Weekend Trial Update

Here are some nice photos from the trial; all taken by Kathy Williams of Spring Photography - http://springphotography.ca/ Kelowna, BC. Posted with permission.
The sheep were a mix of Lee's and Holly's flock which sometimes allowed for better shedding ie; I got a shed with Blair both days. ;-) Diana Gauthier's dog getting a well deserved pat after a good run. Gayle Cochlan showing us all how to pen. Not sure whose dog is on the fetch but you can see it is a good one as the sheep are relaxed and walking.
The weather was 10 degrees colder than forecast with some rain for the novice classes on Friday. Lee's husband, Brian kept us well supplied with firewood as we huddled around their oil barrel stove. As you can see from Louanne's pix on her blog. New Kelpie handler, Jerry kept us well entertained with his great sense of humor; meaning he took some serious ribbing in good stride. And he kept the stove filled with wood! Margaret's husband, Tony cooked up an awesome handler's dinner on Sat. nite....wow what a feast! And plenty left over for those who stayed over on Sunday night and were graciously invited in to eat at Lee's house.
The trial was well run and organized as usual by Lee Lumb with help from Holly Bruner as course director to keep things going at a good clip. Lynn Scwheb as always kept the paperwork and scribes up to date. I was lucky to scribe for judge, Ian Zoerb for the first class on Friday - Pro/Novice. He was a great judge and very informative, telling how and why points were coming off. I learned a lot....which you would think would help my runs but alas, despite knowing how tough he was on correct lines....
My fears about Jayne not being ready for Nursery proved unfounded. She handled the much much bigger distance with little problem. Sadly despite everyone else reading that she desperately wanted to go right during our first run, I set her up left which resulted in a cross-over at my feet. Me bad. If not for that, she would have had a qualified run placing 3rd out of 15 dogs. Second day we also got around the course and penned our sheep but without as good a fetch and not enough points to make it into top 3. The third day things went downhill a little; outrun was beautiful and fetch was pushy at the top but we just couldn't get them lined out on the drive. So knowing we were out of the running, I retired rather than see things go from bad to worse. We ended on a positive note. So all in all, I am pretty thrilled with my little miss. I got to work her again on Monday(gorgeous warm sunny day) and got some tips from Lee that should help. If I can remember to use them!
My Open runs with Blair showed some pretty low scores. Unusual for him, he crossed over at the top on our first run. Otherwise he worked awesome for me; taking every little flank, every steady, had nice pace and feel. He worked like that both days so I can find nothing to complain about with where he is at right now. However he has much to complain about his handler. I allowed him to be offline from my inability to judge it. I would like to have a clinic or lesson with someone standing at my shoulder, telling me whenever I am offline. Or perhaps a zap collar might have better effects. It is pretty pathetic when the dog will take every little command you give him, but you don't do it because you don't see it. Or perhaps don't give it for fear of dog not taking it. Trust my dog is something I should be doing as well. However it was fun and I am loving working my dogs so that is what is most important.
The usuals placed at the top including some of those pesky Albertans. ;-) The judge commented on the high standard of work exhibited by the novice handlers and dogs.
So am off today to work my dogs at McLeods' and hopefully put some of what I learned into practice. We have a little arena trial coming up this Sunday at a 'new' facility so that should be fun. Weather supposed to co-operate. My lawn needs mowing.