On the Road - Aspen I

Apologies for not being a timely blogger. I've been getting back to my hotels late and too tired to do anything but go to bed, and getting up and out early in the mornings.


Sunday morning my mom, uncle, aunt and I went to an event at the Snowmass Rodeo grounds. It wasn't a clearly-defined event; sort of a western show/history of the valley combination. There were few vendors, and a very small crowd. It seems it was to profit some local animal charity, so we convinced ourselves that we didn't feel too bad about the $18 admission.


The food vendor had good ribs, and we ate our lunch to the non-stop barking of a Lab. He was tied up near the food vendor, and we assumed he belonged to one of them. We were suprised to see later that he belonged to a visitor. How nice of him to take his dog on an "outing," but leave him tied up for everyone else to enjoy. (Ugh.)


Several demos were presented to illustrate various periods of the area's history, beginning with representatives from the (southern?) Ute tribe.

This woman gave an introduction and some information about her tribe, then performed one of the women's dances.

Men's grass dance, I think.

I don't remember what men's dance this was, but this was definitely my favorite ceremonial outfit. As he moved, the large feathers attached to him seemed to open and close, which I assume was intentional. They reminded me of butterfly wings.

Mom, uncle, aunt conferring on something.

Trappers, I think.

　

Stagecoach robbery, with guns going off and guys jumping on the stagecoach from their horses, and falling from the stagecoach after being killed. My favorite part of the show.

　


On Monday seven of us hiked in the Maroon Bells area. It is a spectacular area, in fact so beautiful and so popular that driving up is limited (something like before 8 am and after 5 pm). Between those hours, visitors have to take a bus up. We'd thought dogs were allowed on the bus as there are often dogs there, but we were disappointed to find out that they were not, so my guys hung out at my aunt and uncle's place for the day.

The Bells is such a beautiful area that I got many, many photos. It seemed that every view was awesome and every wildflower gorgeous. It's hard to narrow it down to make a reasonable blog post, but here are a few.

My mom dissing the Mayor of Aspen (her brother/my uncle).

Classic family photo hijinks. :)

Mule train.

Columbine.

One of the many beautiful views.

The view from our pic-a-nic log.

Some kind of rare orchid.

The river we crossed. It wasn't very deep or very wide, but the current was strong and it was very cold.

Shooting Star Columbine, I think.

An aspen grove.

"The Deadly Bells."

Almost classic photo of the Bells. (I should've been further to the left, at the end of the lake.)


What you see from here...

Next: Aspen II (of II)

On the Road - Day 5

The work: Tina LePlatt

Tina LePlatt is Seamus's breeder. She and her husband Terry live in Monte Vista, Colorado, in a charming 100 year old home on a lovely ranch. They raise cattle, and usually have some sheep as well.

The creek.

I was so excited to meet Tina on Saturday, and to get to see many of Seamus's family work; Tess, off Seamus's dam Bree and by a dog related to Seamus's sire Newby; Seamus's littermates Nick and Sandy (just home from being started by Michele McGuire); and of course Bree herself.

Tess bringing the sheep to the big field.

Tina worked Tess, then Nick and Sandy. Tess is her open dog and works like a dream. The two youngsters are looking good and doing really well for her, and especially so considering Tina had only brought them home a week or so before. Nick is very fast and very enthusiastic, but is a good listener. Sandy works nicely too, but is a more independent dog. Tina worked Nick and Sandy in the large trial field, but kept Sandy on a long line, as she's not entirely partnered up with Tina again yet.

Nick on an outrun.

Sandy fetching.

After Tina worked her dogs, I brought out Seamus, and first worked him a little bit in a small pen to assess his attitude. I felt comfortable with how he was listening to me, so we moved out to her smaller field (a few acres?), where he worked reasonably well for me. The sheep wanted to run and it was very challenging for me to position him properly to cover the heavy pressure without turning them.

