Us.
I don't know why I waste my time.
Stood at the post today, and sent Echo. For a minute there, she was running out there to go pick up the sheep. I thought for a second that I might be in the clear.
She gets to the little tree/bush/flower island she stopped at yesterday, and stops. And pees. And sniffs. So I whistle her out of it, around it, and she finds another spot. And another spot. (Picture this ... trial is adjacent to a long pond. Setout is at one end of the pond and the post is at the other end of the pond ... all on the same side.) She manages ... just by her presence ... to push she sheep to the opposite side of the pond. She's not engaged. She's not working. Her brain is completely disconnected. So, I go over to the other side of the pond, and try to get her to pick up the sheep. In the meantime, the host's lovely wife comes over and says, "I got it, Jodi." I said, "No, that's ok. Thanks. We need to clean up the mess. It'll be a good lesson for her." So I send her. The host's lovely wife then sends her dog, too. I call Echo off and walk away. Nothing more for me to do there.
I am on my walk of shame back to my truck, and I pass by the owner of Echo's sire. He's a big hat. He says, "Hi Jodi." Yes, hi. I'm sure he's very proud.
And this is a local trial! Could you imagine if I traveled to like Western Washington or some other fancy shit to do this? We can't manage to make it around a dinky little course right here in Boise. There's no way I'd go do this anywhere else.
Why do I do it at all? I have no idea. To get my dogs out there on different sheep in different locations? Nope, I do that already. To prove my dogs? To who? Everyone else? I guess so, considering I don't need to prove them to me. Why am I proving my dogs? I don't know. It's not like I breed multiple litters a year, and need my dogs to do well at trials or anything. I don't teach lessons so I don't need the success of doing well at trials. So why do I bother? I don't have a clue.
Next weekend will be much more fun. Two of my very good friends are coming up to see me from L.A. So now, this week, I get to scrub the house from top to bottom and prepare to party for three days straight! :-)
That is the worst feeling in the world. One of my first Open trials, I sent my dog and while I was walking down the field to help her find her sheep, she managed to sneak back up the field and into the exhaust pens where she tried to bring me those sheep (um, when have I ever sent you BEHIND me for sheep???) All on an outrun that was 1/2 of what she could do at home. One thing that helped (I did sell that dog, but got some ok runs out of her after that) was to not bring her out before I ran her and I would keep her on a leash and not mess with "see sheep, blah blah blah blah". Went to a post with a "you better find your $*%*$* sheep" attitude, like she was already in a little trouble and she at least got out there and put in a good effort instead of messing around.
ReplyDeleteYou know ... the first run on Saturday, I didn't have anything but expectations of her at least bringing the sheep to me because she normally does. When she blew the first run, I had a discussion with her that she'd better do something different on the second run, and she did. Sunday morning, though, I didn't threaten her with her life. I probably should have. Although, I'm not sure it would have made a difference. She was 90 miles away thinking about boys and things. Little hussy.
ReplyDelete