By Fiona Robertson
After a hot, dusty summer, the cooler temperatures and beautiful, green fields were very welcome to the handlers at the September version of the Handy Dog Trial in St. Agatha, Ontario. Mother Nature even cooperated so much as to have the wind (gusting up to around 60 kph) blowing in the right direction – up the field – so our dogs could hear us!
Friday and Sunday were the Open days, and the running was on the big hayfield behind hosts’ Victoria and John’s house. Our judge was Cynthia Palmer, and she greeted every handler with a smile, a joke and a hearty “good luck”. The outrun was anywhere between 375 and 500 yards, depending on who you asked, but however long it was, it provided a great challenge for the dogs, as the sheep were not apt to stand around and wait for any dog that got confused on the way out. On Sunday, the pen was replaced with a stock trailer, which proved as challenging (at least for some of us) as it was in July! Patient teamwork was required to load the trailer, but with the clock ticking, things tended to get a little western. Kevan Gretton and Bud (the winners of round 1), showed us how to do it early on, calmly walking the sheep up the ramp with zero fuss, whilst eating a sandwich and drinking a coffee. Ok I might be exaggerating about the sandwich, but that’s how calm and nonchalantly he and Bud worked the obstacle. Other perfect scores for the trailer “pen” were earned by Tracy Hinton and Tye (our winners for round 2), Christine Koval and Tru, Susan Moore and Skye, Viki Kidd and Jones and Mary Thompson and Rain.
The top 3 scores from each day as well as the top overall combined score qualified for Sunday’s Double Lift Final.
7 dogs ran:
1. Patrick Gosselin and Kina
2. Kevan Gretton and Bud
3. Tracy Hinton and Tye
4. Viki Kidd and Jones
5. Christine Koval and Tru
6. Stacey Rember and Gem
7. Marilyn Terpstra and Euchre
Our Double Lift winner was Tracy and Tye, followed closely by Kevan and Bud.
Photo credit Victoria Lamont
Saturday was Novice Day, running on the smaller training field. It was fun to watch the progression of teams since July and seeing the hard work paying off. Every handler was cheered for successes, no matter how small. The community is very supportive at this trial!
Novice-Novice ran twice, and it was a tight race for the overall combined winner. In the end it was Norma de Rose and Raina who finished on top with 2 strong runs. Pro Novice was won by Patrick and Twm with a score of 86 and Tracy Hinton and Carter won the Ranch class with an 82.
Now, on to The Most Important Event of the trial (also written by Fiona Robertson, tongue-in-cheek)
After the running on Saturday, we had time to spare before the handlers’ dinner. Viki organized a team obstacle type course, which harkened back to my agility days and strategies for the tournament’s “snooker” and “team gamble”. The cost was $20 each into the prize pot and we were assigned teams consisting of novice and open handlers – 6 dog and handler pairs in total per team.
Several obstacles were placed around the field with points assigned to each dependent on distance away from the handler box, the complexity of the obstacle and whether the teams drove the sheep or did a “wear”. The strategy was to gain as many points as possible in a set amount of time, with each dog and handler attempting one (1) obstacle. However, the rules became a little fluid during the course of the event. Now I am not saying that teams actually cheated, per se, (except for those teams that did blatantly adjust the rules to suit them – you know who you are, and so does Big Brother). But perhaps the judge’s glasses needed cleaning and subsequently she miscounted the actual number of sheep that made the obstacles, or she fell asleep. Maybe the scribe was bribed on the sidelines to “cook the books”. I think Voodoo may also have been involved – or ancient aliens, or the Secret Service. At any rate, Team 5, whose members upheld the highest standards of play, while focusing laser-like on the goal (winning), were subsequently robbed of the title of Champions of The Most Important Event, while Team 2 was declared the “winners”. Oh well, their prize money had to be divided into 7 because yep, they had an extra team member. Conspiracy? I think so.
Team 5: Fiona Robertson, Farrah Federau, Lisa McPherson, Stacey Rember, Kelly Morrow, Christine Koval, plus a photobomber who wanted so badly to be on the Dream Team (obviously).
Photo credit Anne Wheatley
You can find all the scoreboards posted on the OBCC group Facebook page, except for The Most Important Event. That is, apparently, still classified Top Secret/Eyes Only. When asked, trial management had only this to say: “We need to de-escalate the situation in the interest of world peace.”