Wow, we ARE improving...

This year, I decided to enter Jessie in 2nd class trials, because in 1st class the outruns were really too short for her. She has a lot of pressure on sheep, and although her outrun and lift were nearly always almost perfect, the sheep started to bolt and the fetch was too short for them to settle. So her OLF visibly improved, but we still had to work on the drive. And finally that hard work paid off, and she can bring the sheep in almost straight lines through the gates now. There is only one problem left to tackle: I have to learn to shed..


Off she goes...

 

 ...bringing them nicely to me!

So last weekend we entered a 2nd class trial in Alken, and we became 10th of 23 teams. If only I had been able to shed, we could have penned too and earn a lot more points, but no. Putting the sheep in a pen is something we are good at, but we never get that far and that's because of me. I've been told I rather block the sheep so they can't split up, but I just don't see it. It seems easier when you're working sheep, and I don't know why I always mess up when I'm at a trial....

 Jessie did everything I asked, driving them away without hesitation:

 

 

 So the next weeks will be all about shedding, shedding and... oh yeah: shedding!!

 

Continental Sheepdog Championship 2013: Serge Van Der Zweep wins prize for best Shedding!

While I was taking pictures, my mom was filming some of the runs. Well, actually not the whole run but the interesting parts like shedding and penning, and also some bits and pieces of the other parts of a handler's run on the course.

So we have also the pleasure of showing you the video of the best shedding of the CSC 2013:

Serge Van Der Zweep with Eve!

Watch and learn, people! I'm sure I will try so :)

Continental Sheepdog Championship 2013

The CSC 2013 happened the last weekend of August, and the best handlers and their dogs from all over Europe competed for the title. I wasn't able to go to the qualifiers on Friday and Saturday, but saw a great deal of the Final on Sunday. As always it has been a joy to watch the best of the best, both handlers and dogs, and hoping to learn something of them too. Judges were Aled Owen form North Wales and James McGee from Northern Ireland.

The new Champion of 2013 is Jo Agnar Hansen with Sisko, and guess who is runner up? The same Jo Agnar Hansen with 11 year old Tika! And you want to know who was third? Well, that would happen to be his lady Karin Mattson with Trim, so the Championship was kind of a Norwegian party...

The Young Handlers Competition was won by the Swedish Frida Greiss with her dog Yoei. They did a great job on a quite difficult course.

I think I can say we all enjoyed the beautiful teamwork of Jo Agnar and his dogs, and that of Karin who did a really great job. She was the favorite of the day of the public, I think, along with the Swedish Anja Holgersson who put down an excellent run too.

Karin Mattson and Trim shedding...

... and penning

Anja Holgersson with Random Sod at the pen

One of the most touching moments of the trial was for sure when Jo Agnar Hansen led his 11 year old bitch Tika to the water tub for cooling down after the cross drive, while holding the sheep in the shedding ring himself. I'm sure judge Aled Owen appreciated this ;-)
After a few minutes they proceeded with the shedding.

A truly deserved victory for the winning couple!

What do dogs dream off?

Most of you probably think the dogs always sleep on my bed...
Well, they don't actually :)

I was going upstairs with the dogs the other day, but I forgot something so I went back down. And when I returned to my bedroom I found them all sleeping on their dog beds like little angels.

They must have been really tired, as they didn't even look up when I took my camera and made pictures. Except Yoshi, she looked at me as if I had disturbed the lovely dream she was having.

Suki opened her eyes but didn'n bother to move, and they were soon closed again. She was clearly enjoying her dream...

That made me kind of wonder what they were dreaming about. It must have been something nice, because they didn't seem to want to wake up. Since they often make running movements when they're dreaming, I'd like to think they're dreaming about working sheep. Maybe they even dream of running in a trial, maybe they even listen so perfectly that we're winning the trial! 

But after a while, I stopped dreaming myself and realised they're probably dreaming of working sheep without me, that annoying person who's always confusing them and disturbing their work.That person who doesn't see what the sheep are up to, causing them to bolt so the poor dog has to work even harder... I guess I better don't think about what they're dreaming, and try to make my own dreams come true.

Good night and sleep tight, my little friends!

Continental Sheepdog Championship 2012

Yes, I went to watch some of Europe's finest handlers last weekend!

What a treat it was indeed... this was handling at top level. And the dogs!
The best sheepdogs in Europe, running with such great style and doing everything they were told.
It was also a good oppurtunity to test my 70-300mm Nikon lense, and I took more than 700 pictures :)))

T. Jaran Knive became European Champion 2012 with Maico. It was their second year in a row, and for Jaran even the 6th time he won the title! And they did it with such ease, like it was just practising for them, awesome to watch!

