debp Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 For those of us who aren't worthy of being under the real Handlers tent. I mean, we have some moments of greatness, but people watch our runs because you never know what wreck might happen. (Sort of the NASCAR crowd mentality.) Any good embarrassing/humiliating stories to tell? My recent embarassment came during the Montpelier trial...Heather got through the left hand drive but she then didn't take my flanks and decided to hold those sheep to the fence. I mean she wouldn't MOVE. I had to trot up the field to get her to let them go. This trial has alot of spectators, so we did get a round of applause when we exhausted the next set of sheep.....the crowd was impressed at least:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucknjill Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 After Grace was bred she took a mental powder, I mean serious mental no show break. I sent her up the hill at Edgeworth..after 92 redirects, she finally made it, goosed the sheep and ran all the way back. I would have loved to just tuck my tail and go crawl under the exhaust gate, but unfortunately Mr. Mentor ran before me and was at said exhaust and he STRONLY suggested that it might be in my dogs best intrest to walk up said hill (650) yards and make my little blond cheerleader of a dog consider brining the sheep down. Well 15 minutes later, Tommy took pity on me and came up on the mule and sent me back down the hill with it, my darned dog and the sheep in question. Thankfully this year, she is mostly back to normal and managed a placing run, but sheesh..I could have just died. What is worse than the actual walking up the hill is the wide berth other handlers give you till you cool down...the look right thru you stare so you dont feel the need to comment or say something equally false and cheerful. So you see, you never totally get past the I want to die moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackacre Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Hmmm, the dreaded Long Walk. I've never had to do this with Hobbes, because in a pinch, we can always resort to the cheap grip. Course, for minor embarrassment, there was Toby in the spring at Seclusival: go out to 3 or 9, start driving. Six times in a row over two days. Pond, what pond? Sayeth the Master drily: "I think you've been doing to much driving with that dog." And, now that the Seclusival pond comes to mind, there was my On the Beach run with Hobbes a few years back. Sheep set behind the pond, dog leg fetch across the causeway and thence to the post. Or . . . not. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Geez, i can sure come up with some of these kinds of stories easy enough. I think my worst trial day ever was at Montpelier as well. Good old Ben dog decided to chase a ewe and it went off there to the briars where the ditch is, on the right side of the field. I had to go up there and untangle the darned thing and then get the dog out of the field as well. To top it off, all those spectators started coming up and trying to ask questions as i was coming off the field, in no mood to talk! Then there was the day way back in ancient history, when i was running NN with my first dog, that i exhausted my sheep right through the handlers hospitality tent at the Bluegrass. I saw a gate and just opened it up. Only after the sheep went through did i notice the sliced fruit, bottled water and other nice things the BG folks had all set up for handlers coming off the field. The sheep didn't appreciate all that nice stuff one bit either.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debp Posted October 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Keep em coming. I love stories of humiliation and the handlers not actually dying from the experience. There is hope for me.... Ponds....hmmmm....reminds me of Breezy Hill last year when I decided to try a non-compete Ranch course on the BIG field. Heather gripped on the fetch (perhaps a bit ramped up because of my petrified screeching?) and then proceeded to chase a sheep across the land bridge at the pond. I hung my head and returned to Pro-novice for the remainder of the year.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 My embarrassing moment was at trial in GA years ago. I was running my little bitch in Open for only the second or third time. I sent her out and she did a perfect outrun. Great start I thought. She slowed at the top and started to walk up to lift them. The sheep were held on corn and that was as far as it got. She never did lift those sheep. They just stood there munching away, showing no indication that there was even a dog behind them. The set out person felt pitty on me after 5 minutes had elapsed of me begging her up and he moved his dog to attempt a break in the excitement, but to no avail. I did the dreaded walk of shame up the hill to help her. The next day, of course, I was a nervous wreck that it would all happen again, but she did fine. She did end up gripping off at the pen, but that actually made me smile. Now why couldn't she have done that the day before? I'd have been more pleased with a DQ than the walk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Ooh, i have recent one, from this year's Montpelier trial (why do i keep going there?!). Second day, Joan wasn't going to be able to come back so i offered to run Dhu in Ranch for her. I've worked Dhu a little here and there around the farm so thought it would be okay, not stellar or anything but maybe a good experience for her. So of course she didn't listen to a thing i said and ran the sheep down the fetch without taking a single down. Started the drive and continued with giving me the doggy finger so i retired her. Not great, but it gets worse....i'm at the exhaust and send Dhu to pick up the sheep after the next run, as usual (christine's btw). Dhu says nope, sees the next set of sheep set out at the top of the field and takes off to get them. No amount of calling or whistling was going to stop that little snot and she went right up there and got me that group of sheep. I had to walk all the way up there after her since of course she wasn't going to stop on this freebie run any more than she did on the first one. So there, 2 walks up the field for the price of one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 That was funny! And even more funny when Sam