Del'Mar Scot: "I did it my way"

And now the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Del'Mar Scot (aka Scott, aka Scottapotamous, aka Scott-bot, aka Goober, aka Boofles, aka Old Blue Eyes) turned 12 this June 6th, 2011.

Scott has had a rich sheepdog and cowdog career, starting his life with Chris and Terry Hanson of British Columbia, Canada. Chris trained Scott to work cattle and became his main working dog on the the Coldstream Cattle Ranch - http://www.coldstreamranch.ca/index.htm.  In addition to daily life as a ranch dog, Scott was also trained up on sheep and trialed in cattledog and sheepdog trials in and around the B.C., Alberta and Washington State areas.

Around age 4, Scott and Chris were competing in a trial in Mount Vernon, WA where Scott caught the attention of Diane Pagel of Washington State.  According to Diane, she offered to buy Scott off Chris then and there - she liked what she saw in this black and white, blue-eyed dog with funny little rosebud ears. Apparently, Chris told Diane that Scott wasn't for sale as he was his main cowdog up north. Diane was disappointed but kept Scott in her mind for the next couple years. And to boot, I believe Scott did very well at this trial too before heading back home with Chris.

A couple years later, at age 6, Chris felt it might be a good time to 'retire' Scott from cattle ranch work as working on the ranch can wear a dog out physically. As the story goes, he contacted Diane to see if she was still interested in Scotty. She jumped at the chance to finally get this dog. Diane drove the 8 hours north to pick up Scott and he came home to her sheep farm in Washington State.

Diane trialed with Scott in both sheepdog and cowdog trials. Scott excelled at arena-type trials as well as large ISDS-style field trials. Diane ran Scott in USBCHA Open sheepdog trials the most and he was one of her two Open dogs at the time.  He was also one of her best 'lesson' dogs, helping students she taught at her farm learn what proper stock work with a dog was to look like.

I first saw Scott at an ASCA trial in Arlington, WA in Spring 2008. I only had one herding dog of my own at the time, my Tasmanian Smithfield Sheepdog Mattie, and I was getting interested in sheepdogs and training dogs for stockwork. I went to the trial to help Diane out and just watch the sheep, duck and cow runs. I also volunteered to help with the duck-setting. As I walked from my car to Diane's truck, I noticed that tethered to her truck was this amazing looking dog - he looked just like a panda bear. Bright blue eyes, wagging tail and an overall "please love me" expression on his face.

I hadn't ever met Scott before but I made the connection right away that this was one of the dogs Diane was running that day. At that particular trial, Scott didn't do so great - his eye got stuck on the ducks and the cows were not working for any dog at all. In fact, people remarked about the cows that "if Scott can't move those cows, they ain't gonna move for anything." At this time, Scotty was about 8 years old.

I continued my lessons with Mattie and as one might expect, a novice handler with a novice dog can lead to some confusion, so Diane would offer me up her Tess to take out and work so I could see what herding should really look like. One day, Tess was up at the house so I asked Diane if I could take Scott out to work. She said "sure." I remember my first time in the pasture with Scott. He was doing everything I asked of him, but doing it his way. Of course, I was too novice to see that he was essentially self-herding and taking some shortcuts, but for the most part, he seemed to enjoy himself and so did I.  I specifically remember him being hard to call-off the field - he LOVES to continue to drive or fetch the sheep, he just doesn't want to stop working! 

While Diane was recovering from her heart surgery, I would go to her farm and help with chores and in exchange she let me work Mattie in the round pen and Scott in the larger fields. One day, Diane said she looked out her window and saw me driving sheep with Scott all around her lower pasture.  Now, I didn't really know what I was doing at the time. Diane came out to say she saw me driving and that it looked good and then gave me a quick lesson on driving with Scott. And, so began my introduction into sheepdog training and trialing preparation with Scott.

To prepare me for running Scott in local trials, Diane taught me about his quirks (how to work around his sticky eye, his tendency to grip for fun, etc.) and also taught me about how to run a ranch course. I practiced figure-8's around cones and practiced outruns and fetches and post turns in addition to using him to help with chores like holding sheep for worming/hoof trimming, moving a flock from one pasture to another, sorting and random lamb-work.  Scott and I were clicking more and more.  Scotty turned 9 and it was that October I took Scott into my first trial. Technically, it was a "fun trial" sponsored by the Washington Association of Stockdog Handlers. Diane was still recovering from surgery so she couldn't make it to watch/support me. So, I took my husband for moral support and asked Judy Norris to stand at the post with me to help me. I was running in the Ranch class. Scott ran all over me at that trial!  Here is a short video of our fast fetch and post turn (notice he actually did take a lie down on that fast fetch though!)... 

