This last weekend Janet and I went to a sheepdog trial. She drove as it wears me out and I really appreciate it. We ran on Sunday but she judged as well on Saturday. George MacDonald was the judge for Sunday and did a fantastic job. Much thanks to Chris Soderstrom for being so understanding and hosting a fabulous trial
I haven't done anything with my dogs since I ran them at the last trial. Mainly they have my company while I recover from the chemo. The chemo I am on is the toughest course as they want to kill the t Cell Lymphoma which is in my nasal pharynx and neck lymph nodes. It is also in my arm put nodes, near my heart, spleen and leg groin nodes but the main active area is in the neck and head. So the chemo is tough and I spent close to ten days in bed and the dogs were my buddies.
We do go for walks and I make them sit for treats, I realized as I walked up to the post with Maid that she is pushy and we had not done any work at all.....oops.....outwork was standard, the first leg of the drive was towards the exhaust and the sheep would bolt for the gate. The cross drive was tough as there were other PN panels all around the area and it was just hard to do it straight. Last leg was to the shed ring with was about 25 yards away but the dogs would try to bring the sheep to the post. Shed, pen and single in nine minutes.
Maid went out well and took the down on the first leg of the fetch. I about fainted as the last trial she fought me on the down. Nice fetch but one ewe had a high head. Nice turn and one ewe broke for the exhaust while the other four stood. Maid tucked her back and then she broke on the other side. This happened about five times on the first leg and she was calm. Nice turn at the panel then the ewe and her buddies took a jog up the hill. Maid was fixated on "runner" and didn't take my big flank so we had a high crossdrive. The ewe turned on Maid and took a run at her but Maid gave her a clean nose grip and stood. The ewe decided that Maid was a dog to contend with and behaved but we got hit 21 points for that. Great shed and nice pen and a super nice single. All in all, I was very happy on well she ran (aside from her bucking me on the large flanks which I need to fix) and that she didn't do a stupid grip but a clean one then backed off. Her downs were very nice and she tried hard to please me. We held onto fourth for the longest time then dropped down as the day went on. She was pleased with herself after her run and I told her that she was a smart girl.
Nan was last and I run her for fun at the short trials. She is in great shape for 12 plus and enjoys running and I don't care how she places as we have fun. After she run, she is so happy and joyful and her tail goes 90 mph with joy. She ran out well but was wide on the fetch, thinking the sheep would go to the exhaust but too wide as the sheep missed the panels. Nice turn and good first leg, nice panel turn, the cross drive on her deaf ear side so were wobbled a bit but got the panel and nice last leg but fast. She was on the muscle! We had to work for the shed but got it then a nice pen. She was too tight on the single and pushy so the ewes were afraid of her but we got the single. She got the same score as Maid. Again, I haven't worked her either.
I was happy with the dogs as they tried hard for not any work and then running in a trial. The next trial is in three weeks so I will try to get a work session in before then.
