Bob Johnson's Torrie at Elliott, IAWayne and Jake traveled down to Southern Iowa this past weekend for three days of cattledog trials that conclude with a invitation shoot out final that handlers have to qualify for. They take the top 4 Open dogs, top 2 Nursery dogs and the top 2 Pro/Novice dogs.
The first trial was held near Elliott, IA and produced by Jeff Mundorf. There were many top handlers and dogs in attendence including Bob Johnson with Ruby the current USBCHA Nursery Champion, who is also a littermate to our Bea (CR Leia Reed) and Juan Reyes with his dogs which hold the title of the USBCHA National Champion and Reserve Nursery Champion. Pete Carmichael, Jake's breeder was also there running Moon, Liz and Colt all of dogs that we saw work 3 1/2 years ago when we were up at Pete's place to pick Jake up as a pup.
Jake earned a 3rd place finish, a healthy payout check and our first USBCHA points, with any luck he will get qualified for the National Cattle Dog Finals this year. He is also trying to secure enough points to earn a slot in the Iowa Stock Dog Assoc. Open Handlers Finals. The top ten sheep dog and cattle dog handlers will be invited to a trial that will be held on September 11th in conjunction with the Iowa Rodeo Cowboys Assoc. Finals.
The next day they moved to the opposite side of the state, Keosauqua, IA for the second trial. This trial is normally held in Moravia but due to the all the rain it was relocated to the same facility as the Sunday trial. Saturday brought a 5th place finish along with a fraction of a USBCHA point and another check, every little bit helps.
Sunday was a tough day, Wayne was told that he was a shoe in on the finals, he just needed to complete as many obstacles as he could. He and Jake drew up a set that included a steer that didn't want to play, Jake spent quite a bit of time get it to think different. Finally the cattle were on there way through the course but unfortunatly they ran out of time just as the first steer was stepping onto the trailer (final obstacle). This landed them soundly in 7th place, out of the money and points but soundly in the finals.
Jake in the Finals Run
Mary Bolton wrote the following post on another discussion board, her's is a first hand account since I could not be there:
"I thought the "Grand Finale" of the weekend, the Shoot-Out competition at Gary's a most memorable event! The top two Nursery dogs, and the top two Pro/Novice dogs were pitted against the five top "Open" dogs for nine runs. $400 added money made the purse a whopping $850!!!
The course was interesting with five obstacles ending in a pen at the end of a stock trailer. Fourth obstacle being the pen and fifth the trailer. The handler could block the pen entrance but not go inside so the dog had to do the actual loading itself.
Bob Johnson had three of the nine dogs in this final test; a testament to his successful training/trialing over the weekend! (I expected he might well walk away with the winner and reserve both!) However, I found myself quietly routing for the other handler's who only had one shot each...;-)
Bob's first up with Tory(P/N) and laid down a smooth run of under five minutes with the course completed. The next few handler's can't quite get the job done even with heroic efforts! One more team completes the course, but, not beating Tory's time....she's leading the pack heading into the final two runs....Wayne and Jake run 8th followed by Bob with his "open" dog, Ruby.
Wayne and Jake quietly walk their stock around the course completing each obstacle calmly. The intensity picks up a bit as they complete the "Y" chute that flustered so many.They head to the pen and walk right in and the cattle start to mill a bit and a few well timed heels, by Jake, load the trailer in 4:30 to take the lead!( Bob's last run with Ruby is good,but, not quite fast enough...)Wayne and Jake are the WINNERS!!!! HUGE CONGRATS!!!"
Thank you Mary the great commentary,
Kicking around to change their direction
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