Lessons were learned that day with how to run Scott, sort of. It actually took me about 8 more trials to figure out that I needed to manage my dog a bit better on the field. I would have to say Scotty was have a super time though!

In December, Diane offered to fully retire Scott to me. I had to promise her that if it didn't work out that he would go back to her and I had to also promise to keep him conditioned by exercising him at least 1-2 miles a day. At the time, I didn't have a fenced yard but I was already walking Mattie 2 miles a day so the exercise thing wasn't a big issue. I also wasn't supposed to spoil him too much as that would all be reflected in his work on the trial field. I have to say, it is really, really difficult to NOT spoil a dog like Scott.

Scott integrated well into my pack, which at the time consisted of Mattie the Smithfield, Lucky the Maltese/Shih Tzu, and George and Gigi, the best cats ever. I found that Scott loves all kinds of people - kids, older folks, teenagers. He never met an enemy and wooed everyone with his beautiful blue eyes.  In 2009, I entered Scott into a local Pet Beauty Pageant at the North Bend, WA "Festival at Mt. Si" celebration. Suprisingly, Scotty won 1st place!  Here is the trophy he won... (I think his winning may have had something to do with him schmoozing the teen-girl judges prior to going 'on stage.')

Some of my favorite trial pictures of Scott are as follows.

  Photographed by Carolynn Harwell

Photographed by Diane Pagel

Photograph by Bonnie Block - Scott was running in Open with Diane when this shot was taken

Photograph by Diane Pagel

Running Scott in all these trials over the past 30 months or so got me hooked on sheepdogs and Border Collies too. I like the spirit of sheepdog trialing and so I mentioned to Diane I was wanting a puppy to train up to fill Scott's shoes, knowing that Scotty would be retiring from the trial scene in the next year or so.  Last summer, I got DeltaBluez Jude, who happens to be a nephew of Scott! And, even funnier, Jude has two blue eyes too.

This past winter, I asked Diane about her interest in going up to Calgary, Canada to trial in the arena trial they have at the Calgary Stampede.  I was thinking that by the time the Stampede came around, Scott would have just turned 12 and that would be a great age to formally retire him from trialing. And, what better trial to retire him from than the world renound World Stockdog Championship at the Calgary Stampede!

The Stampede is nothing new to Scotty as Chris, his first owner, ran him there in the past. However, this would have been my first time up there.  The trial there consists of 60 dogs entered. Cash awards for 1st and 2nd place in the Finals are rewarded ($10,000 and $4,000, respectively). The trial has been known to fill up within minutes from when the entries open up, so Diane and I devised a strategy to help ensure our entries made it in on time. Our strategy worked and both Diane and I were entered.

Over the couple of months between entries opening and the Stampede, I worked Scott a lot in arena-type settings on sheep that were similar to what we saw on YouTube videos of past Stampede-runs. 

Diane did a stellar job of documenting our trip up to Calgary - read about it on her blog here: http://deltabluez.blogspot.com/2011/07/northern-journey.html

It was unfortunate that due to a family circumstance, Chris Hansen wasn't able to make it to the Stampede this year to run his dog(s) and see Scott's last trial. However, Chris said he did manage to watch Scott run online via CBC streaming video of the event!

Janet Walker from Texas videotaped my runs at the Stampede. Our first attempt on Sunday evening looked great from a spectator perspective; however, I had made a big handler boo-boo by not doing our 3rd obstacle correctly. Thus, I only received points up to that point of the course.  Funny thing is, I did this same type of thing at another time/points trial 2 years ago so you'd think I would have learned my lesson. Regardless, running my lovely dog at the Calgary Stampede and being 6.5 months pregnant to boot was quite exciting for me, so I wasn't thinking straight obviously!



Our second run on Monday was great. Although we were unsuccessful in penning our sheep, my dog did everything I asked of him well and I kept my cool too and managed to run the course correctly! We timed out at the pen but had those ewes lined up correctly - I just needed another 20 seconds or so to put them in that pen!



