Sheepdog News

Drove and drove and drove. Arrived at the trial. Can’t now remember much about the trip except that Kansas is really big.

New puppy, Becca, in the foreground. Meg behind her in the dog walk area at Table Top in Colorado Springs

I’m sure you are all hanging on the edges of your seats wondering how my Saturday went! I’m happy to report it went better than my Friday.

We started out the day at 6:45 by being up second in the nursery with Meg. She had a nice draw on the Greenwell sheep. These are the … more active of the two novice flocks. She ran out well and kept her head all around the course. She was followed by Alison Holmes and Britt also acquitting themselves with distinction. I’m particularly interested in this pair as it was my admiration for Britt that caused me to get my new puppy, Becca, a full sister to Britt.

Joe, running later was not so clever. His outrun was tight on the top as is his current method and his sheep very strongly objected. Very poor run but a good pen at the end. For a boy who never penned a sheep before the beginning of the month he is getting quite useful at the pen, something best seen on today’s reluctant penners. Joe did great at the Bluegrass. He is lacking in training but I’m really enjoying our current efforts.

Nel was up in the open in the late morning during a time of pretty happy sheep. She did a good job with a good group. Her run was marred by her inexplicably failing to come in on our first shed attempt. I doubt we will win any prizes but it was nice to put a good run together.

My last Bluegrass run was with Meg again this time in the ranch. She drew great sheep and had a great run. I was very proud of her. I don’t know our score as by that time we were packed and ready to drive.

Our departure was slowed by the failure of my air conditioning to work. I couldn’t face Missouri and Kansas with no air. Happily Herbert and Don Whittington were able to fix it. Sort of a miracle cure as we checked the fuses and then it worked.

After that I drove. And drove some more. I’m parked in a Cabelas just west of Kansas City. A long drive but I’m more then half way to the next trial in Colorado and we’ll get there in the daylight tomorrow night.

Can’t report much on the doings at the BG as I mostly just ran my own dogs and packed today. It was getting very warm when I left so I don’t know how long the good sheep were going to last.

The trial is run on unbroke lambs and it doesn’t take much to turn three lambs crazy. It takes quite a bit to return them to sanity. My dogs could manage the sane ones but we sure couldn’t do anything with unhappy ones. They take a deft touch we just didn’t have this year. Hope we have it next year.

Day started out fairly foggy making visibility on the open field tough for the start of the gather. It has since cleared and warmed to be a beautiful day. I ran Nel fourth and didn’t have much luck. A ewe challenged the set out and Nel. When facing off didn’t work she made several big breaks for freedom on the drive and I finally retired.

Bruce Fogt and Cam had more luck. Cam was a nice nursery dog last year and looks even better this year. I missed Scott Glen’s run with his young Don but heard it was really nice and he’s still leading the pack although there are more to run.

The pro-novice was very tough. The fetch gate was very close to the setout allowing one flank between the lift and the gate. Today’s nursery sheep are much lighter than yesterday’s and much less forgiving of youthful impetuosity. Alas, Joe had plenty of that in his PN run. We were actually not doing too badly until the sheep split up and one jumped out of the field.

Nursery went much better for us. Meg ran very well with a crappy pen. Joe too was a very good boy also with a poor pen. Guess I need some practice penning. There have been some lovely nursery and open runs. Not by me, unfortunately but still pretty to see. The sheep persist in being very difficult to shed in the open. On the novice field about 3/4 of them run right into the while the rest resist any attempts to force them in until all the pen points are gone, then they too pen.

Was a fun day. The novice field is not very good. It’s small and hilly and very hard for the young dogs as they need to be constantly flanked to control the sheep and never really get a chance to take charge. But it’s nice to get to see so many young dogs at one event.

Between the streaming video and twitter reporting on the Blue Grass feels a bit redundant.

