The Bluegrass

Been keeping tabs on the scores of the Bluegrass trial. Wow. Looks like work out there. Alisdair's Nap snapped up a good score of 94. That is seriously decent. Must be nice ;) He is amazing to watch run a dog. So calm, just doing his job. Not unlike Tiger Woods. All the good handlers get to keep just one name as their reference: Bev, Alisdair, Scott, you know, the ones who always seem to be at the top. It surely ain't a coinkydink. It's hard work, and learning, and knowing your dog. HANDLING that's just it. You need a VERY GOOD dog, and you need a VERY GOOD handler. THEN, you can really shoot high. Me? I aim high, end up shooting low, but it gets a wee bit higher, that trajectory, as we go. Some day, mark my words, some day, I will walk to the post at the Bluegrass with a Kelpie. Someone has to do this, and well, it may just as well be me... Of course, if someone else wants to do it- go ahead :)

Regarding scores, I still don't know for instance, on the lift how you would score things. If the sheep were hard to lift, but then, did, and subsequently took off, all in about a second- and the dog had to regather to get them on line- is that points off the lift, or the fetch? I really don't know. I love the lift, I think it's my most favorite part of the runs. At the distance in trials the caliber of Old Chatham and the Bluegrass (yes, I purposely put them on the same level, because I believe that they are similarly difficult, even if Chatham doesn't garner the same hoopla) your dog simply must have dominion over the sheep. You separate the real sheepdogs from the wanna be's. They have to figure out how to move up and control unknown sheep on fields that they don't know- and do it so as to calm the sheep, not upset them.

I applaud everyone who is running at the BG this year, and I am rooting for our northeast compatriots. I sure hope someone is shooting lots of pics.