Our third (and last for the season) USBCHA Trial

Fleck & Tresa, Crook & Whistle Trial 2010

On Sunday, September 12th, we ran in our third and final (for the season) USBCHA trial.  The Crook & Whistle trial was part of the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival held in Jefferson, WI.  The novice portion of the trial is held Sunday afternoon, after the 2nd round of Open runs.  Done this way, the sheep have been worked for three days and are usually pretty ornery.

For our novice runs, the course was re-designed to where the sheep set out and exhaust were the same location.  This makes for a tricky "lift" especially for these little novice dogs.  We had watched the open runs that day and were pretty keyed up by the time our runs came around at the end of the day. The outrun was fairly short so we were all worried that we wouldn't have time to settle our pups and sheep by the time we came around the post - we were all right.  Fleck started out on his outrun to the left or come bye side.  He was very shallow. To my amazement, he took a lie down and a redirect and kicked out nicely to continue his outrun.  His fetch was not great (on the list for the winter projects) - therefore the sheep bolted back to their buddies just a few feet away.  Fleck bolted too and kept them from reaching the gate and then continued to bring them down the field towards the post.  He took his lie down and flanks nicely and we continued around the post, through the wear panels (two chairs) and calmly walked them straight into the pen.  Yay!  We had a good run!

With a small novice class (I think there were only 6 of us) we were up again pretty quickly.  Both our adrenaline levels were still maxed out so it was anyone's guess how this was going to go.  He left the post in a nice kick out to the left, picked up the sheep and started his quick push down the field.  Fleck (and I) were feeling the excitement and lost our concentration.  The sheep escaped a couple of times - once took shelter at the feet of the judge and scribe along the fence (oops!).  Fleck got them off the fence very well but I was a bit flustered at that point.  We struggled to get them through the wear panel and then they bolted back to the exhaust/set out and we called our run.

We ended on a little bit of a downer but after thinking about the first run and portions of the second, I was very happy with our progress.   I am really proud that we have steadily improved after each trial and I have seen that Fleck has matured in a short time and is starting to fit into his "herding shoes" quite nicely.

Our big thing we learned at this trial - focus on your sheep!  Once my attention was set on settling the sheep and getting them through the course - things went very well.  The moment I lost that point and my attention switched to "what is my dog doing" then the whole thing didn't work.  For those of us who are in novice, we spend a lot of time worrying about "what is my dog doing" and forget that the whole reason we are out on the field is that there are SHEEP out there.  For sheep dogs, they look for someone to be in charge.  They're more than happy being charge of the sheep as long as we are in charge of where we're going and what we're doing with these woolly creatures.  When we has handlers forget the plan or worse yet, don't have a plan, well, then that's when things get interesting.  So I must always remember my map and directions when stepping out onto the field.   I just need a GPS that says "flank him right at the next turn" and all would work out fine.

Not sure if any of you have attempted it or not, but try to move unwilling, flighty sheep away from their group and through panels and into a holding pen that they cannot escape from - all without a dog.  It doesn't work.  You need your trusty pup to get the job done.  AND - they need you. Most stock dogs would be just as happy to sit watching "Sheep TV" for hours on end.  So it truly is a partnership of handler and dog.  You need each other to get the job done, but both of you must focus on the sheep all the while staying "connected" with each other. Talk about multi-tasking!

Stay tuned for more reports from "Fetching with Fleck" as we have a couple more trials before the end of the year but they are in smaller "arena" style courses. We look forward to continuing our progress in the "off season" to be ready for an amazing year ahead.

Our second USBCHA trial experience

Last weekend we ran in our second USBCHA trial, held in Portage, WI. The trial site (MacLeish Farm) is a spectacular site nestled in a heavily tree-lined valley accessed by a very long, winding road.  The Novice class was to run after Ranch on Monday morning so Fleck and I loaded up and departed our house at 4:30am that day to arrive at 6:30 am.  Sleepy pup and person.

When we arrived, I walked up the field to see what was happening and low and behold, they were doing the Novice briefing as they decided to run our class first! Yikes!  The walk out to the field where we were running was so long, I had to just grab Fleck and start our trek.  We missed the briefing so relied on fellow competitors to let us know what the course was going to be.  This was a big class - 19 novice teams.

We were about mid-way in the running order so had several people to watch in hopes of seeing the course as it should be run.  The sheep were pretty flighty and it didn't help that most of our Novice dogs were as well.  Hmmm, this might be difficult.

Our turn came and we walked up to the post.  Fleck did a beautiful outrun (the judge thought so too since he got a 20 out of 20 score) but the sheep didn't care for his "lift" and bolted.  Fleck did a nice job covering and brought them quickly down the field towards me - at a pretty good clip I might add.  We struggled at the post but got them around ok - well, if you count backwards as "ok".  They kept wanting to bolt away from him and we had to retrieve them a couple of times on the way to the panel.  They (Fleck and sheep) finally settled down after we rounded the panel and headed for the pen.  We had been working on the pen since the last trial and we put our lessons to the test.  He was a bit tight at first causing them to squirt around to the exhaust but after some corrective words from me, he listened and took a nice flank to bring them to the mouth of the pen.  Once they were all facing the opening of the pen, I took a deep breath and asked him to flank around to push them the rest of the way in.  He did take the flank and helped push them in.  Yay!

We finished the run with about 10 seconds of the 4 minutes left.  Whew! Good boy Fleck.

We didn't finish in the top part of the class but we were among the 7 who actually got a score so not bad.

We then spent the day watching the top 12 qualifiers compete in the Double-lift and International Shed.  For those who don't know what those are:  a double-lift is when the dog retrieves the first set of sheep (in this case 8) and brings them down the field to the handler.  They must then leave this set and then "look back" for the 2nd set.  It is predetermined which side they must do their outrun. In this trial, the first outrun was to the right or Away To Me side and the look back or 2nd lift is to the left or Come Bye side.

After the second set of sheep are brought down the field, through the center panels and joined up with the 1st set, all 16 sheep are taken around the course.  Around the handlers post (which for this trial is a cute stand that has three steps up so the handler can see more of the course), through two panels and then to the shedding ring.  Here, the real fun starts.

Of the 16 sheep, 5 have collars around their neck.  Without touching the sheep, you and your dog must "shed" those specific sheep out from the rest all the while staying inside the shedding ring.  Talk about a test of nerves and patience. Once you have these 5 separated, you must put them in the pen.  Puts things in perspective since I was thinking the pen was the hardest part of the run I had with Fleck.

Out of the 12 finalist, only 1 completed the shed and got to the pen.  Oddly enough, that person did not win.  The handler/dog team with the most amount of points won, Alasdair MacRae and Star.  Absolutely beautiful run and very precise work.

So the biggest lesson I learned from our second trialing experience didn't come to me until days after the trial.  I realized that quiet, respectful work - throughout the course is what it is all about.  It isn't a race to the finish line, it isn't even about completing all the tasks (although that IS part of the goal) but it is about doing each piece to the best of your "team's" ability. This might sound like a simple statement to some but when you are on the field with a novice dog and both of you are trying to figure out how to get these squirrelly sheep around a course in 3-4 minutes and your mind is trying to process all the details - feels like you need to hurry. 

For now, Fleck and I have a lot of learning to do but are having fun participating in one of the most rewarding (and sometimes frustrating) team events out there.  I feel blessed to have such a willing partner at my side that never seems to tire from my endless mistakes, lost tempers and confusing directions.  Good boy Flecky.

2010 National Sheepdog Finals Live on the Internet!

Mark your calendars and bookmark the site. The National Sheepdog Finals will have a live *free* webcast of the trial coming up in a couple of weeks.