BevLive: Slash J SDT, Day One

Well this was quite an experience. We ran sheep today that have never been worked by a dog. The outrun was 550 yards and they didn't want to come , assuming the dog even found them. The day ran heavily to wrecks with an occasional good run to remind us all it could be done.

Alison and Chip got the first really good one with a 73 in the morning. That stood until afternoon when Amanda got 78 with a very nice finished run marred only by a poor outrun.  Chris Jobe had two good runs at least one of them scoring in the 70s.  Dennis Edwards also had a good run in the 70s.

A long day as we started at 6:00 this morning and I just ran the last dog at 8:30. The sheep slowed things down a bit as they were often difficult to set out.

My dogs all ran pretty poorly and I'm thinking of giving up dog trialing. Mirk actually managed to cross his outrun, proving my maxim that "if you wait long enough every dog will eventually cross over".

I ran Nel in the open for the first time and she managed to get her sheep around, as did Fly, but neither one had a run I wish to recall. So tomorrow is another day and we will all try again.

A very difficult trial. The sheep were very ignorant and quite a bit of fun. The drive wasn't as big but the hearing at the second gate was poor, increasing the difficulty there. A really good trial–I just wish my skills had been up to the course. Maybe my dogs and I will be smarter tomorrow.