Monday, September 26, 2011

Weekend of Herding

Minnie and Zoe had a very full weekend of herding. We competed in the Snowy Butte ASC Harvest Fair Trial. Both girl were entered in all three Started Sheep Trials. Saturday morning was very successful for them both. They both earned qualifying scores. Zoe's time was 1:55 and Minnie's was 2:13. The were running ASCA course B.

Here is Zoe's first run



Here is Minnie's first run



I didn't get video of the girls second run. It was late and my camera doesn't do well with video in low light. They were doing course B again under a different judge. Minnie earned her second qualifying score earning her (pending ASCA approval) her STDs. Zoe missed qualifying by one point.

Sunday morning Zoe had another chance to earn her second leg. They were running course E which is a harder course. She sure tried! She missed qualifying this time by a mere 1/2 point. If it was time based her run of 1:38 would have won. Glenn sure got his exercise this weekend. :) Here is the video of that run.



We had a lot fun this weekend. We are looking forward to more in the future. One of Minnie's cousin came and watched her. The cousin was very interested, maybe she and her Mom will join in on the fun sometime soon? :) In the meantime Minnie is entered in Richland this weekend in Rally Advanced. For those of you going, see ya there.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Zoe's lastest accomplishment

I have been working this month off and on, around my graveyard schedule, with Zoe. We've been working on heeling (now that she's not handler dependant when herding) sit, down and stay. I have learned while Zoe comes off as a "blond" she's really not. She's more the "what's in it for me" type. "Oh you have a treat, ok I'll sit." and then there's "Wait no treat? I'm not sure I know this sit word you speak of." In all fairness she has improved greatly, but isn't a 100% with her response. I'd say we get sit about 80-90% of the time. She seems to have stay for the most part. I'm also very pleased with her come. Down is whole different story. Her downs are not pretty, treat or no treat. She is also very inconsistent with them. This being said we decided to try for her CGC. I was confident that she should pass almost all elements of the test. She heels decently, doesn't have a problems with distractions or crowds, and anyone who knows Zoe, knows she's never met a stranger. :) The only thing I was unsure about was the down. I decided that it would be a good experience and if she failed, no big deal it was only $10.

Well....



I am so proud of her!!!!

It will be awhile before she's ready for the rally ring. I think this winter we will take some obedience classes and get things consistent and fine tuned.

In the meantime we still have 2 full weekends ahead of us. This weekend both Minnie and Zoe are entered in a local ASCA herding trial. They will doing Started on Sheep. If they are successful they have the chance to complete their ASCA Started Dog title here.

Next weekend it's a trip to Richland, WA. Minnie will be competing in Rally Advance in hopes to complete her RA title. Zoe is coming for moral support as always. Plus both girls will get see Garrett and several other friends. Should be a very fun couple of weeks. :)