Saturday recap

Saturday recap: I will write more later as I am beat now and need to go to sleep.

It was foggy in the morning and we started late. I slept in and got there when the third dog had run. I was number 17 or so and hung out until my run. It was cool and a bit windy then it got sunny. The sheep were very nice, the course was excellent and the Judge was Jack Knox. It was about 400 yards but in knee high grass and many dogs had a hard time finding the sheep. One are that gave everyone a hard time was the last half of the crossdrive. It was a dead zone and dogs either brought the sheep back, or pushed up the course or did a huge turn almost to the handler’s tent.

I just missed Gayle Cochlan’s run with Meg and I heard it was sweet. The runs were having a hard time before mine.

My first dog to the post was Nan. She went to the post just fine and as I sent her, she fixated on something to the left. She was on the away side and then tried to cross. She took her stop, I redirected her, and she was determined on the item to the left so I stopped her again and blew her a long away whistle. She took it and then went out and got her sheep. She lifted them off line and we missed the panels. For some reason, she would not hold the come bye pressure. Her turn at the post was nice and her drive to the first leg was nice. That first leg was hard for many dogs. Her crossdrive was nice and in the dead zone, the sheep went high but she listened well to she and me (I switched to voice) for the cross drive panel. Straight to the shed when I was slow to call her in as my leg was hurting bad and it hurt to move but she got the shed. We had the sheep in the mouth of the pen and then I gave her the *WRONG FLANK* and she popped them out. We re set the sheep for the pen and this time I gave her the *CORRECT FLANK* and they marched in. If I had not goofed up at the pen, we would have gotten 2nd place.

I was very happy with her run and she was quite pleased with herself. She did everything I asked of her and even did the square flanks (keep and out) in the shed. We really teamed well today.

Lucy was my second Open dog to run. We saw her sheep and I sent her and she did a 180 and tried to get the sheep in the exhaust behind me. That got me by surprise and I correct her and she went the right way. However, she ran straight to the setout pen and tried to get the sheep for that. SIGH.

After some finagling, I got her to come part way back and told her to look back to get the sheep. She ran back to the setout. I called her partway back and finally after several attempts, look backs and a crossover, she got her sheep. She followed them back to the set out and did not flank as I asked. She did a good job of removing the sheep off the setout and started to bring them to me. She was way offline and I tried to get her to flank to put them back online but she buzzed the sheep and wouldn’t do the come bye. I got her to turn the sheep and start to bring them to me when they were to my right and I called her off and ended my run. We will not be using Lucy to do any chores, sorting, or anything like that at the house but working strictly in Open field work, blind outruns, dog legs fetched and so forth. For some reason she really struggled at this trial.

Pearse ran his Riel and laid down a smoking run. He got 92 points and had no issue with the tricky drive.

Unofficial Score.First: Pearse and Riel 92
Second: Gayle and Meg 81
Third: Diane and Nan 76

There were 36 Open runs and only 16 of them got a score. Twenty of them for RT or DQ.

There were 36 ProNovice Runs. I was the scribe and a lot got RT or DQ. Dirk had the last run of the day and it was a stunning drive. He won or was in the top. Charmaine Henderson with Reo had a wonderful run. I think Charmaine and Dirk were the top two placing but not sure. Janet and Scott did well and got around 5-7th place or so, I do not remember exactly.

I left before the placings were done as it was almost 9:00 and we were hungry. Janet, Jerill, Pearse and I went for Mexican food and it was great. I am very tired now and the girls are crashed on the bed. They will run PN first tomorrow and then Open so I will sleep in.

Off to bed and I hope this made sense. I didn’t take any pixs but will try tomorrow. My right leg incision is really swollen and I am icing it now. It does hurt (not painful but sore) so I think I was pushing it today.

It’s a really nice trial and everyone is having fun. It was sunny for a good portion of the day and it felt good to have warmth on our faces.