Sheepdog News

So the bad news is it turns out the posts from Canada are costing me a small fortune from AT&T. So no more pictures until we get to the States. Amanda will try and put some up on Picassa if she can find a WiFi site

The good news is we are all safely arrived. I pulled into the trial site around 4:00 last night to find Amanda, Kate, and company already here.

The trial site, indeed this whole place, is beautiful. We can see the Canadian Rockies beyond many rolling foothills of pasture and forest, all green and gorgeous. The actual field is reached after a torturous trip with the camper down a steep entrance road (I sure hope I can get out of here) and through two hay fields. The field is huge. We are using only a very small part of it. The nursery outrun was about 300 yards of flat, with the sheep spotted at the bottom of a steep hill at the top of which the holding pens are located.

The sheep are a mixed flock of Suffolk, Dorset, Columbia  types. They were a bit heavy and hated the pen. The course was fairly straightforward except for the second drive gate, which was in a low spot behind a long swell just to the handlers side of the crossdrive line. It was very tricky.

Kate and Salt, Amanda and her two, and Esther and I all had good first round scores, with Esther leading thanks to a lucky pen. Alas, we weren't quite so fortunate on our second run, missing both the second drive gate and the pen to come second to Scott Glen and Don. Kate and Salt were third and Amanda and Roz were fifth.

Would have been nice to win, but still not too bad for a little girl who ran in her first dog trial at the end of June. I was very proud of the way she stood up to some very mean sheep and got them where I needed them, most of the time.

We started the open at 5:00 with the intent of running 20 dogs. The course was the same, except the outrun was moved about 50 yards up the hill. We ran four sheep in the open instead of the five we ran in nursery, with a split to follow the pen.

I love feeling I have a special relationship with my dogs. I'm especially fond of Mirk and consider him my special buddy. Except when there is a bitch in season around. Then he makes it very clear we are two different species with very different aspirations. That was the case today as we were waiting to run. Happily, when we went on the field we again found ourselves on the same page. A commonality of purpose that lasted only until Mirk was back through the gate.

Mirk managed to pull himself together enough to have a pretty good go.  He made a too-big outrun, no surprise there, but he didn't stop and come in when told to.  This was a disappointment, as we had practiced this at Stormy's and I thought I had this particular problem licked. Oh well. The rest of his run was great except for my calling on a no-hope shed and then his being hesitant on the next one. We got a 77 which was a good score when I got it. But Amanda and I went out to dinner, so I don't know how it's standing up.

The plan is to run all the remaining  first go-round of the open and start the second go-round tomorrow. We will finish the second goes on Saturday. The top fifteen combined scores go through to the double lift final on Sunday to determine the Canadian National Champion. Amanda and Kate and Viki all run tomorrow along with Hemp and me.

So a good day for the Easterners. All  of our nursery dogs ran very credibly, and little Esther came in second. What a good girl. Now for the open.

Good practice day. Nothing like working a flock of hair sheep over familiar ground to build confidence. Had a very nice morning practice at Stormy's. Everyone very good. Hemp managed a big blind outrun with only one mistake. Mirk and Esther were perfect in everything I tried. Very heartening, we must be getting ready to bomb big.

Bringing in the sheep for practice.

A hot summer day on the plains. Good for reading and camper cleaning. Pat cooked another fabulous meal for supper. I thought Amanda was the perfect hostess, but Pat and Stormy are giving her some serious competition for best Canadian hosts. I'm coming to think great hospitality must be a national characteristic. I'll be sorry to leave tomorrow–I sure have been well treated here.

Sunset over Stormy's bit of the prairie.

Great practice sheep at Dale's and a lovely big field. Alas, all my dogs worked well, so no chance to fix what was stupid at the dog trial. I will try and set them some puzzles at Stormy's.

Dale Montgomery bringing in the sheep for practicing.

Left Dale's at 10:00ish on my way to Stormy's and no phone service. So no more blog until Wednesday when we leave for the Canadian finals.

Another beautiful cool night. The days here may be uncomfortably warm, but the cool nights make up for any daytime discomfort.