and Stacy came over the exhaust and started singing to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 I don't even remember that! What were they singing? I know it was really pretty funny, which is a much better reaction than i had to Ben's misadventures there. Sam and Colin know what i'm talking about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Oh wait, it was Da Dhu Run Run, wasn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 That's it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Originally posted by Shoofly:Oh wait, it was Da Dhu Run Run, wasn't it? I have no idea what dog you're talking about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Fly and I moved up to Ranch this season and have been wildly inconsistent. Something tells me that working her more than once every two weeks might help. Or maybe not. In two Ranch runs at Fosterfields this year, I think Fly got five or six outruns in. After many redirects the first day I was sure she'd remember where the sheep were the next day, but instead she decided that the latrine just outside of the the opposite corner of the field MUST be the sheep and it took another zillion redirects to convince her otherwise. Then we were part of a silent gather demonstration at lunch, for the many spectators at the trial, and Fly, on her THIRD go at the sheep, set out in the SAME place all three times, crossed over. She got a lot of exercise, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 OK, I just thought of another one and although it didn't happen to me, I can imagine it was very embarrassing for the handler. At the Windy Hill trial in GA a few years ago, this lady was competing in the cattle class and had to use the bathroom really bad. She was having a good go and didn't want to retire so she pee'd in her pants. Yup, came off the field after her run and had to go change. She said she had to go before her run, but thought it was that "nervous pee before your run" thing so she passed on the potty break. She was laughing about it, so I guess she didn't really care. The things some will do to save a good run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Originally posted by Valhalla:OK, I just thought of another one and although it didn't happen to me, I can imagine it was very embarrassing for the handler. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure, Christine. Sure, it wasn't you. Uh huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Whew, okay, you win that one Christine. No run off this time! :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 No really, you guys, it wasn't me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Wall Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Bad runs of mine -- so many to choose from. Let's see, my only story of the dreaded walk up the field to date was also at the Montpelier trial many years ago when I had just moved Molly (Mick and Kate's mom) up to pronovice. It was in a different field than they use now, a bigger one. The set out pen was not in the best place and the sheep were the wily Roy Johnson Barbs. At the top of the outrun, they would outsmart the young inexperienced dogs trying to balance them for a fetch and escape back to the woods where the put out pen was. There were 27 dogs in PN and only five ended up with a score. Molly, who had quite a bit of line balance and was hard to flank off pressure, ran out and landed right on the pressure between the sheep and the put out pen. Instead of fetching them to me however she then proceeded to drive them straight across the field, dead on pressure. No amount of flank commands, stops, call off commands or just plain screaming her name would make her come off that pressure. She just kept marching them across the field, oblivious to my pleas. She was pretty far away with them when I finally realized I would have to go out there and get her. It took a long time to get there and the walk back was even longer. It was pretty humiliating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 We had those same Roy Johnson sheep at Montpelier this year and they did the same thing! In Ranch on Sunday, out of 20+ dogs only 4 got a score. Those ewes must pass that evil trait on down to their lambs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Wall Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Oh and Deb, I think we all have our own Breezy Hill pond story. Especially those of us who trialled back in the era of the lemming suicide variety of Roy's Barbs in the 90s :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleview Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Years ago, I (prob. still in novice) was walking to the post in front of a decent crowd of specators, when my old Nick dog somehow put his left hind foot through the loop of the shoelace in my hiking boot. Nick panicked and spun around several times, making the loop get tighter & tighter around his foot. As he struggled, he pulled my leg out from under me. Crook went a-flyin'. We both fell on the ground. He was yelping and screaming. I was rolling around on the ground, tied to my dog, trying to sit up enough to yank on his foot which was now firmly cinched to my shoe. It was a freakshow. Lori Cunningham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Lori - you got me to laugh out loud at that one. I almost did something along those lines at a trial once too. I went to step away from the pen towards the shedding ring and my foot was caught in the loop at the end of the rope. I didn't land on my face but sure came close! Why do i seem to have so many of these stories i wonder...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 There are those of you who belong in the handlers' tent. There are those of you who sometimes belong in the circus tent. Then there are those of us who belong in the sideshow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Oh my, Lori, I was laughing out loud and had tears rolling down my face reading your story! Thanks for sharing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Lori, even though this does not qualify in the "circus tent" category, here's Riff at the ABC Magazine trial. I only wish I knew the ins and outs of PhotoShop like Denise does. This is only a so-so picture to me, but Denise could make it really wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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