Herding High Points

Well, the format/structure still has a LOT of tweaking to go…but at least the site is functional. Let’s give it a try:

I hardly posted at all this year unless I had some event with hard data to report. I hardly ever wrote about tracking or herding because it’s so hard for me to talk about without generating a giant, detailed post. And I missed the event of the year that I am most proud of: Mesa finished her AKC started sheep title with a stylish performance and a reserve high in trial.

Is it two years ago now? we had gone for a weekend and done the first two legs. I wanted to see where we really were. It was very educational (in a positive and fun way!), not too stinky, but not great either. Most of our problems were my handling…judge even said so…*blush*. We had a leg on her ASCA started title too. Well, I spent part of the summer, just before that ASCA trial, screwing up her training. Two problems: 1)too much grey area between driving and fetching while doing chores. I was letting her choose because she was doing the jobs so nicely and lost control over her decisions, and 2)training on sheep I didn’t know how to deal with (this will take too long to explain)–that was the most damaging thing. We stopped for a few months and started all over from the beginning. I spent a lot of time driving (the car!) this past year…clinics (auditing & participating), lessons, helping at trials, and for weekly access to sheep I was even regularly driving across Indiana.

In September I decided we should clean up those half done titles, just ’cause. We finished our ASCA started. I thought we had done well, but the judges didn’t like how we worked. I like the sheep at the Honey Creek trial site. They’re very honest. Mesa kept them under close control, but apparently didn’t show enough style and effort. She was definitely subdued because I was nervous as hell. We managed to get the Most Promising Started buckle anyway.

Then we went to the AKC trial. It was very different from the ASCA trial. The ASCA trial this year was small, but sported some excellent working dogs that I really like. The AKC trial was huge, and did not. The judge actually had to pause the trial to lecture the entrants on the abuse of cattle. Mesa was the last dog of the entire day. With the exception of a very few good dogs or handlers (one was a really nice Smooth Collie), we got to watch sheep being roughed up and run around all afternoon, then it was our turn. Mesa was much more free than she was at the ASCA trial, but she did nice job…and I didn’t stink as much as usual either : )

She controlled her sheep on that teeny tiny little AKC started gather and fetched them right to me (instead of blowing them to one side of the field and losing them to the gate like most of the other runs). Over the course of the afternoon the sheep had learned they could confound the dogs in the Z chute {that’s a zig zag chute at the back of the field on the fence, mom : ) }. They would hesitate and suck the dogs in, then blow out the front and race for the gate. It was really pretty cool to watch the different groups of sheep learn this. The thing I was most proud of, besides her proper gather, and neat turn into the cross-fetch, was that she was the ONLY started dog that did not lose her sheep anywhere on the course and have to go back to the gate to get them. In spite of how my bragging might sound, we sure weren’t perfect, lots of dings for little things, one reverse on the runway panel when Mesa moved too quick to catch the sheep from bolting, then I messed up her nice hold at the gate by giving her the wrong flank to release them (poor dog, nothing like your partner letting you down). Our biggest ding was the split we caused at the Z chute. The sheep tried their shenanigans on her and she sucked in too close and split them, but she backed back out and kept them there, moving them safely out the end of the chute and along the fence. Everything else went really well, but we missed High in Trial by the points from the Z chute mess. Can you imagine?? Me and little old Mesa coming that close to HIT? (Which was earned by an Advanced Border Collie). Definitely a high point. And I am proud of that RHIT ribbon.

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