Zamora Hills Sheepdog Trial

Once again the generous Slaven family hosted the challenging Zamora trial in northern California.  This year the trial was held on “Henry’s Field,” which features a devastating outrun through swales and over rolling hills where many of our dogs met with the crushing defeat of not ever getting to their sheep.

Yes, this was a questionable first outing in the Open class for my very young dog, Tucker.  He suffered the humiliation of failing to relocate the sheep once he lost sight of them in a ravine, and then attempting to bring me the next best thing he could find … a group of nice large boulders.  Tucker exhibited great style and finesse with his approach; unfortunately, even his significant power was not enough to budge the rocks.

Brynn is also very green in Open, and she found herself in over her head on Saturday as well.  Both dogs reached the sheep on Sunday … and both of them came down the field short a ewe or two.

It’s a tricky question; whether putting a young or inexperienced dog in a difficult situation where it might fail is a wise move.  Careful consideration should be used when making the decision.  With these two dogs, I felt comfortable that the experience they would gain from attempting the enormous outrun over difficult and potentially confusing terrain, as well as from exposure to fairly undogged range ewes, would be worth any potential risk to their developing confidence.  This might not be the case for other individual dogs.

All in all, it was a great entrée into the 2010 trialling year.  Many good friends were there, and the escape from Oregon drear into the California sunshine was a mouth watering treat this year.