Next, I worked Dare out in the same field. She worked okay for me, but we once again struggled to get a rapport with the sheep and they never quite got settled, with Dare chasing and buzzing them several times, which is frustrating because things are supposed to be improving with the work we've been doing. She's not being terrible, but neither is she being good. Grrr...!

After Dare, I worked Bran. Since Bran hadn't been working much, and based on the sheep, I decided I'd just work her in the small pen. She worked basically the same as always; not trying to make a mess, not trying to work WITH me, either. I'm looking forward to working her with Dan Keeton on Thursday, as he has a younger full sister to Bran.

I brought out Seamus to work again, and we worked in the big trial field this time. I really made the connection that a growling voice correction--usually an attempt to make him stop when I see things are about to become a mess because he's already ignoring me--immediately speeds him up. When I mentioned this to Tina, she said that his dam Bree does exactly the same thing. So, I have to think more on how to approach the issue. He's a young dog; I'm a novice handler. I don't always see things far enough in advance to prevent a mess, and sometimes when I do see it before it happens and try to fix it, he doesn't always listen. Though he had a moment or two of being naughty, I was very happy with how he worked in the big field. He is such a nice dog. :)

Seamus fetching them to me in the big field. Photo by Tina LePlatt.

Seamus widening out to give them room and fix the line. Photo by Tina.

Seamus covering the heavy pressure and holding the line beautifully. Photo by Tina.

#####

The route: Monte Vista to Carbondale

Mileage: 193.5

Time: About 4 - 4.5 hours

The drive to Carbondale was pretty, though mostly uneventful.

Historic marker and mountain view.

For Beth. Do you see what I see?

Going through Independence Pass more than made up for the quiet rest of the drive. The pass is over 12,000 feet up, and the road is steep and narrow, with very tight switchbacks and no guard rail on the south side of the pass. It was raining most of the way, and 43 degrees at the summit. Snow was still present in many places. If the weather is better on the way back, I will try to get a few photos from the summit.

Approaching the summit of the pass.

　
　

Next: Visiting family in Aspen

On the Road - Day 4

Interlude in Ft. Collins

I stopped in Ft. Collins to visit with friends Regan and Tracey and their husbands on Friday. We had an early lunch together at Tracey's house. It was nice to not have to get going early in the morning after a very late arrival the night before. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sustain a good connection either via wi-fi or broadband at the hotel, so much of my morning was spent trying to get that worked out. The front desk clerk helped as much as he could, and he even called their wi-fi provider so I could work directly with them, but it never got sorted.

Rainbow sunrise over Waffle House. :) This double rainbow was very clearly defined, and the most tightly curved I'd ever seen, though it's hard to tell from the photos. By the time I ran back to my room to put away the dog I was walking and grab my camera, it had already faded.

The dogs had a fun visit too, with Tracey's dogs. L-R: Bran, Seamus, Dare, Doug, Whiskey.

"Pop! goes the Whiskey!"

#####

The route: Ft. Collins to Monte Vista
Mileage: About 328 miles
Time: About 5-6 hours
I forgot to set my trip odometer on departure, and don't remember what time I got in to Monte Vista (after dark), so these are Google Maps estimates based on the route I took.

Castle Rock?

Next: Working with Tina LePlatt

On the Road - Day 3

Yes, I'm alive, and reasonably well. It was pointed out to me that my last blog post before vanishing was about the (possibly) crazy meth addict hotel neighbor, followed by silence...sorry! I had trouble with the wi-fi connection at my stop on Thursday night, and late arrivals Friday and Saturday nights. So, here I am Sunday morning playing catch up.

The Work: Nyle Sealine

Once again, no photos of us working. It's about the expereience of course, and not the photos, but I am a little disappointed to not have photos to help with the memory. But that's the way it goes. There was no one available to take photos when I started working Dare, and when I worked Seamus, someone was available but it was raining too hard to have the camera out. Photos from our Chuck-it session will have to do.

Bob working on penning (Nyle to the right), Tom observing, with Nyle's dog keeping an eye on things. That's the guardian dog to the right of the pen.