We all spent the morning telling each other that the cool, rainy weather was good for the dogs and sheep. By this evening though we mostly didn’t care for either and all just wanted to get warm and dry. Just warmed myself up with a nice hot shower, I can now return to my previous state of weather tolerance. It was cool and rainy all day with periods of real rain. Good weather for the dogs and sheep. It’s now clearing so should be a cold night but a more pleasant day tomorrow. Nothing like being outside all day to make you care about the weather.

The sheep have been great on both the open field and the novice field. The open sheep were lovely, very fit lambs. They moved willingly for the dogs and gave very minimal trouble on the top end. Many years getting the sheep spotted and lifted has been an awful battle here. They moved the set out in about 50 yards and whether this helped or the sheep are more agreeable for some ovine reason it has gone pretty flawlessly this year.

The drives were made longer to compensate for the shorter gather. Each leg is about 200 yards –a very long drive indeed. The tricky part, however, has been the shedding. While some lucky/skillful folk have gotten their sheds right off most of us have really struggled there many times at the cost of running out of time at the pen or never shedding at all. Some beautiful runs have ended with no shed or pen.

I ran Meg early in the nursery. The novice field is using Vergil Holland’s sheep today and someone else’s tomorrow. We are never using the open sheep on the novice field. A Change and improvement from previous years. Meg was again an idiot at the start of her fetch and then a good girl. She had pups this winter and her coat has not come back in yet. I have had other bitches run hard during this post partum period but it’s hard to take from a girl as capable as Meg. Hope she gets back to her better self soon.

Joe ran well in the nursery. He was a bit too rough on his gather and had intermittent dyslexia on the drive but I think finished in the top ten. A good show given his level of training and experience.

Hemp ran in the open and was a very good boy. I misjudged the second drive gate and managed to just miss it. Hemp was very “on the muscle” in the shed and after two interminable minutes of circling sheep I opted for the first sheep on the butt, not quite “the last one on the head” the judges had stated a prefernce for. It gave us time to pen and finish with a respectable score but we won’t be in the prizes.

Nel is up early in the morning. They are running a bit behind time here so they are going to carry three dogs from today’s running over to tomorrow.

It’s been a really great Blue Grass so far. There are hundreds of handlers and affectianados here and about 500 dogs. There were over 50 nursery dogs and more then 70 pro novice dogs. This is such a huge event we are so lucky that people are willing to give up weeks of their time to give us all his great party.

Yesterday was a long day. Worked all my dogs in the morning at Dave’s. They all were variations on pretty good with Hemp working very well and Meg being an idiot. Left Dave’s at 9:00 and drove a long time.

Pulled into the trial site at 7:30 in the evening. These trips always take longer then Garmin and mapquest seem to think. It was raining all day, frequently quite hard which slowed us down.

Herbert and Alison Holmes pulled in about half an hour after me with my new puppy, Becca. She is really cute and already so nicely behaved, thank you very much Joyce Elliott. I’ll get a photo tomorrow.

Today was a recovery day. Didn’t do much. Groceries and the movies and many long dog walks to make up for yesterday’s drive. The new puppy stays right with us and comes when she is called, two very endearing qualities in a puppy.

It’s cold and wet here. Was in the upper 40s low 50s all day with showers. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

Went to the handler’s meeting at 6:30. About a 100 people there. Scary huge dog trial. I don’t know how these people pull it off every year. The bookkeeping alone would foil a small country.

I run Meg first thing tomorrow in the nursery. I hope she has all the foolishness out of her system, an unlikely occurrence. Looking forward to trying Joe. A lot of fun with Joe for whom I have few immediate expectations of success. Takes the pressure off.

Hi everyone. It’s blog time again. I’m at Dave Fetterman’s farm in Pennsylvania where I left my camper at the end of his trial last weekend. I got here a few hours ago and very briefly worked my dogs. It rained, often quite hard all the way here, then when I arrived the sun came out and it was like a sauna and too hot for running sheep to do much hill climbing. I will work all the dogs again in the morning more seriously I hope.