I'm really happy that I was able to take Scott up north to this trial to make it his last as he had a blast hanging with Diane, Diane's dog Roo, and me. He LOVES to be with his person at all times and I know that something is wrong if he isn't constantly tripping me up!  Diane even let Scott up on the bed in the hotel room! And to think, this is the same person who told me "don't spoil him!"  I guess when you're retired, you can get spoiled all you want.

I see a bit of Scott in my Jude, which I love. That Imp. Jim (Scott's sire) and Bobby Dalziel's Wisp (Scott's grand-sire) gene runs strong in that line and I already see it with Jude's sweet dispositon off-stock but power and determination on-stock. The big white head markings are also a clue!  Although I never got to see Scott as a pup or be privvy to his early training sessions, I think to myself that what I see in Jude now during training is what Scott must have been like.  I hope that Jude, as he gets older and settles down a bit, will be just like his Uncle Scott.

Now that he's retired, Scott spends his days in the house, assisting me with everything. He goes to Diane's farm once or twice a week and enjoys working her ducks and gathering and sorting sheep for lessons with her students. He is also Jude's mentor and guidance counselor both off and on stock (Scott has never been a big lover of puppies, especially young male pups, but he's doing well with Jude now).  Scott may be running in a Ranch trial this Fall with a novice handler who has never trialed before, which takes me back to 3 years ago when it was me taking this dog to the post for my first trial. I'll still take Scott to the trials I run in with Jude or Diane's Sava for helping with sheep setting and other tasks, as well as just moral support when I'm running the youngsters. I think Scott is really enjoying his retirement!

Del'Mar Scot - A Tale of 'This Old Fart'

On April 16, I competed at the final Winter Series Rocky Ewe SDT in Roy, WA. It was a relatively clear day - no rain, about 50 degrees or so, and the sun even popped out from the clouds briefly. I had entered Del'Mar Scot (Scott) and his daughter DeltaBluez Rainey into the ProNovice class. 31 dogs were entered in ProNovice that day. With Scott, I was up 10th that morning.

Scott is coming up on retiring from big field, ISDS-style trials. In fact, this Rocky Ewe trial was to be Scott's 2nd-to last big field trial - his last will be in May this year. Scott will be 12 years old on June 6 and while he can still hear perfectly and has the stamina to do ProNovice-sized courses, I just feel it's the right time to retire him from these venues while he's still feeling good. Scott has certainly slowed down in his old age but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in vast experience and power - to move those sheep efficiently, he doesn't have to run fast and he rates his stock like no other dog I've ever seen.

I've been running Scott now for about 2.5 years. He has taught me so much about sheepdogs and what quality work looks like. He's taught me the value of what an old dog brings to the table too; this is so clear to me now that I have Jude!

I had to really step up to the plate in order to run him succesfully as my dog knew he knew more than me. It took about 12-18 months for me to realize what the hell was going on out there with the stock, my dog, and how my handling was affecting it all.

So, onward to the trial.  Like I said, we were up 10th that day. I am not 100% certain, but I think only one or two other dogs prior to us actually were able to post a score. The trial field, at first glance, appears pretty easy. It looks to be nice and flat, very straightforward. However, given the torrential rains we've been having in the Washington area this month, there were HUGE puddles of water out there - specifically, right in front of the sheep set-out, and also in front of the fetch panels. Most of the dogs that day either couldn't lift the sheep from the set out, or they had fetches that were very offline. Knowing these water-features were out there and predicting what my sheep were going to do to Scott, I was able to set my expectations on what the fetch will likely look like and how I can make it the best possible. Diane Pagel had her super-awesome camera and took some great photos of my run - all below.

So, I send Scott to the left and he left me at a good pace. Nearing the 10 o'clock position on his outrun though, Scott came upon a tree in the pasture. Uh oh - Scott has always had a habit (especially prior to his neutering) to stop and mark on his outruns. Although he hasn't done this in many trials with me, he also hadn't had to run by a tree like that before. So, he stopped to "smell the flowers" and got a prompt scolding from me to the effect of "SCOTT! GET OUT OF THAT!!!" He understood my displeasure and continued on his outrun.  Scott, in his older age, has been flattening out at the top of the outruns, which in turn has resulted in him pushing his sheep offline at the lift and a messy fetch. Again, Scott began to flatten out, so I blew a "Lie Down." This worked. The sheep noticed him but didn't run away from him. I blew another come-by flank to get him behind the sheep more, he took it, then lifted.

