It’s a cool crisp morning on this fine Sunday, low 40’s and
Sunny. We are getting ready to watch the top 17 dogs in the Nation. For your
information. The highest selling dog team, Scott Glenn and Don in the Calcutta
sold for $1,375.00 The Canadians were distraught that they were out bid at the
last minute. They were bought by the Oregon gangsters. Lead by Ernesta.
Kit Doyle and Lyle Lad are blogging.
Bev Lambert and Joe ( 2 yrs. Old) Sponsored by; Judith and
Ted Parker
Joe heads out deep and wide. He’s well behind the sheep.
Looking good. Right behind the sheep. Nice lift. Starting to bring a little
fast, and straight to Beverly. Bev is trying to get Joe to listen. He’s doing
well for a young dog, but still hasn’t got him to the fetch panels yet. Line is
looking better. Trying to cross drive to the fetch panels. Now she’s driving
them up the field. It’s a long drive to the fetch. She’s still cross driving,
and lining them up to the fetch. Looking good on the fetch. Lined up with the
panels. She’s made the fetch and now she needs to try to get the sheep to the orange
cone. She’s redirecting them behind, he’s not taking the direction. Now she’s
turning them around. Joe won’t let go of his first lot. Joe looks, and is
wanting to go back to the first lift location. Joe gets the call, and is
finally turned back to the second lot. With 21 min. 40 sec. on the clock. He’s
having a real nice lift on the second lot. He’s bringing them straight to her.
She’s having a great fetch. Online and moving well. She made her second fetch. Nicely
done. Her first lot are down by the exhaust, so she’ll have to send Joe over to
get them. He see’s them and he’s going. 17 min. and Joe is bringing first lot
to the second. That patiently waiting and not even eating. The two lots are now
joined and Joe works to bring them around the post. Really nice tight turn. As
Bev lines them up for the first drive. Drive is starting out well. Half way
through the drive and the sheep are straight on line. Joe is working hard to
keep the group, and they have made the first drive panel with beautiful tight
turn. Joe starts pushing the sheep back across the field. Cross drive is
looking good and online. Sheep are moving at a steady trot. The sheep are going
low and joe pressure’s them through the panels. The turn is nice and a good
line to the shed ring and the sheep are moving briskly and well collected. Bev
is doing well on the time 12 min 15 sec.s on the clock as the sheep start to
enter the ring. Bev prepares to shed her 5 collared sheep in the ring. Bev is
working on getting a sizable group off. She used Joe to drive off 7 of the 20. And
moves back to the ring for the shed. Border collie is working hard to help Bev
make the shed. It appears that Joe has gripped one of the ewe’s and the judges
calls Bev and joe off. DQ
Pam Boring and Mirk (9 yr. old) Sponsored by; Stanley
Helsley and Gourley Eliason
Sheep are there. Mirk has spotted them. Judges are getting
in order.
Sent off, gathers to the right. The out run, dog has passed
the wheel line on to the other field. Now into the rough. Pam calls to
re-direct and call him in for a second time. Mirk is up high on in the tall dry
stubble coming in high. Mirk will need a good brushing after this run. She’s
calling to bring him down into the green field where the sheep are patiently
awaiting the lift. We have lost sight of Mirk. He has run real high on the
grassy knoll. Pam is calling and calling to bring Mirk down and she is
successful. Mirk has a nice lift and the sheep are on the move. 6 min. are
spent to get the sheep. Dog is bringing them straight, and she calls to get
them turned and headed to the fetch panel. The sheep are coming in high and
Mirk covers to bring them straight through the panels. Mirk moves to drop this
group and awaits the call to get the second lot. The sheep are trotting to the
right side of the field and begin to graze. Mirk sits motionless near the cone.
Dog is not taking the turn back. Sheep are near the exhaust. The dog looks,
thinks, and starts to head out to the second lot. Then stops and turns to look
at the first. Pam still have troubles getting Mirk to head out for the next
lot. Mirk finally sees the sheep and starts to head out. He’s crossing over and
now has turned to go back to the original set out. 17 min 40 seconds on the
clock, and Mirk is still looking to the first lot. Dog is down near Pam, and
the judges call it off. DQ
Don Helsley and Wizard Sponsored by; Slaven Ranch.
The sheep are headed down. The sheep are set. The first of
two out runs is underway. Looking good so far. Nice trajectory. Good out run,
staying out but with in the field. Doing good. Stopped short, whistle to
re-direct. Good lift, but the dog is bringing the sheep straight. Wizard needs
to turn them toward the fetch panels. Having a little trouble getting the sheep
turned to the fetch panels. Wizard is covering well, looking good and getting
online. Sheep are on a good line for the fetch panel and wizard flanks to get
the sheep through the fetch. Sheep try to bolt up field and Wizard moves to
cover. Wizard moves the sheep closer to the cone. Sheep are now at the cone,
and Don signals to turn for the second lot. Wizard keeps fetching the sheep
back to Don and will not take the turn back. Wizard looks back to see if the
second lot are there, and stands still. 22:40 left on the clock, and Wizard is
looking to the second lot. Wizard finally takes the whistle and heads out for
the second lot. Taking a good line on the come by side. Second outrun for the
next 10 is underway and Wizard if booking it to the upper grassy knoll. Second
lift is very nicely done and the sheep are on a good line to the second fetch
panels. Sheep come off line and Wizard pressures them to get back online. Nearing
the half way point to the second fetch panels. A bit wobbly coming down to the
second half. Sheep are trotting quickly to the panels and start to spread out a
bit. Nice line sheep make the panels and head toward the handlers post. Both groups
are being packaged together. Wizard is working hard to keep the flock tight and
neat. Pretty nice turn around the post and they enter the ring. On a nice line
for the first drive. A little zig zag and moving quickly to the drive panels.
