The Barking Lot: Shelties get new AHBA titles

Thursday afternoon in the pouring rain Kant, Echo, and I headed south in search of some sunshine, a visit with Linda Rorem, and an AHBA herding trial. After we passed in to California we found the sunshine and had it all weekend. After stopping in Williams California for the night, we arrived in Pescadero California Friday mid-morning.

Both Shelties had a chance to have a couple practice runs on the sheep which they were very happy for after an 11 hour car ride. They both did great. Linda had not seen Echo for a couple of years since we picked her

up as a 12 week old puppy.

She has grown a little since then. We had a wonderful day Friday visiting with Linda and her students. Friday night Linda and I had a wonderful dinner at the only restaurant in Pescadero; they serve the best cream of artichoke and green chile soup and are very famous for their pies.

Saturday was the AHBA trial and Echo was the first dog of the trial running Junior Herd Dog; she passed! Linda was judging and I was nervous and a bit frantic with my commands which caused Echo to be a bit frantic or “eager” as the judge committed on the score sheet. I knew I caused it and planned to work on that the next day. Kant ran in Herding Ranch Dog Level 1 mid-day. We started out great and towards the end of the course there were covered panels that the sheep had to go through. Again I was nervous forgetting commands and how to handle my dog; we only got a couple of the sheep through the panels losing 9 points. We ended up with a qualifying score of 78 out of 90 and 2nd place. Again it was my fault. I had not entered Kant in HRD on Sunday because I thought it would be too late in the day but the trial committed told me I could run first in the HRD class on Sunday if I wanted to enter. I sure wanted another try at the course so I did it.

Sunday Echo was the first dog again but I was determined to stay calm and run her like she deserved to be run. I was much better which made Echo much better and we easily passed earning Echo’s Junior Herd Dog (JHD) title.

Both days she had beautiful gathers but Sunday she paced much better! The trial committee was very kind to let me run Kant before they took a lunch break so we could get on the road. Again I was much calmer and handled my dog much better. We got almost all the sheep through the covered panels and scored 83 out of 90. I have not seen the score sheet yet so I do not know where we lost points. Kant earned her HRD1s title. Ann and Jan did e-mail me and let me know we got 2nd again. I was very proud of both my shelties and owe Lora big time for all the times she made me cry at my herding lessons just to make us better teams and it is working; she would have been very proud of us!

Echo’s brother Cody was also running in Junior Herd Dog on goats. He also got his JHD title.

He is a very handsome blue eyed sable merle. Echo’s dad Flash was also there running Herding Ranch Dog on goats.

It was great meeting Cody and Flash’s family; I see e-mails from them but it is great to put a face to the names. There were several shelties there and several times we had all of them in a pen running and playing, that was heaven for me.

This trial was run beautifully and could not have been done without sisters, Jan and Ann, and Linda who never stopped moving all weekend. Linda did not judge on Sunday so she stopped moving a couple of times. Everyone there was so friendly and supportive and made me feel very welcome! The trial was very relaxed and fun!! Willowside Ranch is a beautiful location and a wonderful place to have trials. We stayed in the bunkhouse at the ranch which is wonderful. There are lots of peacocks running all over which takes some getting used to but then you see this

and it is worth it.

Since we were able to run so early we were packed up and on the road by noon with an 11 hour drive ahead of us. I had to stop a couple of times for gas and to let the dogs out