Made it to a trial

[mum24dog]

I finally managed to line up a free day with an accessible trial and went to watch for a while this morning. At 50 miles away it was considerably further than quite a number I've had to miss but not far really.

 

Just a nursery, being winter, and never more than 10 vehicles at a time, although in the hour or so I was there people came and went, some going on to another trial elsewhere.

 

As we know, dog people are all pretty similar and I had some interesting conversation with friendly and helpful people. One guy had done a morning's gathering with his young dog before coming to the trial and still took the time to point out some handling points to me that he thought I might not have picked up.

 

I have come away knowing that if your sheep break 2 + 1 you put the 2 back with the 1, not the other way round. And I have another recommendation of a possible trainer not far from my home. Spoilt for choice really.

 

My pup was duly admired by several people but interestingly not fussed over as he is at an agility show. The general opinion was that it would be a shame not to work him because of where he came from. And he was called "handsome" - my tiny, bony, two a penny short coated black and white pup with undecided ears. Never been called that before.

 

He pretty much ignored the sheep but he has seen a lot of them before and probably takes their existence for granted. He's also used to watching dogs do a lot more exciting things than chasing a trio of sheep around in the distance. Up front and personal would probably be a very different story.

 

Will I give it a try? I'm still undecided. I'm not going to give him a chance to turn on to sheep unless I'm prepared to take it further.

[Smalahundur]

 

 

Will I give it a try? I'm still undecided. I'm not going to give him a chance to turn on to sheep unless I'm prepared to take it further.

You don´t seem to realize you are already in the process of being sucked in. I imagine you have even unwittingly passed the point of no return....

[Sue R]

I know a lot of us "over here" would love to have the abundance of training opportunities you have "over there", and within what (to us) is a very short travel distance.

 

Enjoy!

[mum24dog]

You don´t seem to realize you are already in the process of being sucked in. I imagine you have even unwittingly passed the point of no return....

I'm well aware of the phenomenon as I see it all the time at agility, which takes up all my otherwise spare time and more in many ways.

 

I'm not sure that trialling would be a satisfactory substitute for the social aspects of agility so the two would have to share my life.

 

I would have to engineer the existence of more than 7 days a week.

[Sue R]

I'm well aware of the phenomenon as I see it all the time at agility, which takes up all my otherwise spare time and more in many ways.

 

I'm not sure that trialling would be a satisfactory substitute for the social aspects of agility so the two would have to share my life.

 

I would have to engineer the existence of more than 7 days a week.

If anyone could do it, I'm sure you could. Just do what works for you and your dog, but you knew that already!

[mum24dog]

Thanks for the vote of confidence but I fear it may be misplaced.

 

Following on from yesterday, today I was helping at a fun dog show in aid of the local hospice - waggiest tail, best looking dog / bitch, best trick etc sort of thing - and I got talking to someone who was asking about my pup. Turns out she has trained with his breeder and is the first person I have met who fits the picture of some on here who have got collies, started to train them on sheep and then got herself a few sheep, 5 in her case.

 

Also coincidentally she has started agility with her dogs.

 

We had a good chat about various trainers in the area and I got yet another recommendation from her. I may just have to put names in a hat. There's only one name so far that won't be in there.

[Bogwoppit]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'd say all you can lose is time by having a go, and you can gain friends, experience and your pup will no doubt benefit from new things to think about.

If time is an issue, maybe look at it during a less pressured time of year? Everything feels compacted at the moment. It's easy to feel swamped even by things we usually enjoy doing.

 

May I ask roughly where are you were travelling to? Not trying to be a creepy internet person, just genuinely curious.

 

Sue, I've gradually come to the thought that distance and time are relative to the space you live in. On our little island, 2hrs away can feel like another world, some folks take a holiday for 10 days only 80 miles from home. For some of my friends in the US, that would be "visiting the neighbours" and an afternoon trip!

I can only imagine if I lived on the Isle of Mann, the trip from the bed to the bathroom would be a major expedition.

[Sue R]

Yes, I guess it is all relative, and the cost of travel (like the cost of gas/petrol) is a big part of that.

 

For me, it's 3 miles to the nearest town for gasoline, feed, dollar store, pizza, elementary and middle school. It's 20-25 miles to the nearest real shopping (building supplies, groceries, etc.), medical services (that I use, doctor, dentist, hospital, pharmacy - there actually are a couple of doctors and a pharmacy just three miles from me but they are not the providers that I use), and to work.