The sheep were drawn to the side the dog came in on which is unusual but apparently warranted because the sheep did not want to go swimming. Although the sheep were about 30 degrees offline at the start, I layed my dog down again to slow things down. This also stopped the "chase" mode that sometimes happens on our fetch and ultimately, screws us up all the way to the post. Once the sheep stopped running, I flanked the dog Away and he kicked out and got the sheep back onto the fetch line. It was simply beautiful as I've been working on this type of fetch for a long time with Scott.  It just all came together and we had a beautiful, dead center fetch through the fetch panels.

Our straight-on fetch produced the tightest post-turn I think I'd ever had with Scott in competition.  And yes, I realize from this photo is appears I'm just standing there not paying attention, but I was in total communication with my dog and could tell things were going well. But, I know for the younger dogs I'll be handling in the future, I will never take my eyes of the sheep!

The first leg of our drive was online but I beleive we missed the panel to the inside at the last moment. It's a bummer to miss panels and I'm not really sure why it happened - probably because my dog was too close to the sheep and I didn't respect the pressure that the panels push onto the sheep. 

Our cross drive was beautiful - I do think Scott is one of the best driving dogs out there (not to brag or anything, but his cross-drives are usually awesome). You can see how far off the sheep Scott had to be from the sheep - any closer and we would not have made these cross-drive panels.

....and, they're fully through!  You want the sheep to drift a little bit from the panel but not too much to where they get off course. If they're too close to the panel, at least with Scott, when I go to turn them they could pull back through the panels. I'm sure sliced-flanks also produce that same effect too. At this trial, Scott turned the sheep onto the final leg of the drive beautifully.

Here is my boy in full stride. Isn't he beautiful???? He actually takes my breath away when we're on the field together. I truly adore this old fart of a dog.

Alright, on to the fun part of this trial. So, typically, the final stage of the ProNovice trial is the pen. And usually, the handler goes to the door of the pen and works with the dog to get the sheep penned. Well, at this trial, we had to do an unassisted pen meaning we, as handlers, had to stand about 40-50 feet away from the pen and maneuver our dog to pen the sheep on his own. The pen was left in the full-open position. Lucky for us in ProNovice, they did leave the gate arm on the pen so it acted like a chute (the Open folks didn't get the 'chute' and thus, penning was even more challenging for them). I have never penned sheep like this before. However, I figured there had to be similarities in where to position the sheep and dog as when one pens in the traditional way.  At close range like this, Scott works better with me with voice instruction (whistles can make things frantic for us). Here is Scott on the approach to the pen...

It looks like we're in the wrong position, but believe me, this was exactly where we wanted to be...

Here they come. You can see the intensity in Scott's whole body in this photo - he knew what I wanted him to do. 

Ever so slightly, Scott positioned himself closer into the sheep's bubble and they slowly trotted into the pen area. Scott was really listening to my softer commands to take it easy and not be a pushy-boy.

... almost in...

... And the judge calls our pen as "good" and our run is complete. I felt really good about our run when we walked off the field. It was probably the best teamwork Scott and I have ever had and I could feel it right away. This run was also the most relaxed I've ever been on a trial field with Scott. We ultimately finsished up in 2nd place with a score of 72.

There is just something about this old dog. I do feel that it was in the cards that he and I ended up together - we were definitely made for one another (and, we're both Geminis!) Although I've only had him 3 years or so, he and I are bonded as if I'd had him his whole life. I will definitely credit Scott as the dog that taught me to not freak out and stress out at the post anymore. As the dog that showed me that every action has a reaction - blow a wrong flank, lose your sheep; push the sheep too hard, lose your sheep; don't fix a sloppy flank, lose your sheep... etc.  As the dog that has made me the handler I am today.

* Photos taken by Diane Pagel

Snowy Daze

We had a nice snowfall at home here. Now, the sun is out and it's just beautiful outside.

Mattie

Can you find the Smithfield Sheepdog in this picture?

Scott - not listening to me again.

Scott got caught with snow on his nose


This looks like an ant to me

Japanese Maple branches

Snowy branches up close

Backyard facing East

Snowy Chicken Yard

Snowy fence - isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? I love my new fence.

Snowy house.

Snowy neighbor

Snowy road

Snowy spaniel.

Happy Howlidays 2010

Tis the Season for pet themed ornaments and antlers on your dogs!

Well, some of the dogs are more comfortable in antlers than others...

Mattie likes wearing her antlers. She even has the santa-beard to really emphasize her holiday spirit.