We got started at 8:00 with the double lift runs. Jenny Glen was the first runner, timing out in the shed. We had all agreed that the sheep had not been easy to shed all weekend and with their scant regard for people were likely to make the international shed very hard.

Jenny was followed by two fairly quick retires, and I was up with Mirk.

Great first gather and a perfect turnback. But he let the sheep get away from him on the lift. We never caught them until the post. I was not happy with another poor performance from my golden boy. No shed put an end to any hopes of a recovery from our awkward start.

Scott ran and after a poor second gather managed to get a shed, but no pen. Stormy and Roy had a good run done in again by a crossover and poor second fetch, no shed. And I was up with Hemp. What a guy. Great gathers and drive. We had some trouble with the shed, out of the ring more than once, very sloppy, but we got it and the pen. I was really proud of Hemp–he had a collardSuffolk ewe try to go over him, and more than once he turned her back with a small lunge. Very nice of him. Scott and Ian both had better finishes than Hemp on subsequent runs, but Hemp's great outwork carried the day for us. Peter Gonet had a great run going with his young dog, but a nasty ewe put an end to their hopes when his dog ran out of patience on the shed.

Hemp first, Scott and Maid second, Ianand Peg third. Mirk finished 6th. Stormy was 8th. Thanks to all of Ian and Joanne's efforts there were great jackets and vests for the top six finishers. What a great trial. Really tough competitors, but all of them very welcoming to a visitor from the states.

I'm at Dale Montgomery's now with Chris Jobe. We're going to work here and spend the night. Then back to Stormy's for me.

Wonder where Amanda is?  She can't be having as much fun as I am!

Maybe everyone has as difficult a time getting away as I do, but I doubt it.  I shifted the sheep from a pasture north of here to some great grub on the plains.I applied myself to my garden, tilling between the rows, reseeding peas, arugula, lettuce.Put away my tillers.I hoed the tomatoes, so that any of my neighbours who will come and help themselves when I am gone, will not exclaim “Christ.What a mess!!How do tomatoes grow in here?”I vacuum-packed the trays of slow roasted ones and froze them.I dug some fingerlings for the road.

Roz and Clive did the long sheep shift.I worked Monty at hand afterwards.It is a sweet summer day here.Everything that I have done,except working dogs, is pleading with me to stay home.My mother keeps asking where I am going and when I answer, she says I’m nuts.If I have forgotten anything now,tough.

 I know I will stop worrying about half way across Canada, and then start thinking about cleaning Beverly’s clock.But the anxiety in the meanwhile.Goodness.

I will pick a couple of trays of tomatoes just before we leave, and a plant of basil.How can I make a tomatoe fest for Bev without basil and bocconcini?

It got to be another scorching day here. It cooled off last night helped by a good steady wind but at 5:00 pm today it's got to be at least 90 degrees with that very hot sun you only get out west. No wind today which makes the running easier and the heat worse.

We ran the P/N first this morning. Esther ran much better. She was a little over flanky at the start and we missed the fetch gate. The rest was very good. Especially nice was her much-improved manner of handling the sheep. Much less weaving around behind them and more direct push. She finished up 5th for the day and 4th overall. A very competitive class here should be a really good nursery next week, especially when Amanda, Viki Kidd, and Kate get here with their very tough young dogs.

Hemp had a really clean run early in the open that I was very pleased with. Mirk ran in the serious heat along with most of the open. He was a bit unfortunate in his draw but he again spent too long getting the sheep started on the top. I'm getting a bit concerned about this. I can see from the blog that Kate and Amanda have their dogs well tuned and half my team just isn't performing that well. I need to get Mirk going better for next weekend and my first run up against my rich sister, Amanda, or she will clean my clock.

So at the end of the day I got no day money but managed to get both dogs in tomorrow's double lift. We are starting at 8:00 in an effort to get as many run as possible before this really punishing heat sets in. I surely enjoy a chance to work on both my turnback and my international shedding skills. It's a real treat to do so with both dogs.

Scott Glen, Chris Jobe, and others

Scott was again the day winner with Maid. I believe Lee Lumb was second. Stormy had a good go with Roy but no shed. He is in the double lift tomorrow. Wish us luck.

