The sheep didn't feel like playing our game on Sat. but everyone put on a good face and gave it a go. I ran 4 dogs and felt like I had completed a marathon by the time the night was over. I started with Tess in the Open Ranch. She had a little trouble getting them off the fence where the setout and exhaust was, as did everyone, but we finally got them moving and around the first obstacle and got our timeline, but unfortunately the minute and a half it took us to get there cost us and we ended up with a 6th place finish. I wasn't disappointed with her in the least though. She tried her heart out for me and time after time the sheep would run her over and she'd squeeze between them and the fence and try to bring them back. We had 2 that would more or less stick together but the other absolutely refused to play by the rules and made it impossible for us to complete our figure 8. Tess ran all the way down the fence line smashed between this sheep and the arena fence trying her best to pull it off the fence, but nothing was going to convince this girl not even a set of sharp teeth which Tess was forced to use on her a time or two when the ewe was charging her. She showed me guts and all the try in the world so even after a tough run I was still proud of her. Better luck at the OKC Fair girl.
After the Open Ranch Class was completed we allowed the Ranch handlers to walk with their dogs the entire time hoping that they'd have more success and it proved to help quite a bit. I ran Oaktree Curly Bill owned by Tom and Ruth Hines first. Curly was a really good boy at his first trial and tried very hard to get the job done, but all but 45 seconds was wasted on trying to get the girls away from the setout/exhaust. We tried fetching them, we tried driving them, we tried everything short of throwing them over our shoulder and carrying them. Two of the ewes finally gave in and decided to go where Curly asked them, but another had her mind made that she wasn't going anywhere but back to the pen. She completely flattened Curly over even though he stood his ground and gave her a good grip and then proceeded to jump right over the top of him and head for home. We finally managed to convince her to follow the others and made the timeline and headed back and got them through the 2 barrels right before out time ran out. It was an honest try and hopefully the next trial won't be so difficult for such a young boy.
Then things started to look a little better for us. Josh and Pete had a good start. Pete managed to lift the girls and bring them to Josh without him having to go down and help him. They got their time line in a little over a min. Then they went straight through the barrels, but then stalled up on the L chute. The rest of their time was spent here trying to get the ewes to go through and keep them from high-tailing it back to the exhaust. They tried just about everything, but ran out of time. So Josh and Pete ended up placing 6th.
Oaktree Josie was the next dog I ran, owned by Jim and Pam Hicks. Josie was amazing. She was an absolute star. Being how much trouble the ewes had been I sent her and then went down to help her, but she didn't end up needing my help. She lifted those girls and blocked them everytime they tried to head back over her and we got our timeline at about 1 minute. Then she marched them straight through the barrels and back to the L chute where she put them through without much fuss and on to the pen. It took some time to finally convince them, but Josie finessed them into the pen for the 1 and only pen of the night! I was so thrilled with her and couldn't have asked for more. What an awesome job from such a young pup. Josie's about 16 months old. So a win for Josie's very first trial. Don't think it gets any better than that.
Blaze was my last dog to run and he showed the heart that I love so much about him. Those girls gave him a really tough time getting them away from the exhaust but he worked it out and finally gained their respect. Not before one charged him and rolled him in a big heap though. He got up and went right back to it and when she tried it again he gave her a good grip and she decided she'd had enough and caved in. So we got our timeline in about 2 minutes and went right through the barrels and L chute without much hassle. Then to the pen with a little time remaining. They ran around a little at first but we finally got them settle in the mouth of the three sided pen. As we were convincing them in, one girl thought about darting out and Blaze overreacted just a tiny bit with a block that was a bit too quick and they all got startled and we missed the pen and ran out of time. Still good enough for a 3rd place finish. I absolutely love this dog and I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do for me.
So to wrap it all up it was a very challenging trial, but I wasn't disappointed with any of our dogs performances. We'll be thinking of things to make it a little more doable for next year and will hopefully have more successful runs. Check out the full results here... http://www.okstockdog.com/gradycoresults.html
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