European Nursery 2018 in Heteren, Netherlands 🇳🇱
Two dogs entered. #Bob 2 yrs old - goal: get into the top 50 (with some dreams for more) #Mo 1.5 yrs old - goal: finish the runs, get experience
There were two courses: - Lake District Course with light sheep and large pond on the top left side. - Dutch Mountain Course with heavy sheep. A completely flat and narrow field with some obstacles in it.
Day 1. Lake District Course. Nice outrun with some problems at the lift, that resulted in stressful first leg of the fetch. Bob recovered nicely through the ditch and we managed to get the gates. Afterwards the line was nice, turn OK, the drive went quite smoothly ... till the sheep were in front of the 2nd driving gate. I wanted to make some small adjustments, the dog stopped a bit too late and instead of continuing a nice drive the sheep missed the gates adding a twist and a turn. Line was recovered and another turn to the chute went OK. The chute was easy, but not as smooth as those best ones I saw. In the shedding ring we struggled a bit, but all ended well. 77 pts.
Day 2. Dutch Mountain Course. Nice outrun, lift again with some problems and the sheep went offline to right. I whistled and whistled, but all that happened was Bobby’s consternation and sheep running a beautiful banana curve (I do not think much appreciated by the judges). The dog could not hear me at all (in that moment I realised that previous handlers had the same problems). I regained control at the very end of the fetch, the gate of course was missed and most of the 20 pts lost. The rest of the run went OK. Bob had no problem in pushing the sheep on the drive. Chute and shed went well. You can watch the shed here: http://bit.ly/2FIIpGE. 69 pts.
In summary I am happy with Bob's performance. He worked properly on both heavy and light sheep. He was 35th overall and this is the best Polish result in the ENC ever. If we hadn't committed some stupid mistakes it would have been much better, but then probably most of the handlers would say same thing. Bob was 2 yrs old, so he’s eligible to run next year and I hope to get a chance to make it to the final.
Day 1. Lake District Course. Mo set nicely for the outrun, but it was all we managed on that day. She tightened too much and I failed to redirect her. The pond blocked any possibility of sending her wide. So I stepped off the post. Ret = 0 pts.
Day 2. Dutch Mountain Course. Outrun with couple of whistles and correct lift. The fetch went quite well with only one bigger problem after passing the fetch gate. On the drive the sheep started turning to the bitch, but she walked nicely forward without hesitation. Mo had to fight the sheep turning on her to the 2nd gate. We missed both gates, but the lines were quite nice. The turn before the chute resulted in some big problems. One sheep escaped and I had problems to regather them again. The shot went smoothly and I made a quick shed having little time left. 64 pts.
In summary we have quite a lot of things to work through with Mo, especially the outruns. For her age and training time she performed well and I am especially pleased that she managed to push the sheep when they started turning on her.
