ACDCA nationals part 2

Breed classes

Monday was property classes, where we didnt fair very well, so in the afternoon we paid a visit to the Hershey factory instead.

Tuesday was sweepstakes classes and dog breed classes. I had Hollie in veterans 10+ sweepstakes, where she did really well and won her class out of 8 dogs. Wed was the bitch breed classes. Hollie got 3rd in her veterans class that day, and 4th in the versatility breed class.

The entry in the breed classes was large, there was 63 dogs in the Best of breed class alone. Not being overly familiar with the AKC system it was very difficult to follow, as they broke the best of breed class down into 5 parts and made shortlists and it was hard to know who was who. It was fantastic to see so many cattle dogs in the ring at the same time with not so much as an altercation.

And the best part was we got to watch the beautiful Leroy win his herding titled class and then go on to win an Award of Merit. That herding dog is now Mr "show dog".



Herding

The final 2 days of the specialty was the herding. I was so excited to get to watch so many cattle dogs out there working stock.

The cattle were difficult and defeated most of the dogs. At the end of the first days trial classes it was cattle 50 : dogs 0. One dog in the PT class managed to earn a qualifying round though. There was a slight improvement the next day with one dog in Started qualifying, and most of the PT dogs made it through with extensive coaching from the wonderful judge.

The runs on sheep faired a little better. The sheep were light but flocked well and were honest. As the weekend progressed they did become a little more difficult as the started drawing very heavily to the exhaust pen.

Hollie did well for me, qualifying in Started sheep both days with a 5th and 2nd place, and qualifying in PT cattle the second day. I was very proud of that given that we had only introduced her to cattle on the wednesday night and I really had no clue what I was doing. Working cattle is difficult!! I owe alot of thanks to both Lynn for our introduction to cattle, and judge Terry Kenney for their assistance in working out what I was doing.


There was alot of other entertainment throughout the week, with a talk from Chris Zink one night, and Dingo Bingo another.
On the final night there was the presentation dinner, where I was absolutely chuffed to find out Hollie had won the versatility award for the specialty! I'm very proud of my little girl.