ComeBye.net: A home for shepherds and their dogges

Well, talk about edge of your seat excitement. Lots of thrills and spills today. Unfortunately for me, thrills late in the day for noted author Donald McCaig and June and Laura Hicks and Zac (the 148th and 149th runs of the first go round) put me and Riel out of the running. Not that I'd begrudge a good run to either of them. Fine folks with good runs.

It looked for a while like Laura would not make it. Zac got to the shed but was obviously feeling the heat. After a couple of trips to the water tank, they weren't making much progress at the pen and "time" was called by the judges with about a minute left on the clock. The judges and trial committee decided that Laura and Zac could keep their points up to where the judges called time and their 121 was enough for the final spot in tomorrow's round.

Tommy Wilson and Sly had an adventure half way through their cross-drive when the two lambs went north at high speed back up the field, and the two ewes broke south to the handler's post. In most cases, that would have meant the run was over and done, but in a superb bit of handling and a lot of hard work by Sly in the heat, they got all four sheep back together, back online, and around the course with enough points to make it through. That was one of the highlights of the first round from my seat.

I didn't see Alan Hickenbottom's 189 with Vic this morning as I was off viewing the battlefields around town, but from all reports it was as good as it looks on paper. Another well-deserved semi-final spot for our new District 5 Director, who is in with both dogs.

Alasdair MacRae and Star had a pretty good go, controlled and workmanlike, so that is Alasdair in with two dogs, as is Bev Lambert and Linda Fogt. Saturday is shaping up to be a good day.

The trip to the monuments and battlefields is a sober reminder of what can happens when well-meaning men and women become so entrenched in political beliefs that compromise is impossible and war is the outcome. Over 170,000 young Americans fought here marching across open ground into a solid wall of rifle and cannon fire. Advancing was suicidal and 50,000 were killed in just a few days of fighting. It turned the tide of the war but at great cost to both sides. The finest monument on the site is the unity monument erected by Pres. Roosevelt in hope that such a thing will never happen again in this country.

I'll load some photos from yesterday later tonight

Video is here

Things got off to a leisurely start this morning because the morning fog took a while longer than usual to leave the trial field. The festivities got started around 8:15 AM.

It started off to be a day like the last two. High scores were few and far between and as the day went on and got hotter the running got tougher as the sheep reverted to orneriness.

 USBCHA President Herbert Holmes and Jet put up a 151 early in the going. Bill Berhow and Pete had a 138 and Linda Fogt put in another strong showing with Annie right after Bill.

At 4PM, that 118 I got on Wednesday was looking better, putting me and Riel at 25th with about 50 dogs to run. Then it got cooler, and a light breeze came up, sheep started working a tad easier and oh yeah, some good handlers with good dogs. 

Scott Glen and Pleat had a 140, Maralyn Volpe and Tan followed with a 142 (I have that run on video, if I can find my firewire cable, I'll get it onlne tomorrow). Karen Wessinger and Lill had one of the prettiest runs so far with a 152, and a little bird told me that this dog is a rescue, so bonus points for that. With Jeanne Weaver's 128 with Liz and Chuck Dimit's 129 with Luke, in the space of one hour I went bumpity bump down to 32nd, and with some quality coming up in the order, my original estimate of 130 as the final cutoff still stands. If it hot tomorrow, that might get down to the mid 120's which means that Bev Lambert and Pippa would make it through which would be a good thing in my opinion.

I have some photos from today but I will wait until tomorrow to post. I may take some time off and go visit the battlefields around Gettysburg tomorrow rather than sitting on pins and needles waiting for the cutoff to rise.

On Sat, I'll try to get two or three updates during the day. Not sure if I will stay all day on Sunday but I may stay and try to get most of the double-lft on video.

No pictures today as I was preoccupied with running. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow and maybe some video for YouTube.

 More of the same today really with the exception that the sheep were a little more cooperative early this morning and reverted more to form by late afternoon. Alasdair MacRae and Nap and David Henry and McCloud had good runs in the early going to set the standard for the day, as did Amanda Milliken and Ethel. Emil Ludeke and Ben from Texas,  had a very quiet and controlled run and topped the table for a good part of the day until Linda Fogt and Mickey had an even quieter and more controlled run to take the overall lead mid-afternoon with a 171.

 That was a tough act to follow and both Riel and I made some critical errors to mar an otherwise nice run and take ourselves out of this year's hunt. Riel had a pretty good outrun going until he spotted a cute setout dog. He's done that once more this year so obviously needs to date more outside work. He was there so long that I think he and the setout dog might be engaged (unless the dog was male because I think that is still illegal in Pennsylvania). I ought to check with Linda Meyer to see iif I need to fill out a breeding card.

 Anyway once he got his mind in the game he lifted the sheep OK and the fetch was pretty nice, which is saying something on these sheep on this course. The drive was not bad all the way to the crossdrive panels. We had one cantankerous ewe in the bunch who had been trying to make a break for it from the get go. Riel kept her in line most of the way around but at the crossdrive gate she headed low, I flanked him to cover, and she went high and took her friends with her.

The shed could have been cleaner but not the dog's fault. The sheep have been easy to turn and split but these drifted apart a bit and towards the dog so he didn't need to come all the way through.  I ought to have set up on the opposite side to call the dog through into the pressure. He did come in cleaner and more promptly than he has of late so progress on that front.

The sheep have not been that easy to pen and the cantankerous ewe did not want to go in. Riel kept in the right spot and held her in the mouth of the pen well and if I had let him do the work on his own, most likely could have turned her. I tried to "help", applied a bit too much pressure and she bolted out of the pen mouth. Riel did a good job of putting them back in without crossing the course and saved the pen, this time on his own.

So apart from taking a time out at the top, good work by the dog despite some questionable handling decisions. A disappointing finish because we could have done quite a bit better on these sheep and this course.

That's dog trialling. If we were perfect every time out, there'd be no point in going to the next trial. This is a good course and good sheep. It's tricky. It's different, and the sheep are a challenge but fair and capable of being worked if handled nicely.

More tomorrow, hopefully with pictures and video and stuff.