It rained all day yesterday at Wilson’s. I managed to get all my dogs worked but didn’t do as much as I should’ve. I got Joe to turn back a couple of times for sheep. He never managed to do a clean turn back but he did convince me that if it ever became necessary for him to find a second group of sheep we might eventually manage to do so…maybe.

Spent today driving to Lexington. It was a little over seven hours of uneventful driving, the best kind. It’s warm and sunny here. I seem to be parked next to a very noisy generator which is unfortunate but not surprising. I’m parked in the shade of some big trees which will be good as hot weather is forecast.

The field looks beautiful as always. The outrun is 425 yards with the normal huge cross drive. The set out us 175 yards from the holding pen which is very good as sheep breaking back are often a problem here.

I’m up early with Hemp and then have both Meg in Ranch and Joe in nursery tomorrow. So I get to try them all on the western sheep. They have Texas lambs for both open and novice this year. Should be interesting. [Editor's Note: Bev and Hemp got a 70.]

The last day at Borders was another beauty weather wise, just perfect sunny weather with a light breeze. The sheep continued to run well and the beautiful field with its nice hill proved quite a challenge to the young dogs. The day started with the nursery. There were only eight dogs but there were some very good runs. I think there were like four or five top runs separated by only about five points any of which could easily have won. A very strong nursery class. Joe ran first and I think his earlier experience in the open just gave him that little bit of a leg up that allowed him to just barely beat Tom Wilson’s Roy for first place. The runs were very close. Roy who has been out very little looked great and may well do both of his parents, Sly and Tom’s old Roy, proud.

I ran Meg in the ranch where things didn’t go quite as well for me and then left before the class ended to drive to Wilson’s five and half hours south of Turbottville, PA. Tom stayed until the end and reported continued good running and more very nice young dogs.

Florence and I caught up on the news from the winter which I won’t bore you with. I worked Joe a little and then worked my youngster of the trip, Becca. Becca is only about fifteen months old and is my current hope for next year’s nursery. She has only begun her training but minds her manners enough that I trust her on other people’s sheep. Tom worked his new youngster,Fan, and we got to congratulate each other on having nice prospects for the future. What a great way to end a good day.

Heather met me at the Borders on Paradise Trial and the first event on my spring trial junket and asked me so nicely to blog that I was flattered into writing yet another tale of my adventures.

I’m currently at my first event in Pennsylvania. This is a really nice small farm trial that draws a serious field of competitors including Tom Wilson and Scott Glen along with Lori Cunningham, Carla King, yesterday’s winner Viki Kidd and fifty other dangerous dogs. There aren’t a lot of sheep so we need to rerun them but they handle very well. The weather has been perfect, all good auguries for my trip.

Yesterday was the first open with a tie between Tom Wilson and Viki Kidd ending with Viki winning a run off.

I’m traveling with good old Hemp who is getting some age to him but still pushing on hard when he gets a chance. I have young Joe, my nursery dog, as my second open dog as Nel my usual second open dog is home with pups. I’m running Meg in ranch and hauling two yearlings to give them some extra attention and experience.

Borders on Paradise, Day Two

Second day of open running was more perfect weather. The biggest complaint of this nearly perefect event would be that this was the first hot day of the season, reaching 87 degrees. I think the sheep, with some notable exceptions were a little better than yesterday.

Sue Schoen and Esther had an early run that set a high bar at 86. It was a very clean run with some shed trouble. The shed proved to be the most difficult part of the trial all day, with many nice runs ending with no shed.

After lunch Joe and I had a good go to score 90 followed immediately by Tom Wilson and Sly also scoring 90. Late in the day Scott Glen and Don had a very good run that would have beat us but the sheep just wouldn’t cooperate in the shed. That left Tom Wilson in his second run off of the weekend for first. Happily for me Joe proved his good run wasn’t a fluke and made another good trip around to win his first trial.

Carla King’s young dog, Sage, ran well placing both days in her second open trial. My Hemp was a good boy but we just never really got things together and then capped our mediocre run by failing to shed.

Tom and Sly won the over all with Lori Cunningham and Matt reserve.

We finished running around 5:00 and after the prize giving a group of us went to a local hotel for dinner. It was apparently prom night somewhere so while we were a tad under dressed we soldiered on and had a great dinner.

Didn’t get as warm as yesterday, I think, and there was a strong wind at our backs all day. The running was very good on the smaller course with at least one score in the 90s and many scores in the 80s. Alas, none of them were mine.

I wasn’t disappointed with how either of my dogs worked. A pen would have gotten Nel in the double lift and Hemp was a good boy with poor steering on my part costing us the fetch gate. So tomorrow I will be spotting sheep for my friends in the double lift.

I missed a lot of the running as I arranged to buy a dozen sheep in Bowman at the livestock auction. This involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. I’m going to stay out here for an extra week and train my dogs on my new sheep. Then Joni has offered to sell the sheep for me. Sure is nice in places where people actually keep sheep. I’m looking forward to getting Joe and Odinn up to full speed. I have Odinn entered in the rest of this season’s trials and I want to try and get our teamwork smoothed out after her long layoff with her injured toe.