Here's Maico working:

But the other competitors where also worth while, it was really a joy watching them handle their dogs. And if something did not go as it should have, it was not the dogs' fault...
The sheep were pretty behaving, sometimes challenging, but these dogs knew how to handle them. All in all these Kempische and Veluwse Heideschapen ran really good.

The winners of the Continental Sheepdog Championship from left to right: Serge van der Zweep (2nd place) with Eve, T. Jaran Knive with Maico (1st place) and Jo Agnar Hansen with Sisko (3rd place):

But the best thing I saw at this Trial was Jo Agnar Hansen picking up his dog and kiss it after his run, what a guy!

Welsh National Sheep Dog Trials 2012

With excitement I followed the postings on Facebook, Twitter and the ISDS website about the proceedings of the Welsh National Sheep Dog Trials. Thanks to Sophie Marie Holt, who kept the whole sheep dog trialling community informed, everybody was anxious and excited about the battle for the coveted title of Welsh Sheep Dog Champion 2012.

My friend Angie Driscoll was competing also, with her outstanding bitch Meg, who is a pleasure to watch working sheep. Imagine how immensely happy I was when they won on Day 2 of the Trials! Also my friend Richard Millichap was placed with Dewi Tweed, the sire of my Jai, Yoshi and Suki. As they became 5th, they also were assured of a Welsh Team Membership for the International Sheep Dog Trials 2012! Congratulations to them, and all the other Team Members!

Today then was the run off for the title of Welsh Champion 2012, and Angie and Meg became Reserve Champions 2012 with 1 (yes ONE!) point per judge difference! What an achievement! Well done, Angie and Meg!!

So this is the Welsh Team:

1. Arthur Roberts with CHIP (1st with 197 points on Saturday, 1st in the Run Off, 196)
2. Dr. Angie Driscoll with MEG (1st with 181 points on Friday, 2nd in the Run Off, 194)
3. Aled Owen with Gypsy (1st with 195 points on Thursday, 3rd in the Run Off, 186)
4. Gerald Lewis with SPLASH (FLASH)  (2nd Saturday, 196)
5. Medwyn Evans with JAN (2nd Thursday, 187)
6. Dan Jarman with JAFF (2nd Friday, 174)
7. Alun Jones (Selatyn) with KATE (3rd Saturday, 189)
8. E Harcourt Lloyd with Kilcreen JESS (3rd Thursday, 186)
9. Kevin Evans with GREG (3rd Friday, 164 OLF 93)
10. I B Jones with Tanhill JOE (4th Saturday, 188 OLF 88)
11. Jeff Hudd with Tysswg NELL (4th Thursday, 181)
12. Lyn M Howells with MAX (4th Friday, 164 OLF 83)
13. Robert Ellis with MIRK (5th Saturday, 188 OLF 81)
14. John L Bowen with BELLE (5th Thursday, 180)
15. Richard M Millichap with Dewi TWEED (5th Friday, 161)

Driving:
Jeff Hudd and Tysswg NELL
Brace:
1. E I Jones and TOM & JESS
2. G L Jones and DON & ZAC



And this is a picture of Meg I took 2 years ago, what a girl!

We be all rooting for Meg and Angie in September at the International Sheep Dog Trials!!

Let me introduce the gang:

Jessie is my first border collie. She was born on the 27th of July 2005, and I picked her because she seemed to be the calmest puppy of the litter. Boy, did I have the wrong impression! She's been always full of life, eager to work and very keen on herding animals. It all started with the chickens, she loved to herd them. So I started to go to sheep herding classes with her, and that's when it al began...

After I struggled for five years to learn the mysterious art of herding sheep, I decided to have me a new pup. All I had learned from and with Jessie, including the lots of mistakes I had made, I could try to do better with this new one, so I thought. Since I had requests for pups of Jessie herself from a few people, I finally found the perfect mate for her in the International Supreme Champion 2009: Dewi Tweed, owned by Richard Millichap. And so she had a litter in July 2011, but more about that later.


End of April 2011, when Jessie had mated with Tweed, I still didn't notice anything about her being pregnant. So I thought she was empty and I wouldn't get a pup out of her. By chance, I saw a very interesting litter on Facebook: there were still a few pups available, sired by Dutch Champion Jim, owned by Serge van der Zweep. I went to have a look, but didn't choose the one I was going for. Instead I chose the one with the blue eye, the one I certainly wasn't going to take! And so Floyd came to join us, and he is the most lovely and sweetest boy you've ever seen :)

More about the others later!