 

It's 23 miles to my nearest adult child's home, about 185 miles to each of the next two, and 400+ miles to the furthest away.

 

It's 135 miles to the nearest trainer if I want to work my dogs with someone I respect and trust, and much further than that to the next person. Also 135 miles to the nearest sheepdog trial (offered once a year).

 

My one dog is from 250 miles away (in Virginia) and the other from about 2500 miles away (California).

 

I drive 400 miles each way, once a year, to spend a week as a volunteer at a major sheepdog trial. If I could, there would be a number of trials I would attend as a volunteer and most are around 200 miles or so from home.

 

Yes, it is all relative! (sorry for hijacking)

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Aspiring Sheepdoggers,

 

The farthest I drove for a twoday trial last year was 13 1/2 hours. In January I hope to attend a Nigel Watkins clinic:9 hours. If it snows I'll take the 4wd. The dogs can tuck in behind the seat.

 

Sometimes I wish I lived in Britain but I'd have to talk funny.

 

Donald McCaig

[mum24dog]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'd say all you can lose is time by having a go, and you can gain friends, experience and your pup will no doubt benefit from new things to think about.

If time is an issue, maybe look at it during a less pressured time of year? Everything feels compacted at the moment. It's easy to feel swamped even by things we usually enjoy doing.

May I ask roughly where are you were travelling to? Not trying to be a creepy internet person, just genuinely curious.

Sue, I've gradually come to the thought that distance and time are relative to the space you live in. On our little island, 2hrs away can feel like another world, some folks take a holiday for 10 days only 80 miles from home. For some of my friends in the US, that would be "visiting the neighbours" and an afternoon trip!

I can only imagine if I lived on the Isle of Mann, the trip from the bed to the bathroom would be a major expedition.

I went to Hutton in the Forest just north of Penrith. I might try and get to an Open that is being held on Christmas Eve about 20 mins away from home.

 

You made me smile about people who spend their holiday 80 miles away because that is just what we did this year - a week the other side of the Yorkshire Dales from near where we live. But I have been known to do a 6 hour round trip in a day to go to an agility show. Still a stone's throw in US terms.

 

Maybe 6 weeks from the beginning of October is my less pressured time of year and it wouldn't be wise to play about with sheep for such a short period. It has to be done seriously or not at all.

[mum24dog]

Yes, I guess it is all relative, and the cost of travel (like the cost of gas/petrol) is a big part of that.For me, it's 3 miles to the nearest town for gasoline, feed, dollar store, pizza, elementary and middle school. It's 20-25 miles to the nearest real shopping (building supplies, groceries, etc.), medical services (that I use, doctor, dentist, hospital, pharmacy - there actually are a couple of doctors and a pharmacy just three miles from me but they are not the providers that I use), and to work.It's 23 miles to my nearest adult child's home, about 185 miles to each of the next two, and 400+ miles to the furthest away.It's 135 miles to the nearest trainer if I want to work my dogs with someone I respect and trust, and much further than that to the next person. Also 135 miles to the nearest sheepdog trial (offered once a year).My one dog is from 250 miles away (in Virginia) and the other from about 2500 miles away (California).I drive 400 miles each way, once a year, to spend a week as a volunteer at a major sheepdog trial. If I could, there would be a number of trials I would attend as a volunteer and most are around 200 miles or so from home.Yes, it is all relative! (sorry for hijacking)

 

You're not hijacking at all. I'm always interested in such comparisons.

[mum24dog]

Dear Aspiring Sheepdoggers,

 

The farthest I drove for a twoday trial last year was 13 1/2 hours. In January I hope to attend a Nigel Watkins clinic:9 hours. If it snows I'll take the 4wd. The dogs can tuck in behind the seat.

 

Sometimes I wish I lived in Britain but I'd have to talk funny.

 

Donald McCaig

 

Unfortunately short distances in miles don't necessarily translate into short journeys in time here.

 

Travelling up and down is normally OK, side to side can take considerably longer for a journey that is nobbut a cock stride (first talking funny lesson) and if you're thinking of venturing into Wales make sure you take plenty of supplies. It took us 10 hours to get home from SW Wales once, should have taken half that. And that was in August.

