Evil Pottery Sheep...
According to Grace!

Grace was once again AWESOME at her most recent herding trial. We had an ASCA trial this weekend. On Saturday she won her Post Advanced Trial class, the first time she had ever competed at that level. Only dogs with Advanced titles may compete. Not only did she win, her score of 110 (125 possible) was the highest sheep score of the day so she went High In Trial (HIT) Sheep for Saturday.

On Sunday Grace won her cattle class with a score of 86 you need an 88 for a qualifying score, in short, she didn't get her championship. This was the third consecutive time she has won her cattle class but had a score less than 88, she's had a 86, 84 & 79. The cattle have been tough! The good news is she went HIT cattle for Sunday. Missing her WTCH (Working Trial Champion title) by only 2 points is awful. I'll probably have to wait until May to be able to try it again.

The good news is I have calmed a bit about working cattle. After she got hurt on cattle in November, I had a really hard time every time she went in the arena with them. She loves working cattle and she is a really good cattle dog. She did get a graze from a hoof when a cow kicked her and she has a tiny boo boo on her nose.

On ducks, well lets just say that my dog is really the "Bomb" on ducks! She is so AWESOME! People struggle with duck runs a lot. As a handler you have to be quick on your commands and the dog has to be willing to take the quick commands and know how fast and how hard to push the ducks. Too much pressure and the group of five will split 18 different ways. To little pressure and they'll split 18 different ways. There are 125 points possible in the Advanced class, Grace scored a 121! That's the highest score she has ever earned. Her duck run was nearly flawless (as you can tell by her score). She did good!

On sheep I thought she was awesome. I really thought she would probably win the class but we were third with a score of 111. All told she was entered in 4 classes, she won 3 and was HIT on ducks, sheep & cattle, which just goes to prove how good she is at all stock. The photo of her ribbons from the weekend doesn't include her HIT sheep ribbon.

She's a winner!

Grace won her Novice/Novice class at the Black & White Sheepdog trial in Poway, CA. It was only her second USBCHA type trial. I am so proud of her. She beat 11 other dogs and earned $40 bucks. That paid her entry fee, put gas in the car and bought me soda!

(click the photo to make it bigger)

Next trial, hopefully will be the ASCA trial in on the 21st & 22. We want to get her final qualifying score for her Working Trial Championship title.

Well we had a great time at the two trials we attended this weekend. Grace was really good!

On Friday she earned HTAD II qualifying scores in both her sheep and her cattle class. To say she won the cattle class would be a stretch, she was the only dog in her class but she did do extremely well, earning a 76.

On Saturday and Sunday she trialed in her first AKC Trial. I blew it in the cattle class Saturday morning, I ran out of time, but Grace was picture perfect! She was second on sheep earning a 90 (winning dog had a 91). She went Reserve High In Trial for Saturday. On Sunday she won her cattle class and was second again on sheep. She was again Reserve High In Trial for the day. All told, she earned qualifying scores in 5 out of 6 classes and earned a first, two second places and fourth. (Plus the first, because she was the only dog in the class!) I've added a photo of her doing some great work, she is turning one of the heifers back in line. She's got a bunch of trials coming up so I'll be sure to update the blog! By the way, she was the youngest dog in all her classes by many years!

Happy second birthday Gracie!

No new news to report on the herding front. I hope to trial with Grace at the end of July in an ASCA trial. We need that final Advanced Cattle leg to get our WTCH!

The World Sheep Dog Finals are going on in Ireland right now. Patrick Shannahan has been reporting on his adventures with Riggs on his web site. Great reading, even if sheep dogs aren't your thing! Well I suppose it would make it more interesting to read if you at least liked the concept of herding sheep with your dog.

The only other news is that both Juanita and Grace were looked at for an Iams dog food print advertising campaign. I had to send head shots to a dog agent. No news yet if they were chosen. Grace has two looks, sullen and excited so I doubt she's what they are looking for. Juanita however has a chance. I could be a stage mom!

Tired trial dog! After a long weekend of trialing, I think she deserves to be asleep in our bed!

We had a great time at the Sand And Sea ASCA Trial that was moved to John Harvey's place in Moorepark! Grace ended up High In Trial other Breed and won her mother a belt buckle. She didn't earn her WTCH, we missed qualifying on cattle on Saturday, even though she won the cattle class. She did earn her advanced duck title on Saturday! The cattle were pretty tough. They were really shy on humans and you had to get out of the way in a hurry. Grace was a little to "hot" on them on Saturday and we ended up running out of time. She was awesome on Sunday and I worked better for her. I still didn't get out of the way enough at the center pen but she earned a respectable score of 104! Once again, I'm a proud dog mom. Pictures below.

The Buckle... took me 32 years but I got one!

Look at my girl with her High In Trial Other Breed ribbon, her High In Trial Cattle, High In Trial Ducks, second place sheep and winning cattle & duck ribbons... oh and that beautiful belt buckle.

Grace and Alex... my two favorites!

Judge, Wayne Harris posing with Mary Jean and Rascal. This is the lady who I gave my ducks to. She wanted to pose with Wayne because he was one of the judges who gave Rascal his Started Title at the Australian Shepherd Club Nationals last year. Notice the frindged skirt over the jeans and the purple boa around Rascal's neck. Sunday, was also his 8th birthday!

Alex wanted to get at least one photo with the Del Mar sign in the background!

How pretty is this approach to the "Y shoot!" Look how straight her line is, how quiet the sheep are! Beautifullness!!!! I'm so proud of her!

Great Time at the Fair!

I hate going to the fair! But, when you take your dog, a bunch of friends and family, and you herd sheep...the fair is a blast! I definitely entered Grace over her head but boy did she impress me. I can't tell you how pleased I am with the way she worked. The course was actually the ASCA "C" Course. So you have a "take pen", which Grace did nicely but when the sheep exited the pen they went into a corder by the left side of the pen and we had Hell getting them out of there. I was so proud of my pup because she didn't tear any sheep apart and yet stayed strong going into the corner trying to fish them out. The one ewe was not nice! Once we got them out we had a straight drive, down the center of the arena away from the handler's post. This was the longest drive she had ever done away from me, about 65 or 70 yards. There was a set of panels on the right that we had to go through clockwise and then you had figure-eight turn to the second set of panels and then heading back toward me there was a "Y shoot" and then a repen. She had a really straight drive, a good turn and made all three sheep through the first panel but we missed on two attempts at our second panel. Her drive to the Y shoot was straight and her pace was awesome, as was her repen. I'm so proud of her.

I really want to thank all my friends and family who showed up. Dad, Greg & Nancy, Grandma and Anne Baker, Robbi and of course Alex. I thought for sure we were entered so far over our head that it was going to be an embarrassment. Thank goodness this dog gives me 110% every time (well, almost every time)!