Ray and Jill - Double Lift

Ray Coapman and Jill at the Double Lift at LaCamas

What a loving team at the post. Jill gazed into Ray's eyes with lots of love.

Pushing on the drive.

Serious tongue action!

Working the shed...one ewe at a time.

All done now!! Such a happy dog!

Alasdair and Star - Double Lift

Alasdair and Star in the LaCamas Double Lift.

Judge Warren Mick.

In the shedding ring.

The last shed.

Ready to go....

The pen. The ewes did NOT want to go in but Star held her ground.

It took a bit but patience won out in the end. Star held her ground and the ewes decided the pen was the only option after all.

Hay Baling Fun

Rated R:

This is quite funny,. Do not try this at home

Alasdair and Nap - Double Lift LaCamas

Well, it got too late for me to edit the rest of the Double Lift pixs so I only managed to do the first set. I'll do the rest in the next day or two. I guess work just gets in the way! So you will just have to be patient.

This is the first of the series. Alasdair and Nap.

Nap bringing the sheep into the ring. I was too busying spilling coffee all over me to get any of the outwork or driving pixs.

Teamwork at it's best.

Nap says "I'll hold these..."

".....While you chase off that set"

Then after the tidy shed, off to the pen.

Walk the lambs in for a score of 163 out of 170. It was a beautiful run to watch!

LaCamas Double LIft- Alasdair and Nap

Lovely video taken by Elizabeth Baker.

Alasdair MacRae and Nap - Double LIft Champions

LaCamas Faye- PN run

I ran Faye in PN. She belongs to Ton Pardini. She is doing quite well. She is a lot like her mother, Nan.

This is Faye's second run. She spots her sheep. She went out nice and deep. Lift well and steady. She didn't lost any points on her outrun and lift.

We got a little offline at the fetch and lost 7 points. She got them back on line before the fetch. As we turned to the post, the sheep bolted to the exhaust.

She had to peel them off the exhaust gate.

Not an issue. She has a nice confident walkup and took them off and brought them back to me.

Getting a wee bit pushy on the first leg of the drive.

Lovely tight turn at the first drive panel.

Looking good so far at the crossdrive. Then the sheep went low and I tried to flank Faye on an away and she didn't want to release the pressure. So I left the post to make her so the next time we go to the post, she will do it. She had a super nice run up to this point. She just gets better and better at each trial.

Tomorrow: more runs and the Double Lift

Ode to Cloud at LaCamas

I have heard that this might be Cloud's last year and here is a tribute to him. He is one strong and smooth dog. Mess with Cloud and you mess with the wrong dog. I have always admired him. He belongs to Bob Dias and Bob loves that dog!

His Open Run at LaCamas. (click on the pix for a larger view)

Look at him run.

Full sprint.

Keeping an eye on his sheep.

Four NOT on the floor.

In the shedding ring, one lamb broke for it.

Bad mistake on the lamb part.

The lamb realizes this was not a wise move.

I love this pix. He was called off but he won the race in the end.

What a nice dog with a huge heart.

LaCamas Scores

The Scores are up and can be read at: SCORES

LaCamas - Koko and Nan - Open runs

I took a ton of pixs so over the next few days I will post them. I took a bunch of the Double Lift and some are quite nice. I wasn't able to take any PN or Novice runs as I was busy at the Open field. I did see some good PN runs and Janet took some of Faye's run in PN.

Today's dogs are Rochelle Stanford and Koko. And of course, my darling Nan who gripped at the pen. Which I was happy since I had to teach her to do a proper grip and not back down or run off.

Koko at the fetch gates. Koko maybe red and maybe small but she packs one heck of a punch. She has completed the course every year and one year, made it into the double lift. I believe she has the most points as a red dog. Rochelle and Koko are quite a team.

The lambs are saying "What direction did you want us to go to, Madam!"

Koko got the only pen of the day on Thursday. It was a very nice pen.

Nan on the first leg of the drive. Her fetch was a breakneck speed and she suddenly remembered her down, say, about 20 feet from me. Don't tell Scott Glen that her down was broken as the few days prior at his Handling Clinic, her down was fixed. GULP!

On the first leg, it was very hard and we weaved around then got the rest of the drive. It was very tough for her to push heavy lambs.

