The Finals

Well I did it. I traveled out west to run on the famous range ewes at the national finals. I only had one dog qualified, Fina, who is prone to mental lockups under pressure on big courses. Nothing ventured, nothing learned.

It turns out Fina manages the range girls tremendously, but as suspected she had trouble keeping her head together on the bigger course with some pressure. She had a "Fina Melt" twice. She basically tunes me out and just moves the sheep, which is an improvement as she used to just lay down and watch the sheep leave. In between her melts she was fabulous, but her second melt involved bringing the sheep backwards on the drive some distance, losing most of our drive points. No semi finals.

I spent hours watching runs, observing how different handlers and dogs approached these sheep. The western sheep are not the fire breathing dragons I was expecting, but they are tough and fun. They are not conditioned to move off the dog, so the dog needs to be definite. It seemed to me that the dogs who came forward with no hesitation were not questioned in the end. These yearling ewes were huge, stared at the dogs and stomped their feet. They could make a formidable impression and not all dogs were willing to ignore their threats and continue forward with intent. If the dog kept coming the sheep would turn at the last moment. If the dog was hesitant and slow then the sheep stepped forward to see if they could press the dog back or just put their heads down to graze. Once the sheep were moving the dog needed to keep pressure on or they would stall, and the sheep tended to mill and squirm as they were moved so there was work involved in keeping them on a line.

All and all I had a great time. I have a sense now of the skills my dogs need to work range ewes. Mind you I'm not sure how I will be able to strengthen these skills with the tame eastern flocks I have access to. I want to go back and try again. Next time with more than one dog, and hopefully more than one trial so we have a few chances to work out managing these willful sheep on a big open course.