A fascinating day at the semifinals of the sheepdog nationals. But a miserable day for photography. Also, I forgot my telephoto attachment. The finals tomorrow promise some cloud cover, and sheep and dogs alike will appreciate a predicted drop in temperature.
Tommy Wilson and Sly's top-scoring qualifying run was as near to perfect as anything I've ever seen, though there were other moments of sheer art, something from every dog. Here they are getting their pen, after the first shed and before the last single shed.
Tomorrow, the double-lift finals.
Cole, spectator dog, started out being interested in the runs only when a wreck was underway, or -- and this is the interesting bit -- imminent. He would perk up and watch intently about 30 seconds before I realized a dog was in real trouble.
Late in the day he started to study the runs when they were going well, showing the same kind of sustained, intelligent interest that Mel did when she watched her first stockwork. My turkey and goat dawg has now seen sheep.
This is truly interesting. Would have been something really neat to get on video.
ReplyDeleteAny plans to get Cole into the sheep business?
Watched about five minutes of today's events, Emil Leudeke and Spot. Impressive!
ReplyDeleteSome of them make it look SO EASY, and then there are the ones, especially when the sheep don't cooperate (like in Tink's case), where it just looks really difficult. I can't believe that this doesn't get publicized more. These dogs are absolutely amazing! I love how they all know where the water tank is when they're done too :)
ReplyDeleteWhat's more interesting to me is that you notice Cole perking up before the train wreck, and correctly interpret his body language. So cool. I spend a fair amount of time observing my dogs and trying to interpret, with only limited success.
ReplyDeleteHeather,
ReplyDeleteDo you read this blog?
http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/
You seem to have a lot in common with the writer - dogs, homesteading, livestock, etc.
Just wanted to pass it along!