A Very Pleasant Surprise!

There are two kinds of surprises…the bad kind and the good kind.  Last weekend I had, thankfully, one of the good kind.  But before I get to the surprise, let me do a little catching up. 

When we got back from Sand Rock, one of the first things we did was to "re-sheep" once again from Paul Holland's flock of Katahdan-Dorper cross ewe lambs.  It also gave us a chance to enjoy a world-class cheeseburger and fries at The Tipsy Lion in West, TX.  We chose 10, and brought them home to mix with the 17 on loan from Than Foote.  The sheep got acquainted, while Rue supervised.  

After participating in Lurena Bell and Blair Traxler’s Belle Terre Sheep Dog Trial the weekend of October 31-November 1, we loaded the RV and drove a short distance down the road to Gatesville and the Texas Sheep Dog Association State Championship Finals.

Lurena’s trial is new this year.  On the herding calendar, it replaces the Armadillo SDT, that John and Kathy Lewis have hosted for a number of years.  We miss the visit to their place outside of Fredericksburg, but Lurena and Blair’s trial did not disappoint.  The venue is beautiful, the sheep were manageable, and the camaraderie outstanding.  Dutch and Bo had respectable runs.  Dutch had a 75 and a 79, and Bo a 62 and an 81.  Meg didn’t run, as she is expecting a litter of pups the end of this month.  For this trial, the dogs and I bunked with Charly Kronberger while John and Rue went to the deer camp in Mason to hunt with Mike Price.  Here is what my car looked like as we got ready to roll.

And here are some photos from the trial.

We were happy to have Thad Fleming and his dogs as guests at our place between Belle Terre and the finals.  Thad is an outstanding competitor from Leeton, Missouri.  His open dogs, Jo and Flo, placed 3 and 4 in the first run at Lurena’s, and 2 and 3 in the second.  His nursery dogs, Oscar and PLM River did well also, with Oscar taking first place in Nursery 2.  They did very well at the Finals, too.  While Thad was here, Charly and her dogs came over and we all worked on our Finals prep.

But speaking of the Finals….  That’s where I got my surprise.  The competition was held over 4 days, starting on Wednesday and culminating in the Championship Double Lift on Saturday.  Dutch and I had what I considered mediocre runs in Open 1 and 2, but we got scores in both, and it was the combined total score that dictated who would advance.  When the list of finalists who would compete in the Double Lift was posted Friday afternoon, I was flabbergasted to see that we had made the list.  (By the hair of our chinny-chin-chins, but we made it!)  

We had spent Friday afternoon helping to “exhaust” sheep on the Ranch-Novice field, and both Dutch and I were also exhausted.  He rose to the occasion on Saturday, though.  Out of 16 finalists in the Double Lift, we placed 8th, and I couldn’t be happier.  Well, I could be.  We would have done better if Dutch’s handler hadn’t made so many mistakes, but we did get numbers, and we got our International Shed.  Since it was our first time to compete in a qualifying Double Lift, I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and especially grateful to my partner.  

The Double Lift involves the dog fetching one group, or packet, of sheep, bringing them to a designated drop point and going back to fetch a second packet from a different location.  The two packets must then be combined and driven around a standard course.  It is very difficult for many dogs, since they must leave the first group of sheep and go back for the second.  This is very much against their nature, and takes a lot of training.  Dutch did a very workmanlike fetch of his first packet, then on command went back for the second. 

Here is Dutch bringing packet #1 through the fetch gates (packet #2 in the background)

Packet #2 follows

He then joined the two packets together and brought them to the post.  

As our sheep rounded the post, I could see a couple were determined to make trouble!  They made a break for the exhaust gate, but Dutch headed them off and brought them around the post.  

After a pretty ragged trip around the course and through the drive-away and cross-drive panels, Dutch brought the sheep into the shed ring.  

The international shed begins when the combined group of sheep complete the course and enter a marked ring 40 yards in diameter.  Five of the sheep are wearing collars, and the handler must sort off all the uncollared ones, leaving only the 5 with collars in the ring.  These 5 sheep must then be penned to complete the course.  Here Dutch and I work together to discard the uncollared sheep, leaving only the five with collars to be penned.

Finally, the last lamb was sent packing, and Dutch and I headed to the pen...just as our time expired!

Of the 15 finalists (one dog did not compete due to injury) only one team achieved a pen, our 2025 Champion, Les Hale and his good dog, Ike.  Only three other teams were able to complete the shed, Victoria Long and Cullum, Dutch and me and Les Hale and his second dog, Jig.  Unfortunately, Jig gripped out trying to pen his sheep, and both Victoria and I ran out of time before we could pen ours.  Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity and I am really proud of Dutch.  I'm also grateful to my good friend, Charly, for videos of our runs.  It takes a lot of concentration to hold a phone steady for a 20-minute run and I truly appreciate it.

Here a few other images I took at the Finals.

A good time was had by all.  Many thanks to the Swindall family for use of their beautiful ranch, and to Maci McGraw and all the TSDA members who put in the time and effort to make the 2025 Finals a success.  We look forward to next year.