Ione and Pt. Pleasant Trials

Some of my friends learned that a FLAT field is one of the hardest fields to run!

First up in nursery...waiting for the judge. Let's get this show on the road!
The weather was trying to hold and it did....Thank-you weather Gods.

Me standing on the "Lombardi Tower"......it's a lifesaver to be able to SEE the field.

Yoko with her Aled Owen ear up doing the BEST she can. I can't ask for more than that!

We will do better when we know better....

Yep, I'm sticking to that statement. I can't ask for anything more from Yoko. She is doing the best she can with the experience she has. I ADORE this pup.

Ione Fairgrounds Ron Curran/Ken Blake Memorial SDT

There is nothing like the drive on Twin Cities road from Elk Grove (Sacramento area) to the little town of Ione. Honest...it has to be one of the prettiest drives in America. Rolling hills, flowers, trees, livestock, water, with the landscape changing every few miles or so. It was worth the trip.

The SDT was on several soccer fields with the goal posts for fetch panels. A rodeo was going on next to the field. The exhausts and pressures make this a tricky small field. Three sheep were used. Yoko had a nice run out of 11 nursery dogs. She lost the tie breaker for 2nd and came in 3rd wih a score of 85. Susie Applegate was 1st. I was pleased with Yo's work. I had difficulty getting her to flank on the fetch and it's been identified as something to work on for future trials.

When it was Jet's turn in the open class the drill team was performing next to the field with loud music (of course). Jet didn't hear anything until the fetch panels. He had a fair run and scored an 84. He could have done much better.

Pt. Pleasant SDT

When people come to LisAnn and Tom's ranch, they look at the field they don't see the difficulty factor other than the vastness. Their field is perfectly FLAT and there is livestock, goats and cattle on one side. FLAT fields should receive a HIGH difficulty rating. Cross overs and never finding the sheep was the order of the day for many.

Jet had the no. two slot in open. He and the no. one dog never saw the sheep and they booked back to the exhaust. They both got a rerun. I would NOT have given either a rerun. Both were not out far enough. 2nd time to the post in 10 min. Jet ran wide and picked up his sheep bringing them through the fetch panels. But, by the time he reached the shed ring, his tongue was hanging. He got a single, but the judge must have felt the sheep were out of the arena. I retired Jet...he was cooked. This is his last year for any field trialing. He can do 250 yd. short fields and arenas to stay in shape.

Many of my friend's dogs couldn't find the sheep...not even with oodles of redirects and look backs. I'm gonna give Yoko "kudo's" in the sheep spotting department. Plus, her outruns all weekend were just as good as the best open outruns all weekend. I didn't whistle her at the top, because she is feeling her lifts nicely. UNFORTUNATELY, the set-out was the exhaust for this trial and they used 3 sheep again. The St. Croix's had had enough. I watched an open run where the sheep chased the dog to the set-out/exhaust. Yuck.

In Yoko's nursery run she had MUCH difficulty with the fetch. Obviously the sheep were putting lots of pressure on her. From my viewpoint from the "Lombardi Tower" I wasn't quite sure what the problem was. Yo rang the sheep several times. I hate to see that, but I figured she was doing the best she could. She got them down the field and did a fair job of driving. She ended up with a 59. I put her in pro-novice at this trial and was looking forward to Yoko getting a second chance.

Beautiful outrun..started her lift and the sheep started the their run to the exhaust. The set out dogs tried to hold them. It was a cluster _____ if you catch my drift. One set out dog was chasing one sheep one way, another was chasing another sheep another way. Yoko was wondering what her role was. She finally went in and bit a sheep. Good for her. But, at this point, I would have loved the set-out people to have called off their dogs! We are talking over 300 yds away here. I would have liked the sheep to have run into a corner...whatever and given my dog a chance to figure it out on her OWN without the rodeo going on. That didn't happen and the set-out exhausted the sheep and the judge asked me to call Yoko in. Hmmmmm. They gave Jet a rerun for a piss poor outrun and my pup didn't get a rerun. Oh well....that's life. But, I hated to see her unsuccessful. She got oodles of hugs when she arrived back to my feet. There will be other trials. I LOVE the Yokester. :0)