Posted By Sandy Wilson on October 10, 2010
HGH TRIAL at KERGLOFF FARM
Saturday, October 9, 2010
HGH Trial for HGH Club Northeast – Judged by SV Judge Herr Wilfried Scheld
Saturday, 9 October 2010, the HGH Club Northeast (2nd Club to be formed in the US) had their 1st HGH Trial. It was a perfect day, even a bit warm for October; nevertheless it was a beautiful day with rich blue skies, scattered clouds, and a cool breeze. The sheep looked very well conditioned and were ready to start the course.
The morning started out with the Mayor of the town in NJ welcoming everyone to the area and thanking the club for inviting him to kick off their first HGH event. The Mayor was actually the highlight of the morning as he was explaining that Knowlton has NJ’s largest black bear population. No sooner did he mentioned black bear and out of the woods a black bear appeared for all of us to see. It was so ironic to be mentioning the black bears of New Jersey and then to have one actually show up at the event! PRICELESS! I must say I was glad the bear never showed up again that day. I later joked with the Mayor about him secretly bringing the bear and letting him loose. The Mayor joked back and said the bear was a trained pet! It really started off the morning with a chuckle. Thank you Mayor!
Cheyenne (Carol Wiegand’s Rescue Dog – What a nice handler and dog team – great job).
Photo by Megan Rabon
The morning started out with the handler’s meeting and competitors walking the course, with questions asked along the way, and finally drawing numbers for the running order. All female dogs were also checked to see if any were in heat. Before each dog ran the course, microchips/tatoos were checked, collars inspected, and each dog was readied to begin their run.
Up first was Geary Loff with his beauceron Breizh, For Title Only. He is the owner and caretaker of the flock and it is customary for that handler to perform the first run of the day. Breizh and Geary both did a beautiful job! The first run of the day is always the most difficult, as it really sets the tone for the flock and the runs for the rest of the competitors. Breizh is a full-time working dog on the farm and an exceptional worker; his obedience is exemplary! Great JOB!
Geary Loff & Breizh (Beauceron)
I would like to point out that Geary Loff competed for the first time with his dog Breizh (Beauceron). Geary and his dog Breizh did a top-notch job of conditioning this flock to be used for this trial. He did an excellent job of introducing some new sheep into the flock prior to the trial so that they would work well for the competition. Great Job! Furthermore, I would like to say that the set up, location and condition of the grounds were absolutely beautiful, well kept and maintained. The pastures looked super with lovely green forage for the sheep and it was arranged nicely to have the dogs illustrate all the trial obstacles.
Geary has put so much time and hard work into the land and the sheep. Many of the club members too have been a great help for setting up the trial and made it run smoothly. I am sure it couldn’t have gone as well without having the help of everyone in the club. It really takes a good group of people who work together well to put on a good trial. I would also add that it was nice that the course was arranged to include an area on the hill in the middle of the course to allow for spectators to view the dogs working from all sides of the course.
I won’t go into detail about each run and how obstacles were executed, as it would be to lengthy, so I am just posting the final results. I think some of the dogs did a really nice job while others needed more experience and training. I give great credit to all those handlers who went out there with their dogs and trialed. Nice job everyone!
Kristin & Lara
It takes so much time and dedication to train for this type of event. Only when you have trained your dog for this type of work, can you truly appreciate the time and effort that it takes to go into a trial and finish the course. It is one thing to show a dog at an event that is completely orchestrated, predictable, and trained by constant repetition, but to trial a dog with a flock of sheep is a different story. Sheep, who are unpredictable and present many variables that one cannot control, is a real challenge for a dog and handler. Every run is different and every situation that comes up can be different; knowing how to best handle each situation requires experience and some sense of strategy in knowing sheep, their behaviors and how to place or direct your dog. Goodness knows, when you add lambs into the equation, that can be even more challenging. I applaud each and everyone one of the handlers – super job! What a great group of competitors!
Click on diagram to enlarge.
The COURSE: The course started out at the pen with a flock of over 200 head of sheep. The dog was called to jump in the pen and then the sheep were called from the pen onto a road and led to a large graze where the dog had to exhibit boundary work, diligence, and also a placement. After the large graze, the sheep were gathered and taken down a path to the narrow graze where the dog had to work the sheep on both sides while the sheep slowly grazed through a smaller, narrow pasture. From there, the sheep were once again led out of the graze to go around a very narrow corner where the dog was placed as “Post” so the sheep would go around the dog and then across a bridge. After moving over the bridge the dogs did a long stretch of road work, moving the sheep in a long line, displaying their ability to work along a road side while a car/truck would pass the flock. The dog works between the sheep and the vehicle to keep the sheep out of the road while the vehicle can pass. This was a very long stretch of traffic work and very nice to see. Lastly, the sheep were placed back in their holding pen. Following each run, a schutzhund helper would come out and agitate the dog for the protection phase of the run. Upon completion of all phases of the HGH test, SV Judge Herr Scheld critiqued and scored each dog and handler.
Debra & Marco
As usual at trials, things don’t always go as planned. Whether it is the sheep being difficult, the weather being inclement, a problematic course layout or illogical instructions from the judge, that is just part of trialing. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t, but they are all learning experiences. You can’t always take trial results to heart and you shouldn’t always except trial scores on their face value unless you were there to see the event yourself, then you can be the JUDGE!
RESULTS: Grade Scores are: 90-100 Excellent (V), 80-89 Very Good (SG), 70-79 Satisfactory (B), 50-59 Deficient and less than 50 Unsatisfactory. In addition to the grade scores, each dog was given a protection phase score of either “pronounced”(“a”) or “present” (v).
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Geary Loff with Breizh (Beauceron – Male) - For Title Only, 92 Points (Excellent) – 1st run of the day – Pronounced in Protection
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Kristin Siarkowicz with Lara vom Dolderbrunnen, HGH (German Shepherd – Female) – 1st Place, 94 Points (Excellent) = Pronounced in Protection
Kathy DiStaso with Elexa vom Quasliner Moor, HGH, SchHII (German Shepherd – Female) - 2nd Place, 90 Points (Excellent) – Present in Protection
Carol Wiegand with Cheyenne (German Shepherd – Female) – 3rd Place, 86 Points (Very Good) Present in Protection
Kathy DiStaso with Ike vom Dolderbrunnen, HGH, SchHIII (German Shepherd – Male) – 4th Place, 84 Points (Very Good) Pronounced in Protection
Debra Feliziani with Eddie Haskel (German Shepherd – Male) – 5th Place, 80 (Very Good) Present in Protection
Jean DeNapoli with Meika Sitz von der Hose (German Shepherd – Female) – 6th Place, 69 (Satisfactory) Present in Protection
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Following the final run, certificates and medals were awarded to all handlers! It was a great way to spend a day – good company, good food, and our faithful furry friends! It was a great turnout to have so many dogs, experienced and first time runners. Hoping to have even more dogs ready for next year’s competition.
Because I have my own farm and I know how much time and effort I put into my own flock with grazing, feeding and caring for these animals, I would like to say thank you so much Geary for putting on this trial! I know you spend countless hours caring for the sheep, training your dogs and students! Keep up the good work!
Category: Herding - HGH |
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