Belle Grove SDT

A few weekends ago we attended a brand new trial that was held on the Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, VA.  This was the same site as the National Finals, but the fields were different than the Finals' field.  When the trial outgrew it's capacity, hosts Dave Clark and Cheryl Branibar went the extra mile (or 500 miles!) to run 2 fields at once with 3 days of Open competition.  The Open sheep were their flock of impressive Montadales and the young dog sheep were Barbara Ray's hair crosses.  Rae and I had the privilege of drawing up first on the Open field on Friday.  Hmm.  New field, sheep like I've never worked a dog on before, and being out of the trial scene since last November?  The outrun was difficult with rolling to hilly terrain, and the dog lost sight of it's sheep on several occasions for long periods.  As the first go played out, a number didn't find their sheep or had much difficulty getting to the top.  So bringing them down the field was no small victory for us, though it didn't seem that great at the time!  The fetch had a massive portion that was out of sight, and the panels were positioned directly on the crest of the hill giving you almost no chance to correct your line.  Rae got into a dead zone, I whistled, I yelled, we were way offline but she got them down and around the post.  Hit another dead zone at the driveaway panel and I retired.  I didn't think that she was not listening, but rather not hearing.  Plenty of dogs ended up having trouble at that spot, so in hindsight maybe I should've kept at it longer.

Spotting sheep with Rae (no that's not a hat)

Little Rae, big sheep

That afternoon I went over to the Novice field to run Gabe for the first time.  The two of us have had some issues getting re-acquainted, and I wasn't really sure whether I'd run him or not.  I decided to just go for it.  He ran out gorgeously (as expected), was a little rough at the top and likely grabbed a hock after the lift, then did his flip-flopping behind sheep at breakneck speed down the fetch.  Got the drive set up and he was calm, controlled, and listening great.  The sheep took off on a little trot near the panel and he felt he needed to catch them, so he headed them and brought them back to me.  I didn't fight him for that, it was just too much for his excitement level at the time.  Since he was being so pushy during his run, the sheep were not very settled and we ringed the pen.  He was still getting himself hyped up so once we regained control I called it quits.  Not a bad first run for us.

First trip to the post (gosh he's big)

First trip to the pen

Saturday I was off all day, and was fortunate enough to go to a nearby farm to get a lesson in with Lyle.  It was mostly for Livy, but Gabe had a quick turn so I could get her opinion on his frantic flip-flopping and lack of feel on the fetch.

Sunday we ran a second PN class and Gabe was a very good boy!  He ran out well again, his lack of experience with a setout showed and he ended up ringing the sheep once, then brought them down again flip-flopping-away, turned the post, nice and steady on his drive though I sacrificed the panel in order to maintain a good flow, excellent turn to set up the  newly-added cross drive (a pull-through of the fetch panels) but was one away flank short of making those.  Since the line was not straight across the field, when he entered fetch mode, I didn't think there was much chance on him taking that flank and so didn't fight him for it.  He remembered his brain as they approached me and he had a very pretty pen!  We ended up placing 3rd and I was very pleased with him!  Granted, a number of people used the class as a training run, but I was so happy that we got around and happy with his work.

Rae's second run was toward the end of the trial and I was absolutely exhausted.  I have a hard time focusing when I'm tired and I worried poor timing or wrong flanks would be the result.  She ran out nicely, a little tighter than the first time out but perhaps she was conserving energy on that difficult outrun.  I was proactive about flanking her immediately after the lift to guard against a strong draw that was showing up during a number of runs.  She entered the Bermuda Triangle on a fairly decent line and looked to be holding her side well.  I maintained contact with her by periodically calling her name; some dogs took so much as 25-30 seconds before reappearing.  As I waited and waited, starting to panic, sheep heads popped up just to the right of the panel.  So close!  Rae was very stressed on the second part of the fetch.  The sheep were starting to intimidate her, being slow and stopping to challenge her.  I even saw her sniff the ground, which is something I've NEVER seen her do EVER.  She hung in there, walked into them several times and got them down and around the post.  The first drive leg was parallel to the exhaust, and Rae summoned up all her courage to keep them from making a break for it.  Nice line to the panel and through.  Went a little deep behind the panel but got them back for a nice cross drive line that was managed with a million "walk up, gooood giiirrrllll" cheers from me.  Just missed the second panel due to some poor hearing (with the reversed course, it was the same area we had trouble the first run).  Came to the shed ring and needed to work some to settle the sheep and get it set up.  The sheep left the ring for the exhaust and Rae again brought them back.  I could see I was really running out of dog both physically and mentally.  I ended up calling her in to the lead ewe.  When regathering she AGAIN had to fight them from the exhaust draw.  With 1:21 left I decided to let her lie down and hold them in place for a few seconds.  We had a neat, slow line coming to the pen, as I could see the sheep getting a little antsy, and just as I had all 3 literally halfway in the pen, I heard my watch go off.  That last 1:21 went so much faster than I'd planned, arrggh!