They make the drive panels and turn tight to the right, as the cross drive is
underway. Coming a little low and making good time. 14:40 on the clock at the
halfway point on the cross drive. Still a little low, Wizard turns them and
they make the panels. Beautiful work by Don and Wizard. The turn is wide and
bringing them a little fast into the shedding ring. Wizard eases back and the
sheep enter quietly. Now begins the international shed. Got a good group off,
keeper group headed out of the ring. Another group cut away. Don waves 4 away
and the larger group tries to bolt from the ring. Wizard quickly flanks the
flock and gets them back in the ring. Don lines up the lot and attempts the
shed for the third time. Wizard is exhibiting great self control, as 4 more are
discarded. One collared sheep keeps trying to break. 6:50 on the clock. 3 more
leave the group. 2 more leave the collared group. Don patiently working with
2:20 on the clock. One left to peel away from the collared’s it’s on the
outside now. 50 secs and one un collared left. And the clock stops him. One ewe
just refused to leave the group. Score 317
Scott Glen and June (3 yr. Old) Sponsored by Monique
Feyrcilde
Last years Canadian champion’s
Sheep are at the top of the field. Out run under way. June
is going deep. Scott whistle’s 3 re-directs. Great lift, and starts out on a
nice line. Re-directs to get back online. The fetch is not going well. It’s now
way offline to the right. June has them back online and they head for the fetch
panel. Lining up for the final push through the fetch panels. Sheep stop to
graze. And they make the panels. June drops the first group and heads for the
next lot. Scott calls her back to stop a cross over, and re sends her on the
come by side. They’ll still be called for a cross over. But the second run out
is looking good so far. She’s right behind them, but flanks over a bit. June
lines up behind the sheep. The lift begins slow and steady, one or two ewe’s
are being difficult. She pulls them back together and they are on their way.
comeing to the left, headed far left near the nursery field. June keeps up the
pressure and is slowly getting them to turn, wobbly down the field. Getting back
online and then offline. Sheep are being difficult and wanting to graze. Finally making progress toward the second
fetch panels. Keeping a straight steady line. 17 minutes left, and they make
the fetch panels. Moving quickly toward the ring June is called to get the 1st
lot. Second lot heads away from the ring, making for a challenging collection
of both flocks. June heads out for the 2nd lot, and drops in nicely behind
them. One black headed ewe faces off June, there seems to be a battle for the
water bucket. All the sheep are now gathered around the judges table, the
judges are watching as June gets the sheep away from the trailer and back on
course. They make the turn around the post with 12:20 on the clock. Nice tight
turn. Sheep take a good line to the first drive panel and they move through the
panelsas a nice tight group. Tidy turn around the panels. Starting out on a
good line. Approaching the cross drive panel a little low, and they make the
panels. Nice turn and headed to the shedding ring. The group enters the ring
and Scott leaves the post to begin the shed. With 6:25 on the clock. Sheep are
settled, June is focused. 9 sheep are cut away. The remaining sheep a little
agitated. June is in the high pressure zone and the others are wanting to
rejoin the group. Scott uses his crook to wave them away. 2 more to go and the
shed will be complete. 3:58 . possible grip in the shedding ring, and the sheep
bolt out of the ring. The judges are thinking. Still no remarks….. 1 minute on
the clock. And they run out of time. Score is
93
I want to thank Lyle Lad for stepping in as needed to help with the blog. She has been tremendous help and we are so grateful for her. Lyle is humble, a kind person and a great hand. She is a wonderful person and a real joy. Give her thanks when you see her or send her an email.
Diane Pagel is back to blogging.
They just did the National Athem wiht Terry Parrish singing for the USA and Amanada Milliken singing for Canada. Both sang deeply and wiht passion. Wonderful! Just wonderful.
Now there are presenting the top 17 to the crowd. All lined up before the tent and looking sharp!
Patricia MacRae and Cap. Sponsored by Jennifer Chuang and
Renne Newcomb.
Ray Coapman and Jill.
Sponsored by Jim Wilson Motors.
Ray is setting Jill up for a right handed outrun, and he has
sent her. She is going out wide. She is half way down the field, and still
nice and wide. She is a little bit low coming in, and he
gives her a couple of redirects, sending her out wider. She comes in at the top. The sheep are spread out a bit, so she groups
them together, then starts heading them down the field. A nice lift.
They veer a little offline to the right. They are pretty well offline now. Ray continues to try to get her around to
bring them back online. She has now
gotten around, and is starting to turn them.
They are headed back offline again, and Jill is working hard to try to
push them back to the proper line. She
is doing a good job to keep them from getting offline again. They come right through the fetch
panels. They are coming down steadily
online to the post. The are now headed
offline to the right a bit. Ray is
trying to get her to go back for the second group now, but Jill is having
trouble finding them. She continues to
head back to where the first group was.
The first group of sheep is now at the exhaust, and Jill is headed back
to Ray at the handler’s post. Ray has
sent Jill around the first group at the exhaust to regather them and bring them
back up. It appears that he is trying to
bring them back to the drop off point. He
has pushed them up field some, and is now attempting to get Jill to look back
to the second group of sheep. She keeps
looking back, but not in the right direction.