I have some new dogs on the trip and one old campaigner. I’m running Nel (Awel) in the open along with my husband Doug’s dog, Hemp. In the nursery I have Meg my nursery dog last year and Joe who faithful blog readers will remember I got as a puppy a year ago last August from Jean and Dennis Gellings off Dennis’ great bitch, Jan. I’m especially excited about running Joe this trip. He is very green and excitable but learning fast.

I’m also traveling with Odinn, a bitch Amanda found for me on her trip to Ireland last winter. Odinn and I are not quite where I would like us to be for the big trials. She is still struggling with her outrun a bit, hence my dragging Hemp out of retirement yet again. I hope she will get some useful experience on the trip.

I leave in the morning after working my dogs for Lexington and the Blue Grass. More to follow…

After all the drama last year about the Prairie Fire Plate, after we could visualize Jim Swift, hunter gatherer, presenting his darling wife with the pride of Beach, North Dakota, after we saw him, and me cave, after we saw Allison Holmes triumph, making the Prairie Fire Plate Texan (by way of Canada), what will they do next? Who will forget Roz running half way out the Big One outrun, lying down, and saying she didn’t feel well? Christ. Who will forget Swifty pleading with his dog to look back, and him taking that sheep by the face instead? Moment. The couple of days were exhilarating. I hope there is a plate there to try to win this year. Maybe it’ll be Swifty’s turn. Maybe this will be my year. I’ll bet he is practising right now–double lifts, lie downs, come byes, and aways. Same with Allison Holmes. The footing will be good in Colorado and Texas. And I bet their sheep are all through lambing. Advantage. I bet their dogs are running hot.

The losing sheepdog hand’s solace is that there is always another day. But not to have things too gone with the wind, I think we should talk to the management of the Dakota trials and implore them to have other Prairie Fire things for prizes so that all hope isn’t dashed for the forty or so handlers who do not win overall, like Swift and me. Something for second. A little consolation Prairie Fire plate for winning a trial. Not all the eggs in the final basket. I don’t think I’ll be able to go to Beach this year and buy some of my own when I lose, like I did last year.

As you see, the pottery visually resonates with the prairie, making it the perfect covetable prize for the Dakotas Write to Rene Lebree. Write Joni Swanke. Petition for more Prairie Fire. Petition for more chances at glory. Jim Swift will thank you. His wife will thank you. I will thank you. But the Beach potter had better build up her inventory.

I looked at a series of pictures from Joni Swanke’s Facebook. There was Jim Swift, practising at the Strang Ranch in Colorado, just like I speculated he might be doing. It seems impossible to practise enough to clean his clock, with every sheep I own with a lamb or two in tow. And he has the advantage of daily running on western finewools. Honing his skills. I wonder if I should arrange to stop at the Prairie Fire place on the way, since I will not make it on the way back. Pre purchase seems a little bleak for outlook, so I think I’ll take my chances on the trial, Swift practising notwithstanding.

The rain just kept it up most of yesterday at the trial. Just as things were winding down, the sun came out. Drat.

The giant tree that fell at the ranch gate, across the Calistoga road was efficiently carved up by a pair of clever lumber jacks, one of whom was Rick Malouf, the other’s name evades me. They dropped big limbs around, not on the mailbox, and spared all kinds of trouble to the immediate environment with they way they took apart the tree. Hands waiting to get into the trial site pitched in and helped clear the site of brush. We started a couple of hours late as a result.

The running didn’t change all that much. Muck accrued at the mouth of the pen, making it just a hair more difficult than it was early on Saturday. There continued to be water water everywhere, only more of it. Who other than diehards, would spectate in this weather. As a result. the well stocked raffles at the trial didn’t have so many takers and those that did get tickets were nearly sure to get loot. Little Reagan Thayer aged nine or ten, Joy’s daughter, won the admirable sheep and dogs quilt, done by Jack Mathieson’s wife.

