Latest news from Marionvale
June 2008
Marionvale Teddy at work.
18 month old Marionvale Teddy owned by Shirley Oberg showed his versatility at a recent Larry Painter Clinic in Washington USA by stepping up to working cattle like an old professional.
Teddy immediately took charge of the cattle initially holding them with his eye, then realising he would need a little more to shift these big animals, walked up dealt with the confrontation with confidence and strength turning the cattle and then steering them from behind.
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| Marionvale Teddy photographs curtesy of Jeff Jaquish (www.zingpix.com) |
June 2008
Marionvale Melbourne sets the standard and gains first title.
Marionvale Melbourne was entered in his first official Large Flock Ranch Trial format of the American Herding Breeds Association. Mel is approaching 18months old and handled by his owner Molly Westling from Oregan USA
Molly tells us:
Well, the trial was really fun, though quite a bit more intense than just practicing in the field with sheep that have been happily grazing all day. The trial sheep were yearlings with one older one in to calm them--3 groups of 30 that were rotated. But they didn't get to graze for two days, so by the second day they were hungry and tired of the herding game.
Mel practiced a couple of times around the course the day before the trial. The first day of the trial, his run was #10 of 12 dogs, at the end of the day. He was very good, and we only missed getting the whole flock through every obstacle by a couple of sheep at one gate. He covered the sheep much better than some more advanced dogs. What amazed me was that the judge gave him the second best score. And he was the youngest dog.
Melbourne didn't win any prize but did collect a red ribbon and a title for the first level of the large flock format of the American Herding Breeds Association.
April 2008
Marionvale Teddy gains ASCA Started Trial Dog Title.
Twelve month old Marionvale Teddy competed in his first sheepdog trial in April with proud owner Shirley Oberg from Arlington Washington and gained his first title.
Shirley tells us:
The ASCA Trial (Australian Shepherd Club of America) and their Started Trial Dog course is just a very simple fetch around, with the dog fetching sheep around the field, pushing through two cross drive gates at the end, and then a fetch back down the field and you re-pen. Nothing too challenging at Started Level where you don't do the freestanding pen yet, and Teddy put in two very pretty qualifying runs, and thus earned his ASCA Started Trial Dog Title.
On the second day he did even better than the first, completing his course in three minutes eleven seconds - when I walked off the course with him after his run was finished even the Judge's scribe hollered at me what a nice run we had, and everybody was saying what a nice dog Teddy is. People I've never met before were coming up to complement Teddy's run. My friend Lisa was there to watch Teddy's run, and she overheard a local handler who has run her Border Collies at the US BC Nationals telling her student to watch my run and then go out there and do everything I had just done - and when I finished my run, she told her student that it was the best Started run she had ever seen! Wow. (ME??)
Teddy made the light trial sheep look almost like old stuffed training sheep. I can't say the same for most of the contestants, many of the handlers' dogs either failed to clear an obstacle and/or lost their sheep to the draw. Easy to do because the sheep were nice and light and painfully honest not course trained and they do make a dog have to work for everything he gets. Lots of dogs had a lot of trouble with them, (but not my Tedster though)!
April 2008
Marionvale Roy wins Western Australian State Novice Agility Title.
Marionvale Roy was entered in his first agility trial by owner Erika Pope over the weekend. It was the State agility trial which consisted of two trials and the top scoring 14 dogs went into a run off trial for the State Winner.
I am proud to say the Roy is the State Novice Agility Winner competing against some VERY strong competition.
In the qualifying trials he placed a second and third place, but first place where it counts in the Final!!!
March 2008
Marionvale Motje does it again.
Thrilled to tell you that the Motje got his first Ranch Dog title over the weekend. We had qualifying runs at two of the three trials, and I must say, he was awesome throughout. I was amazed at how this immature, green little pup performed under stress, in unfamiliar surroundings, with extremely flighty sheep, and handicapped by a handler who was (and still is) dying slowly of terminal laryngitis. Had to use body language...what a concept!!
I was so very, very proud of him. And once again, with his and Rani's performances, there was a lot of buzz at the trial about you and your dogs. Karyl
February 2008
12 month old Marionvale Motje Gains first Title
Owner Karyl Hansen of Washington USA tells:
Marionvale Motje did us all proud at the AHBA trial this weekend.
Motje did a great job in two runs, getting his “Junior Herding Dog” title and lots of compliments and accolades from the judges. You had to march three incredibly sticky sheep through three panel obstacles, two on the fence line, and one on the centreline, and then re-pen the Sheep. Unbelievably hard with a green cattle dog, and unbelievably easy with a green Marionvale Kelpie. At the end, Motje looked at me like “is this all there is???” The only thing I would have changed would have been having him hold the sheep further off the gate at the re-pen. I didn’t position him optimally for that, and we need to start doing some basic off-balance work so he trusts me more in a situation like that.
February 2008
2 yr old Marionvale Rani sets the standard.
Owner Susan Crocker of Washington USA tells:
I just got home from the two-day trial, and have some good news! Rani
won her class both days and tied an advanced BC for Reserve High in Trial
the first day. Today, she had a near perfect run under a much more critical
judge, only losing 4 points. I actually think she could have done the
Advanced level as I stayed pretty much at the advanced handler's line on the
drives. She was like a four year old out there, taking every command, being patient; walking the very light sheep straight into the pen....I am so proud of how far she has come in such a short time! Thankyou for letting me have such a wonderful bitch.
