Lee ran during the hottest part of the day; it was 90. The sheep were hot and didn't want to cooperate.
We start with 200pts (100 from 2 different judges) and they deduct as we go through our run. The sheep were very determined to go off the field to the left during every run; our sheep were no different. Lee did a great job bringing straight to my feet after getting them; there were several places where he had to work hard to stop the from going to the left and keep them coming to me.
After bringing them to me we had to drive them towards the left while not letting them run off. Then we turned them away from where they wanted to go (towards the cross drive panels) which took a lot of convincing by Lee; pushing the and cutting off their attempts to curl around him.
After making going through the cross drive panels he brought them into the shedding ring; at this pint both Lee and the sheep were panting very hard. We got the shed and started towards the pen. At this pint Lee was so hot he couldn't focus. We got them to the mouth of the pen 3 times and one sheep would dart away at the last moment. Each time Lee headed to the water tank to try to cool off. We ran out of time without making the pen. Lee needed to soak in the water tub for about 5min to cool off. He recovered quickly and was ready for more sheep time.
We got a 142 out of the 200 possible; the pen was worth 20pts. At the end of the day 75 of the 150 dogs had run. The top score is 180 and Lee was in 18th (the top 40 go onto the semis).
Nell runs tomorrow and it is going to be in the 70s!
Mark & Renee
Working Border Collies: Nell (retired), Tally (retired), Grant (semi retired), Lee, Fern & Hattie
Duke & Penny (Anatolians) home guarding the flock
2001 Chevy Express 2500 Cargo (rolling kennel)
2007 Nash 22M