Scott is, er, not a fan of wearing antlers (or dog-back packs, or coats or sweaters). This was the best shot of Scott I could get of him.

I tried to put the antlers on Lucky but he is so gamey, he was trying to rip the antlers out of my hands. For a little dog, he is very driven. Here is a tree ornament that looks like him anyway...

Jude would not sit still. The one picture I got of him (antler-less) does not want to load into blogger, so unfortunately, no festive pictures of the giant Border Collie puppy today.

GiGi, our cat, is a dilute calico. For some reason, the tree ornament makers in China love to make ornaments that look exactly like our cat.

Since I haven't yet found a blue-eyed Border Collie ornament - I guess I need two of these now anyway - I use this steer to represent Scott...

And, for Jude (aka Klondike Bar) - he gets to be repped by this fluffy Suffolk from Switzerland.

I found some chicken ornaments this year. Yes, I know this is a rooster. However, I think Russian Orloff chicken ornaments are even rarer than blue-eyed Border Collie ornaments. Myrtle and Mergatroid the Orloffs will just have to get by with this ornament for now.

This season was also the first time I have successfully grown an Amaryllis. I bought the kit at the end of October and planted it in early November. This thing has gone gangbusters in our living room. So much so in fact, that out of the one bulb planted I actually have two stems that popped out. The stem shown here is about 2.5 feet tall. It's pretty amazing. The other stem (you can see it peaking up on the bottom right in this photo) is well on its way to being as tall as its older sibling.

And, this is a picture of the delicious Swedish baked goodies my dear co-worker Sandy makes each year. I especially look forward to the cookies in this pile that look like Snickerdoodles. But, these are no average Snickerdoodles. These happen to be Swedish Ammonia Cookies. Yep, you read that right, ammonia! Sandy orders this special cooking ammonia from an online Swedish bakery. I can describe this cookie as something that looks like a snickerdoodle, but is crumbly, lightly sweet, airy and has a very slight chewiness, sort of like a homemade meringue. Sandy knows I love these cookies and so she filled up my plate with them along with other Swedish goodies she baked.

Happiness is a wet nose

Growing up with dogs, my mom always used to say...

Happiness is a wet nose.

Here are a couple examples I have on hand of happy wet noses...

Diane Pagel's Imp. Kuro (at age 7 mos)

Del'Mar Scot (at age 9 yrs)

Now, with a 6 month old puppy in the house, I am thinking of happiness being more along the lines of...

Happiness is a puppy that asks to go outside 100% of the time thus not having an accident in the house anymore.

This makes me a very happy panda.

What is happiness to you?????

Scotty See Sheep?

Scott, do you see your sheep?

It sure looks like you do!

Scotty... bring those sheep to mama.

Looks like Scott has got it covered...

Scott. Please deposit these sheep into the pen. Yes, the one with the American flag on it. And yes, make sure you get that pesky black sheep in too!

Jude, the uber-puppy, aptly nicknamed the Klondike Bar, is in awe of his great-uncle Scott and his way with sheep.

Lacamas Valley SDT 2010

Last weekend Scott, Jude and I drove to Camas, WA to run Scotty in the 2010 Lacamas Valley Sheepdog Trial. We stayed in Diane's very comfortable RV at the trial site. I drove down on Wednesday afternoon to help Diane set up the camper and just to get settled - I hate rushing around. I didn't have a run on Thursday but I wanted to watch the other ProNovice runs and see how the sheep behaved. My runs with Scott were scheduled for #44 on Friday and #4 on Saturday. Unfortunately, no one was able to take pictures of my runs so there are no pics to post here - I'll try to write as descriptively as possible though ;)

Last year, Scotty and I were pretty new to trialing but I still entered in him 2 ProNovice runs at Lacamas. Our first day, we retired on the fetch as we lost the sheep to the setout behind a hill and were excused. The second day we faired a bit better and completed our run, scoring mid-pack. Losing our sheep on that first day was handler error - inexperience and freaking-out came into play.

This year, I had familiarity with the field/sheep type and a year of trialing/stock work with Scott under my belt. Albeit, Scotty is no spring chicken; he's 11 years old now so he's slower than your average border collie. To our advantage though, this year's Lacamas sheep were heavy lambs that were not dog-broke at all. Their heaviness slowed things down a bit and I think that worked for Scott very well. Scott has never had a problem pushing any type of stock around - probably has something to do with his strong breeding and working on a large cattle ranch for 5-6 years!

