Amanda: Training and Judging

November 20
I would like to send pictures but the only place to unload them has dial up. Maybe they will have high speed in Switzerland and i can download a lot.
Frank took out all the dogs. His daughter Clare ran the beautiful Gyp and made music. Frank has lots of young dogs. I am happy to say that Don went left and right and stopped a few timed at twelve. When I come back, he will be a real dog. Toddy’s Sweep is a justifiably popular sire in this neck of the woods Good way with sheep, great outrunners and very biddable. Tomorrow I am judging a trial at Toddy Lamb’s.

November 21
The trial at Toddy’s was run on lambs. They were a little sulky and surprisingly panel shy. The cold rainy weather could not have helped their dampened spirits. The out run was about two hundred yards. The drive was two or three hundred yards. There was a split before the pen. The Irish structure their nurseries in two tiers, “A”and “B” dogs. The “A” dogs are the real juniors and when they place in the top three, must move up to the “B” class, where a shed is required. In addition there is a beginners class, much like our novice class, with one drive panel and back to the pen. Nursery dogs must be three years or younger by January 1st. Some of them were very good and capable of running Open. In fact some of them have run Open, and since they can run agewise in Nursery, they do. Kinda good insofar as they get a bit more experience in the off season, leading up to full on Open trials.
I judged the B class. There were a some great young dogs. Ned O’Keefe ran the winner in my class, Tess. His twelve-year-old son ran the same bitch in the beginner class for a smashing run. He was a spectacular combination of tiny and capable. I have never seen a little kid run like that. He was good. Toddy Lamb won the “A” class with Dusty, a dog he trains for Joe Ryan. I was very taken with bitch named Purdy, of all names, a small spirited black one. She ran well around the course under the direction of Martin Welsh and then they distinguished themselves spotting sheep under the trying circumstances of the beginner class. She drew a smile from more than one spectator. The trials were a lot like ours, with all the usual suspects doing all the same shenanigans only with an Irish sound. I got really cold, despite my best efforts to stay warm and the Rayburn looked very compelling, at the end of the day.