We got a 67 without a pen; an 80 placed.  I have never been so proud of us.  Score-wise we have had considerably better runs, but the work that we accomplished as a team was something special.  Rae reached down deep within herself while she was so far out of her comfort zone and gave me her absolute all.  It was a very memorable experience and a great feeling.  Yeah Rae!



Photos by C. Koval

Checking In

Now that Spring is here I'm finding more time for the farm and less time for the computer!  My place isn't big, but having a more-than-full-time job makes for never enough hours in the day to get stuff done.  Plus, I have to do everything by hand...seeding fields, spreading fertilizer, mucking the barn, hauling hay and water...no big equipment here.  When Dad visits he is a tremendous help, but there is always a project or two we just can't quite keep up with.

I got Gabe back a few weeks ago and he is looking great.  He's essentially trained minus a shed, just needs mileage and to firm up his whistles.  His driving has really blossomed and he transforms into his mother when he gets behind his sheep: point him in the right direction and keep in touch with some steady whistles.  He is smooth, confident, and relaxed when driving, which is in 100% contrast to his fetching where he is excited, excited, excited!  Gabe's outrun came built-in with his breeding, he knows how to properly lift and pace, but his enthusiasm makes for a bullish lift and mindless flip-flopping behind sheep to bring them at breakneck speed.  So my goal is to make him feel his sheep while fetching like he does while driving.  I'd rather he did this then to always down him at the top and run him stop and go all the time.  I have many excercises I'm using to improve this and I can see that he *can* do it, so I'm not too concerned.  We'll just have to work on it.

He'd rather look at sheep than the camera.

When Livy first came back, I was working her twice daily as suggested by her trainer.  She is so incredibly keen to sheep that we thought that the work would settle her.  Well, I'm no Lyle, and I think I had a bad combination of bad sheep on bad terrain with bad pressure.  It became too much for her and she morphed into Jaws.  I was really upset and concerned about her, but when I took her to two different friends' places she made a liar out of me and looked fine!  So at home I took a week of teaching her to be a farm dog.  She needed to learn that just because we are out with sheep does not mean that she gets to work them.  The two of us hung out while they ate so she learned to relax around sheep that were also relaxed.  One sunny afternoon I took a blanket out and had a nap in the sun with her tethered to me.  I need to keep up with this, but I did see a difference in her after doing this.

Two weekends ago I took her back up to her breeder's for a puppy working weekend with her sisters.  Working their whole flock of very heavy ewes and lambs (80ish in number?) got her thinking.  Trimming them down to a more workable 20ish produced some nice work out of her where she was thinking on her way out and lifting nicely.  When she gets behind her sheep she is quite nice, feeling them, coming on directly, covering pretty well.  I am always riding the brakes with her but I am happy to see that.

Back home, Dad and I made some improvements to the back field so that it can be her main training field for now.  Where there were stones in front of the barn, we put down wood chips that are much easier on dog and sheep feet.  We also put up a temporary fenceline so that the sheep can not escape behind the barn or the burn pile while she's working.  The field has turned out to be a big success and I'm working her there almost daily.

Rae had a scary spell where she suffered a bad corneal ulcer.  It was almost a centimeter in length and I suspect that something got kicked up into her eye while she was working in the barn.  Or maybe Livy smacked her with one of the big sticks she likes to carry around while we're out walking the fields!  I had her on topical pain meds, antibiotics, and serum in hopes of healing it in time for the first trial of the season.  Serum (her own) is a common horse therapeutic in corneal ulcers because there are many healing factors that prevent further damage to the eye, so I figured why not pull out all the stops and try everything?!  Her injury happened 2 weeks before the trial, and for awhile I wasn't sure that I'd be able to run her.  She wasn't even allowed out for exercise for fear that something would poke her in the eye.  I re-stained her eye a few days before the trial and saw that the ulcer had healed, so got her out for one brief work before leaving.

I'm down to a more manageable number of sheep these days.  I sent a group to New Holland  before Easter and they did well for me.  The last group has just been weaned, so I think the endless lambing season is now over!  The grass is coming on thanks to the rain and sun we've been having.  Last night I did have to cover the vegetable garden as it was unseasonably cold.  Hopefully that was the last of the frost.

Oh, how could I forget that Rae celebrated her 10th birthday!

"Show me the cake!"