I hope someone posts who is in the final. I’m afraid the only ones I know are Jean and Dennis Gellings, Joni, Alison, Bud and Ron. They are running back fifteen so I’m missing a bunch. Sorry to be such a poor reporter. I did manage to get my new puppy picked out so my day wasn’t a total bust. Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Got the open results wrong, sorry, Robin French was second not Jean Gellings.

We ran a combined Nursery/Ranch twice today. Very tough going for both the competitors and the set out crew. The sheep were hard to spot and often difficult for the young dogs to fetch.

There was some very nice work made all the more striking by all of the demonstrations of how difficult it actually was. Ron Burkey and his red, Star x Don nursery dog, Shadow, did really well every run. Amanda and Dory looked really good as did Dennis Gellings with his very young Sly x Roy.

My Joe was completely flumoxed by the sheep his first run. He fetched them and then had a bad hanging on grip at the turn. His second run he had a plan and inspite of his sheep being on their way back to the set out when he finished his outrun he brought them down with great aplomb. Nice run all the way around but no pen. He finished 3rd in the nursery and 4th in the ranch tied with Ron and Shadow who beat us on the out work. Joni and Sage won the second nursery and ranch with Dennis Edwards second in ranch and Ron Burkey second in nursery. I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten how the first ranch/nursery ended up.

It got quite hot today mid-80s and very little breeze. Tomorrow is the second open on a redesigned course. I believe the outrun has been shortened a little to aid in getting done and to make spotting the sheep easier.

It’s supposed to be hotter tomorrow then today. The sun here can get really hot with the clear, dry air. The sheep require a lot of herding which can really wear a dog out.

Tomorrow is everyone’s last chance to qualify for the double lift final. The 15 dogs with the highest combined three scores from the two trials (you get to drop one score) will compete. Hemp with two DQs is out of contention but with a good run Nel could still get in. She’s going to need to do better then her last run though.

This was at least as hard a trial as the Big One. The outrun is shorter at about 500 yards but the sheep appear to be more determined. They are very tough to get off the top. This combined with a deceptively tricky outrun has ended many runs without the sheep ever coming down the field.

Once the fetch is finished, and some of them take a very long time as the sheep fight and split up in an effort to get back to their buddies in the holding pen, the turn is daunting. The sheep split at the turn and take every opportunity to get into the crowd and off the field. Many of them successfully alas.

The drive isn’t big but it’s very flat and again deceptive. The panels are metal and I found it very hard to judge where I was and managed to miss what should have been an easy second drive gate. Especially easy as I had seen about 30 people miss it the same way I did, duh!

Needless to say they shed (any single) very easily. But it’s a desperate struggle to get them reunited before they escape the field. Hemp did heroic work after his shed getting his sheep back together for the pen. Didn’t matter as I believe I put too much dog pressure on them and never got them in. Sure not my dog’s fault. He was hot and tired but never failed in his duty the many times he had to head them back to the pen.

It’s really tough sheep and trials like this that remind me how marvelous these dogs are. It’s easy for me to forget how good any run is when what I’m seeking is the perfect run. I was very proud of my “also ran” today.

The low scores reflected the tough going. I think Vergil Holland and Scott won with a 72 Jean Gellings and her dependable Star were second with 70 earned in all that wind last evening. Again I’m not sure as I didn’t see the scores at the end. There was hardly any wind today and the hearing seemed pretty good.

We finished the open at 5:30 and ran 20 Nursery dogs. We will run all young dogs tomorrow.

On a personal note I took Meg with her big cut to Baker, Montana and got her sewed back together. She has never evidenced any lameness or concern about the wound and would happily run all about. Alas, I have scratched her from the nursery. Too bad she won the last one and I was hoping to try her again. Only dog I have whose won anything here!

New day, more wind. Was a very pretty day few clouds and tons of sunshine and 30+mph winds with gusts in 50s. Wasn’t blowing directly in our faces for nursery which was good.

The nursery course was over 300 yards up a hill. The drives were moderate as were the sheep after running in two open trials. Amazing what two open runs will do toward educating a flock of sheep. We probably had more pens in the nursery then in two open trials combined.

My dogs ran okay. Meg was short on her outrun and a bit erratic on her fetch and then settled down for an excellent drive and pen. Joe started out great, really listening and responding well. He missed a flank at the first drive and over compensated with a slice which got a DQ. I was delighted with him though. He handled the big course and the sheep very well. There were some lovely nursery runs, especially Bud’s winner. It was leading any way last time I looked.

After the nursery we all hurried to Joni’s ranch where the next trial started at 3:00. The wind was strong and nearly in our faces which didn’t slow Jean Gellings down at all as she and Star had a great go. I imagine they would currently be leading it. I ran Nel but she ran too wide on the outrun and didn’t handle the sheep well. We are running three fresh yearlings each run. We got through about 20 runs to day. Another 55 to finish the first runs on tomorrow when the wind is supposed to finally abate. A much anticipated event.

