Sheepdog News

BevLive: at Meeker

So I reported a bunch of errors. Clearly Lori and William didn’t get penned at SH sorry about that. There had been a change in the run order as well as faulty recollection on my part. I run Hemp tomorrow.

We’re all at Meeker without much adventure getting here, which is always good. Nice to see friends I mostly only see at Meeker. This is such a big event that everyone I know in the west seems to come.



Field is very grassy and green. Looks really nice. I can hardly wait for the running to start.

BevLive: on to Meeker

Oops I forgot to blog yesterday. I imagine by this time you all know how it turned out. So I’ll give you more information about my run than you want.

Joe was great. Needed a redirect on his first outrun but took it like a pro. He had no idea what his turn back whistle meant. Nope, never heard it before. Eventually, twenty point later, I got him back. He was fine around the course and good to shed with. However, we lost the sheep at the pen when they went over the top of him.

So we didn’t win. Next year. He was really fun to run and handled the sheep great. I feel like I have an all grown up open dog and I’m very excited about that and can hardly wait to try our luck at Meeker tomorrow.

Amanda and Monty got off to a rocky start on the first outrun and never really got together all the way around. It was too bad as we thought he had a real good chance to win. Lori and William did great getting finished with one of the few pens of the day.

The final was really strange in that the first outrun is usually the tricky part with the turnback to where the sheep had previously been held quite easy. This year it was just the opposite for no reason we ever figured out. I think every dog crossed. I didn’t see all the runs but if the dogs didn’t cross they all tried to. Dawns’s Slim had the best turnback I saw and seemed to stay on the correct side after a little uncertainty.

Amanda and I packed up after the last run and drove part way to Meeker. I arrived this morning and have a practice session with Hemp at 1:00. He’s done nothing but sit so far and now he needs to get ready to run. I run Joe tomorrow and Hemp on Thursday. Soldier Hollow is now old news and we’re on to the next event, full of hope for success.

Lori: the big finish

Day 3 & finals – both Will and Matt had their second runs on Sun. Matt had a good top and had a nice fetch going until we had weird miscommunication at the fetch panels when I thought I blew a small prophylactic comebye and he clearly heard an away for a shave miss around the panels. Drive was good until I had a split just before the cross drive panels and couldn’t see where two sheep were thru the little pines on that side of the course. Guessed wrong and missed the cross drive. Crap. Finished with a good shed and a tidy pen but too much handler error = 76. Needed mid 80s to get in I think. Still, I was feeling lucky to have Will already in.

Had a very nice handler dinner at a local resort.

Drew up #2 for the double lift, exactly what I hoped for. Double lift had a tricky right first outrun which Will handled without a redirect. Good first fetch. Unfortunately, when I stopped him at the drop off point, he was totally behind another clump of pines. Neither one of us is proficient enough at turn backs, so confusion ensued. He did end up going back on the correct side but after sacrificing a cross to reposition him. Good second gather and really nice drive. The international shed was a mess. I was confused with the concept of having eight collared sheep, needing to get rid of three. Should have been simple math, but in the heat of the moment, it wasn’t. Dumb. Will wasn’t very helpful either, frankly. He was pushy and he can’t do math either. We got down to one, but had a last minute escapee rejoin and timed out.

In the end, our 101 was good for seventh place.

We start for home tomorrow. Another week off not in the cards. Huge thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Really meant a lot!

BevLive: the night before the end

None of us had much luck today. I ran Nel who was a very good girl and had quite a good go but not enough score to make the top five. Same thing happened to Amanda and Roz, good go but not good enough.

Barb and Stella ran into trouble and didn’t get a score. Mich and Clive didn’t have the same deft touch they enjoyed yesterday.



Scott had a nice go with Don early in the day and it stood up to all challenges to win the day.

We’re at dinner now at the Homestead waiting for the draw for tomorrow. Amanda and I are quite chuffed to be in the double lift with our boys. Me perhaps more than Amanda who doesn’t seem nearly excited enough about making the cut.

Amanda: scenes from the West

Lori: William’s revenge

Day 2: had a bad storm last night, spectacular lightning show and horizontal rain. Bad time to be tenting. Most of the day was overcast and threatening rain. These spectators are a loyal bunch though, and the stands were full all day. The trial did shut down in the afternoon when another lightning band moved through. Warmed up afterwards, but not to the killer temps I was expecting out here. Matt ran after the rain delay, following a smoking run by Bev & her young Joe: 95 to take the lead. Matt, on the other hand, did not cover himself in glory. He stopped short, had a bad top, missed our first drive panel and argued with a sheep most of the way around the course, eating up time. Timed out at the pen. William thought it was very funny. We will try to prove tomorrow.

