sweet Dream

sweet dreams till sun beams find you,
sweet dreams that leave all your worries behind you,
but in your dreams, whatever they be
Dream a little dream....

I was pleasantly surprised with the dogs running this past weekend.
Having not done much work , let alone training since the sheep camp in May I had some apprehension of what may be.
The field was a interesting shape . Large sweeping uphill 300 something yard outrun. Level at post, large deepish swale then steep uphill and leveled off again. Sending to the left as most did also had a barn jutting out into the path causing many to flatten out at the top end of the outrun.Some jump stands and a roll top jump dotted the left side of the field though it did not cause too much problems as they were maybe fifty to seventy five yards away from the handlers post.
Other than Spirits strange outrun issue cropping up again (to my frustration) the dogs all ran quite well. Listening to me and reading the sheep correctly.
The sheep were tricky but manageable. Not easy , but not impossible. The first day my dogs finished in the 20's out of 71 dogs running. The scores were all pretty close together, with maybe a point or two separating who ended where. On day two Dream gave me a super run. I walked to the post and I waited for them to appear. Most all runs had sheep set while the last run was close to ending. My sheep were not there when I walked out. Finally we saw them and I commented "oh, here they come" And the Judge then said "and there they go!" as they shot back to set out. This always twists my gut even more than it usually feels. Yet when Dream got up there and got behind them she handled them so kind and smooth. I blew a few points at the top of the fetch by being just a tad off the line costing me three or four fetch points. My friend Lori kicked my butt after for my mistake. She's right I should have been more aggressive in my handling . But after seeing them running off while getting set I was worried and handled conservative as I felt to see what the sheep would allow as we started the fetch down the hill. I gently flanked Dream over and got them dead center after feeling them out, the rest of the run was pretty clean other than a wide turn at the post and a bobble on the drive out.We managed a pen and there were maybe only four pens that day.
Dream was standing second most of the day . Nancy Obenier tied our score with her Nick and bested us on drive points to nudge us to third. We held on to third place out of seventy one dogs running. I was so thrilled! This is Dreams first placement in Open. I am sure Deigh was so proud of her girl...now if she would just have a chat with Spirit and tell her to stop coming in half way out on outruns we could be on our way. It is so frustrating. Give her the redirect and she kicks out and takes the darn path she should have stayed on and lifts dead on. Those eight or so points off the out run killed us each day.Did she do this at sheep camp ??? NOOOOO! Nice deep 300+ outwork ,clean (though cautious) lifts. Arrggg.  I am not going to dwell anymore.
Bracken worked very well and had beautiful outwork both days. I was told by the person setting on the second day it was the best outwork of the day. It has been some time that I have had such a good go at a trial. I think I still would have gone home pleased without a placement because other than Spirit dorking her outwork (oh yeah right...let it go ) the dogs worked quite well on a difficult course and challenging stock. Bracken and Spirit still managed respectable runs finishing again in the 20's ( maybe even the high teens, not sure) out of 71 dogs on Sunday.

I got to see the Nursery classes both days. There are some nice young dogs out there. Lori Cunningham's Matt just looks and gets better each time I see him run. She did not run him at the Nurseries but did run him in Open. He managed a good run on Saturday but had some trouble taking an inside flank at the second drive gate. So hard for them to give that up at that age if the sheep cause that pressure that makes them over ride what we ask. He had a super go on Sunday and came in fourth. There was lots of good work out there. Good dogs and good handling. The pen was near impossible. Hard to get them even to the opening, then just as it looked as they would walk in they would split and run.Going around the post was hard to get a clean tight turn as as they turned to start the drive the pen was close to the post and the exhaust just down the hill . Many dogs would run wide as the sheep would bolt around the turn. Yet there were some really sweet clean turns around the post that most of us just could not help but let out an Ahhh  as it was expertly maneuvered. Very few sheds were made and cheers would come out from the side lines when one was made, good bad or ugly!
Warren Mick took the Win on Sunday and Cheryl J Williams got the Win Saturday .

For a first time trial I take my hat off to Mish Ferraro, Joe and Jackie Evans for putting on this trial.
They did a great job and the location was beautiful.