Waiting for me to walk her up.

Turning the ewes from running off in the ring.

Marching them in the ring with gusto. A bit more gusto than was needed.

Setting up the shed.

Got it quickly. I did retain what Scott taught me on shedding.

At the pen. We almost had them in and the middle ewe (the one stamping) tried to jump over her, smashed Nan's head to the ground with her hoof so Nan gripped her on the nose and held her ground and we got a DQ. I was happy she held her ground and proud that she tried so hard to please. We do need to work more on the stops and squaring her flanks.

Tomorrow, a lot  more photos of other runs.

Lamb Streaker

Very cute video from Budweiser...

"Lamb Streaker"

LaCamas Friday Runs

The sun smiled brightly on me early Wednesday morning as Getty hitched up the truck and I quickly packed. Janet called and we decided to head down and get set up and then go grocery shopping. I put the dogs through their paces and was happy how well the stopped and listened. Tess gave me the sad eyes at the gate when I worked the trial dogs so I slipped her in for a bit of a go. Her eyes beamed and she shot off like a cannon ball. I looked at her in amazement and wondered what happened to her out jog that she was noted for in her last few trials. I tried to stop her but she rode hard on the sheep behinds and brought them at a rather fast clip. I smiled at her happy face and did a few flanks and a short drive. I called her off and she looked at me in astonishment and then busted behind at the sheep in disobedience and brought them to my feet and then trotted to the gate. I laughed. Had one of the trial dogs done that, they would had a evil glare from me but I found it rather funny that at twelve ears old, Tess decided to have a little civil disobedience. She was quite pleased with herself and when she saw Getty she ran to him and promptly jumped on him, wet muddy paws and all. He petted her and she circled around the truck, knowing a trial was pending and didn’t want to be left behind. It brought back fond memories of many trials that we have traveled together and now in retirement, she is my lap warmer.

Getty loaded the trailer while I got the last minute items and soon I was on my way. Janet took her car and we were timing it so we would arrive at the same time. Bob Dias called and we agreed to met in the same area that we had camped in last year. Bob would get there first but then had to go and pick up Rochelle.

 The trip took longer than I had thought due to the heavy traffic and that I-% was down to two lane instead of four lanes so I pulled in at 4ish than my 2ish time. Janet had arrived and found where Bob had set his trailer up.

Other members of our camping group were Ron and Vickye, Monique, and Ben. Bob was kind enough to back the trailer in for me and help us set up. Bill Orr stopped by to give Bob some grief and help us with the stuck awning. The trick is to jiggle the braces as they got stuck. Camp was quickly set up and Janet is now getting to be quite the pro at the trailer set up too.

 Ron and Vickye came in later on Wednesday and Monique and Ben were the next day. Everyone brought tons of food and drinks. We sure were not hurting for anything in that department. Bob, Rochelle, Janet and I all went out to dinner to the same Asian restaurant that we had gone to last year and we ate very well. So much in fact, I was not hungry for dessert. Then Janet and I went grocery shopping and we got enough food for a week. I honestly don’t know how it happened but ice cream some how jumped into our cart! Of course, we didn’t discover it until we arrived at the trailer and lo and behold, the freezer was empty and it fit in it! ;-)

I was up on Thursday with Roo in the 37 spot. There was about 100 dogs entered. It was overcast with sun break and perfect weather for the trial. Roo had done extremely well at Wednesday practice so I felt good. That feeling soon disappeared when Roo disappeared over the crest of the hill. I cast him on an away and he turned and went 90 degrees off. I whistled hard stops and he ran through them and went over to the PN parking lots. There was a single that had gotten away from the PN field and he was going to bring it back. The PN handlers chased him off and he came back, then crossed over and got his sheep. He still didn’t listen to me and brought them at breakneck speed and wouldn’t flank. We quit as soon as I could get to him to stop him. I was very disappointed in him.

Later that day, Faye had to run in PN. She cast our nice and got her sheep. They fought her the entire way and wanted to run to the exhaust. They were very heavy and she had to push but she listened to me and did as I asked. (Roo, perhaps could have taken a lesson from Faye!). One ewe turned on her at the turn around the post and she greeted her with a quick nose bite and the ewe decided to behave. She had to work hard to push them on the first leg of the drive then timed out on the crossdrive. I was very happy on well she tried and it was over her head but she kept on going. She lost her drive and pen points and got 39 and I was happy with that. About half of the PN dogs RT or DQ.