Nyle does group lessons, so there were two other folks there to work dogs, too; almost like a mini-clinic. His sheep are a Columbian and Hampshire cross (I think). We used a packet of seven; white faced, black faced, and one or two speckle faced. The field was about 3 or 4 acres, a little oddly shaped, but nice for dog work. A gully runs across it, and I wondered whether that would have any effect on Dare's outrun. The sheep were at the top right of the field, somewhat close to the fenceline, which ran down to a gate leading to the barn, so the pressure was quite heavy to the right, especially at the bottom of the field. She went out okay, a little tight, and jumped the gully without changing her path, however, she fell in at the top, and the race was on to the bottom of the field. Took her off them, tried again, without much better success. She's now made a mess of sheep and chased singles several times the last few times we've worked. I don't know if that's insecurity on her part with what may be more challenging sheep, or quite what is going on. The sheep we've been working were by no means crazy or too difficult, but required the dog to be correct and fair. I am certainly getting to see the areas where we need improvement!

Nyle felt by working on having her lift them off the fence and up close nicely, giving them space and covering properly, this would translate into a better lift further away, though it's hard for me to explain it how he explained it to me. We got her doing this exercise well, and sent her a short distance, which went well, and back to the original distance, which was somewhat better, but not as improved as we'd hoped. Still, there was a change, and the at-hand work was looking better, so I think it is a good exercise for me to keep in my toolbox.

Seamus and Crystal watching.

Seamus was in his excited young dog state of mind, and it showed as I walked him from the car to the field. I didn't like his attitude and neither did Nyle, so we worked for some time on getting him to behave politely on the leash before we did anything with the sheep. Nyle thought it would be best, and I agreed, if we just worked him up close. Nyle worked him, which was great because I was able to observe what he was doing, and also see the results when the exercise was done correctly. He worked him with the sheep in the corner, and moved himself laterally back and forth between Seamus and the sheep. If Seamus tried to walk in around them nicely, he would let him have the sheep. If his body language showed that his intentions were to try to dive in, Nyle easily and gently blocked him. There was some darting back and forth at first, as Seamus tried to work out how to get past Nyle, but he then figured out what was wanted. As Seamus started to come on more slowly (but not as far on the fence as ideal), Nyle used just a little of his own body pressure to lean him out. This was also a good exercise, although when it was my turn to try, I had some trouble positioning myself where I needed to be, whether to block or give. I will need to work on this!
By the time I'd finished working Seamus, it was rather late in the morning (almost 11) considering the distance I planned to drive, so I was getting a bit antsy to get on the road, and elected not to work Bran. Nyle was just as nice a gentleman as could be, and tried to encourage me to stay so I could work the dogs a second time, at least, to practice again what we'd learned. He'd even tried to reach me the evening before to see if I could come out to work Wednesday night, then again Thursday morning, but apparently I'd had no cell signal when he called. :(

The takeaway: If something goes wrong, go to the sheep when possible, instead of going after the dog (as the dog will want to stay with the sheep).

#####

The route: Missouri to Colorado
The mileage: A bit under 800 (I'm unable to find where I'd written it down)
Time: About 12.5-13 hours

A rough drive this day. Started out from Nyle's in Princeton in rain. As I neared the crossing of the Missouri river, there were signs advising that the road was closed due to all the floods they'd been having. So, I had to divert north to Iowa and cross way up near Omaha. Most of the roads I'd traveled in Missouri and into Iowa were these two-lane county roads that near-highway speed limits, and I hadn't been seeing any police, so I tried to step things up a bit on the detour. Somewhere near Red Oak, IA, my luck ran out and I was stopped by a state trooper, who was friendly enough, considering I was from out of state and going more than a little bit over the speed limit. I wavered on whether or not to mention my profession to try to help smooth things over a bit, but hesitated too long; the moment was lost, he went back to his car, and I was ticketed. He gave me a break on the speed, which reduced the fine, and also checked the distance for me to where I was trying to cross the river (I'd told him about my little detour and how I had no idea where I was). Of course, it's not the fine, it's the rotten insurance points (and my insurance company is picky).

