Trial Results

ASTA ALL-BREED STOCK DOG TRIAL held 17 November 2007, Portland Ct

The points/time trial held in New England last November was unlike anything trial I've seen before. Initially we had 23 spots but because of the interest, we dug up some more sheep and filled at 28 entries.

The course was designed by Lynette Milleville, whose trialing experience is in the Border Collie world, but who has students with dogs of all breeds. The course was laid out in a large arena - about 300 x 400. The obstacles varied in difficulty from gates (she used buckets filled with water to mark out the gates), to a Maltese cross, a narrow y chute with a foot bath in it, to an area in which you had to leave the sheep, call your dog back to a handler's post and send the dog on a short outrun to collect the sheep and take them through a zig zag pattern of 4 gates, borrowed from New Zealand driving courses.  Finally there was a shed and then repen.

The gates were the easiest, the foot bath the most difficult. But just because they were the easiest, the gates were by no mean easy since they were all considerably off the fence. The gates set out in a zig zag pattern were particularly difficult. And there were a number of draws you had to fight.

We had four levels - advanced, intermediate, novice and prenovice. In the advanced division handlers had to stay one obstacle behind their dog; in the intermediate division handlers had to stay 15 feet behind their dog; in the novice division handers could be anywhere (they could fetch through the course if they chose.); in the pre-novice division dogs had leashes that handlers could pick up when/if they chose to do so.

None of the advanced or intermediate handlers could finish the course in the allotted time of 12 minutes. But since teams did not have to finish the course to score points This did not affect the final standings. Novice handlers had to negotiate fewer obstacles and the water troughs were taken out of the foot bath. Because they could fetch the course and there were fewer obstacles a few teams were able to finish within the 10 minute time limit set for that class.

But the difficulty of the course had an interesting consequence. People began to compete against the course rather than each other (in spite of cash payouts to the best finishers). And it became the most raucous trial I've ever been to. People where yelling, cheering, buckling over with laughter and throwing themselves on the ground in mock dismay when sheep would slip out of the mouth of an obstacle at the last instant.

There are things we'll do differently next time, but every one had a blast, and we picked up some new members for ASTA as well.

I trial for fun - not for finals points, not to build a reputation.  And this was without doubt the most fun trial I've ever been to - by a factor of 10.

At the end of the day people thanked Lynette and me for hosting the trial and, despite the fact that they came from all over - New York City, Upstate New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. and Connecticut for a one day trial, vowed they'd be there for the next one.

The following teams finished in the money:

ASTA All-Breed Stock Dog Trial...

Held 17 November 2007
Portland, CT

RESULTS - Point/Time Sheep Trial

ASTA's 1st All-Breed Stock Dog Trial...

Held May 5 & 6, 2007
Brenham, Texas

RESULTS