She again starts to head where the first group was. She is stopped again. She is trying hard, but is quite confused
about where to find the second group of sheep.
She started again back to where the first group was. The judges have called her off. No score (DQ).
Jack Knox with Jim.
Sponsored by Dee Marroni, Sirious Border Collies
Jack is spiffily dressed with a suit coat and tie. He is trying to get Jim set up for a right handed
outrun, but Jim was quite antsy to go without a set-up. It appears that Jim has now spotted
them. He has sent Jim out to the
right. He went out nicely. He heads in a little, and Jack redirects, but
Jim continues to come in. Jack stops him
and sends him out again. Jack gives
another redirect. The sheep lifted
quickly and just a bit offline, but Jim gets them back online. They headed offline again, but he has gotten
them back online. They try to head offline
again, but Jim comes around to keep them online. They are headed in nicely to the fetch
gates. Straight through the fetch
panels. Jim drops them off at the
marker. Jack asks Jim to lookback, which
he does quickly, but then spins back around to his first group. Jack has asked Jim to look back several
times, but Jim is not taking it. Jim
finally takes his look back, but heads off to where the first group was left.
Jim has crossed his line, but is now headed up to the correct area, but
is headed into the rough. Jack gets him
headed back the right direction, but Jim stops a couple of times, looking back
to his handler asking where his sheep are.,
He is now quite close to the sheep, but still looking to the wrong
sidel He was VERY close to them, but
still not seeing them. He finally saw
them, but picked them up from the right hand side. The sheep headed off to the left. There is an independent thinker in the group
who keeps trying to lead them off to the left.
They are coming down the field, but are way offline to the left. They are still way offline. The sheep are now close to the spectator
fence-line. Jim is bring them down the
field, but they have been way offline the whole way. He finally has them headed back up the field
after missing the fetch gates to try to bring them back online. He now has the second group back on lthe
fetch line, not far from the handler’s post.
They break over toward the first group which is now by the judges
stand. Jim goes around to try to get
around all of them. They know where the
exhaust is so have wanted to head that way all day. He has them back together, and is bringing
them around the post. He has now started
toward the first drive panels, and Jim looks tired already. They are now nicely online for the first
drive panels. Some of the sheep are
stopping to grab a bite to eat. He has
just under 14 minutes left as he goes nicely through the gates, and makes a
good turn. They were walking along
calmly to the cross drive panels, then pick up to a trot. They slow down again as they get close to the
panels. They appear to be online. They head through the second panels
nicely. Turn is a little wide. Total point available are 680, with 4
judges: Bevis, Bruce, Alisdair, and
Michael. The sheep have now come into
the shedding ring, and Jack steps away from the post. He has 9 minutes left on the clock. Many of the sheep are grazing again, making
it hard to see the collars. He makes his first cut of 4 sheep. Then has let a three more come off one by one
to the discard group. The discard group
is so far staying close. One collared
ewe trys to make a break for iit, but Jim tucks her back in. Another ewe heads off to join the discard
group. One more leaves, then 2
more. A collared ewe tries to make a
break for it, but gets tucked back in. A
black faced ewe now leads the group off toward the exhaust. 2 more uncollared sheep are exhausted. The discard group has congregated around the
judges stand. He has 5:30 minutes left. He has 2 or 3 left to get rid of. He lets one go. Another collared ewe tries to leave, but is
tucked back in. There is one collared
ewe that keeps looking over, wondering if she can make a break for it. He has one more uncollared ewe to separate
out, with 3:30 minutes to go. They
almost had the last uncollared ewe split off, but Jim covered here and brought
her back. He has her sorted off, and is
trying to keep her sorted off. She is
finally headed off. Jack sends Jim off
to push her away, but he headed to water, and almost pushed her back. After a nail biter, Jack gets him called back
and onto the 5 remaining sheep. They are
headed to the pen. They are at the mouth
of the pen with 30 seconds to go. They
are right at the mouth, headed in. He
gets the gate closed with a whole 15 seconds to spare! Jim takes a well earned dip in the tub, as
Jack heads off the field.
Terry Parrish and Bryce, sponsored by Margie Clutter
She sends Bryce off to the right, and he casts out
nicely. He seems to be coming in where
the sheep were set out for the first qualifying rounds, but then heads on. He looks a little tight, but casts himself
out a little bit. Lifts quietly but off
to the left. She whistles him around to
bring them online. They break off left,
but he comes around to cover. Now they
are trying to break off to the right, towards the exhaust, but Bryce keeps them
online. She sheep are offline to the
right and continue to fight the dog, who is trying to bring them back
online. They are headed back toward the
fetch line. They are now back online. They are coming along at a trot, but then
drop their heads to graze. They are
coming through the fetch gates, and all of them make it through. It appears that her second group have not
been set yet, and someone headed out to the post to talk to Terry for a
minute. They have stopped to clock, and
Alisdair and the course director are conferring. The course director is now talking with Terry. Terry is now calling Bryce off, toward the
first group They had stopped the clock,
but have now restarted it. She is
regathering the first group, that had headed off toward the exhaust. Bryce has the first group headed back to
where they should be left for the second outrun. She is now asking him to look back for the
second group, but he appears to be looking for the next group back where the
first group came from. Terry continues
to get him to try to look off to the left, where the second group is. Bryce keeps heading up the first field for
the original set out. Terry stops him,
and asks him in. She has stopped him
again, and is again asking him to look back.
