Falcon Flight Path: Dog Trial Winter Series

Sorry, Folks, I'm way behind with posts. Sheepdog trial season begins early in Central Texas. This year, things got underway on February 4 with the sheepdog trial held in conjunction with the Fort Worth Stock Show. Cody and Bo both participated, along with a number of their border collie friends. Here are a couple of photos of Bo taken by a friend.

And here are a couple of photos from Cody’s run. He completed the five-minute course in one minute, fifty-seven seconds, to take fifth place.

Cody's second run wasn’t as good, and Bo and I didn’t do especially well, but it was a good weekend. We spent the night with Allan and Jef and had a good visit with them and our nieces and their families. The Carmody and McElhany kids were happy to pose for me before supper.

We followed up the Fort Worth trial with a trip in the RV to Fort Stockton for the first of the Texas Sheep Dog Association Winter Series. It’s mostly flat out there, and dry and dusty, but the people are wonderful and the venue, at the Fort Stockton Gun Club, is one we will all remember. We have had 50+ mph winds, grass burrs and mesquite thorns, temperatures in the 20s, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

And the trial…the sheep were challenging as was the course, but we had a great time. Cody placed 6th on his first run, and I retired Bo when his sheep escaped and returned to the set-out pen. Both of them had miserable second runs. Cody, who is usually dead-on and finds his sheep easily, did not. He clearly did not see them, and I had to recall and resend him. The rest of his run was respectable, but not stellar. At least on both of their second run they got “numbers, not letters.” Here are some shots of our friends and their dogs in action.

Wilda Bahr & LeRoy

Peg McGraw & Dooley

Dennis Edwards & Moss

Since the trial finished early, the trial host and judges decided to hold a “fun” double-lift competition on Sunday afternoon and Monday. The double-lift is normally used to determine the champion at the end of a big trial. It is challenging for both dogs and handlers. The dogs are required to fetch one set of sheep, bring them back through the fetch panels and “drop” them at a specified point. Then, upon receiving a “look-back” command, they have to turn and fetch a second packet of sheep from several hundred yards behind them. The second packet should be brought through the fetch panels, joined with the first packet, and driven around the course. Then, several designated sheep are “shed” or separated from their friends and put into a pen. It’s hard to remember what to do, much less to do it! Here are some of the handlers and dogs trying their luck.

Jill Hefner & Fae

Allen Mills & Jill

Judge Alberto Stern from Switzerland

Course Director Ron Burkey

Since this was a fun trial, open to all levels, I entered Cody to see how well we could do. I was thrilled when he took my commands, brought both packets of sheep, and drove them around the course. He gave me two nice sheds. (Too bad I allowed the discards to rejoin the shed sheep the first time!. Sorry, Cody.) We timed out at the pen, but I was very pleased with his work and decided to move him from the open ranch class to the open level of competition. I wish I had pictures of Cody's and my double lift run. My videographer did his best, but we were too far away for a good image.

Junction of the Pecos Sheep Dog Trial followed Fort Stockton February 16-20. We drove the rig directly to Junction, and camped with the rest of the folks at the County Fairgrounds on the banks of the South Llano River. Our first day of trialing was grim. The Rambouillet-Dorper cross ewes were tough, and a real challenge for the dogs.

North winds in excess of 20 mph blew from the set-out straight into the handlers' faces. I'm not sure the dogs could hear many of our commands, and certainly not all of them. Cody's first run as an "open" dog wasn't.... He went up the field nicely but couldn't move his sheep down the course. I whistled his "walk-up" repeatedly, but either he couldn't hear me or just couldn't lift his sheep. He didn't even return to me when I blew his "that'll do, here" command, so I'm pretty sure he didn't hear me.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of it. Once I walked down the field to get him, Cody and the sheep started toward me. They were accompanied by one of the set-out dogs, which is very unusual. I thought the set-out crew intended their dog to take the sheep, so I told Cody to lie down so as not to interfere. In the meantime, the previous handler sent her dog to "exhaust" the sheep, but the dog was not in position when the set-out crew recalled their dog, leaving the sheep free to escape to the river, which they did as fast as sheep can go. In the resulting kerfuffle, one of the sheep went into the river and had to be fished out by the set-out crew before it drowned. Way too much excitement for all of us!

The rest of the Junction trial was better. Cody finished #44 of 63 dogs in his second open run. Bo had two respectable runs, finishing 12th and 13th in fields of 35 and 34 dogs.

Here are some images of our friends and their dogs at Junction.

Jill Hefner & Mo

Ray Masse

Bruce Hawn & Sadie

Charly Kronberger & Tyg

We made our way back to the farm on Monday following the trial, holding our breaths and hoping that we didn't have truck problems. Beginning with our trip west to Fort Stockton, then to Junction and then home, our Volvo 610, "Falcon," experienced intermittent losses of power. For only a few seconds, our speed would drop, then resume with no apparent change in engine noise. It was just as if someone had pinched the fuel line for a few seconds. A change in the fuel filter in Fort Stockton didn't solve the problem, and a visit to Love's Truck Stop in Sonora failed to diagnose the problem. We did make it home with no trouble, though, and Falcon is now at the mechanic's for diagnostics and hopefully repairs.

We barely had time to catch our breath before it was time for the third trial of the Texas Winter Series in Gatesville. The trial field on the Swindall ranch is only 30 minutes from our home, so the dogs and I drove back and forth for their four runs. Again, the weather was cold and disagreeable for the first two days. Cody's first outrun was ragged, but he did get his sheep down the course and around the post. I made a bad call at the drive-away panels, thinking the sheep had "broken the plane" and could proceed to the next obstacle. The judge had a better view, though, and disqualified us for not making an attempt at the panels. Cody's second run was worse; he pushed the sheep off course into a gully and I had to retire our run and go help him retrieve the sheep. I wish John had been there to video our first run, but I'm just as glad we don't have a record of his second.

Bo did a better job. His first open ranch run was nice; he finished 6th of 44 dogs with a score of 69 of a possible 90 points. Here is a shot of him rounding the post with his sheep.