By the time I reached Nebraska, the weather was beautiful. More cornfields, but these were a bit less interesting than my the fields earlier in my trip. They seemed to be bigger commerical operations, so there the homestead buildings were fewer and further apart. I gave the day up as a loss, and stopped around dinner time at a Cabela's to give the dogs some off-leash time out of the crates and a good session of Chuck-it.

Seamus and Bran

Dare

Seamus, Bran and Dare

Seamus

Bran (I think!)

Another stop at twilight in western Nebraska, on through Cheyenne, and down to Ft. Collins, to finally reach our stop for the night.

I have some photos from the last couple legs of the trip, but for some reason my phone is stuck in "sending" mode and I'm not able to get them loaded here. I will add them later if I can.

Edit: And here they are...

Approaching Council Bluffs, IA

I-80: Just like home, but being on 80 here means I'm further north than I want to be. However, my northerly detour bypassed the tremendous storms that hit the route I would have taken further south.

Interesting bridge on I-80 somewhere west of Omaha.

Cute flower at rest area in western Nebraska. I only saw one other flower like it there.

Definitely NOT in New Jersey! Same rest area as above.

(Technically, yes, we do have a rattlesnake species in NJ,

but apparently they are not a "problem" to such a degree that requires a warning sign.)

Next: A brief interlude
　
　
　
　



On the Road - Day 2

The Work: Mike Neary

Photo-taking was un-possible while we worked today, so my windy descriptions will have to do.
My first day's work was one of some ups and downs. Typically I work Bran last, as she is the most challenging. I alternate between working Dare and Seamus first. Today I worked Dare first, as she is the most reliable, and I thought this would be the best way for letting Mike see my handling strengths and weaknesses more than if we were working one of the other dogs. The bunch of sheep Mike had for us to work were speckle-faced wool crosses--I forgot to ask what breeds--and were last years' lambs.
We first worked a little bit in a smallish area just so he could where Dare & I were at, and so he'd feel comfortable bringing us out into his 18 acre field. That field has really heavy pressure back to the barn, which is nothing unusual, but there's also a small section of the fencline that is in between repairs, and the sheep know they can get through this section back to the barn area, and they do try to get there!

Sent Dare on her first outrun to the left; she cut in and made a mess, right on down to chasing a single. I was prepared for common issues like turning in too soon or too late or racing them down the fetch, but the busting up and chasing took me by surprise. She will chase a single if one breaks off, but I wasn't expecting it in this situation. We worked some more on basic stuff like outruns and driving; she had a good drive going later on, but I un-cleverly started the drive in the general direction of the pressure, so she needed to stay hard on the right and be in just the right place to hold the line without being too far forward and turning them. Almost made it, but as they went further down the field, it just became too much for the sheep and the dog, ending in another chase. In all, I think Dare chased four times during our work, not exactly making me proud. Mike said her flanks were good when she was balancing to me, but the inside flanks while driving were not as good; no surprise here, as it's something I know needs work. He talked about one of the ways he assists his younger dogs with driving, so I'll have to try that at home and see whether that improves things for us.


Next, I worked Seamus. I brought him out with a long line, as I just wasn't confident in knowing where his mind was and I didn't want to have a wreck. From his attitude out of the car, it seemed he might go either way. (He worked very nicely for me last week; his good attitude showed coming out of the car.) After discussing Seamus's up and down performance so far, I elected to take the long line off and work him in the small area. He went out the little distance quite nicely for me, and was a little fast, but had a good attitude. Within just a few minutes, Mike gave him some very nice compliments, and had us move to the big field.


In the big field, we did some good work, and had a few chases. He was a bit overmatched at one point by the place we had the sheep set and what I asked him to do, so the wiley buggers got through the hole in the fence and he got after a single, but Mike wasn't upset. He got it sorted out and everyone back where they should be, and we went back out in the big field, where we worked a bit more, and Seamus did nicely for me. Mike really liked what he saw in Seamus.

