Final-ly home

The 2013 National sheepdog finals are now over, and Mary Lou and Dyna finished 13th on the final day, due to a couple of sheep managing to escape the field into the exhaust. Dyna, to her credit, was not going to allow that to happen and somehow got into the exhaust herself and brought out about 80 some odd sheep. Go big or go home! Oh well, that's sheepdogging for you....

Needless to say, it was a brilliant week for Mary Lou and Dyna. Then reality set in and all the rigs had to be towed out of the field by a monster tractor that could crush most things.





After a few detours, we made it home late Monday night (2 am) and hit the ground running after a week away! Looking forward to the future!

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National Final Debut!

Mary Lou and Dyna have made it to the National Finals!!! Tied for second with a 182 with Scott Glen and Don! 17 dogs tomorrow (Sunday) to vie for the National Championship! Mary Lou runs number 9 tomorrow!


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Exciting news!

Mary Lou and Dyna finished with a 201, high score of the qualifying round! It was a spectacular run, with Dyna taking firm control of the sheep and marching them around the course. There was a tense moment going to the pen where one of the sheep charged Dyna, but she calmly took it on the nose and told it to behave itself, then got on with the work.

Mary Lou runs in fifth spot in the semi-final today. Will be updating on Facebook and Twitter.



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Waiting game

Well today was a wet wait... Waiting for scores, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for Mary Lou and Dyna to run, but that is still a day away. I am still on the bubble to get in, but many good dogs tomorrow so am hanging on by my fingernails at the moment!


You can see the mud, rain in the forecast for the next few days so getting out might be an adventure! Fortunately the rain bothers the handlers more than it does the sheep or the dogs!

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On the bubble

Had my run with Craig today, and did ok, but whether it will be good enough is hard to say...right now I am just outside the bubble of scores expected to make it through, but you never know!

Took a break and went over to the nursery field and some tough slogging over there... Sheep did not want to play! Nice field to run on, good challenge for the young dogs!



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National Finals Day 1

I think today the sheep won. They were pulling hard for the exhaust from the get-go and many very good teams were defeated by the determined ewes...you know the saying 'there's one in every crowd'... Well it was very true with these sheep...always one leader with her own opinions, somewhat different from the other three. The top score was an excellent 196 (two judges scoring out of 110 points each for a total possible (or impossible) score of 220. Right now however the scores are generally low, so lots of room, especially if the sheep improve. None of our dogs running today, but tomorrow the action begins!


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Let the games begin!

We are settled in at the USBCHA National Sheepdog Finals. We were lucky to get here yesterday, as today many of the truck and trailer combos made grand entrances sliding sideways into the camping area through slogging mud as a result of torrential downpours earlier this morning.

The sheepdog community is a small one, and there were many familiar faces to meet and greet. The sun poked out later in the day to create a fabulous scene of 650 wiley ewes grazing contentedly on the spectacular Belle Grove field.








The handlers meeting, consisting of 150 of the top dog/handler teams in North America, was straight forward. 4 sheep set about (guessing) 450 yards away (will confirm that tomorrow), left hand drive, split the four sheep into two groups of two, regather and then pop them into the pen, then bring them out and single one sheep off, all in the workmanlike time of 14 minutes.

Then a nice handler gathering complete with cake...




...and a ton of work by the wonderful volunteers who have worked so hard to put on this event.

The evening sunset was a beautiful final touch to the exciting upcoming days ahead! Stay posted!



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Location:I-81 N,Middletown,United States