He continues to look up the field to the right, where the original group
was. He appeared to be flanking out properly
but then it was apparent that he was just headed in a wide come bye around his
original sheep. She stops him again, and
he keeps looking, but has not spotted them.
He now headed out well in the correct direction, but does not appear to
have seen them yet. He is headed out
quite wide. He is going way wide, headed
to where the nursery exhaust was. She
has whistled him in, and he is back on the field. He is headed out nicely around them, but has
stopped. It appears he still hasn’t seen
them. He has finally spotted them, and
had a nice lift, and is now headed down the field. They have veered a little left, he pushed
them back online, and they head off that way again, and are then pushed back
again. One appears to be an independent
sort. They keep breaking off, and he
keeps having to push them back online.
They have 15 min left on the clock we can see, but that is not the
official clock, and we are not sure it was restarted at the correct time. They come nicely through the fetch panels. They are headed toward the original group, and
he leaves them in the fetch ring with Terry to head back to the exhaust to pick
up the original group. In tring to watch
what was happening at the exhaust with her dog, the second group of sheep went
past Terry, an have now congregated at the judges stand. They did not want to leave. Bryce had to convince them to leave and head
back over to the handler’s post. Coming
around the post, one breaks off, and Bryce tucks it back in nicely. They are headed out of the ring toward the
first drive panels. They have just
announced that the clock we are watching is indeed off from the official time. Bryce appears to be getting tired. The sheep are quite strung out headed into
the first panels They appeared to have slipped
around the left hand side of the gates, but had not quite crossed the
plane. Bryce gets them back around, and
through the panels. The turn was
nice. They appear to be online for the
crossdrive. They are quite strung
out. The head through the second panel,
but were so strung out going through that Terry had to wait to flank him. A couple at the end appear to have missed the
panel. Bryce them came around, and does
a nice job getting them back together and headed back to the shedding
ring. A few keep trying to break for the
exhaust, but Bryce keeps tucking them back in.
They are now in the shedding ring.
Bryce waits for Terry’s command.
They have just made the first cut of seven. Two more break away, one of which is
collared, so Bryce brings them all back to the shedding ring. He is pretty tired. He gamely awaits Terry’s next command. Terry makes a nice split of about seven
again. Terry chases them off. A couple try to head head back, but she
convinces them otherwise. She has 8 shed
off, but one black face is walking back to the original group. Terry splits off 4 more, and the black face
decides to head off with them. One more
uncollared sprints off to join his friends in the discard group. She has
2 left to cut off. Terry’s purple velvet
jacket is quite natty with her purple pants, and blingy top, with a nice
head. Our clock has run out, but the official one
has not. Don’t know how much time is
left. Terry and Bryce are patiently trying to split off the last two. They time out. Score is 281.
Diane Pagel is blogging now.
Suzy Applegate and Buzz, sponsored by Diamond J farms.
Suzy sends Buzz and he busts out fast and wide. His long
legs cover ground and he is almost at the top in 30 seconds. A quick redirect
and he lopes up the long, hard, lush alfalfa field. Buzz is coming up nice and
smooth on the sheep and they are calm.
Nice lift and Buzz works hard to keep them tucked on the line to the
fetch gates. He is holding the pressure side well and moving them along side of
the hill as they want to bolt down the hill. He is doing a good job and I can’t
see that they are much offline as they hit the flat filed to come to the fetch
panels. Nice trot to the fetch panels and he tucks them through like an old
pro. Dropped them off like Santa drops my Christmas presents under the tree and
then back out for the turn back. Started
off nice and then crossed and Suzy is trying to get him back on the proper
side. He is on the away side and doesn’t
see the sheep and keep running up the hill.
Finally he sees the sheep and casts out nice and deep. Nice and square at the top and coming in
softly. Lift was off and sheep broke to
Nursery area. The sheep are in the draw, and we have lost sight of them at this
point. They re-emerged and going left
hard to Nursery area and Buzz is trying hard to cover. (Sonia Craig is helping me as I can’t type
and watch). The sheep are fighting and still offline. Headed back to the field and working hard to
bring them back. She is almost back on line just below the
setout. Close to back online with 18 minutes left. The sheep are breaking hard to the left and
Buzz is working quite hard. It’s hot as heck right now on the field! They are breaking to the right and the line
is wobbling and they are fighting Buzz. Back online to the fetch panels and now
a slow walking pace. Through the fetch
gates and a gallant effort with 16 minutes left. The first set have drifted to
the far right and Buzz is going back to get them. They are about 150 yards
away. The second group ran to the exhaust in the meantime. Buzz got the first group and the second group
is tucked next to the exhaust gate. She is bringing the first set to the second
set. The two groups are now together and
headed back to the exhaust. Buzz is hot
and got in the water. They are headed back to the post with 13 min to go. They are coming around the post, and about to
start the drive. She is sending Buzz to
water with the sheep waiting at the post.
It is quite hot out in the sun, and he has run a long way. He is back now. They are headed up the field on the
drive. They are driving calmly,
online. They are headed up to the drive
gates, and are a little strung out, wide.
There are some stragglers. He is
picking up the stragglers to go through the gates. They have all made the gates. Nice turn to the cross drive. Cross drive is going well. They are trotting along, trying to pick up
the pace with 9 min left. They may be a
little high. He adjusted them back
online and walking toward the second gates.