BevLive: happy camper

So, I’m walking on air. Yesterday didn’t go too well for me. Ran Joe during a really hot part of the day and he ran great. Unfortunately the sheep were hot and reluctant to move which ate up our time so we never got penned. I thought Nel ran well but she had a crazed sheep who wouldn’t stay with the others. When it became apparent I couldn’t get enough score to make the cut I walked. Today the sheep were mostly little darlings. It stayed coolish all day with periods of overcast and rain. Joe and I ran late in the day after a series of good runs and he ran great.

I got Joe here as a puppy three years ago hoping, since his mom was such a great bitch on western sheep, that he would have the ‘right stuff’. He proved to my satisfaction today that he does. What fun it was to see that he had figured out the sheep from yesterday and handled them so well.



I saw Tom Wilson and Sly run and it was, as always, very pretty. One of the Brazilian handlers ran a lovely young red dog that looked great on the sheep. I missed Lavon’s run alas but I saw Mich and Clive go. Clive handled the sheep very well and Mich did a great job with him. They had trouble shedding and so didn’t have time to pen. I think a clean finish might have had her on the leader board. Amanda and Monty tied for first yesterday.

We had to stop for a big thunderstorm so the day has been very long. Tomorrow we are staring earlier as we have the handler dinner in the evening so need to get finished. That’s the latest news from the happiest handler in Utah
.

Lori: good boy, Will!

Day 1 of Soldier Hollow- anxious to finally get started. William was up 6th so I only watched a few runs before I had to walk back to the hsndlers’ area to get him. The course time is 13 min on a packet of 5 sheep. Nearly everyone sends left & the dogs have to negotiate some scrubby terrain to get up to the sheep. Will didn’t listen well at the top– where listening well is fairly critical as the sheep try various tricks like splitting, swirling back to the set out, and breaking for the ruins of an old abandoned cabin. Many stop whistles & verbal threats later, we got our group back on line to make the fetch panels. Our turn & drive out went smoothly & although I had to grouse at Will more than my normal amount of yelling at him to get a steady, our cross drive line was good. Had a little bobble just in front of the cross drive panels, but saved it. Quick shed & surprisingly, got a pen after some work. Our 78 held up for quite awhile until Amanda had a very smooth run with Monty for an 88, which Virgil Holland tied late in the day.

So, William advances to Monday’s double lift. I am thrilled with my boy.

Went out to dinner with a fun group. Really nice to put names with faces.

Will have nearly the whole day off tomorrow as Matt doesn’t have his first run until the end of the day. I’ll look forward to checking out the many vendors and other festival goings on.

Amanda: she lives!

After a twenty four holdup for a total injector job on my diesel, I pushed on through Nebraska, nearly clearing the state. In the morning, Wyoming presented the unusual rock formations, that lead me to expect an Indian to show up from behind a rock, wearing nothing but war paint and a fascinator. I would have put on my fascinator and said “How!”

The next part of our trip took us to the high Utah ranch of Fred and Linda Oswald. Spectacular The surprise was the abundant forest vegetation, aspen and spruces. There was wild wild life everywhere. Once I briefly mistook an angus cow, for a bear. And I was scared. Fred and Lind couldn’t have more attentive hosts. They had pond stocked with cutthroats. Thousands of sheep used the bush for camo. I wanted the 8,000 feet of altitude more than I wanted dog work. It was great to relax after the hard drive. Michele Howard joined us for the next evening’s Away to Me night at Sundance

We moved in a gang to Soldier Hollow in the morning, with the first cel service in a while. My new Wolfhound, Zep took a bad turn with pancreatitis. He has been touch and go. News of his improvement did much to buoy my spirits. I love the hounds. Lori Cunningham, Bev, Barbara and I, lunched in Park City.

What a festive movie night we had at Sundance. Drew Hadra took us the Tree Room for a glorious dining experience, before the screening. The company festive. Drew’s Isabelle a beauty in and out. What a pleasure to meet her. Sundance very chic.

Today we are settling into the running. Our own Lori Cunningham still leading the pack.

BevLive: shopping and eating

What a nice day. After a good practice session. Then Lori, Amanda and Barb Ray and I drove to Park City where we did a little window shopping and had a great lunch.

A return for dog walks and showers and we were off for dinner with Andrew Hadra and a private screening of “Away to Me” his dynamite film about Soldier Hollow and dog trialing. It was my second time seeing the film and it just keeps getting better and better. I’m not sure when it’s going to be released but it should be essential viewing for all handlers.



So tomorrow the games begin. We were all getting very anxious watching the film. It really captures all the gut tightening dangers of running at Soldier Hollow. Sure hope Joe finds his sheep.