We Did It!

We are back from a whirlwind weekend at the Sheltie Nationals - whew, fast times and livin' large! The Purina Event Center is nothing short of amazing. I'll gladly enter any obedience, herding or agility trial there. I've never seen anything like it and we're lucky to have something so impressive just a few hours' drive from home.
As you know we just entering the herding portion of all the events offered, at the Herding Test (HT) level. This is just a pass or fail, no placements. What the judge wants to see is controlled movement of the stock back and forth between two cones (about 40 feet if I remember right), need to do that 3 times, then a stop and a recall.
Sounds easy right? NOT!
These sheep were extremely flighty and, in my opinion, a bit too advanced for the level of class they were in. If a dog moved slowly and stayed back off of them, all went fine. But these are green dogs and green handlers so the Q rate was extremely low.
When Mr. Pinch went in I told the judge he had just turned 1 year old and was "very zippy". When she told me to send him to the sheep he did so at lightening-bolt speed which of course did not go well. The judge said "you are right, he is VERY zippy!". We tried to do a stop and walk up, Pinch stopped just fine but walk....well, let's just say he's too young, too green and plain just too excited to walk. He did move the stock and we almost had it but his placement and speed worked against us, and the judge said "he's given you his very best today, he's just too inexperienced. It's been a positive experience for him so let's just call him off." Even with an NQ I was very pleased. All I ever want from my dogs is to try, and try Pinch did, with everything he had. Good boy!
I was very worried about Moto. The two qualifiers who had made it had worked the stock along the fence. Moto does not like to work on the fence. And to make matters worse, there was tarp along one entire side, with kicking sheep and stock handlers on the other. Very worrisome noises. I knew Moto had a calmer, slower working style but being on that tarp fence might make him unable to do it.
In we went, and with the judge's help with the best place to send Moto, off we went. Since Moto doesn't run full-out and has a calm demeanor the sheep did run but had some sense about them. To the tarp wall we went. It was in the direction Moto does not like (the "go bye" or left side). A double negative whammy, but you know what? It wasn't pretty, and there was a lot of burling (where the dog turns in the opposite direction) but he stuck to the task at hand. The sheep recognized his lack of self-confidence and tried to stand him off in a corner. But thanks to some work at trainer Cathy's place, Moto was familiar with how to handle that. I patted my leg and bless his heart he went calmly between the fence and the sheep and moved them off the corner. Back and forth we went, and the judge said "you've made it! All you need to do now is stop and call him off."
I did, and Moto came to me with a grin and a wag of his tail. I gave him the biggest hug ever.
What he did was huge for him: overcoming his fear of difficult situations, he did his job. He believed in himself and he trusted me.
I've loved him always, but it's moments like these that move me to tears.
I'm so impressed with my big guy, and we have one of those "forever moments" to cherish.
You can see from the picture he is VERY proud of himself - as he should be!
And I am, too.