by Otis – Before things get too far away, I want to show you some photos taken by a friend of ours during the National Finals. Suzanne Anaya caught Russell in action* during his preliminary run – the run in which one sheep decided to tee-off on Russ four times! Since these are our only memories of this historic run, I am showing you photos that Suzanne may not have shown in public. I thank her for allowing me to use these. Any editing and/or cropping was done by me.

*No animals were permanently harmed or injured during this photo shoot. At no time did Russell bite/grip the sheep and, for the most part, tried to stay away from the charging sheep.

Everything moving along calmly through the course

This sheep has had enough of calmly moving through the course

Russell getting rocked, then rolled

In the shed ring, sheep taking shot #3

Squaring off . . .

. . . and holding his sheep in the shed ring

Lining up for the shed . . .

and taking two off (just like we had planned to do 6 minutes ago!)

I guess we’re not quite  done, yet . . .

. . . as Russell takes hit #4

Okay, that was fun, now let’s gather them up and head to the pen

by Otis – Yes, you read that correctly: Russell finished 27th at the National Sheepdog Finals in Carbondale, CO! Out of approx. 800 members, 150 qualify to compete in the Open Nationals. All 150 compete in the preliminaries with just the top 40 moving on to the Semi-Finals and only the top 17 competing in the Finals.

The event was held at beautiful Strang Ranch, elevation approx. 7,000 feet, which lies on 460 acres in western Colorado with outstanding views of Mount Sopris (you’ve seen the pictures and you’ll be seeing some more).

Russell is my hero. In the Preliminary round, he got hit (was attacked) 4 times by a rogue sheep. Russell never lost his composure nor his focus. He completed his run with a score just high enough to put him in the next round. A handler said Russell should get a medal for continuing to work the sheep after being hit that many times. Another said they had never seen anything like it before – most other dogs would have bitten the sheep or quit.

In the Semi-Final round of 40, Russell could have backed off due to his previous experience, but he didn’t. He worked his sheep around the course, got a shed and a pen, then ran out of time for the single shed. What a great trial dog! Two years ago Russ finished 96th and last year 76th. The thought this year was to better the 76 with an ultimate, life goal of making the top 40. Done.

Whew! Now for some deserved time off. We start training next week for the 2017 Finals in Virginia.

Say what?!

*Pics to follow.

by Otis – Work, work, work! Russell and I got in a little training on sheep today . . . finally. Tomorrow we leave for Carbondale, CO, for the 2016 National Sheepdog Finals. YEA!! Russell will be competing in the preliminary round on Wednesday, 9/14. Please cheer him on as he is competing against 149 other dog/handler teams. He got 76th last year and is hoping to improve his score.

Thank you for following us on our journey. You are wonderful humans. 🙂

Russell (with tiny humans living behind his ears).

by Otis – Oh, the dog days of summer! We’ve been to 2 local trials and I haven’t updated you on either one.

At the Highland Games in June, Russell took an 8th and 11th and I got a 15th. And, at the Last Chance trial in July, Russell worked his way to 6th and 8th while I took 20th both days. Not too bad for two ol’ rusty gates practicing about an hour a month!

So, you’d think, “Oh, they must be doing a lot of geese work instead of training on sheep.” Nope! No geese all summer. So, we’ve been going to our job sites and running. Yep, just running. Just between you and me, it’s boooooorrrring.

Oh, well, here are some recent pics to perk you up.

Last blog we put in an unpleasant pic of Russell. Well, here I am looking at you, kid.

Did I mention the dog days of summer?

Who wouldn’t love a face like that?

I’m really not liking this idea of Russell walking me.

After a little run at one of our job sites – water!

Sunrise at Last Chance trial.

by Russell – The San Diego Scottish Highland Games Sheepdog Trial is coming! Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and 26, at Brengle Terrace Park in Vista, CA. Gates open at 9:00AM. Otis and I will compete sometime between 10 and 3. There is much to see and do: bag pipe competitions, athletic events, food court, kids’ games. We’ll have a pop-up canopy, so bring a chair and sit a spell. For more information, click HERE.

Here are some recent photos showing my love for Otis while he licks my wound.  Enjoy!

Enjoying the care and attention . . . for the first 15 seconds

Then enduring it for the next 2 minutes while showing my love in return

Love you, Otis!