Cruz and I jumped in yesterday. That is, we ran our first Open run! It was a good outrun distance, but doable. There was a Maltese cross rather than a shed and that was a fun challenge. We had to put them thru a specific chute, then turn them to the outside of the field to put them thru a different chute. These were FAR from "gimme" sheep! They would get up there and stall out and were professional "squirters"- meaning they'd get right to the opening and either beat the dog or the handler by slipping by. You could stomp, jump, and do just about anything with these ewes and they would hardly flick an ear! They were good sheep IMO, but not easy- as it should be. They stayed well at the top and if the dog would drive with authority they drove nice- but they had no problem turning right around and looking at a dog either! Naturally the outrun was my concern. Sending to the left gave the dog much more room, but it was slightly rolling- just enough you could lose sight of the dog, and that worried me, as I knew I would most likely have to help him some. Sending to the right made the dog tighter as the fence was there, but the fence also flared out towards the top and the dog could in fact do a very nice O/L. It was flat so you could see the whole way. My thought process was that Cruz would be able to follow the fence/woodsline- as he's used to following a woodsline on one side of the big field across the road here at home. I was bummed when he really had no clue where the sheep where even sending him right. I had to help a lot and it still was not a nice outrun. 13/20, which frankly I thought was more than fair. 8/10 on the lift. 17/20 fetch. We had to straighten the first part of the drive, but the rest of the drive and crossdrive was stellar. I think it was 26/30. After the cross drive panel we had to make a hard turn to the inside of the field to come back to the cross that was up by the post. I had one sneaky ewe, that unfortunately was the leader. On both portions of the cross she beat us- we got 2 thru each time, so it 5/10. We had the pen (also far, far from a gimme) all lined up and they were nice settled and time was called. Darn- 0/10. The extra help on the outrun was probably just about the amount of time we would have needed for the pen. We ended up with a 69 and a very respectable run. Several people commented on Cruz and our team work. It felt good that people who know what they're looking at (who didn't know us from adam) recognized his talent and my handling skills. Many people assured me that if I just keep sending him (successfully) at increasing distances he'll get the outrun. Even with the outrun loss, if we had made the pen we would have probably placed in the top ten, I think an 82 won and the scores were very tight. Placing was not even in my mind. All I wanted was to look like we belonged out there, and indeed we did. There were close to 25 entries I believe.
Deal ran in Ranch and I was fairly disappointed with her. Her outrun was crap- which she never does. I can always trust her in that once she sees them she rights herself. Well even with my assistance she went out like junk and her lift was awful. She checked up, flattened out and refused to listen to me to fix it! I was dumbfounded! She didn't give me very good fetch line flanks. The drive was the same as Open. She didn't do badly (we cleanly made both panels) until the turn after the crossdrive. She did not want to come off the pressure and give me the flank, so she ended up with the sheep quite past the panel and way out to nearly the fetchline. She would give me a half hearted flank, but was flat and would commit to flanking as far she needed. We timed out. I wasn't angry with her, but I was disappointed in her. She caught me off guard with the outrun BS. She can get locked in and not want to come off the pressure in a drive flank, but it's been quite some time since she has never given it to me after an additional stop command and big flank command. Oh well, she is only a dog! :-) The lady after us (we exhausted for the next person) ran her sheep into the exhaust fence and then sheep went running up the other exhaust fence line. Deal did a very nice job at peeling the rattled sheep off the fence and quietly bringing them the distance back to the exhaust pen, so at least she got a chance to do a little practical job and do it nicely. ;-)
I have to admit I was a bit concerned about the drive with Gwen with these sheep since they were so prone to turning around on the dog. That's what puts her into "freeze mode". I remembered how Carol had told me to use tiny little flanks to help unlock both Gwen and the sheep when that happens. I've been doing at home, and it's really starting to come together and it's working. (She will hold heads- no back down- but she doesn't like to walk into heads). Gwen's outrun/lift was stellar and it was a perfect 20/20, 10/10. Her fetchline flanks were perfect. I don't remember what the fetch points were, but not much off. The sheep went wide on the post turn (they were getting drawn to the exhaust by now). We straighted the line nicely and she really didn't bog down in doing that at all. (good girl!) She drove nicely and then at the turn after the panel she had a yee-ha moment and dove in. She grouped them right back and on our merry way we went. I want to say the drive was 15/20 or so. We got the sheep nicely to the pen and 2 went in. I should have bumped her 2 steps to the right, but I kinda let my guard down and the 3rd one squirted by! We got them all back in, getting a 7/10 on the pen. I was so proud of my freckle face girl! :-) We placed 3rd in a big class- 15 or so. Had all 3 gone in right off the bat so we got a 10/10 pen we would have been 2nd.
This was a very nice trial, with decent sheep on a nice field. It's a 5 hour drive, but it's worth it. We're definitely going back in January!
Ella and Mary Jane did very well. Perfect outrun and lift, good fetch. Ella got a little trial field frozen and let the sheep get on the wrong side of the post, so she had to re-do the turn. The rest was very nice. They worked the pen well, but alas no sheep in the pen. Ella was nervous and kinda forgot to "own" her side and let the sheep go right past her a couple times. She did a very nice job with her commands with Mary and other than letting her come just a bit too far on a few of the flanks, she was about perfect. Even novice was a big class of nearly 15. Ella got 5th! :-)
It's a beautiful day outside, so that's where I'm going! I forgot my darn camera yesterday, which really stinks because the pen and the cross was right up close- could have gotten some very good shots! I'll make sure to take it in January!
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