[juliepoudrier]

I spent the day on the M5(?) one day trying to travel from south Wales to Scotland. I left early in the morning hoping to have a little time to sightsee in Scotland. Unfortunately there was a major accident and we sat on the highway for hours (I finished a book) before being turned around and sent onto some sort of access road. That trip took me all day!

 

The biggest challenge for me traveling in the UK (Wales, specifically) was that with overcast skies and high hedges I never knew quite what direction I was traveling in. I never realized how much I depended on the sun to orient myself, but with a couple of days of no sun and hedges blocking the horizon I found I was completely clueless as to direction!

 

J.

[Bogwoppit]

Yes, I guess it is all relative, and the cost of travel (like the cost of gas/petrol) is a big part of that.

(...Terrifying geography...)

Aye, at the moment here it is the equivalent of $7.70+ for a gallon of Petrol (US gallon). I don't know how comparable that is, but it's the lowest it's been in months.

 

As Mum24dog said, time and distance becomes somewhat distorted. For example I live 70 miles from my parents, but that is a three hour drive (north-west to midlands) due to the roads encountered. In many many cases, trains are faster (but not cheaper!) because they cut right through the countryside.

 

Sometimes I wish I lived in Britain but I'd have to talk funny.

Our colloquialisms are fantastic. Even inside one country they can confuse people from another region. At the moment I (Lancashire girl) am taking driving lessons from a Yorkshire-man. About 1/3 of the requests he makes of me, I misunderstand (depending on your point of view) and end up doing something entirely different.

 

"Sithi!" is one of my favourites and has at least two meanings:

"Sit thyself down" or "Ah, see thee (later/now/tomorrow)"

 

I went to Hutton in the Forest just north of Penrith. I might try and get to an Open that is being held on Christmas Eve about 20 mins away from home.

 

You made me smile about people who spend their holiday 80 miles away because that is just what we did this year - a week the other side of the Yorkshire Dales from near where we live. But I have been known to do a 6 hour round trip in a day to go to an agility show. Still a stone's throw in US terms.

Ah, I don't know the region, was just being nosy. My stamping ground is limited (up to Sheffield, down to Nottingham) until I sort a car out. I bet if I scrape the surface there's a fair few trials going on, but it's unlikely I can get a town bus to one!

 

It's funny how such a "short" distance can feel another world away.

[mum24dog]

If you google the ISDS trials diary you can see where they are. Probably not on a bus route though as you say.

[Bogwoppit]

Aye, I'm halfway through learning to drive, so in 20 (ugh) weeks, I'll be free to venture wherever.

I'll have a peep at that diary though, might be some on routes I can access. Thanks!

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Aspiring Sheepdoggers,

 

I've found the M roads as fast legally as our interstates (except in west Texas where the limit is 80 mph (128kph). UK fuel is more rationally priced than ours - double and then some and that would limit me if a resident but not as a traveler. I once drove from the Scottish nurseries near Dumfries to Barbara Carpenter's outside Lydney in an afternoon but I had a rental and speed cameras weren't as prevalent as they are today. Off the A and M roads, driving was slower and nastier.

 

Traveling from one rural location to another in the UK via country roads can be tedious. I am very fond of British trains and they will take a couple collies but how do you get from the station to the trial grounds - and return?

 

One lesson I learned from running in the 2008 world trial was how much easier it is to trial with one's own car, one's own dog crates and appurtenances. Popping two dogs slathered with welsh mud into my Mercedes rental was . . .er . . distressing.

 

Donald McCaig

[Gloria Atwater]

I went to Hutton in the Forest just north of Penrith. I might try and get to an Open that is being held on Christmas Eve about 20 mins away from home.

 

You made me smile about people who spend their holiday 80 miles away because that is just what we did this year - a week the other side of the Yorkshire Dales from near where we live. But I have been known to do a 6 hour round trip in a day to go to an agility show. Still a stone's throw in US terms.

 

 

I've been to the UK 4 times now, northern England, (Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Cumbria) the Borders, Scotland for the World Trial and three days in Wales. One thing I've learned is that UK travel times and distances to NOT translate to the equivalents I'd expect from living out in the western US! Here in northern Nevada, if a sign says, "So-and-Such 50 miles," I'd think, "Oh, that's about 40-45 minutes."

 

In the UK, I've learned that's about 2 hours.

