2012 ASCA Nationals and I might get my own sheep after all!

Well, despite not having anybody to really trial at Nationals this year (I was really hoping to have Rippa bear ready for started, to go Most Promising Started – which is about a good award as any to get at Nationals), I thought since it was only two hours away, I should go. And I dragged the bandy (read, husBand) with me.

My friend Amy, who helps run my AussieBoard online bulletin board, was coming down and said that Finals needed duck handlers, which I was totally on board with. But, since I was going to be there Sunday and Monday, why not see if I couldn’t get into an agility pretrial, too?

So that’s what I did. We drove out to Bakersfield Friday night and got a hotel, up early on Saturday, and got there in time to hear the morning chicken song:

I am still wondering if that’s the club doing that or it’s an automatic fair thing. Either way, it definitely stoked me. It still does, even when I hear it on YouTube.

And so we were off. Fury hasn’t been trained in years – I just brush her off, maybe go up to the practice field once or twice before a trial, and we do okay. Rippa took an agility class with me back in April but my finances weren’t what they should be so I never continued it. But Y had built me a teeter totter because that and weave poles are her challenge. So, I’ve been poking at that half-heartedly and figured if I embarrass myself, who cares.

Well, I learned two things:

1. Don’t bring the husband next time. The dogs ran like this – oh, jump, and .. . Daddy? What? Oh, obstacle. Daddy? Daddy! And then it was over.

2. My tactic of training very rarely still works really great because my dogs have desire to please and learn. When they weren’t running to “daddy,” we did pretty good, with a qualifying and first place score for each! It’s not awesomely consistent, but it’s fun and I got myself a matched towel prize set for the bathroom!

Ribbons to match their red coats, and drinky cups for hot days (and it was hot!)

And then, I was so worked. 12 hours of hot weather, coordinating runs, helping everything run smoothly, etc took it’s toll.

But gotta do it all over again!

Only we did it in style, me and Amy:

Duck handling was super fun, when people weren’t complaining about how it was set up or what we were doing – but it was Finals, so I guess people get a pass, even though I think what we were doing was nicer to the duckies than what some of the Finalists wanted done.

At the end of the weekend, I was tuckered. I’d run scores for sheep and cattle and saw some really good dogs in some really good runs. I was inspired. It was gonna be okay.

And what of this blog and my training?

Well, Kathy Warren sent out an email a month ago essentially announcing her retirement and she has liquidated her sheep. Uh oh! But good for her – I’m sure she’s in love with her new grandson and her family in Oregon, and this has been coming a long while.

Last week, Nathan called to check in with me and said he’d finally finished harvesting and was going to classes with Laurie Batson, who I don’t know anything about. Missed the opportunity to go check her out last week, but may yet. She’s giving lessons in Atascadero, 30 min away.

In the meantime, Trish Alexander had moved an hour away to a ranch where she’ll give lessons and clinics, and trials, so there is that, as well. There will be a KW clinic there at the end of the month that I will be going to – which should help me address my questions and fears that I’ve come up with here on this blog. And hopefully make some good progress with Rippa bear.

And then . . . I went for a walk with my friend on the grounds I got married on – 15 unimproved acres that also houses my synagogue. A few years back, I asked about putting sheep on it, and everyone was amenable, but then a new project came to town: the Ranch. And they were ambitious, thinking the buildout would happen in months. I knew better.

A year or so later, they’ve broken ground and I tell my friend I’d be happy to help set up the animal part of the ranch, to which she sounds supportive and . . . one thing led to another, and I’ve got a proposal in front of the ranch committee for a sheep facility. For the cost of sheep and their housing, I’ll be contributing to a great project, have a sheep training facility right in my town, and even have people to help take care of them and benefit them in the same breath . . . can I say, yay?

Here’s a youtube video:

Next update will be whether that has gone through or not. I hope it does. We’ll know next week, hopefully.

The idea is they’d be behind that tree line there.