They are low. She flanked Buzz to
the low side, but ½ missed the gate, and the other ½ made the gate. Nice turn toward the shedding ring. Buzz is tired and they are not
cooperative. 7:30 min left, headed
toward the shedding ring, and pretty strung out again. He is having to push them to the ring. They are hungry. About 30 yards from the shedding ring with
6:30 seconds lleft. They want to stop
and eat. They are in the shedding ring now,
and Suzy heads out to them. She sends
Buzz back to water again. Buzz is
back. She has 3 collared sheep hanging
together pretty well. Trying to set up a
shed. She is trying to work all her
collars together, she has 3 in one section, and 2 in another. She has made her first cut of about 8 or 9
spit off, now 10. 3 more uncollared
break to the discard group. The last 3
uncollared are in the middle of the collared sheep. 2 more uncollared just split off. One uncollared left to go, with 2 minutes on
the clock. The last white facemd
uncollared one keeps hanging in the center. A collared sheep broke off, but was tucked
back in. She has timed out in the shedding
ring. Score is 311
Taking a quick break for lunch!
Derek Fisher has a stylist station set up at a table at the
back of the handler’s tent, and someone is taking advantage of a few minutes
down time to get a cut and style.
After lunch the next handler up will be: (Kathy Davis is typing and Diane is blogging)
Amanada Milliken with Roz, sponsored by Home Cardiographics.
The sheep are headed to
the setout area. Roz has gone out
smartly to the right and going along the green edge of the field and looking
nice. The dog has gone nicely behind the
sheep, and is looking good. Lift is
straight toward the fetch panels. The
line is still looking nice, with the sheep coming at a trot. The sheep headed offline a little, but Roz
tucked them most of the way back in. One
black face is trying to make a break with her friends, but Roz made them all go
through the fetch panels for the drop.
She has been sent back now, and was looking good but got confused,
looking back to the first set-out. With
some hesistation, she is headed toward the sheep, but has crossed. Amanda is trying to whistle her down. Roz finally stopped, but is on the away
side. At this point, we are not sure if
Roz has seen the sheep. We have lost the
dog on the field. Now she has reappeared
below the sheep, still on the right side.
She went into a draw, and we have lost sight of her again. There is a draw between the sheep and Amanda,
and Roz can’t see the sheep, as she is down in it. Now she is about 50 yds in front of the
sheep, and has not turned back to see them.
If she would turn around, she would see them. Roz is convinced that they
are in front of her. Finally, she found
her sheep, and brought them at a fast pace nicely to the fectch panels and
right through. Meanwhile, her first set
drifted to the road, and Roz is picking them up. Her second set is now running to the
exhaust. They are all back together and
stuck to the exhaust. Roz is working
hard trying to break them off the fence of the exhaust. She has gotten them off, and is headed back
to the post. She has the sheep gathered
in front of the post, and they are coming around the post nicely. Nice turn around the post, and they are off
to the first drive panel. One blackfaced
ewe is now challenging Roz, and she backed her down the field aways. Roz finally convinced her that rejoining her
friends was in her best interest. The
had a little bobble offline, but Roz has them
back online again. The go very
nicely through the panel, and she has a nice tight turn around the panel. They are now headed along the cross drive at
a trot. The sheep have now slowed down,
and sluggishly head through the panels, with a very tight turn. They are a bit wide, but she is tucking them
back online, with 7 minutes left headed to the shedding ring. They are in the ring, and Amanda is trying to
move them to a better shedding position.
She gets her first cut of 8 sheep, but they don’t go far, and one breaks
back to the original group. Amanda then
pushes the discards off further, and one collared ewe makes a break for it, but
Amanda cuts her off. There are several
collared ewes thinking about heading off to join the discards, and all of her
uncollared sheep seem to be at the back of the group, headed the wrong direction
with the collared ewes just waiting for a chance to run to the exhaust and
their discarded friends. They are all
settled back down nicely in the shedding ring now, and she has cut one more
off, with a collared one trying to make a break. The sheep have left the ring, and she is
working them back in. Naturally, the
collared ones want to join the shed single.
She is working patiently, and has now split 3 more off. One uncollared sheep almost split off, but
was turned back. She has 10 seconds left. She splits off another. She is out of time in the shedding ring. Score
355.
Derek now has a new
customer at his stylist booth. What a
deal – come to the finals and get a haircut and style between your runs! No wonder so many people are looking good
today.
Bob Stephens with
Pete. Sponsored by Donna Larsen and
Precious
And Pete is off, to the
right of course. He is headed up; the
edge of the field. He is now headed in
short, where the sheep were several days ago.
Bob has whistled him out again, but he has crossed. He is now coming up the to the sheep, but too
close, and on the left. He has gotten
around behind them. He was close, but
the sheep politely held still for them.
Lift was good, headed toward the fetch panels (which are diagonally to
the left). She sheep are now offline too
far to the left and Pete comes in a little too close and splits them. The are are now headed back together. They
are back online and headed to the fetch gates.
The line is still nice coming in to the fetch panels at a nice trot, and
right through the panels. They are now
at the drop. He is being asked to look
back, but keeps looking toward where the first set out was. It looked once like he was headed the right direction,
but apparently not, as Bob stopped him.
