... He had gone from being respectful of being corrected appropriately by my dogs to fighting them if they got tired of his in-appropriate behaviors. I told him that Rosco had never shown any signs of being ugly to me, but that I didn't know if he would ever decide that any correction is worth fighting over. Our friend has 2 kids- 4 and 7 and will soon have to move into an apartment.... And he is not a dog trainer...

Friends have been putting feelers out for me about Jim. One friend spoke to a Vet who is a herding student and she said A. vaccine reaction (may have even been from Gwen's shots) or B. a mineral problem and that I should have some blood tests. Might be as simple as supplements/vits/diet change. I truly want to feed my dogs a natural diet, I just have to wait until I can do it in a 'homesteaded' way. It's the plan, but like everything, takes time. Maybe I will go ahead and change just Jim over now. Not hard or expensive for just one.

Well, it's 3:30, I think I'm going to take a hour power nap (or go play ball with the dogs) and then it's time to get ready for work. I have a super full week. I work Sun, Mon, Tues (which means till 3am on Weds morning.) Weds. I'm going to Ella's (about an hour) to move and sort sheep that need to be sheared and give her some ideas on what to construct for an area to work Wren in this summer. I'm sure I'll be hauling Jordan along. Thursday is Dylan's Gifted field trip to DC. I'm hoping I can sleep on the bus. It's a Charter bus and it's a pretty good group of kids, so hopefully... We have to be at the school (40 minutes) at 5AM and won't be back at the school until 9PM. I'm hoping I can get out to Carol's one day to both work a couple dogs and help her get last minute things set up for her trial. Saturday I'll be at her trial. I'm running everybody. Ella is running MJ in Novice. I have Cruz in Ranch, Gwen, Deal, and Toss in ProNovice and I entered Gwen in Nursery. The drive may be too far, but it's worth the money to get the field time in.