A big tractor just came and pulled Jim Swift out of where he got his rig stuck. There aren’t many of us camped at the trial. Tom and Joni cleared a section of fence and did some earth moving to make us a road but most folks feared getting stuck as much of the ground remains soft from all the rain. So there are perhaps 6-7 rigs here and the rest remain at the campground.

Meg injured herself somehow today. I need to take her in tomorrow and get her stitched up. Not life threatening but a nasty cut which will preclude her running her. Too bad she ran well today.

Well, the wind continued to blow all day at something between 30-40mph. The big difference from yesterday is that it blew into our faces. Dogs couldn’t hear anything until at or after the fetch gates. Made for a very interesting trial to watch and a nearly impossible one to run in.

Still there were some nice runs. Jean Gellings and Star had a good morning run and Tom Wilson and Sly a good late day run.

Still at the end Lyle’s really nice run from yesterday was the winner followed by Dale Montgomery also from last night (tied at 70). More then half the dogs had no scores. My 54 with Nel made the top twenty.

The sheep mostly eluded the dogs at the turn by splitting and disappearing amongst the parked cars. But there were many ways to fail and over the course of the day folks discovered most of them.

We started the second runs tonight at the conclusion of the first trial. I had come back to the camp grounds by then so I don’t know what changed. Tomorrow is supposed to be more wind and warmer so we all get to try it again. The constant wind really wears you out after a while.

I spotted sheep for an hour or so with Joe. Except for being more eager to walk up then lay down he did a good job. It was blowing even harder at the set out on the top of the field then at the handler’s post.

It was nice to see some of the dogs get up that half mile outrun and pick up their sheep with total control and confidence. Didn’t happen often but it was nice to see when it did. I was particularly struck by Marilyn Terpstra’s Gin who did a great job with a group that had moved off the set out spot and we were trying to reposition. Gin took them over and marched them away with a quick glance at us to make sure there were no hurt feelings.

The wind is still whistling around my windows. Unusual for here where it generally dues down at dusk. Oh well, wouldn’t be North Dakota without a little wind.

Day started really cold and windy. Really windy, North Dakota windy which is pretty serious. Camp ground was fairly deserted when I got up so I was able to let the dogs have about an hour of free running around time.

Herbert and Alison got in from the Cattle Finals at about 11:00 and Al set up the puppy pen for Becca and her brothers which was very nice for the puppy. She has been a very good sport about all the crate time but I know it must be hard for her.

Running of the open on the big field began at 3:00. Bud was up first and had trouble on his lift. Nel and I were second. She had a great outrun. I gave her one call in so she didn’t go too wide but she nailed the top. Watching dogs run out 900 yards is very cool. The sheep are freer moving then the Colorado sheep but still turn and face the dog when ever they aren’t running away. A difficult combination for Nel who seeks total control. She didn’t hold her side on the beginning part of the fetch and went too wide letting them get way off line. We got the gates and the rest was okay. Missed second drive and another confused shed. I think I must be confusing her there some how because she’s a great shedder. Any way a mediocre run.

Lyle Ladd and Shep had a good run right after us showing that it was very possible.

I ran Hemp a bit later. He pushed too hard on the fetch and lost a sheep at the turn around the post. A not uncommon occurrence but disappointing.

I think all together they ran almost 20 dogs tonight. The wind was quite strong when we started, 30mph at a guess but dropped a lot as it got later. There is no wind now which is a very pleasant change. No wind, no rain.

They hope to finish this first open tomorrow and get ten or so dogs from the second open run. The field is dry enough so we can all drive our vehicles to the trial site which is a relief. It’s a long walk from the main road to the trial field about a mile.

So I have tomorrow off. Time to do some laundry alas. I want to get back over and watch some. It’s a very fun trial to watch. The outrun is very pretty and the sheep are very tough. A great combination.

I’m camped at the lovely Butte View campgrounds in Bowman, ND. I spent the last two days at the Boudreau’s in Marcus, SD and drove up here this morning. Since it rained most of the time I was at Bud and Sarah’s, Rene, the trial organizer from the Big One has requested that all the campers stay at the campgrounds since the ground at the Kerr Ranch is too wet to handle us all driving in and out. I don’t know how they are going to managed all of the trucks each day but I’m sure they have a plan.

I’m delighted they haven’t cancelled these trials. The rain has been prodigious. Joni Swanke told me that while they normally get 12″ of rain a year they have had 9″ in the last two weeks, and that was befoe this week’s heavy rainfall. The ground is saturated everywhere and the dirt roads are in very slick condition as I can testify to first hand after slipping and sliding down five miles of the Boudreau’s road this afternoon. It doesn’t take much of a slide to scare me with that trailer following my truck into the mud.

The practice went fairly well. Joe is still the bright point in my day. Odinn, who has been lame the whole trip was sound and got some good work. She did some nice 500 yard outruns, also some pretty poor ones as she is still very easily confused. I’m hoping this will miraculously translate into adequate prep for the 900′ yard out run at The Big One. Seems unlikely but if I wasn’t a great optimist I could never dog trial.