 Sheepdog Trialing
I attend several sheepdog trials around the Northwest. I have listed some updates below.10-31-05 -- The Fire Ridge SDT lived up to it's reputation once again this year. Fire Ridge is organized by Melinda Eden of Milton-Freewater, WA and held on her family's heifer raising ranch just out side of town. The trial field was challenging to say the least (huge rolling hills) and the sheep where from a large flock of Commercial ewes. Since P/N and Nursery were run on Fri. it took some very courageous young dogs to get these ewes around the course. I ran Mary Hamilton's Ford in P/N on Fri. I have had him for little over two months and he is doing well. His outrun was a little shaky but I got him to his sheep. Once he lifted, he just powered the sheep through the course. We timed out on our drive but did much better on our second go-around. I ran Sioux and Mick in Open on Sat. and Sun. I finished in the top 10 with good-old Sioux. Mick had a little trouble with his patience for these very heavy ewes. His solution was to grip more then he really needed to and therefore got the ewes to not trust him. Mick is young and this will be sorted out over time. Mick showed great heart, just need to increase his patience. 07-18-05 -- We recently attended the first annual Whibey Island Sheepdog Trail. I ran Sioux and Mick in Open. This was Mick's first time in Open and he didn't let me down. The sheep were barb/X, really light, even lighter then I expected. The setout pen was to the left of the setout point and the sheep really wanted to either pull to the setout pen or the exhaust pen which was to the left of and slightly in front of the handlers post. If you sent your dog left they wanted to get pulled into the pressure of keeping the sheep off the setout pen during the lift. It was a left hand drive and the exhaust was on the left. This made turning the post VERY important for setting up the drive. Many dogs lost their sheep to the exhaust.
I ran Mick first on Sat. I sent him left even though I knew it was likely he would get sucked in by the pressure of the setout pen. Mick locked up on his way out to pick up the sheep. I got him around his sheep and started the fetch. I thought, even if his outrun needed my help to get him around, he would have a hold of the sheep and we could use that to help on the rest of the course. This didn't seem to matter to the sheep. We had a fairly nice fetch, however fast it was, and Mick lost his sheep while turning the post. They started for the exhaust pen and Mick couldn't get there fast enough. I retired him after a couple tries of getting them off the exhaust pen.
Sioux is a HUGE out runner so figured he would have no trouble clearing the setout pen and not get sucked into the pressure. I sent left and he cleared the setout pen with no problem and was plenty deep. The problem was the sheep left the setout before he got there for his lift, we played catch-up for the entire fetch just trying to let Sioux get a hold of the sheep and establish a presence with them. This really didn't happen until the first leg of the drive at which point the sheep were pulling to the exhaust pen. Sioux and I made it around the course and to the pen. The Pen was very difficult. If the sheep figured they could make it past you at the pen and started to circle the pen it was extremely hard to re-setup for the pen. It was a pen, then single setup so you really needed your pen to be in the running. I retired Sioux at the pen after a couple attempts.
Sunday went better for both of my dogs. I sent Sioux to the left again and again he was very deep and wide. The lift went well but the sheep were still very light and fast. Our drive was good, hitting all the panels. But we got into trouble at the pen. I had been watching others pen and they really had to use their body to push on the sheep otherwise they would run past you. It was about 85 and sunny by now and Sioux was getting really hot just trying to keep a hold of the sheep on the drive. I retired at the pen after a couple attempts.
My run with Mick on Sunday felt really great. Only a couple other handlers had sent their dogs to the right. There was a small hill on the right. If your dog was deep enough he could get behind the sheep without them really seeing him and wanting to leave the setout. You also lost sight of your dog on the top part of his outrun. I waited and Mick came up on the top side of the sheep with no help. The sheep never tried to leave until he was there to lift them. His lift was a little to the left but controlled. Once the sheep knew the dog was there they began to run down the field to the exhaust pen. I whistled Mick around to try to catch their heads but he could get them back on the fetch line until after the fetch panels. He did get a hold of the sheep and I made sure he was slow and could get established with the sheep. We turned the post. Our drive was a little shaky but we hit all of our panels and kept good control of the sheep. I watch Mr. Stephens and Turk. They didn't push too hard on the sheep and the sheep trusted Turk. I tried to do the same with Mick. It worked for the most part, just keeping the flow and hitting our panels. We penned on the second attempt, I got right down there eye to eye with the sheep and that seemed to stop them from bolting past me. The single was after the pen and nobody had gotten the single all day and only Mr. Stephens got it on Sat. Mick's shedding has come along well in the past few weeks. We got the single on our first attempt. That felt really good to get the single with Mick. It was almost like Mick suddenly understood the shed. Felt great.
I will go back next year if they have the trial again. Taking the ferry is a little new for me but I expect to get used to it living in the Northwest.
06-24-05 -- We recently attended Ian's Scio trial in Scio, OR. The sheep were very uniform wool ewes. They recently had lambs wean off of them so some still had bags. For the most part you had to have a dog with a bit of push in order to make it around the course in 14 minutes. The course included a shed, pen then single. The judge didn't call the shed so you just did your best shed and moved onto the pen. Sioux and I had some trouble finding the sheep on Sat. during Open. Sun. was a much smoother run for us, we ended up 11th. I ran Mick in P/N on Fri. He did very well for me the first run. The sheep needed some push. Mick worked hard to keep them on-line. We placed 3rd on the first go-around and retired the second round. I felt like Mick ran out of juice and started to be less responsive to command on the second round. I want to be sure to keep trialing a fun and rewarding experience for Mick. He has many years of trialing ahead of him.
For More Information Contact:
Harlow's Hills West Coast
611 NE Hughes RD Washougal, WA 98671
Tel: 360 837 3606
Internet: ejth@ipns.com
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