Key Pen Trial - Day 1

* Reverse the 5th and 6th place Lucy and Kep tied with 85 points each, but the tie was broken incorrectly on this sheet.

I was very happy with Lucy's run today. In the morning, there were not many good runs to be had. We were 5th to the post. The sheep were swift and liked to split, as well as giving the set-out crew quite a bit of trouble holding them. The judge warned me while I was waiting to send my dog as soon as it seemed the sheep were even somewhat set as they would not stay put.

I am not sure why she was hit on her outrun/lift as it looked ok from the post but I didn't have the awesome elevated judging platform to watch from. :)

We had a missed attempt on the shed (I called her in when I should not have) but when we finally did shed, it was very nice with Lucy doing some fancy footwork to make a gap between two recalcitrant ewes.

Today was our first ever perfect-scoring fetch. It was quite a lovely fetch! We had a lot of fun today hanging out with the sheepdog crowd and shooting the breeze. The sun came out and I even had to use sunscreen for the 2nd time all year. Many thanks to Sue and George MacDonald for putting on a great trial. Today was also the debut of my new crook from George (I figured no better place) and for my new whistle lanyard I made.

Off to bed now for more fun tomorrow!

Happy Dog Bite Prevention Week!

Rocky Ewe final winter series trials

I was very proud of Lucy at this last winter series trial. She was in the points both days, with a 3rd place on Sunday (no shed, no pen either day).

I learned I really better practice freestanding pens from the post - my handling SUCKED. After the first 2 tries on Saturday I just got irritated and ran out the clock (as you can see from this video) -- 0-0-6-5-10-10 I think. I thought about not posting the video here, because of the botched pen. It is easy to see the many ways I blew this as a handler. However, there were many nice things about the run and it was my first time to hear my own whistles played back from farther away than my shirt pocket.



On Sunday, she had the nicest scoring fetch of the entire day! After a miss at the pen, I decided to just turn it into a training session practicing pen flanks and stops. Luckily there is not video of that, though I wish I had video of the coursework. 0-0-3-5-10-10

We are gearing up for Summer trials. I am planning on going to the local W. WA trials as well as Wessels, Lacamas, Oregon Wine Country, Lopez and Fire Ridge this year... doG help me.

The weekend... and then some

Well, it has been a little while. School, work and having a puppy has eaten up my time. I am "off the grid" in a big way. The next 10 days are finals, then I have 3 days off, then Summer semester begins.

This weekend we went to an agility trial, our first one since January. Zora did a terrific job, 7 Qs in 10 runs. The 3 NQs were one because of an off-course tunnel (I was taking a handling risk that did not pay off) and the other 2 were because I was trying the distance bonus lines and it didn't come quiet together perfectly. Both were still clean but over time.

Here is a nice video of Zora's second standard run on Sunday.



We also made some good progress toward her Versatility NATCH. I think we are down to 2 Q's for it.

Have a great week. I miss my friends. Sorry for being so unavailable everyone, and thanks for understanding.