Our Friday run was being judged by Rob Miller. The sheep were growing heavier and heavier as the day wore on. There were 64 runs scheduled to run that day and my run at 44th took place around 3:30pm or so (they started at 7am). Dogs kept timing out on their drives as the sheep were just unwilling to move. They were getting hungry and many sets would just graze during the fetch and drive. Dogs that didn't have that special "power" came to a stop and had trouble pushing the sheep. There were many grips happening as well, most warranted though as many ProNovice dogs are youngsters who tend to grip to just get some type of movement.

For this first run, the set out crew was having trouble with my set. We waited about 3-4 minutes for them to get the 5 sheep out to the set-area. They'd push the sheep out about 25 yards and the sheep would run back to the set out pens. In the past, this would have tweaked me out a bit - it's always easy to blame "bad sheep" or an "unstable setout" on how one's dog lifts and fetches. Some people will blame the set out on the way their whole run goes if it doesn't go well. I made the concious decision to not let the flighty-set of sheep get to me. I sent Scott on the away to me side, which is the side the set out pens were on. Scott's outrun was nice and wide, he sighted his sheep and while he came in a bit flat, I felt this was warranted given the heavy draw those sheep had to the setout pens. His lift was beautiful. Scotty totally knows how to fetch sheep to me, so when I saw that he had a soft yet authoritative lift, he "had" those sheep and was correcting himself to get online. I kept my mouth shut the whole time and it wasn't until those sheep when through the middle of the fetch panels that I slowed him down with a soft "lie..." Our post turn was a bit wide but efficient. The first leg of the drive was S L O W. The sheep were extremely heavy and Scotty was pushing hard. We were a bit offline as the sheep were a bit squirrrely and would turn to face the dog (this happened on most runs that day). I recall that we missed the first drive panel - the sheep were also drawn to the exhaust on that side a bit. It was just slow going. I got my sheep back online and we began the crossdrive. Again, slow but straight (Scott is an excellent driving dog). We made it to our cross-drive panels and while I can't recall if we made them or not, our sheep popped offline up a small incline and didn't want to come back down. We had 7 minutes to complete the course and time was ticking. Scott did manage to get the sheep to move again toward me. Unfortunately, we timed out about 50 feet from the post, which means we didn't complete the drive. So, we automatically lost all 30 drive points and our 10 pen points. However, because of Scott's excellent outwork, we managed to get a score of 44. That put us in 17th place on Friday.

Saturday, we were 4th up. Becki Maloney was our judge. At the handler's meeting we learned the 1st run scratched so I was actually 3rd up. Again, my sheep were not set in the "ideal" way. Right after I sent Scott on the away to me side again, the set out dog lost the sheep at the top and they started to trot offline to the left. I hate it when that happens! But, again, I wasn't about to let that spoil my run or be an excuse - the set out sheep "is what it is." You just gotta deal with it. Scotty's outrun was a bit tighter because he saw the sheep taking off. He managed to get behind and lift them as they were on the move - again, not an ideal situation. His presence thus moved the sheep to the right and the unanticipated dog-leg fetch began. We were running just 4 sheep today which helped them be not so heavy (compared to Friday's runs). Of course, this meant the sheep were faster and having been exhausted a few times into their "safe zone" the sheep were making a beeline to the exhaust. Scotty had the sheep but he refused to release the pressure on the fetch and would not flank for me to the comeby side in order for us to make the fetch panel. We ended up about 20 feet to the right of the panel and the sheep were making a beeline to the exhaust now. As they got closer, Scott finally took my comeby command and steered the sheep into my direction at the post. We had a very wide and ugly post turn. We started the first leg of the drive (left hand drive today). The sheep were a bit easier to push around today - perhaps because there were only four and that it was first thing in the morning. We hit both drive panels and were offline a bit at the turns and that last leg of the drive to the pen. The drive again was complete when the sheep reached the post. When they got to the post, I was ecstatic. Now, today we had 6.5 minutes to complete the course but the drive was shorter than it was on Friday. Not wanting to time out again, I jogged to the pen. We had a little bit of a ruckus at the pen but not circling - when the 4th sheep meandered into the pen, I quickly closed that gate! We got our pen! There were only 7 pens total that day so I felt that was an accomoplishment in itself. Our score was a 55 with this run. At the end of the day, after the 60th run was complete, we ended up 12th.

