Handy Dog Arena trial

Last Sunday was forecast for sunshine so a group of us headed out to the Handy Dog Winter series trial.
Here is Donna & Foxy in P/N. The day started out chilly with frost on the ground but you can see the sun starting to come up & over the mountain behind us. The trial was held at Lynn & Jim Leach's Downriver Farm in Laidlaw; my old stomping grounds with ACD, Wyatt. This arena was where I took my first steps in this journey of stockdogs and sheep.
John Carter designed a tricky course which had handler stand INSIDE a barrel whilst trying to pen sheep in an open free standing pen. The trial was BCSDA sanctioned time/points style arena which is very much like AHBA ranch courses; taking sheep out of pens, through gates, driving thru obstacles etc.
Blair's first up run in Open showed how the pen could be done. I am in a barrel directly behind Blair to the left of picture.
This was actually the start of our course; Blair has just come out of the pens and is covering the sheep as we entered the arena.
Here is Lynda in the 'barrel' at the pen.
After penning, Try drives the sheep up the fenceline and through a gate into the field next door where we had more 'panels' to negotiate. Lynda had the bad luck to draw this same group with young Lark. The big white sheep on the right is a ram who worked fine but the little old horned ewe on the left proved to be very wily; she had no respect or fear of dogs and would stop and graze anywhere she wanted. Costing Lynda's dogs time & inability to finish the course. They were the only 'tricky' group.
Kristi & Lou start the course with a counterclock turn around the barrel acting as handler's post for first part of course. This team had a very solid steady run for 3rd. place.
Tim Ballard's Nell fetching.
Tim & Jim watching runs in the morning. Still cold enough to see his breath. Tim is a local legend; where there is a trial, one can always find Tim working behind the scenes helping stock handle, set out or whatever needs doing. He has also been seen each Sept. at the Nationals working as Course Director for the finals.
Sun has come over the mountain by mid-morning for Kristi's run with Rex.
Jana & Rose at the pen which is just out of sight to the right.
Here is Owen & myself at the turn of the post. I've shed my coat and gloves by this time as it is lovely out now.
Owen getting set up to pen.
owen not thrilled with getting puppy kisses after his run. Owen places first just ahead of his daddy, Blair. We were lucky to draw nice groups which made for good runs.
All photos by Rose.

Week with David Rees

Rose sorting sheep on Tues.
Rose working Lexy with David.
Nancy has a lesson on Wed.
Nancy's good Aussie.
Deb's Crumbie; renowned ratter. He doesn't get to work sheep but keeps the chicken yard clear of rodents.
Dusty & Jana watch through the fence as usual.
The weather could not have been any better. Warm but not too hot.
Kristi and David.
Rose shedding with Jana.
They needed to set up a temporary round pen for Susan's keen young pup, Tru.
Susan leaving the pen for David to work Tru.
Finally got her to call off. David had his work cut out for him with this pushy youngster.
Wyatt spent the days watching from the truck.
Wow what a great week! Weather to die for at this time of year. Working dogs almost every day. I made a lot of progress with my three on shedding. David has a slightly different way of showing dogs the 'hold'. Seems to make a lot of sense to them.

Boring

No pix & not anything new to report; we have been home; going to McLeods' twice a week to 'work' my dogs. It is hard to think up exercises that replicate any kind of real work. So it has been a boring sort of time in my dogs' minds I think. One good benefit has been working the lamb crop since they will be used in the upcoming David Rees clinic/lessons next week.
I gave all 4 dogs some exposure on Tues. It has been quite awhile since Dusty got any sheep time. Plus I need to keep Blair 'tuned' up. They both did ok considering. But back to working just Owen & Jayne today....on the lamb crew which did make for some new&different challenges which was all good. It is a challenge to think up different exercises/skills to work on....we badly need some input on what we need to work on....David's arrival is very timely.

