Fall Trial briefs

And...finally catching up with the early fall trials in September, there were a few noteworthy events that I'd like to share!

Labor Day weekend was spent up at the beautiful McLeish farm in Portage Wisconsin, where the field is large, the sheep challenging and the competition strong. WWSDA sponsors this great trial. This is the place where Russell took a tumble in the ditch on his first outrun, leaving him stiff and sore for a couple of weeks after...recovering just in time to run at the Finals. The photo is Russell turning the post at the Portage trial.

Maya had a difficult time finding her sheep at this trial and needed redirects to get her to the sheep set out at 500+ yds with the rolling terrain and berms obscuring her view of the sheep. Her runs were good once she got out there, but lost enough points on the outruns to not place or get into the double lift.

The pro-novice sheep were set out at about 350 yds, really stretching the experience of Luc and Sue, but they both ran out well and lifted great. Sue had some difficulty with the lines, working well. Luc had very good lines and handled the sheep well, placing 9th out of 46 both days, bringing home small checks!

The following weekend found us at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival, running in the Crook and Whistle SDT. Now that is a very challenging trial, with sheep that test the strength and focus of both dogs and handlers. Those who were able to finish the courses were in the minority all weekend!

Maya ran very well, and handled the sheep beautifully...her handler, however, had difficulty steering the sheep into the drive gates, missing all of them on both runs. In spite of my poor handling, Maya did place 7th out of 40, bringing home a check and a few points on Saturday.

Luc ran out well on his first run, and a good fetch and drive away, but we just couldn't get the sheep near the cross drive gates, so I retired. And, then I ended up leaving early before his 2nd run, which was to be very late at the end of the trial.

Sue had two awesome runs...with just one small (and costly) problem on the first one: she crossed over in front of the sheep in a deep swail, then came up behind the hill and I never even saw her do it! She ran out well on her second run and handled those difficult sheep with the style and finesse of the good open dog she is becoming...and ended up winning the class of 48, bringing home a very nice paycheck!

Whew...that's the last of the fall trial reports...we all had a great time, with lots of successes along the way! Now, time to get to some advanced training over the winter so the pups are ready for Open and Maya is ready for double lifts and international shedding!