I'm very happy with how both runs went. I'm happy with how my dog worked for me and how he put full effort into his work. He listened well and was really teaming up with me. I'm happy with my whistles too; all that practice in the car on my way home from work is paying off! And, I'm happy that I kept a cool head when given difficult-to-set-sheep and didn't let that affect either run.

It took a year to get a cohesive working partnership with Scott - just like my trusted herding advisors told me it would. I know I'm very fortunate to have a well-trained, biddable, thoughtful and powerful dog like Scott to learn on and trial with. He is not only Jude's Obi-Wan Kenobi, but mine too!

Wessel's Dirt Blowing Trial - ProNovice

This past weekend Scott and I ran in the Wessel's Dirt Blowing Trial in Dayton, WA. As expected, there was dirt and it was blowing. However, I'm told it was much "cleaner" than last year!


Dayton is approximately 230 miles east from my house - it took about 3.5 hours to get there, each way. So, with a 6:15 a.m. handler's meeting on Sunday morning, I trekked over the mountains the night before. I recently bought a 2-person tent; very manageable for one gal to set up herself and roomy enough for one gal and her sheepdog!

The sun was out at 4:30 in the morning; I forgot how obvious sunrise was to you when you are in a tent. I was up and about at 5:15 or so. I shotgunned my Starbucks Frappacino Mocha and got my dog fed too. I was scheduled to be run #7 on the "Hill Field." My judge would be Lavon C. - the same judge who thanked me off the field at Lacamas last year because I lost my sheep and dog behind a hill! For this trial, I wanted to show this judge that I had improved in the 10 months since I last run under him! In addition, later in the day, I was to run on the "Flat Field" under Derek F. I've taken lessons from Derek in the past so I was eager to show him how much my whistles have improved and just overall improvements in handling my dog.

The "Hill Field" was up the road a bit, so Diane and I drove over there and set up our chairs. The first few runs didn't go too well - it appeared these range ewes (even having been worked by Open dogs the two days prior) were still a bit, well, rangey! They weren't the people-loving woolies we usually encounter at our local sheepdog trial!

I ended up running 5th due to a couple of scratches. Diane P. took pics of my run on the "Hill Field" with my Panasonic camera... (click on the pictures below to make them bigger and clearer!)

Here are Scott and I heading to the post. The whole trial field is in view here

I'm telling Scott "Look" before I send him on his outrun. I have to hold on to him when I tell him to look for sheep though or else he'll jump out like a false start!

Here is Scott coming up on the sheep.

Here is Scott's lift. He lost ZERO points off this! I'm very happy with him.

Our fetch was not great; offline and missed panel. However, most of that was due to me overhandling my dog.

Our drive actually wasn't too bad, but there aren't any pics to prove it! Here we are trying to get the pen. This proved out to be a difficult task for me and my dog on this run as well as the run on the "Flat Field"

Well, shoot. We timed out at the pen after having more than enough time to actually get it. The sheep were just too squirrely for me to figure out. They broke off into pairs at one point! My inability to get a pen on this field or on the "Flat Field" proves I need more practice with sheep that don't like people!

Here is Scott driving the sheep to the exhaust pen.

We ended up with a score of 49 on the "Hill Field." Out of 90 points possible, that seems low. However, we were one of the higher scoring teams for this particular field.

About 3 hours later, I was up to run Scott on the "Flat Field." It was about 80 degrees at this time and the sheep were starting to get fed up with this whole sheepdog trial thing.

Earlier I said I wanted to impress the judge, Derek, with my whistles. Well, this trial was probably one of the worst examples of my whistling ever! Literally, one "away" whistle fizzled out as if it was a songbird being strangled to death. Not good.

We fumbled through the course and again, timed out at the pen. Scott wasn't as quick with responding to my commands this time and the whole thing seemed to be a bit out of control. I was probably underhandling him on this one! Overall, I got 33 points total (yes, out of 90).

However, I finished the course and was not DQ'd nor did I have to retire. In total, the combined trial score I got that day was an 82.

In the greater scheme of things, compared to the rest of the teams competing that day, Scott and I didn't do too bad! Overall, combined, we came in 7th! Geri Byrne won overall with her dog Danny. Click on the score sheet below to make it bigger...

All in all, it was a really great trial and great experience. I hope to be back next year, perhaps running one of Diane's dogs in ProNovice. Saturday night, I took this picture of a lovely Aussie who was competing in in the ProNovice classes too. Isn't he adorable!