 Rochelle and Koko made it around the course and where the ONLY OPEN team to pen that day. The sheep were very tough to pen and Koko glared at them and they slipped in. Koko also got the highest score of our group of friends that day.

Monique sent Lucy out on the away side and she crossed over and didn’t find her sheep. She didn’t look far enough up the field for the sheep and Monique walked off to think of a strategy for her next run to make it a success. I was looking for a boat anchor to slow Roo down as his only gear was SPEEDY. Monique found me a Gin/Tonic instead so that soothed my wound!

Bob Hickman ran Trooper in his first Open class and he got around the course. Congrats to a good job for his first Open debut. Bo ran Rock he was a handful!! He likes a tough dog and I admire that he can handle such a strong dogs. He recently bought Kira from me and she will be just a tough as his two Open dogs.

Alasdair and Patricia also ran their dogs and the crowd watched to see some fine handling on the cunning sheep. Alasdair made it look easy and the crowd give him a huge round of applause. Rob Miller handled the sheep quite well and always impresses us not only with his fine handling skills but his calmness on the field. Rob and Mary are a very nice couple and enjoyable to talk to at the trial.

Quite a few of the Open handlers went down that day and I think it was about 30%-40 with no score by the end of the day. The lambs were tough and wily, either they ran or sluggish, If they were sluggish and your dog had no push, they were content to graze, If they decided to run, you just hoped your dog was as fast as Phar Lap.

At the end of the day, they ran out of daylight so the last six dogs did not get to run. They were to run first thing on Friday morning. At the crack-of-dawn when all living creatures should be tucked in bed. I cheered for Bob from the warm blankets at 6:30 a.m. with my dogs curled next to me.

On a side note, Tess had ten pups or grandpups running in LaCamas, quite a feat for her. Koko, Roo, Pete, Kate, Jackie are from her two litters and Dodge, Finn, Kirby, Pooka, and Spike are the grandpups. Tess also ran in this trial a few years ago.

Evening came swiftly and we all drank Gin/tonics and had salmon, pasta salad, tons of other goodies for dinner and sat about and chatted the night away. Monique and Ben had arrived and set up their tents. Ron and Vickye provided some humor and we all ended the night on full bellies, stories of successful runs in the past and an empty Gin bottle.

Even though we did not do well, we all learned from our runs and worked on strategies for the next runs. Mine with Roo was to get into his head quicker and stop him and mean it. My first run with Nan was the next day and I already had planned out what I wanted to do (send her on the away and stop her at the top and try to have some pace on the sheep). Faye’s second run was on Saturday so I was going to plan to walk up her quicker and flank her more to get the sheep going at a faster pace. With these grandiose ideas in my head, I fell into a deep sleep and awoke the next morning to the loud snores coming from Tess. I warned Janet that Tess snored so I wouldn't get blamed for them!

Put your comments in the comment sections of the notable runs you saw at the trial. I didn’t see them all so I would love to hear what you saw that was good.

Tomorrow: Friday’s runs and Pixs

LaCamas Handler's Line Up

Tomorrow I will do the blog write up on LaCamas. I had it done but my laptop froze up and I lost the post. So needless to say, I have to redo it. It was a fun trial and we had a great time. Our scores were the lowest that I have ever gotten!! Oh well!

Here are some of the handlers at the trial. See if you can name them all!! I'll post the names in a few days.

Handler A

Handler B

Handler C

Handler D

Handler E

Handler F

A taste of LaCamas

Rochelle Stanford and Koko at the pen. The only pen on Thursday. Koko is out of sight holding the sheep to be put in the pen.

More pixs later.......

Signs Galore

And Bessie the cow seemed so calm and quiet!

I want to see someone tie up their T-Rex.

No dancing. I am sure that is what this sign says.

Only in Montana.

I bet no one ever parks there. I've been to NJ and this says it all.

This would be so appropiate at my farm.

Car =0, Cow = 1

Cow wins!

I'll have a Latte, a Bagel with Cream Cheese and four Bees, to go, please.