Pete is determined that the second group of sheep are near the original
set out. He has now crossed. He is headed still confused – headed up the
field but has no idea where his sheep are, and is running back and forth across
the field, looking for them. The dog is
still looking, and still wants to head back to the first set out. This has killed quite a few dogs on the
turnback to the second group. Pete is
all the way back to the original setout, and headed back toward where the
original set out pens were a few days ago.
He has 19 minutes left at this point, and unfortunately has no idea
where the second group is. Finally the
dog is headed up the away side, and we hope that he sees them. He is stopped again, and Bob is again asking
for a lookback, and the dog has looked back, but is headed in this way, on a
very wide away. He is now at the
spectator fenceline and currently out of our sight. He is still confused, and is now headed back
down the field towards us. Bob is now
bringing 10 yr old Pete in, as he has already covered a LOT of ground, and has
no idea where the second group is. No score. Retired.
Scott Glen with Don. Sponsored by Diane Pagel
Scott is at the post,
setting Don up for his away outrun. And
he heads out nice and wide. He is headed
up the field fast, along the edge. He
heads in where the setout was several days ago, and Scott gives a VERY brief
flank, and Don heads back out again.
Scott whicles him to slow down coming around the back. The sheep really like being set out on this
alfalfa field and don’t like giving up the opportunity to snack. They lift pretty well, but pretty quickly try
to head offline toward the right, to the exhaust. Don has to tuck them back onto the fetch line. They are approaching the fetch panels
online. They are trying to string out,
but Don makes them stay together. They
keep wanting to stop and snack. The come
nicely through the fetch panels and to the dpro spot. Don takes his lookback immediately, but comes
in too close, crossing the field. Scott
whistles him down, and tells him to lookback again, but he is off into a very
rough area of overgrown grass on the hill, trying to head back to the original
set-out spot. He is now coming around the
first group again. He is moving them
back to the drop post. He is
putting them back to the droppoint so that he can reset Don for the
turnback. He has 21 minutes left. Donn
takes his lookback command again, but is still crossing, and repeating what he
hust did. Scott is trying to whistle him
way out wide, and we thought that Scott had ahold of him. It looked like he was going, but at the last
moment, he kicked back toward the first set out. Scott has him coming back, so he is directly
below the sheep. Don is stopped and looking
toward the sheep, and a couple of redirects.
It looks like he is headed towards the comebye side. He has come in
below the sheep and disappeared into a draw.
He has finally sighted his sheep, and is coming nicely behind them. 17:50 minutes left. It has been a tough second outrun in the
dead heat of the day. Don has lifted the
sheep, and they have gone into a draw.
They are coming out with a hard left pull. Don is working hard, as they are running hard
towards the fenceline. It is tough at
this point as the sheep keep wanting to break to the nursery field, and Don is
working his heart out. Time is being
chewed up as Don is gallantly working hard to get them off the fenceline
area. There is a dead zone out in that
area. The sheep are starting to move
nicely and they are walking slowly toward the fetch line. Don is covering on the away side, and has
missed the fetch panels. They are back
online at the drop point. Scott is
working to keep the second set online so they will be even with the first set,
so he can send Don. Don cast out nice and wide, and is picking up; the first
set with 12 minutes left. The first set
is trotting back to be with the second set in front of the fetch panels. They are walking nice and slow toward the
post. They are turning nicely around the
post, until several try to wander off toward the spectator fenceline. Don tucks them back in. They are now headed back up the field to the
first drive panels. He has them headed
up at a nice trot, tightly bunched toward the first drive panels. They are now stringing out a bit, and trying
to come offline towards the fenceline again, but Don is keeping them tucked in. They go nicely through the panekls, with a
nice tight tunr around the panel as well.
He looks nice online, with the sheep tightly bunch, with the sheep
headed steadily along. They are deaded
at a nice steady walk across the field.
Most of the groups keep stopping to graze. Don has his sheep headed the right direction and
is keeping the moving along. Scott makes
a slight correction to get back up to the fetch line, and they go nicely
through the second drive panels. The turn
was slightly wide. He has 5 minutes left
on the clock. They are headed back to
the shedding ring. They are now in the
shedding ring with 3:45 seconds left.
He has lined them up nicely in the shedding ring. He looks quite nice in a pink shirt, vest,
and stylish hat. He shed several off,
but a collared ewe broke through, so he had to regather them. He has shed 5, then another broke back, and then
the 5 rejoined the flock. He has yet to
make a successful first cut. He is being
patient and has shed off four again, an several collared ewes want to join the
discarded group. We just noticed that
Scott is wearing a nice tie. He has 30
seconds left. Time has run out for Scott
Glen. Score is 325
Bryan White with Scoop. Sponsored by Rocking Dog Productions LLC
Scoop headed up the field
nicely, but can in short where the original set out was a few days ago. He did not sop when Bryan asked him to. He finally did stop, and took a redirect out
wider, but still came in a little short.
The sheep were so busy grazing on the nice alfalfa, that they held
position, allowing Scoop to get behind them and have a nice lift. The sheep are coming directly down the line
to Bryan, and are pulling hard to the right.
