HOT DOGS

The dog trial this weekend turned out to be one of the hottest trial weekends we've ever experienced. I had plans to run Blue in some fun-runs, but when we started hearing the weather reports earlier in the week that the temps were going to be close to 100 we figured they weren't going to run any more dogs than were already signed up - we were right. So we only brought the 3 dogs that were entered - Champ, Heather and Vic. All just running in PN or NN. The outruns had been shortened significantly and the Judge - Tom Lacy - told the handlers that they could stop their runs if they felt (or he felt) that the dogs or sheep were overheating and would keep their points up to that point. It was a weekend for those types of relaxed rules. Did I mention it was HOT? Thank goodness Stacy Scott and Peter Hall (they put on the trial) had plenty of water tanks and wading pools set up all around the field, in the sheep pens and for the set out dogs.
I used Heather to hold out for the Ranch class and after the fact I realized that this probably wasn't a good idea since Andre was going to run her. After this weekend we pretty much decided that I'll go back to running Heather - she's a great dog but not easy, and she wasn't making the switch very well either. I'll probably enter her in some non-compete runs in Pro-Novice to try and work out her issues on the fetch.
They setup the NN and PN runs so the set out was not at the same angle in the field as the Ranch and Open classes were held. Instead, it was to the right side of the (huge) field and closer to where they had another handling system set up. This kept the workers from having to relay the sheep to the set out. There was a set of panels set up and the sheep were held directly past those for PN and in front of for NN, but in the center so the dogs could see them when sending. A LOT of dogs did not seem to see the sheep and if sent to the right, were crossing over and going up the field to the left, which was the angle where the upper classes had been setting out. Andre sent to the left with Heather which left that huge open field for her to run and run and run - she's a BIG outrunner and she ran so far that he started to panic because he couldn't see her. Handler error on that one. He just doesn't know Heather. I would have never sent her that way. Plus she was probably remembering where we held out for the Ranch class -my bad. The next day he sent her right and she had a nice outrun, went to say hello to the sheep in the pen, was redirected and then she got her sheep. She was very pushy on the fetch and Andre got flustered and gave her many wrong flanks around the post which she tried to take which made Andre give her another wrong flank etc. etc. She finally figured out which way he wanted her to go and I think it just frazzled her. They finished but it wasn't pretty.
With Champ he had an okay run on the first day and was 7th, on the second day he lost one of his sheep on the lift. The sheep didn't really want to play on Sunday and there were a lot of retires because they would take off for the holding pen or the exhaust pen if they had a chance.
I ran Vic in NN. I made sure he saw his sheep, let him go to the left and he immediately crossed over. Besides that he had a very nice outrun (of course he only got a 1 on the outrun!). The rest of the run was a blur but we made it to the pen. We finished 5th (out of 14 I think) with a whopping score of 20!!! Tells you what a tough day it was for everyone! Sunday he lost the sheep during the lift so we retired. He was just such a happy boy and so proud of himself. I need to work him more.
Renee and Mark Billadeau cleaned up in the Open class. I like watching Renee run her dogs (Mark too!) -she's so quiet. I like that. I strive for that. I'm still too screeetchy because of my nerves.
I started thinking about why so many of the PN and NN dogs didn't seem to see their sheep. Some people blamed it on the panels, so they laid the panels down the next day. Didn't make a bit of difference - there were still dogs searching for their sheep. They all seemed to want to go up towards the middle of the long stretch of the field(if that makes sense?). Some seemed to see their sheep and still had problems. Something dawned on me. A lot of people course train. I know that's what we've done even though I knew we should be doing it different. But it's easy to get in a rut. It's easy for trainers to do the same old things and repeat it with each of the dogs they have in. And it's easy to train in that rut and not move panels around and do different types of work besides a course. I've made a big change recently in regards to where I'm going to work and train in part because it hadn't been feeling right to me. OH YEAH - MY POINT. If you just course train and it's on the same field everytime, and nothing ever changes, could it be that you aren't teaching your dog to look for his sheep? I mean, they know where the sheep are going to be every time you send. So when you go to a trial, how have you given them the tools they need - to think, to respond to different pressures, set ups etc. I feel so guilty now that I'm going to set up my fields at home to give my dogs different situations to help them. I need a plan. I'll work on that this week and report back.