Day 2 of the trial

Ok I made an error and I sent Dare on a GEt out instead of a Go bye. Usually works but this time he went up the middle so I redirected him and he took it but the judge called it a crossover and nq'd us. The rest of the run was very nice. Dually had a nice outrun lift and fetch and then decided to stir things up and came around front and bit at them and turned them off the line and generally made a mess. He q'd. Once we got them turned around the post we skimmed the Y and the Z was nice and the hold pen was nice to the 4.. I think we got 1 or 2 thru the crossdrive and he had to go down and bring them back to 5 but then would not stop pushing them past 5. I had to send him to bring them closer to the repen and then bring him around to do the hold. Our score was not good. Dually q'd in ADV B . It was a nice run with a poor score. I did the shed on the ducks with my hat and it worked great. He came in well and held the 2. I was pleased with that. IN ADV A , his outrun was nice, but his left split them and one decided he wwas leaving. I knew that I needed a high score to get CH points so although I could have put the run together there was no point under this judge so I called it. He was also eyeing the ducks and I stopped in from pouncing but knew there was going to be another opportunity. Judge sucked and anybody who wants to know her name. PM me privately. She seemed to have a bias towards BC's and her was really heavy handed and ultimately mean with her pencil. A friend got absolutely robbed on her ADV A duck run. very disheartening. Hate to be going home with such a sour taste in my mouth.

Day 1 of the trial

The cows were very good and very obedient. Dare and Dually did very well handling them and they Q'd for legs but no placements. That darn pen and crossdrive is going to be the death of me. Dually ran in ADV B ducks and his outrun was darn nice but he split the ducks and caused a kerfluffle on the the way up to the cone. The cone was nice and the drice to panel 1 was good and so was the drive to panel 2. Then we had another small kerfluffle on the pen going in and trying to get them out too. lol We got to the shed and I could not get the little call duck suckers to split and Dually was being every so cooperative till he got tired of it and went in for a few feather ruffles. Anyway, I finally used my hat to split them and called him sorta in but the judge gave us the shed and we won the class. Tomorrows judge is not going to be so forgiving. yech Dually had a nice run in ADV A ducks but again the cross drive was where we lost a bunch of points. We placed 3rd. NOt sure if he got a CH point or not out of that. There was a tie for the point. ah well. Tomorrow's judge nq'd people all over the place today on sheep and I expect her to be as tough tomorrow on the cattle and ducks. Anyway the weather is gorgeous and they are right by a creek and the dogs got to play in the water this afternoon and now they can chill why I go out to dinner. Brakes on car seem to be working fine!

Trip to PA to trial AKC

I had no trouble hooking up the trailer this am and getting on the road, but about an hr into the trip, I had a panic attack because I thought I had left my cosmetics bag at home which ususally would have my meds in it. I pulled off of 84(mistake no 1) and checked the trailer and it was right inside the door but it would not have mattered anyway because I did not put my meds in that. I put them in something else and had already packed them away inside the trailer. duh I'm starting to get that I'm losing part of my mind syndrome. Then I had to drive around in a sorta big circle to get back on the highway and I am using the phone navigator and I dont' really trust it. I would if it would tell me that it was turning me around but it just keeps giving me directions no matter what I do. No other wrong turns, but I had tried to adjust the brakes all the way down here and I dont' think I ever got it right because when I pulled into the campground the brakes gave way and I essentially had none. MY theory is the overheated and blah blah blah. I let them cool down for 2 hrs and took just the car out and they were fine. I will have them checked when I get home"safely". You know where the dogs go if I don't right JOan? No me neither. So the campground is very nice but it is completely full. Our area has many dogs and many more kids. It seems finally quiet at 8'30. The bugs were horrible when I got out of the car and I didn't bring my gnat hat. I had some bug spray and I spayed myself and then dropped the can which promptly blew open and that is the end of my bug spray. I went out to try and find a store but I could not find one anywhere. Tomorrow I will ask someone how to get out of the sticks. Dare did not have a fun ride down. He panted the whole way and he is totally exhausted. Dually is bored and Edge wants to hide somewhere . Peaches is asleep but having a great time.

The Bob Vest herding book

I got mine in the mail a couple of days ago and I have read most of it even though I find herding books extremely difficult to concentrate on. Truthfully I skimmed some of it. It is a good reference book for anyone who has worked with Bob and I spent 12 years going to 3-4 clinics a year. I think I absorbed a fair amount from Bob. Anyway I did find some things that I had not been utilizing in my lessons or in my own training and I have started to implement them with my students and my own pups. One major exercise is the short flank exercise on a line where you are driving the stock in front of you and you stand still and pull the dog across your knees as you give them your short flank word and follow it with a "there" and "walk up". I had been thinking about this exercise before I got the book and I had realized that I had neglected it but the book made me do it. Edge is already getting it after 3 sessions and Dually who knows his flanks very well, has a real hard time going in front of me,but he always has had a hard time. He got better after a couple of times doing it too. Betty and I are going to talk seriously about doing a herding workbook with well illustrated exercises. It would not be a money maker but a labor of love. fun too

Edgie pup

I took Edge out to bring all the sheep out to the arena and he did that very nicely, but when I got there, I realized the cows had escaped into the arena and I had to get them out before I could bring the sheep thru. I thought having Edge work sheep and goats and cattle at the same time was a recipe for disaster. We left the sheep in the alleyway and I swallowed hard and took Edge out to round up the cows. He can be rather enthusiastic. I got between the cows and him and I sent him around and gathered them up very nicely and drove them down to the gate and right into their corral. We went back to get the sheep and he did a nice little flank and brought them out quietly.I asked him to lie down while I closed the gate and then he got up on his own and quietly gathered them again and I let him do it because it was all nice and quiet. He brought them to the repen and we put them in and then I used him to gate sort different groups into pens. He wasn't perfect but darn close to it. Later on , a friend and I were working the A course and I had her set up a group of sheep and goats for Edge and we worked a full lenght of the arena outrun. NOt bad for a little guy. We did the whole course and he is a little bit too busy but still very nice.