Scoop is not keeping the pressure to make the dogleg to the fetch
panels. At this point they are headed
towards the judges booth, and 50 yards
before the post, Scoop has them turned back toward the fetch line. He is well below the drop point, and the
sheep have burst up the hill. Scoop
crossed. He is bringing them back down
to Bryan and they are still working to get back on the fetch line. The sheep are headed toward the exhaust, but
Bryan has Scoop stopped on the fetchline, and is trying to do a turnback. Scoop is not convinced, as he cannot see the
sheep, as they are over 500 yds away, and blending into the hillside. Finally Scoop is going towards the second
packet, and has crossed the line behind the first drive panels. He is coming back to Bryan, but Bryan stopped
him. Scoop is trying hard to figure out
what Bryan wants. At this point we have
21 minutes left, and we hope that scoop can find his sheep. Bryan has decided to walk without a
score. Retired.
Terry Parrish with
Zula. Sponsored by Cathy Modica
Again, Terry is a fashion
model, as she goes to the post. The
first packet of sheep are a nice sharp contrast against the lush green field,
trotting down to the setout point, and Zula is locked on them. Zula is casting out nice and deep. Started in where the sheep were set out
several days ago, but corrected herself. She is coming in nicely for the lift, but
ended up going a little too far, and lifted too far to the right. The sheep are headed up the field to the
exhaust, at the right edge, way off the dogleg fetchline on the left. Terry keeps trying to flank her around, but
Zula is not getting far enough around to bring them back online. They are headed down the right side
fenceline. Finally Zula takes her flank,
and the sheep are headed back in, but want to stop and graze. Zula is working hard now to get them back
online. The sheep are going straight to the drop off point, having missed the
fetch panels. She is giving her a big
flank and a lookback, and Zula is scanning.
She is trotting out slowly, and is still scanning, but it is hard to see
the sheep on that hillside. She is still trotting on the comebye, and has not
crossed at this point. Terry stopped
her, and Zula is looking hard. Zula did
a quick away flank, but was stopped – we hope in time. She is still having some trouble, as she is
not looking high enough on the hill. She
doesn’t quite believe Terry, and keeps inching closer to crossing the
line. At this point, she is behind the
drive panels, and is having the same issues as all the dogs prior. She is getting close to crossing over. We are still hoping that she can do a
turnback and get her sheep. She has now
crossed. She is working just below the
sheep, on the away side. We thought Zula
saw her sheep, but she apparently has not.
Finally, after numerous redirects, Zula flanked away behind her
sheep. The lift was fast and we are
looking at 17 minutes left on the clock.
Terry, a tough competitor stands quietly at the post, while Zula is
bringing the sheep. She is giving her a
chance to get hold of them and now is starting to flank once they come off the
hill onto the flat field. The sheep are
coming nicely to the fetch panels and are trotting nicely through. Meanwhile, Terry’s first packet is way off to
the right near the road, along an irrigation line. The first packet is about even with the
judges stand. Terry is patiently working
the second group closer to her, and they are a bit offline to the left. Zula went on the away to cover the second
group, which had drifted to the left of the fetch line. Now she has them online, and has Zula between
the two groups, going on a comebye flank to pick up the first group. It is a wide outrun to pick up the first
group, but this game little dog is working her heart out. Zula is bringing the first group back to the second,
and has them all together now. They are
headed back to Terry at the post. They
had an extremely wide turn around the post, and are tightly bunched, headed
toward the first drive panels with 10 minutes left. They are headed nicely online to the first
drive panels. They tried to dive out to
the left at the last second, but Zula would not let them. They all went through nicely, but with a wide
turn around the panels. They were high,
then came low, below the fetch panels.
She is adjusting to get them back online. They missed the panels high at the last moment,
and the turn is a little wide, as the sheep want to break right to the
exhaust. Now they have stopped to graze ½
way to the shedding ring, and she is off line.
The sheep are entering the ring with 6 minutes left. Terry is patiently working the sheep and Zula
is holding the back line. Terry splits 3
off. One black face is standing eye to
eye with Zula, but finally turns. The
flock has rejoined the 3, so she is going to have to reshed. She is at the edge of the shedding ring at
this point. She has shed off four and
has 2:45 minutes left. Another uncollared
ewe joined the four, then a collared and an uncollared sheep joined the
discarded set. She regathered, redid
part of a shed, but again there was a collared in the group, so she regathered
again, and time ran out. Score is 262
Suzy Applegate with
Dot. Sponsored by Rusty Jeffers
Dot went out wide, and
part way up the outrun, kicked past where the setout panels were, and into the
upper yellow fields. Suzy got her back
behind the sheep for a nice lift. They are breaking hard down the hill. As of now, they are a little bit off line,
and don’t want to go over to the left dog leg fetch to hit the fetch
panels. She has finally gotten them
stopped on the flat field, and then trotting toward the fetch panels. Nice approach to the fetch panels now. The sheep are again trying to break right, and
Dot is flanking around to bring them back to Suzy. She got Dot back around to block them from
going offline, and has now gotten them through the fetch panels, and to the
drop point. Dot is not willing to let go
of this group to look back for the second group. The first group is drifting offline towards
the exhaust. Dot is still not letting go
of them, but now is bent out and crossed.
She is not looking back, and is convinced that the first group is what
Suzy wants her to get. Suzy has retired
with no score.
We will have done 207 runs and close to 60 Livecast Interviews....about 50 hrs of works for me and I wonder why I am so tired!
Sonia Craig with Walt. Sponsored by Pat Byrnes
We want to thank Sonia
for stepping in and helping blog when we were trying to do interviews and blog,
and just ran out of help. We grabbed
her and she was kind enough to step into the role at the last minute. Thank you again.
