I've been tagged! Memories of the Crook & Whistle 07
Check back for videos, as it turns out I have to 'compress' them because they are too big...
Handler's meeting on the first morning.
For me, watching this sportsmanship on the bleachers was every bit as important a lesson as watching the handling on the field. Particularly as, for people at the top of the sport like Scott and Alasdair, this is not a weekend to enjoy a hobby - this is their job and they needed to focus on their own runs, but it did not affect their demeanor with anyone who came to chat.
At Stockdog trials, they post every score for everyone to see. I wrote in some scores when they needed help during the weekend. In case you can't see, the top scores so far on this sheet were Jenny and Lad and Trish with Max, Alasdair and Star, and Scott's Penny won the first day! And as we know, Lad went on to win Most Promising Nursery dog at the Nationals a few weeks later, and Star won the Nationals for the second time.
Alasdair and Scott chat - before Scott is about to go in with Maid - Jet's mom. I just LOVE the photo below of Maid. She was going to go start on her own, and Scott had to tell her to wait, and this is the look she gave him...gee, do you think Jet has inherited this little attitude?
Last week, a bunch of us were tagged by our fellow bloggers. The idea is that you had to go to your picture files, and select a photo as directed, then write about it. In this case, we had to go to the 6th folder and choose the 6th photo. It took awhile to do this, because I needed to buy a new keyboard! Since I love to write, this was a very fun challenge!
If you check Jenny Glen's Alta-Pete blog, she writes that it seemed fishy, because the photo she pulled up was of the dog belonging to the person who tagged her! Well, imagine my grin when I went to my sixth folder, which was "Herding." In that folder I had subfolders, so went to the 6th one, which was "Madison 07" and the photos are all of Jenny and Scott. This is a picture of Scott Glen and Pleat! This was taken at the Crook & Whistle STD in Jefferson Wisconsin, just outside of Madison.
I don't mind writing about this because I LOVE this picture. Scott was waiting for his run and it looks like he and Pleat are discussing their game plan. I also love how this shot shows the relationship between a handler and his dog. I took it with a zoom lens, so Scott had no idea I was intruding on this private moment. But I think you will agree it was worth it.
Handler's meeting on the first morning.
Pleat is the most amazing dog and I loved watching this trial. And as everyone knows, Pleat went on to have the most amazing year this year to be the only dog to win all of the major trials in his lifetime in North America. When I watch Pleat move, he looks like a jungle cat, he is so athletic.
The Crook & Whistle trial was like a 3-day clinic for me to have the privilege of sitting with Scott and Jenny, who sat with Alasdair and Trish MacRae (so I was in good company and had the sense to mostly listen.) The cameraderie between Scott and Alasdair was a lesson to everyone at this small trial in Wisconsin. I remember arriving the day before for a lesson with Alasdair, and to help set up at the trial. People were so excited to have both Scott and Alasdair there. They didn't know that I knew Scott, and they were saying "And can you believe that Alasdair was the one who told Scott to come?" I've written about this before, but they were so gracious to everyone who wanted to talk dogs with them, and also very complimentary and supportive to everyone at the trial.
Another photo of Scott and Pleat. Pleat is so experienced, he was very relaxed as he waited for his turn. You can see Jenny at the left. Here she is with her "little dog" Skid!
For me, watching this sportsmanship on the bleachers was every bit as important a lesson as watching the handling on the field. Particularly as, for people at the top of the sport like Scott and Alasdair, this is not a weekend to enjoy a hobby - this is their job and they needed to focus on their own runs, but it did not affect their demeanor with anyone who came to chat. At Stockdog trials, they post every score for everyone to see. I wrote in some scores when they needed help during the weekend. In case you can't see, the top scores so far on this sheet were Jenny and Lad and Trish with Max, Alasdair and Star, and Scott's Penny won the first day! And as we know, Lad went on to win Most Promising Nursery dog at the Nationals a few weeks later, and Star won the Nationals for the second time. Alasdair and Scott chat - before Scott is about to go in with Maid - Jet's mom. I just LOVE the photo below of Maid. She was going to go start on her own, and Scott had to tell her to wait, and this is the look she gave him...gee, do you think Jet has inherited this little attitude? It was fun to see Maid run too, since she is Jet's mom. She runs faster than any dog I have ever seen, and it was neat to see where a lot of Jet's qualities come from, as Jet can run like a whippet too (hence the name...)
Here is Ted, Pleat's son and the apple of my eye. He was in the shade of the bleachers but wishing he could be sitting with me (on my lap) but he has to learn to behave at trials!
Alasdair was running Star and Nap. Nap also looked fantastic. I did some videotaping, and remember after one of Nap's runs, how Scott came over and said he hoped I taped that because that was one of the nicest runs you were ever going to see. I did, and have uploaded it - you can see it at the end of this post (I taped two of his runs, and one was very shaky so this is the one I am posting for you to enjoy):
Scott was running Pleat, Maid and Penny, and Jenny had Lad and Hemp entered. I taped all of the runs, and later in the evenings we watched the runs. Being such a beginner, I was in awe of everything, and was also struck by how humble Scott was (I think people who know him know this). Lucky me, Scott and Jenny really gave me a Trialing 101 that weekend. I have posted Penny's run below for your viewing pleasure.
Here is Ted, Pleat's son and the apple of my eye. He was in the shade of the bleachers but wishing he could be sitting with me (on my lap) but he has to learn to behave at trials!At my lesson with Alasdair, I asked him honestly if I was ready to enter a trial with Ted. I was prepared for a very honest opinion. I only had Ted for four months at this point, and it was our teamwork we were focusing on. Alasdair said "you could do it, but you could do better." As much as I wanted to get my feet wet, the last thing I want is to enter and make a mess of things, so decided to pull Ted and watch instead. It was the right thing to do, and watching - and supporting everyone else - was as much of a good experience.
I'm glad I pulled this photo! It brings back a lot of good memories of a very good weekend. It was one of the last really good weekends I remember recently, because the day I got home - my husband had left, and it has been a year of completely recovering from all of the chaos, and re-inventing my life. Not surprisingly, my choices have focused on trying to build a new life around herding, because I have found it to be such a positive force and one of my major life goals is to handle my dogs in an Open trial and do a passing job of it!
Here are the two videos. Star actually won the second day, and she went on to win the National Finals in Gettysburg a few weeks later. I know that everyone at this trial felt the electricity in the air with the Nationals coming up, and having such great handlers like Scott and Alasdair take part in the trial. They make it look so easy and in fact, elegant.
This is the first time I have put video on the blog. I apologize if you have dial-up, I am new to high speed and it is wonderful.
Category Article Alasdair MacRae, Border collie, Scott Glen, Sheepdog trials, Ted