Mike made a very good observation before I even started working with Seamus; he asked whether I was afraid of the dog. And in thinking that over (knowing he meant was I afraid of things that might happen while working him, and whether I'd screw him up, not whether I was fearful of the dog himself), I realized that yes, in a way I am afraid. I am afraid for the safety of the sheep. I might have a different outlook if they were my own sheep, but what I am afraid of, more than gripping, is one of my dogs running a sheep into a fence. There's no lie down or recall when they are in hot pursuit. At any rate, Mike reasurred me before working Seamus, while we worked, and again afterwards, to not be afraid of (working) him. He reassured me that his take on Seamus was that this is young dog stuff that would fade away with maturity, and not to get too upset about it. Of course I know that in a corner of my brain, but it'll be rough for me to remember when we're working our way through that!

Bran got a turn too, but by the time I got her out, we'd been working quite a while and he had a commitment that morning, so I didn't work her too much, just a bit to get her on the sheep, really. She didn't do anything spectactularly good or bad. The thing that impressed me most was that she lifted the sheep off the fence nicely, in both directions, without crossing in front of them or trying to go through them. So that was the highlight for me in working Bran.

The takeaway: Don't be afraid of my dog.

#####

The route: Indiana to Missouri
Mileage: 429.5
Time: About 7 - 7.5 hours

This was a lovely drive for me, though most people would find driving through farmland for seven hours quite boring. No particular events of note, other than much road construction (especially through Illinois--it was like being back in Pennsylvania, the Road Construction State).

Far from home: Not many travelers on my route today; most distant plate noticed was Texas.

Not in New Jersey:

　
For some reason, I found these windmills fascinating. I took a few phone pics in Ohio yesterday, but forgot to upload them. There were some near Mike's place, so I jumped out and used my REAL CAMERA to take this photo. It is hard to describe how large they are; check out the mature trees below, and the power lines (which are much closer to me than the windmills).

A random shot of comforting farmland in western Illinois. And my bug-guts-encrusted windshield. Are there more bugs in the midwest than in New Jersey?

Highlight of my drive?

The mighty Mississippi. Stunning photo, ain't it? ;)

Welcome to Missouri. Radio station call letters will now start with K, just because. Thank you.

Also not in New Jersey: Sonic. I don't even know how to order Sonic right. Heh. Stupid Jersey girl. Well, at least I didn't drive away from the gas station with my gas cap dangling today. (Hey, I had a lot of driving to do, I was in a hurry! Besides, we don't HAVE self-serve gass in New Jersey! Yep, full-serve all the time...and we pay less for it, too! :) Thanks to the good Samaritin who signalled me as we pulled out of the station.)

The hotel: No sign out front. Or on the building. At least, not that I saw.

The neighbor: Arriving back at the hotel after running out for dinner, I sloshed soda all down my hand and arm getting out of the car. So I trudge up the stairs with a newly-arrived male guest, thinking how un-thrilled I am that I'm the first room on the right, and he now gets to know where I'm staying. He moves on, and I soon re-evaluate my worry level over that teeny-tiny fact. My across-the-hall neighbor pops open his door as I'm trying to find my key card (buried in my purse) while holding my dinner with my dripping wet hand which still has the soda all over it. The hallway neighbor is a young guy who has his head nearly shaved, and has no shirt on. "Hi," he says. "Hi," I say back, trying to find my stupid key card as fast as possible, one handed. "How are you doing?" he asks. Did this just happen? Did some random hotel stranger just pop his door open to start up a conversation with me. "Great," I say, in a less-than-great tone. After all, I just spilled soda on myself, I can't find my key, and two random males know where my room is. "Are you being sarcastic?" he asks. Thank god, I found the key! "Have a good night," I say, or something like it, and get inside. Of course me being me (paranoid), I'm wondering if this is some crazy meth addict or something. Really--who opens their room door to have a chat? This isn't some hotel bar or something. Were the dogs barking when he went into his room and his pissed about that? Was he spying out the peephole when he heard me come up the stairs? Ugh. Well, I guess the good thing about the dogs is that I expect they will bark if someone comes in the room tonight!

