If you remember back a couple of posts ago I mentioned that other than a once the prior week Diva had not been on ducks in 8 months. This alone was enough to make me wonder if I was crazy for entering! See, Diva and I have a very love hate relationship with ducks. She loves them and I hate them, lol. So you can imagine my surprise when our first duck run came around and not only did we do well but we did great! Diva was fantastic with the young ducks. she didn't push, she got out wide, and she kept the course going smoothly. I had taken to heart some of the tips of the judges from the day before so on the re-pen I remembered to bring Diva in and move the stock off the gate. The young ducks drifted pretty far back up the fence so once I had the gate open I sent Diva around on a go bye and she very carefully came in at balance and walked them in. We were both smiling and I was certain that we had gotten a Q. Shortly afterwards when the AM trial was over I had the chance to talk with the judge, Dana McKenzie. She made sure to tell me how nice Diva was and that she was not only kind to her stock but that she had a very good natural sense of balance. Those are the kinds of words that make your heart swell with pride. Diva not only got the Q with a score of 92 but we also took 1st place and finished off her STDd! Our AM started sheep run also ended with a Q and finished her STDs but due to handler errors the score was not what it could have been. I didn't uphold my end of the bargain and I wasn't where I needed to be to keep the run going smoothly.
With two new titles earned I decided to move up to open in both sheep and ducks for the PM trial. I believe I had a good case of over confidence going on in regards to sheep all weekend and so once again I fixated on what it was going to take to be successful with the ducks. I gave some thought to working the center pen with the sheep but ultimately in my mind I pictured us just really cruising through the first part of the course. What I didn't account for was how much these sheep were going to lean on the dog and how sticky they were going to be to me! I can't tell you how many times, and from several different sources, people have told me that you have to work light sheep to practice for a trial. The sheep I work normally are what some might call heavier or fetchy so I always take any opportunity to work with light sheep that I can get. When the sheep were set out I sent Diva on a go bye and gave her a there when she was where I thought she needed to be. It was just a bit to early because the sheep spotted me and raced to my side. I had Diva walk up but no matter what I did or where I tried to put her we could not get the sheep to leave me alone. Now that I am out of the arena I can of course see several different options that I should have tried but while we were in there with the sheep getting hot and Diva and I getting frustrated I decided to call my run. We never made it through the first obstacle, we never made it through the second, and we never tried the center pen. I was so upset with myself and disappointed by what I thought should have been an fairly straight forward run that I couldn't wait to get out of the arena. What I didn't know was that in open if the handler crosses the line you only lose 15% of your total points and you can still get a Q. I should have let Diva fetch the sheep to me around the course, done the center pen, and re-pen so that we could end on a good note and I might have walked away with a Q. I acted very rashly and I wasn't thinking in my dogs best interest when I bolted out of that run. I was embarrassed and it sucked...plain and simple. All this time training and all of the good things we have been doing and we couldn't even drive these sheep down the fence line. It wasn't Diva's fault, it was mine.
One of the greatest things about Diva is that she doesn't hold a grudge and she doesn't sulk. She certainly must have felt my frustration as we stomped from the sheep arena down to the duck arena. Being that Diva was in heat we were the last to run in both sheep and ducks. The judge for ducks asked me if I wanted to take a minute to collect myself but I just wanted to get on with it and be done so in we went. This is where Diva really got a chance to be a super star. She picked up her ducks easily and once they started moving the course just flowed. No rush, just calm steady motion of ducks and dog. When the ducks cleared the second panel I opened the gate to the center pen and Diva lifted them off the fence and brought them straight to me. I was in the wrong spot so we over shot a little bit but I adjusted and Diva did a splendid job of maintaining control and covering for me. All 5 ducks went in and I closed the gate. What I wanted to do was yell for joy but of course we had to finish ;-). I opened the gate, Diva pushed the ducks out, and we moved on to the re-pen. DONE! Time to celebrate and how fortunate for me that even with my sulky mood and our poor performance on sheep that we got to end on such a good note. Our score was a 111 which gave us our first leg towards OTDd and a 1st place!
Diva makes smile, she makes me laugh, and she covers for me in a way that I imagine a good stockdog should. I have to believe that having a dog that can compensate for the human errors and still get the job done without abusing the stock is why these great dogs were developed. I know that she doesn't live to work stock any more than she lives to do agility but what she does live for is to do ANYTHING with me. So tonight as I am writing this I feel incredibly humbled by the fact that I have a dog that wants to be be whatever it is I want her to be. And further more, she has the intelligence and athleticism to make it a reality. Dana McKenzie wrote on one of my score sheets a little note and part of it said..."...Should go far once she gets "Mom" straightened out.". I do believe she is right...when will I ever learn? Thankfully I have Diva walking beside me while I try and figure it out!
That'll do, Diva!
Wow! Very nice. You are blessed to have such a special dog.
ReplyDeleteAs for calling your run when you didn't have to, I suppose those are the things we "beginners" have to go through to learn. It's so hard to think about trialing strategically when you are working your first stockdog. But, the good thing is, when we have those learning experiences, they are just that, and we don't repeat mistakes. And, I learned from your experience because you were willing to share it.
Tex welcomes Diva to the club of talented dogs with impaired handlers. Thank God, they love us anyway : )
I love the look Diva has on her face at the center pen! So great!
ReplyDeleteYou will learn all kinds of handling tricks along the way on your journey. Some you'll learn the hard way, when they happen to you like calling your run when you could have kept going, and some you'll learn by watching others. I've seen people blow nice runs because they couldn't get all of their stock re-penned (especially cattle), and they ran out of time trying to do it. They didn't realize you could just pen what you had and only loose course points... little things like that, you'll store away in your tool box and remember down the road.
Thank you both for the comments and Donna I am happy to share my experiences for the greater good as always ;-).
ReplyDeleteWe need a course on "tips for first time stock competitors". I would sign up in a heartbeat!
ReplyDeleteSo you called a run when you didn't need to. So what. You were lost and in a situation that you weren't sure how to handle, so you decided to not continue forward, which could have frustrated both you and Diva. While working the Maltese Cross this morning, I positioned Bella wrong, pushed them too far toward me, I didn't do my job to keep them out of my quadrant and got them far from where I needed them. My instructor said that rather than frustrating both of us trying to get them back to where we were trying, to pick a new quadrant and work that one. Sometimes it's better to re-group and think about what we needed to do.
I'm so proud of you for getting out and doing something that many people are even scared to think of trying. You have come so far and take chances that I only dream about. Keep on! And kiss that Diva for me.