I had a good run with Roz on the flat field, but Clive made everyone happy (except me) when his sheep missed the drive away panel, in an otherwise very good go. “Nice run. Too bad about the panel.” Derek Fisher, showed not quite enough mercy, blowing a shed attempt: we tied for high points and he won on outwork. He’s cute.

We had another great night at the Milberg’s house with lots of warm hearted talk, love all around, accompanied by good food. We made our break for the city and an early airport day with visions of dogs doing things brilliant and hopeless. Sonoma remains one of my favourite trials of the year.

My editor is demanding copy and all I have is an iPhone.

Yesterday’s trial was a wet one. A driving rain persisted all day. The morale at trial suffered. Hands hunkered down in any available dry place. The socializing, an enjoyable part of west going was a disappointment.

The sheep were not a disappointment. Plump, resourceful, testing, consistent, They made the sort of trial expected of Sonoma. The judge on the hill field was Frank Cashen. The judge on the flat, Barbara Ray. Everything was tricky for sheep and terrain. The rain soaked the fields and became more of a factor late in the day, with water water everywhere. Clive leads my field with a 96 of 110. It would appear he liked his stay with Sandi Anderson in California. My thrilling run, though not as good, came with Roz, who stayed with a bent minded ewe at her sheds and her penning . It careened back and forth: she stayed with it for every turn, like the girl of mine she is. We dried off at Sandy and Arthur’s fire I joined the Howard’s for supper at Mont’s in Santa Rosa.


Overnight a powerful wind took down a gigantic live oak at the ranch gate and blocking Calistoga road. Out with the chainsaws!

I’ll not bore you with the sordid details of getting here. I did see three movies, The Fighter, Black Swan and True Grit on the plane, a near redeeming feature. When I get to Sandy and Arthur Milberg’s place, they will be alarmed to know it feels like home to me. She had her trial sheep, newly shorn and spirited looking all over her pastures.

Today it rained in Sonoma. It didn’t rain all day: sometimes it hailed.

I had no young dogs, Barbara Ray had no judging obligations, and Maree Cashen wanted to do something. Frank was judging the pronovice class with sixty-some entries and two well-filled nurseries with sixteen dogs apiece. Girl’s day out. We loaded into the car and drove over the St. Helena Road to Napa. We headed south in the driving rain, to Yountville, home of le Bouchon, patisserie exraordinaire. Something I did not like about the place were the fois gras dog biscuits. Way over the top. And I saw someone buy one. It stemmed my appetite for a a least two seconds. I had a perfect almond croissant, flaky and crispy on the outside layering into a gentle buttery interior. Maree and Barbara had chocolate almond croissants. Nothing there is bad. We all tried a different flavour of macaroon. I had passion fruit. Our glorious snack held us over on our trip up 80 to Zamora. Bill Slaven had kindly offered to let me run dogs there, and holy opportunity. We went over to the big field that had caused me so much consternation just a month ago and did a few outruns with all the fixings. I got to work my dogs for the first time in months. In a way it was too bad, because now I’ll have no excuse tomorrow. The sheep were rangers. Doctor ordered. No more woebegone explanations for ineptness.

What would any girl’s day out be without a little shopping? The rain, the fierceness of it, was the most remarkable thing about our ride back to Sonoma. Della Santina provided us with a fabulous late lunch. I had a perfect little veal picatta, with lemon and caper sauce. We got to the Kenwood in time to take the waters and massages all around.

Thank God the trial was over when we got back. Everyone showed signs of fighting with weather, mud and fatigue. They wished they were going to the Kenwood Inn too.

The winner of the big pro-novice class was none other than the trial chef, Lauren Dewees, and her companionable bitch, Hannah, a personal first for her and cause for much celebration at the Milberg’s house tonight. As Raymond MacPherson would say “Champion.”

Lauren Dewees and Hannah bunk in at the field of dreams