One Step at a Time

And now, the Texas Sheep Dog Association’s 2022 season is complete.  A couple of weekends ago, many of us were at the TSDA Finals at Pat Ashcraft’s beautiful ranch near Stephenville.  

This year, the trial committee responded to handler comments that the finals should be something other than “just another sheepdog trial.”  The courses were more challenging than previous years.  Our Open Ranch class started with a looonnng outrun…some 330 yards.  This is more than the usual 250-300 yards for Open Ranch, and a struggle for some of the dogs.  It was designed to bring out the best in both handlers and dogs, and I think they achieved their objective.  I hope they will do the same next year.  Here is what Bo looked like picking up his sheep early Friday morning.  He is the very small black dot near the top of the screen between the two white fetch panels. 

And here are a few more images pulled off the video John took of our run.  I apologize for the quality of the images, but they were taken from quite a distance and cropped so you can at least see the dogs and sheep.

The weather contributed to the difficulty.  When my dogs ran on Friday, it was spitting rain and the wind was howling out of the north at 20+ mph, straight into the handlers' faces.  It was hard for the dogs to hear commands.  The inclement weather also made the sheep cranky and reluctant to move…unless it was to bolt for their friends in the set out pen or exhaust area.  Only a few dogs scored well, and that didn’t include Cody and Bo, but they did some things well.  

Bo ran first.  He was one of those who came up short on his outrun, angling across the course between the handler’s post and the sheep.  I managed to stop him, though, and gave him his “look back” whistle.  He did just what I asked, and also responded to my “come bye” command, which took him around the sheep where he needed to go.  The rest of his run was pretty ragged, but we did get our sheep to the pen before we ran out of time.  

Cody is better at finding his sheep, and gave me a nice outrun and lift.  

His fetch and drive were far from perfect.  They would have been better if one of his three ewes hadn’t been a fighter.  She came down the fetch pretty well, but then turned around and challenged Cody each time he tried to move them.  When I backed him off, they just stopped, so it was a pretty rough go.  We did reach the pen and almost had them in when we ran out of time. 

 

The weather was much better on Saturday, but our runs were not.  We did get sheep to the pen, though.  Bo and I timed out, 

...but Cody and I penned our sheep.  Each time the dogs and I participate in a trial, and each time we practice at friends' places on different sheep, we learn a little more about working as a team...and about things we need to do better.  We're progressing, one step at a time and enjoying each one.

It was a challenging weekend, but also a wonderful time with friends and a good way to end this year’s herding events.  Here are some images of our friends and their dogs.

Charly & Tyg on the Open course

Brent Phelps' Pete

Brent and Pete in the shed ring

Tommy & Jill Hefner

Jill & Mo, Open Ranch day 1

Steve Ridenouer & Roy at the Double Lift

Kay Stephens & Elfa Jade shedding...


...and at the pen.  Kay is co-author of the excellent, recently-released book,
"Think Like a Sheepdog Trainer"

Dennis Edwards and Max

Working on their shed...

...and getting it.

And, of course, Cody and Bo had fun off the course as well as on.  We look forward to next year.

 

At Home With The Armadillo

I think Gary P. Nunn said it best, "I wanta be home with the armadillo."  Well, the Armadillo Sheep Dog Trial is in the books, and we had a great time.  Huge thanks to John and Kathy Lewis for all their hard work, and for the excellent lunches.  The trial field on the banks of the Pedernales River was as good as one could hope for in these droughty times and gave the dog and handler teams plenty of room to show off their skills…or to show where things could be improved.  The Rambouillet ewes were a challenge.  

I think the only times they see a dog is each year at this trial.  They were a pleasure to work.  And, of course, the company couldn’t be better.  This is always one of my favorite trials.  

Not only is the field good, but there is plenty of room along the river to let the dogs stretch their legs.  There was even a little water left in the river.

The dogs and I bunked with Charly Kronberger since John was away harvesting a couple of nice whitetails for our freezer.  The south wind almost took us away on Friday, but Saturday we had a perfect, calm, early November day.  Rain was predicted for Friday evening, but never materialized.  We did have a fantastic view of the distant storm clouds illuminated by flashes of lightening and a beautiful almost-full moon.

 

I'm proud of my boys.  Their outruns were good (translation:  both dogs ran wide and deep and found their sheep!).  However, we are a couple of the teams mentioned above that have work to do; keeping the sheep on-line was a challenge, as was making nice, tight turns at the panels.  Bo had a problem with his woolies on his first run.  They escaped at the drive-away panels and ran to the exhaust pen so we retired.   His second run was better; he scored a 62 out of a possible 90  points.

Cody completed the course on both his runs, and finished fifth on his first run with a score of 61.  But what I’m most happy about was both dogs’ pen work.  In our class, which is the next-to-most-advanced, putting the sheep in the pen is the final element of the course and often the hardest.  The first Open Ranch course had 30 dogs entered.  Of those, only three penned their sheep, and Cody was one of those.  The ewes were very reluctant, and it took us over 2 minutes to get them penned, but we did it!  

Open Ranch 2 had 31 dogs, and only 4 penned their sheep.  Both Cody and Bo were successful, so I don’t mind bragging on them a bit.  Both were very patient, read their sheep well, and did exactly what I asked.  Good Dogs!  Thanks to Terri Nicolau for the pics (and videos) of Cody, Bo and me.  Here are some pics of our friends and their dogs. 

 It was a great weekend, and tomorrow we're off to Stephenville for the Texas Sheep Dog Association Finals and more great competition. Wish us luck and stay tuned!

Winding Down and Coming Home

It has been over three weeks since my last post, and sooooooo much has happened in the interim.  We made our way south to Hutchinson, KS, for a get-together with some very good friends at the Heavy Duty Truck RV Rally.

The dogs remembered why they enjoy the Kansas State Fairgrounds so much!  Lots of running and ball-fetching with friends Danielle Mayer and Keyah.

From Hutch, we traveled south to the Sand Rock Classic Sheep Dog Trial at Angie Coker-Sells’ lovely ranch outside Tecumseh, OK.  Cody and Bo each had three tuns, and the results were mixed.  Let’s just say that Cody would have had three decent runs if he hadn’t had trouble “lifting” his sheep on two of them.  Bo was all over the course on his first run, couldn’t find his sheep on the second, but vindicated himself on his third when he placed 7th out of 55 dogs and earned a check for $69!  Here are a few photos of our time at the trial.  

Me penning sheep with Cody & Bo:

 

Charly Kronberger & Tyg on the open course:

Jill Hefner & Dutch:

Kristi Cetrulo & Brig

Four Musketeers Kristi, Michal, Charly & Jill

We had a great time!  And then it was time to leave😢.  We loaded up on Monday morning and headed south.  Our last night on the road was a good one to end on; we stayed at Winstar Casino just north of the Oklahoma-Texas border.  I always enjoy a walk through to see all the sights and lights.  Then we had another fantastic meal at the bar in Mickey Mantle's with some friendly folks from the Ray Roberts Lake area.

I took a turn driving us home, and managed to keep her between the lines.  

It was a great trip in all respects, and we look forward to our next one.