 

Though I have to say I love the A roads, despite scary logging lorries, because that really is where all the best scenery lurks.

 

~ Gloria

[alligande]

As a Brit who lived in the states for years, sometimes the perception of distance can be reversed, in Yorkshire we thought nothing of driving an hour over the moors to a good pub for dinner, or going to York, Leads or Newcastle to go shopping (all over an hour by good roads) in RI leaving our island was an effort (there were 3 bridges) driving the 50 minutes to providence was a huge effort and it got worse the longer we lived there as the big box retailers came to the island so there was less and less reason to leave.

And even "main land" Rhode Islanders were bad, only place I have lived where people had second homes 20 miles down the road at the beach, maybe if they lived in Cranston rather than Providence, 6 miles to the beach house

But you are right in the UK time/distance is all relative you can cover huge mileage quickly and easily if there is a motorway heading in the right direction, but local driving can take an absurd amount of time.

[mum24dog]

 

 

I've been to the UK 4 times now, northern England, (Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Cumbria) the Borders, Scotland for the World Trial and three days in Wales. One thing I've learned is that UK travel times and distances to NOT translate to the equivalents I'd expect from living out in the western US! Here in northern Nevada, if a sign says, "So-and-Such 50 miles," I'd think, "Oh, that's about 40-45 minutes."

In the UK, I've learned that's about 2 hours.

Though I have to say I love the A roads, despite scary logging lorries, because that really is where all the best scenery lurks.

~ Gloria

 

Not necessarily 2hrs Gloria, but could be in the areas you visited.

 

I'm lucky that I live 5mins from a motorway that isn't busy in the same way as further south but friends in Cumbria live at least an hour away from a fast road. Speed limit on motorways and dual carriageways is 70mph but on the whole there are few speed checks. Ordinary non residential roads are usually 60mph but it's often not feasible.

 

I remember an article I read years ago in an agility magazine about how in Scotland if you ask how far somewhere is you will always be told 20mins, however far it is.

[mum24dog]

I know a lot of us "over here" would love to have the abundance of training opportunities you have "over there", and within what (to us) is a very short travel distance.Enjoy!

 

Unfortunately the number of training opportunities doesn't necessarily make it more doable. I hadn't looked into training charges but I see from training gift vouchers that trainers are offering that £65 for an hour's 1-1 seems to be the going rate for a "name" trainer. I need to shop around more.

[Sue R]

Wow, that's pretty pricey. Of course, a student is paying for the trainer's time and experience, and also the use of the livestock and property. I'd have to be pretty serious to be able to justify that sort of expense as worthwhile as the training might be.

 

How about a good but not "name" trainer?

[Gideon's girl]

Anyone know what that tranlates to in US dollars? Sue? I'm looking at lessons for $130 an hour, but I'm assuming that I'll have to pay more because anyone I can find is traveling from somewhere else entirely. I'm having to travel at least 2 1/2 hours for the closest one of those. Paying this much really makes the idea of board and train look better and better.

[juliepoudrier]

I used a currency converter and got 65 GBP = ~100 USD.

 

Wow, when I was starting out, I paid $25 for a lesson and I was allowed to come out and work my dog any day I wanted, except Mondays (if I had a lesson that week--so $25 got me a lesson and up to 6 days of coming out to work my dog).

 

If you can find someone who is well respected or is known to be a good instructor but who may not be a "big name" that can be a good choice. That's what I did and it worked great for me. It meant I wasn't paying for the "big hat" when I was too new to really take advantage of the knowledge the big hat has. The tricky part, of course, is finding a non-big hat trainer who is the right type of trainer (e.g., someone who understands and trains for the sort of work done at USBCHA/ISDS trials and/or who is a true shepherd who can impart knowledge about livestock as well as training dogs). I got lucky in that because the person I went to was recommended to me by someone from border collie rescue. Those sorts of trainers are out there; you just need to keep asking until you find one. (**Note: I am not talking about going to a novice who has hung out a shingle or someone who teaches people for the other venues out there, but someone who is competent at running a dog in open but who may not be at the top of the standings on a regular basis

 

J.

[mum24dog]

I'm not particularly looking at big hats, although there are quite a few within easy reach. I want someone whose methods and attitude to the dogs won't offend me. I can only go off recommendations and so far these are the ones charging that sort of money.