Walt is off up the field,
going out wide pretty quickly. He is
coming in deep behind his sheep. He is
lifting them straight toward Sonia rather than toward the fetch panels, but she
quickly brings him around to get them back online before the really even get
offline. They keep pulling to the right,
but Walt is keeping them online to the dogleg left fetch panels. They are moving quickly, and not grouping
tightly. They are coming in to the
panels too far to the left, and Sonia is trying to get him around to tuck them
pack in. they are strung out wide, and 2
or three go around the left side of the gates, with the rest coming through to
the post. Walt took his look back immediately
and is trusting her to go out, but has no idea where the sheep are, and is
going out blind. He is looking toward
the trailers, and is scanning, but it does not appear that he sees the sheep up
on the hill. He is casting out nicely on
the comebye side, but is coming up short.
She stopped him, and redirected him, but it looks like he will still be
short. He still has not crossed. At the last moment he saw the sheep, and cast
out nice and deep. He is slow and steady
at the top. The lift is a little bit to
the left, but he quickly takes command.
They are again off line to the left.
Sonia is trying to flank him around, but they are coming in quickly and
he has not gotten around far enough.
They are breaking hard to the fenceline, and are at a dead run. Finally, he has control, has slowed them down
to a trot, and Sonia is trying hard to get them turned before the fetch
panels. It looks like they are going to
come just below the fetch panels, but she got them through, and the crowd gave
a big roar. Diane is wearing her new
glasses and she still can’t see panels worth a damn J She has dropped the sheep in their proper
place and has sent Walt to pick up the first group, which he is doing
nicely. She has 18 minutes left at this
point. The second group is waiting
calmly just in front of the post, and the first group joins them. Now they are gathered 50 feet in front of
her, and she is setting them up for the turn.
The sheep want to make a break for the exhaust, but Walt has stopped
them, and keeps them headed back toward the post. They are started on their drive now, but are
lining out along the drive, and trotting on the first leg. You can see how dusty it is – when the sheep
trot, swirls of dust are left behind them.
They are close to the panel now, and want to spread out and graze. The have gone through nicely, but there are
still 2 left on this side. They finally
did come through. They did a wide turn
around the panels, and the sheep are dropping very low on the cross drive. He has them grouped together, and they are
going at a nice trot, and appear to be online.
He tucks them smartly through the panels with 3 minutes left. They make a nice tidy turn, and Walt holds
the pressure coming back to the shedding ring.
The sheep are now in the shedding ring, and Sonia is trying to get them
grouped and settled there so she can set up a shed. The sheep tried to break out of the ring, but
Walt caught them. Sonia is patiently
working them, looking for a good grouping.
She cuts a nice group away, with 10 minutes left. She changed sides, and
that will cost her. The sheep are
getting close to the edge of the ring, and have decided to graze. The discarded sheep are at the exhaust. One collare4d sheep has broken back to the
exhaust group. The rest followed, and
Walt has gone to water. Walt has brought
them back in the ring with 6 minutes left.
The collared sheep are scattered throughout the group, and they broke
out of the shedding ring again on the far side.
She has finally worked four uncollared sheep to one side, but they
regrouped. She almost had a good split,
but then a collared blackfaced sheep broke into the uncollared group, so she
could not call Walt in for the shed. She
has done a split, but the collared group walked out of the ring. Time has run out. Score is 359
(Ellen Skillings is
blogging and Kathy Davis is typing)
Michelle McGuire with Molly. Sponsored by Moose Tatum
She has sent her off to
the right, and she is running deep back towards the exhaust. She is running wide up the right hand side of
the field. She has cut in low. Michelle stopped her, and redirected
her. Molly has taken it and kicked
out. She stopped short on her own at
about 3 o’clock. She kicked out again. She is coming in at a nice angle to be online
at the fetch gates, and is coming in deep.
She is careful, controlled and online.
They come offline slightly to the right and stopped to graze. Molly has brought them back online. Molly is having to hold pressure hard on the
right, as the sheep are pulling hard that way.
The sheep have come down off the hill onto the flat, and are about ½ way
to the fetch gates. There is a little
bobble on the fetch line, and Molly is flanked to catch them right above the handler,
and won’t let go of the first packet. The
first packet is drifting off the turnback post.
She has had 3 or 4 turn back
commands, and is recalled, and stopped.
Told to look back. Molly has
looked, and is headed back, but still has not seen the sheep. She is going back slowly. She is coming in where the stubble meets the
grass, and has crossed about 70 yards below the second packet. Michelle stops her and redirects her, but
Molly has not spotted the sheep yet. She
has been given 5 stops, but stops briefly, then continues on toward the center
of the field. Molly continues toward
the center of the field. She is stuck on
the dry field that divides where the first group of sheep is dropped from the
field where the second group is dropped.
She is about 300 yards from the second group, and walking towards them,
but it is not clear if she has seen them yet or not. She has spotted her sheep and is casting back
from the wrong side. Despite repeated
redirects she is lifting her sheep away from the fetch line. She is at about 3 o’clock, and needs to be at
about 10 o’clock. The sheep have lifted
and disappeared in the draw back toward the second set out pens, and Molly is
not moving. She is ignoring redirect
whistles. It is not clear if she can
even hear the redirect whistle. Michelle
is giving what seem to be recall whistles, but Molly is not moving. She broke back toward the top of the
field. The sheep are drifting. She may have gone back by the set out
pens. Michelle has chosen to
retire.
Headed out now, more tonight when we stop for the night.
