Connection and Trial

We're back to playing games with Internet again. Anyone needing to reach me needs to call me! Not sure what the deal is. I called the service guy this morning.

The sheepdog trial was really good. I ended up going both days! I'm officially insane. I got 2.5 hours of sleep Friday night because I was able to bail out of work at 1 instead of 3. Saturday night I did get to sleep from 10:30-4am, which would be a normal night's sleep if I wasn't already about 20 hours behind on sleep! LOL! Funny what you're body will get used to. Yesterday I was REALLY tired though. I think I went thru 3 "second wind"s on the 1.5 hour drive home! I did have time for a 2.5 hour nap before work, so that was good! I got up this morning at 9:30 because Jordan got here. She'll be here at 9:30 all week. I think May will be my last month of babysitting her, unless her mom can work later in the day. I just can't keep going on naps. Yes, I could go back to sleep when she takes a nap, but it's like real sleep....

Back to the trial. It was a very nice trial. The sheep were decent and for the most part- even. (more on that later) The outruns were fair, but not over the top far. Same for the drives. There were plenty of draws and other factors to make the runs challenging. The ProNovice class was 20 dogs and overall a very competitive group. I don't think there was much more than 8 points or so from 1st place to 6th both days. Ranch was much the same- very good dogs and handlers. Smaller class, I think 12. Novice was small, but nice dogs. We had 5 Nursery dogs, so I was able to run Gwen in Nursery.

Here's how they did.

Gwen Saturday: ProNovice she had a very nice run, really just line points off. She placed 4th I think. With the size and quality of teams, I was very happy with that.

Deal Saturday: She needed an extra verbal at the end of the outrun. They held the sheep on grain, so she could feel how heavy they were, and got cautious. She got impatient with them at the post because they got clingy on me. I read her little brain and stopped her just before she blew in to bite. She still made a mess and cost us lots of points, but she didn't grip. She got pushy at the pen as well and it took it us a minute to get them in because she would not give me a "get back" and was taking a step forward before each flank. If she had not cost us all the line points at the post, we would have placed.

Toss Saturday: He needed an extra verbal on the outrun, but only one. He was his typical forward, intense self. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't great. I really don't remember his run very well.

Mary Jane and Ella on Saturday had an awesome run in Novice. The dogs had to cross a good size ditch, and that pulled Mary Jane in. Ella did a nice job at stopping her (and MJ took it), letting her just sit for a couple seconds, then kicked her out. The rest of the outrun was lovely. She lifted well. I was a bit worried she'd feel all the pressure (food bucket) and rush in. She didn't stop, but lifted quietly, so that was fine. She wouldn't lie down on the fetch until about mid-way, so her fetch line was off, but other wise their run was gorgeous. They paraded them around the course and got them right in the pen. They won with like a 70.

Cruz on Saturday: Cruz ran a pretty nice Ranch course. He went too far on the outrun and I had to call him in, he took all the redirects, but we only ended up with 16/20 outrun points, and typically the outrun was a 20 point gimme. Funny how we used to get that score because he was tight, now it's because I'm calling him in... Hopefully it'll all even out in the near future! Our run was pretty decent and we finished in 5th out of 12 very capable teams.

Gwen on Saturday: The Nursery run was the same as Ranch, minus the chute on the way to the pen. Gwen ran just beautifully! We had a so-so fetch, but it was the same thru-out the class. Julie P. and Lark beat us by 3 points. A couple people, including Julie felt that Gwen should have won. I don't care- I'm just thrilled she is running so well!!

Deal on Sunday: She was much improved. She didn't any extra on the outrun or lift. She was still cautious, but I let her be. They were very heavy to lift off the grain in the deep bucket, so I opted to let her stay on her feet and walk in quietly, rather than coming in a bit quicker and then stopping. With her, that spelled grip IMO. She was delightful and not nearly as impatient. She was 10 points better than Saturday and I think she was 3rd. Maybe she was 4th, but I think 3rd.

Toss on Sunday: Like Deal, much improved. The only thing I remember him not doing for me was giving me a nice big, clean flank coming back from the drive panel to the pen. He started to cheat the flank and come in and it kept us from having a perfect line to the pen. He was also 10 points better than Saturday! Can't ask for much more than that!

Gwen on Sunday: Poor Gwen in her PN run got a sheep from hell. First she wouldn't come off the bucket, so it was a lot of work for her to lift them, as 2 came right off and one refused. By the time we got the 1 going, the other 2 were way off line. The ENTIRE course the 1 sheep only wanted to go back to the set out system. We had to work the group like cows, and with cows there is no such thing as line points!! Nothing we did made that sheep decide being with the other 2 was the best idea. It was like we were working 2 different groups at the same time! She handled it like a veteran and I received several very nice comments on my handling. We got thru the whole dang course and time ran out 2 steps from the pen!! After our run that sheep was removed from the trial... Darn! Oh well, such is the game. I'm very proud of how my dog handled it and that as a team we still managed to run the course with that!

Cruz on Sunday in Ranch did great. He was spot-on on the outrun and darn if they didn't beeline for the set out system. They had been beelining the OTHER way all day, so we both read that and he came in at about 1:00 instead of 12, and the poops squirted off! It was work to get them back online, so very few fetch points. The rest was gorgeous! I think he finished 3rd.

Gwen's Nursery run wasn't much better than the PN run. She did perfect outrun, lift, and a pretty decent fetch. After the driveaway panel they wanted the setout system. She flanked to the left to cover and they just kept leaning on her and they got to the system. The judge walked up to me and told me to keep working it. We made a few very nice attempts. They were being held in a sorting system with a tub and long chute. They had a sort chute made on the side to put them in easily. Well, they ended up in that little space. She's probably a good 150 yards away. I tried flanking back and forth behind the tub, and she did great, but no sheep. So then I decided (since I had the judge's full approval) to use my "walk in" command (what I was to tell the dog to walk into a tight place like a stall), and darn if she didn't take it just as pretty as could be. She walked in, swept the little chute and 2 came out. I asked her to "look back, walk in" and in her hesitation to comprehend what I asked, the two went back in. I sent her in again, and the same 2 came out. I called it good with that. I let the set out people push the 3rd ewe out and I did an assisted crossdrive with her back to the exhaust. Darn! Oh well.

I didn't stay to watch Open since I had to go to work, so I don't know how they did. The sheep were starting to be done.

Well, I've got to go pick up Dylan so we can finally get his glasses ordered.