Next: Working with Nyle Sealine.
　

　

On the Road - Day 1

I'd mainly intended to blog about my training experiences, but I had plenty of time to think about things I saw as I drove, so tonight I'm going to blog about things on my drive as a test run for on-the-road blogging. I may blog about my drives going forward, as well; just depends on whether there's anything that seems worth remembering. These pics are taken quickly with my phone, hoping I was pointing it in the correct general direction while looking at the road, so they aren't great!

The Route: New Jersey to Indiana
Mileage: 748.5
Time: 11.5 hours

Good morning, Susquehanna!



Who's in charge? City name: Jersey Shore. State: Pennsylvania. Location: No where near the Jersey Shore. Uh...great name.

　
Far from home (by license plates on passenger vehicles): Florida, Nevada, Oregon...and Alaska!

Sign humor (actual road sign in western Pennsylvania):
Buckle Up
Next Million Miles

Good find: Sheetz, Exit 4 (?) I-80 Pennsylvania, decent little area for a quick dog potty break behind the building.

Just how long does it take to get away from everyone and really find open (empty) road? About 7 hours!



Bad for drive time: I-71 well-patrolled south of Akron!

In the WTF category: Driver of a dump truck loaded with gravel deliberately swerves onto the shoulder to run over a (deer?) carcass.

My friend: Don't stay in hotels without it!

　

2011 PA State Championship SDT, Hop Bottom, PA

This lovely trial celebrated its 30^th anniversary this year, and was expanded to a five-day trial. It is a well-run trial with lots of good companionship, a small but challenging field, and a trial at which one sees a lot of good-quality work, right on down into the Novice/Novice class.

The field is challenging due to its small size and shape—a fenceline on the right and a creek on the left cause the top of the field at the setout to be narrower than the bottom near the post—as well as the very heavy pressure on the right created by the holding pens at top right and the barn exhaust area at the bottom right. Another challenge too, is typical of trials in the northeast; a fairly small flock of sheep had already been running a few times a day for three and a half days, by the first Nov/Nov class on Monday afternoon, meaning that most of them were getting pretty sick of the process.

The judge for the Novice classes was Joyce Geier of New York. Joyce gave the Nov/Nov class a generous time limit, which I believe really helped the novice hands keep things quieter, as there was no rush to zip through the course in three minutes. Most people send to the left on this field as the fenceline gives the dogs less chance to bend out than the creek, and I’ve always sent left before, too. In the Nov/Nov class, the draw at the top is not as strong, as the sheep are further down the field, and the field is also a bit wider further down the field, so a Pro/Nov or Nov/Nov dog could still potentially have a nice outrun to the right. I had noticed last year that several dogs were sent to the right with good outruns, so I thought this year I would try sending Dare to the right, as that is her naturally-better side.

I don’t really remember many details of my runs, but here is what I do remember. As I sent my dog the first day, the sheep broke to the left, due to no fault of Dare. I felt I was re-living Borders on Paradise all over again, when the sheep broke hard to the right and got most of the way across the field, away from Dare (but not caused by her). Mark Billadeau was doing setout and caught them quickly enough that they didn’t escape, so it wasn’t a replay of Borders, after all. Dare brought them down to me offline to the left the whole way, and not really listening. I did a wear through the drive panels, and it wasn’t pretty. Dare wasn’t working well for me, which distracted me enough that I forgot to pay attention to my line, so we missed the drive panels. Back to the pen, with little or no trouble; the one thing that the sheep were willing to do was go in the pen—presumably to get away from the dogs. That ragged run earned a 52 of 80.

I don't have any photos of us at the trial, so here's another photo of her at Sheep Camp. 