Sandhill Lea Trial

Here are some pix my traveling partner, Lynda took on the drive thru the beautiful Fraser Canyon. The salmon are running in record numbers so there were fishermen everywhere along the banks of the Fraser & Thompson rivers.
A threesome of kayakers take a break sitting on the rocks while our national railway heads to the coast. You can see how low the river is from the lines on the bank.
In the spring the water is above these rocks.
It is a beautiful scenic drive. I haven't been up this route in just over 10 years. I first traveled on it during construction in 1956 en route to our move to Bella Coola.
Starting at the end of the trial; Pro/Nov overall winners left to right; Lorne Landry(trial host & 3rd), judge Rob Lewis, Celeste Lacroix, Brian Nelson, Carol Nelson(no relation) and Tess Davidson.
Open overall: Ruedi, Rob, Carol, Lee, Gayle.
Owen, me & Marg watching before our P/N run.
dubbed the 'Rose Garden' after the first person to use this new addition to the Sandhill Lea Ranch buildings.
mandatory 'cuteness' picture; Dawn Pucci's daughter, Mari playing with Chance McLeod, a dwarf Border Collie.
our hard working crew at the set out pens; neighbors Judy & Maureen.
handler camp-city
the trial field looking up to set out. the road & terraine proved very tricky for a lot of dogs. The sheep are used to coming in at night up this road so they were very heavy to the exhaust to the right.
here is the flock grazing on Friday before the trial.
the exhaust and beautiful lake in the background taken from the spectator area.
our judge out sailing on Friday.
the Landry's house overlooking the lake and trial field.
Lynda's Lark spotting sheep before her P/N run.
Lee's Toss looking for sheep before her run.
Josh, Sam & Bruce exhausted sheep for us all weekend.
Blair and I in the shedding ring on Sunday. It started off raining and windy in the morning but cleared up by noon. Off & on clouds but quite nice when the sun came out. We timed out in the shed after getting a very nice pen.
handlers walking the course for P/N on Sat. morning. Novice ran first, followed by P/N at 10am; over 30 runs then 21 Open runs that finished JUST before dark at 8pm.
Lee & Jeb nailing a win in P/N.
Brian Epp with one of Blair's grand daughters making a good pen.
Margaret and Kane get their pen.
Lorne and Jace making a nice turn at the post for a placing in P/N.
Lynda's try making a tight turn at the post. Right behind Try and to the right was a little dip-ditch with some big rocks which made the turn very tricky.
Lynda shuts the gate at the pen. Yay Try - his best weekend to date!
What a fun weekend & great trial! I am happy with the progress my 2 young dogs are making and can see we have lots yet to work on. Blair had a good day but my handling cost him. He also needs a little 'come to jesus' meeting regarding what a steady whistle means and that pace on the fetch is not a 4-letter word to be avoided. ;-)
Most photos taken by Rose McLeod.

Thursday

What a difference a day makes; back to normal summer weather, tshirts & shorts. Got to McLeods' just after Deb & the JRTs did their duty in the chicken coop; Jacks=3, Ratz=0. lol I let Jayne out of the truck first and Crumbie was delighted by her hippyhop style of running around. So he chased her and amazingly she didn't attack him! ;-)
Margaret & I 'designed' an imaginary 'course' using the obstacles already set up in the field so that we could practice making panels and lines. It was good work to get ready for the trial this weekend. I worked all three trial dogs; Jayne, then Owen, then Blair. For some reason Jayne was slower taking commands than usual but kept her cool and head under some fast & furious flanking. The sheep were being very reactive with her until I sorted out ChocolateChip & Louise, then they settled better.
Owen did very well except he still takes a wrong flank with my come bye whistle at times. I know the first note often sounds just like my lie down whistle but that doesn't explain why he goes come bye instead of lie down. I plan to trust him at the top at this trial even if things look wild&wooly; I'll give him more time to sort it all out. IF he can get the sheep to my feet, the rest could go well.
Blair was his usual wonderdog self so it is as always, just up to me to step up and handle him better. My job is to read the sheep better, see the lines better and communicate better. It will be a small trial with only 22 Open dogs but a pretty big P/N class. There were originally 35 P/N dogs but 5 or so have dropped out. My friend Julie can't come now as 2 of her 3 dogs have injured their pads. So we are changing our Fri. nite dinner plans and instead of meeting Julie & France at our motel to go out for dinner, we are pot lucking with Marg & Tony at the trial field. It will be nice to visit the Cariboo again; it has been quite a few years since I have been up there or driven the pretty Fraser Canyon route. I love that country of sage brush & pine, horses and cattle, cowboys & ranches....much like Alberta but without the attitude. JK AB friends!!! LOL
I am packing my entire closet as the weatherman cannot make up his mind what it's going to do; I check it one day and it says possible rain, check the next day & it is just mixed sun/cloud, check again today and now it is back to possible rain on Sunday. Plus it will be 25c tomorrow and down to 15c on Sat, 13c on Sun. and they don't have a clue what Monday will bring; mixed sun, cloud possible showers = 'we just don't know'. ;-) Glad we are moteling not camping or worrying about getting towed out of mud like at the Westerns.
I WILL take pix this weekend!