My first western Canadian trial. We didn't exactly knock them dead, overwhelm them with our expertise. Mirk ran early, had one of his big outruns and ran into the next group of sheep on their way to be setout. Rerun. He had some sort of mental melt down at the lift and spent an unacceptable amount of time messing about with flanks and stops before he got on with the business of moving the sheep. I have no idea what he thought he was doing. Very straightforward 400 yard outrun. It's hilly and the field is about a mile long, so the dogs do need to remember where the sheep are, but not horribly hard. The drives are 150 yards and with the post on a hill, very easy to make. The sheep are a mixed-breed farm flock and a bit tricky to shed but very pennable. An altogether doable trial. Mirk just didn't get her done.Good run after the lift but too much competition here for that kind of foolishness, and he finished ninth.

Hemp ran in the windy heat. It got very hot here today. He did much better. Only one hill on the outrun so he managed that with no problem. Stupid shed. He came in and turned on the wrong sheep. I never did change his mind. I finally just turned and took the sheep he was on. Still, it was all good enough for a third place. Both dogs are at least in contention for the double lift on Sunday. Top twelve combined scores.

Esther ran in the Pro/novice.This is comparable to our ranch or to open ranch in the western US. She did okay. Needed a redirect on the outrun but took it immediately. She was a bit weavy behind her sheep. The ewes were hot and didn't really want to go, and that was her technique. I'm hoping with some experience we can find a better way for her to move the sheep.

So not much glory for us today, but little Esther did well and the boys did their best. Tomorrow is another day and I hope we do a bit better.

Scott Glen won with a nice run this morning with Maid. Stormy had a really great run with Roy and came fifth.

Ian Zoerb and Gyp in the shedding ring

It's still pretty hot here but cooling off, finally. Some very nice young dogs in the P/N. Many of them headed to the Canadian Nursery Finals next weekend.It was nice that Esther was at least in contention in that class. She is making great progress. Winning is nice but improvement promises more in the future.

Foxtails

Forgot to mention the local flora. The field has a lot of foxtails and spear grass. Both of these will get into a dog's coat and work their way right into the dog's skin and body causing infection and other problems.I'm told the foxtails here are much softer than the California variety and so not nearly as dangerous. Still, all a bit scary for a tenderfoot such as myself. So I've been doing a lot of dog grooming ever since I got to Stormy's place and even more here since they are much worse here.

Bev has likely been practicing like mad with at least three known weapons in her arsenal, Esther, Mirk and Hemp.Sneaking around in Saskatchewan, getting her dogs going better and better just to give the rest of us anxiety.That woman.

Clive is lame with a suspect abscess in a foot pad.My loyal personal vet, Sue Schoen, advised, and I always take her good advice.He had to go to town to see my vet, the great Hugh Wiley.Clive will have all that down time on the three day ride to Calgary and he should be fine by the time he gets there.

We went for the big outruns today again.Lucky I won't be training here too much longer, because the grass is getting so tall I would have to mow before I ran anywhere.I don't like to flank a dog into tall grass so that he gets wacked in the face when he goes correctly.I am running out of places in which to do long outruns.Monty is becoming more and more assured.I penned with him and Roz this morning, detecting a few rats in my groups of lambs.Sure enough, they were extreme deviants, and they gave Roz, Monty, and Kate's Salt a run for their money, contriving escapes from all side of the pen.I love sheep that riot at the pen.

I loaded up last year's trophy into my camper, a miracle of recollection for a memory as handicapped as mine.It takes up more than its share of space.

Finally, on my way to a dog trial. Stormy and I worked all our dogs on a beautiful Saskatchewan morning, bright sun and a slight wind. Hemp is still having trouble navigating the hilly country. Esther on the other hand has grown up in the past week. I'm so excited about her. 600 yard outruns for sheep she can't see don't cause her any hesitation. She hadn't made an error running out yet.  I don't believe I have ever seen a better outrunner. I'm very excited about running her this weekend.

Working sheep with Stormy.

Tire update. Went to Kirk's Tire in Alberta. Wow. In and out in less then ten minutes and I now have my spare back.

Esther and Mirk at Stormy's

More when I arrive if I have iPhone coverage