Photo by Jenny Glen.

The next day, the judge changed the pen to a chute, and added a set of panels to create a short cross drive. The dogs in Ranch and Pro/Nov were having quite a bit of trouble getting sheep through the chute (must get at least one through to “complete” the chute), so she widened the mouth of the chute a bit for Nov/Nov to give us a chance. After considering that the setout dog had always been placed on the right, I changed my outrun plan back to sending left. I thought that if the sheep broke again and they happened to break away from my dog and towards the pressure, they’d be less likely to get through the setout dog. If they broke to the left towards Mark, he’d probably have a more difficult time holding them, but Dare would be coming from that direction, which would hopefully push them back toward the center and proper fetch line.

I was much less nervous on Tuesday, perhaps because I was so disappointed with us on Monday. At least we didn’t have much to live up to! I was also really looking forward to the challenge of the chute; I knew it would be difficult. I sent Dare to the left and immediately noticed she was much too tight. She doesn’t have the widest outrun, but with maturity, she’s widened out, and lately she’s been running out really nice. This was very tight even compared to our early trials. I thought of giving her a get out to widen her, but decided not to. I didn’t trust that she would take the redirect, and if she didn’t, I’d lose points both for being too tight, AND for the redirect. She went out so tight that she was to the inside of the innermost edge of the drive panels. I am not sure what happened at the top but the lift was very sloppy and I think I recall that even as tight as she was, she ended up bringing the sheep back down way to the left of the fetch panels (in other words, to the same side of the fetch line as she’d been on her too-tight outrun). Some coaching from Gene regarding the sheep helped me make a better plan for the rest of the run, and this time I did an assisted drive with Dare instead of wearing the sheep on the drive leg. The turn to the new crossdrive panels had been proving tricky all morning, with people missing both high and low; it was very difficult for me to predict which way the sheep were going to pull out of that turn through the drive panels, and they surprised me in many runs as they suddenly pulled high or low just after the turn, when the dog seemed to be in the right spot to start a good crossdrive line. I think we made the drive panels this time, but don’t recall the crossdrive panels. I would guess we missed two or all three head high.

On to the chute! One of the things that Gene had pointed out to me was that the sheep were not interested in coming to the handler, so I needed to give them more room at the chute than most people had been doing (they were standing right next to the chute, using their bodies to block one side of the mouth, as if they were a gate at the pen). I’d also noticed in many runs before me that the sheep seemed to get jiggered at the chute pretty easily, and it would probably be difficult to keep them settled if the dog was flipping around too much. So, I tried to use Dare as little as possible, mainly to hold the pressure in front of the exhaust, moved her only when I really needed to, and I tried to influence the sheep myself. They scooted by me and got away two or three times. I let them get to the fence each time before regathering, as they were really running and I didn’t want Dare to get too hot on their heels as it would only make them more fussy and more difficult to get through the chute. So, we lost lots of points for them getting away so much. They tried to squeeze by me one final time, and I managed to pressure one to go through the chute, so we had a small success where many had struggled. We only earned two points for that, but it was two more points than some folks ended up with for the chute. I was MUCH happier with how Dare worked with me. Our score was lower than the previous day, but I was happier with it  (excepting her outwork, of course). Our 43 actually got us a 10^th place ribbon (perhaps because two dogs had scratched that day)!

Flanking around at Sheep Camp, to begin a drive maybe?

Photo by Jenny Glen.

I love this trial, though I was disappointed in how we worked this year. I couldn’t figure out what has been going wrong, with Dare and I working very well at lessons, and essentially choking at trials. Nervousness plays a part, but it doesn’t explain everything about what is happening, especially considering on Tuesday I wasn’t feeling very nervous. Gene feels we need to work more challenging sheep so that we are better prepared for a wider variety of possibilities. I feel really good about the work we did at our last two lessons on somewhat more challenging sheep, and I’m really excited about the upcoming road trip and broadening our horizons.

Next: Working with Mike Neary