Fred at Binnaburra- video

Fred at Binnaburra- not his best work, Fred's still a bit stiff from his back injury and Richard was away with the cold/flu medicine fairies, but since I finally managed to get some footage, I'll put it up (excuse the poor quality and editting, once again):

Binnaburra continued

The peanut gallery- Mrs Curtis, Nan Lloyd, Simon Leaning, Hayden Harris, Andrew Gorton:














Fleetfeet Will:
















Neil Kristiansen and Badgingarra Jock:











The cheap seats- Grant Cooke, Rod Forsthe, Neil Kristiansen:
















Grant Cooke with Grassvalley Lisa:

















Stoneyridge Harry:













Binnaburra Jess:













His nibs:


















Nan Lloyd's promising young dog, Kumbark Caleb:















Yarralonga Charlie at the force:















Boylee Fred, checking out the competition:
















Wheatbelt scenery:

Photos from States

Karrawarra Shona:











Grassvalley Sam:


















Boylee Pepper (12 years old, and the father or grandfather of about half the border collies competing):

















Not very politically correct at a sheepdog trial, Mr Judge!



















Bellview Shadow, Novice Utility winner:

Results and report: State Yard/Utility

Its taken a few days to recover from what was quite a big weekend!

Starting Thursday, the WA State Yard/Utility Championships were held last weekend at Gordon and Sara Curtis' Kellerberrin property. There were lots of entries, and the competition was very tight, with the results of the big events coming right down to the last run or two of the finals.

The weather didn't seem to know what it was doing, sunshine one minute, drenching rain the next, but the sheep (supplied by Rod Forsythe) worked really well- until the pen!. Many utility runs seemed to go perfectly until the sheep approached the pen, where they made it clear they'd prefer to head out the gate behind them, and any dog that hustled them was rewarded with sheep going in at least 3 directions.

It was good to see some fairly new dogs and triallers among the top scores- Rod Forsythe's young kelpie Milo did particularly well, and Marianne Rogers had a great weekend, making the Open Utility finals with both Coco and Bernie (who held the top score for quite a while in the first round).

Richard had a good weekend (despite suffering from a nasty cold), winning the Novice Yard with Bella, coming 3rd in the Open Yard with Charlie, and equal 4th in the Open Utility with Fred. He also ran Jake, who was full-on as usual, and Tama, who did well for a youngster.

I had a couple of good runs with Queani in yard and utility, just coming to grief at the pen (along with quite a few others). She didn't swipe once! I think if I put some work into her and get her fit we'll do OK together. Bill did one really nice utility run (again stuck at the pen), including some nice yard work, and then in the Open utility he was working OK in the yard when he just lost it again and bolted. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do about this. Muddy was pretty good for him- we got some respectable yard scores and he did alright outside in his one utility run- but there was also some very slack work from both of us (me messing up gates, him, not covering).

BabyJ was still recovering from his URTI, so was a bit grizzly, but the caravan didn't leak so we mostly slept well. I've been having nightmares about the budgie incident (Queani killed and ate my parents' much loved ancient budgie Peggles on WEdnesday night) but I'm sure I'll get over it eventually.

Pictures to follow... (of the trial, not the budgie incident).

Novice Yard
1st Richard McGuire Yarralonga Bella (kelpie) 63 + 61 = 124
2nd Rod Forsythe Binnaburra Milo (kelpie) 56 + 63 = 119
=2nd Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Lisa (border collie) 56 + 63 = 119
4th Neil Kristiansen Bellview Shadow (NZHD) 58 + 59 = 117

Novice Utility
1st Neil Kristiansen Bellview Shadow (NZHD) 88 + 93 = 181
2nd Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Lisa (border collie) 86 + 93 = 179
3rd John Charlick Nolan’s Gael (border collie) 82 + 89 = 171

Open Yard
1st Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Jock (kelpie) 70 + 69 = 139
2nd Ken Atherton Ramulam Gus (border collie) 68 + 70 = 138
3rd Richard McGuire Yarralonga Charlie (kelpie) 68 + 69 = 137
4th Nigel Armstrong Yarralonga Magot (kelpie) 68 + 68 = 136
=4th Grant Cooke Grassvalley Lisa (border collie) 67 + 69 = 136
6th Simon Leaning Fleetfeet Will (kelpie) 65 + 69 = 134
7th Nigel Armstrong Yarralonga Delta (kelpie) 68 + 65 = 133
8th Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Lisa (border collie) 66 + 63 = 129
9th Grant Cooke Grassvalley Tod (border collie) 67 + 59 = 126
10th Simon Leaning Stoneyridge Harry (border collie) 65 + 59 = 124
11th Simon Leaning Marionvale Flash (kelpie) 65 + 56 = 121
12th Simon Leaning Fleetfeet Axle (kelpie) 66 + 54 = 120

Open Utility
1st Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Tuff (kelpie) 107 + 95 = 202
2nd Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Jock (kelpie) 99 + 97 = 196
3rd Rod Forsythe Binnaburra Milo (kelpie) 92 + 103 = 195
4th Richard McGuire Boylee Fred (border collie) 97 + 97 = 194
=4th Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Jess (kelpie) 92 + 102 = 194
=4th Neil Kristiansen Grassvalley Sam (border collie) 95 + 99 = 194
7th Marianne Rogers Christies Cocoacina (border collie) 99 + 90 = 189
=7th Neil Kristiansen Bellview Shadow (NZHD) 98 + 91 = 189
9th Neil Kristiansen Badgingarra Casey (border collie) 100 + 87 = 187
10th Marianne Rogers Bellview Obie “Bernie” (border collie) 103 + 82 = 185
11th Simon Leaning Fleetfeet Axle (kelpie) 92 + 80 = 172
12th Tony Boyle Boylee Pepper (border collie) 92 + 79 = 171
13th Simon Leaning Boylee Barney (border collie) 90 + 80 = 170
14th Neil Kristiansen Karrawarra Shona (kelpie) 93 + 74 = 167
15th Nigel Armstrong Yarralonga Delta (kelpie) 91 + 67 = 155

Yarralonga Bella- 2008 WA Novice Yard Champion- video

Looking for homes

Three different dogs, looking for different homes. These pups are all currently with Nan Lloyd, in Darkan, and she's trying to find the perfect home for each of them. If you think you may be able to help, contact Nan Lloyd on:
Phone 08 97361043
Fax 08 97361574
Email info@sheepdogs.com.au
or kumbark@bigpond.com

This is Meeka, a very athletic, active 11 month girl who would be fantastic in an agility or dogsport home, or just as a companion in an active family. Believe it or not, she's a New Zealand Heading Dog x Border Collie- absolutely NO kelpie blood! She has an excellent sheepdog pedigree: bred by Ken Atherton, her father is Knight, a NZHD from top trialling lines, and her mother (Deej) is a Boylee Doug-Perengery Jill daughter (same litter as Danny, father of Ceilydh's pups).

Meeka just hasn't switched on to sheep yet- she probably will eventually, given enough time, but she'd be just as happy doing something else. She is an amazing jumper, very quick and keen to learn, walks nicely at heel and is very friendly with people and dogs.



























This little tacker is, well, a midget. He's a purebred working kelpie with a very nice pedigree, he's active and playful and very friendly, and rigorous targetted vet checks can find nothing wrong with him. He's just very small, and the vet thinks he's likely to stay very small. Might be a 400 agility dog ;)





















This is another really well-bred little kelpie man, but unfortunately he seems to have suffered some sort of brain injury at birth (sort of canine cerebral palsy), and moves a bit like he's had a few too many bevvies. The vet thinks he may improve as he ages, and he can certainly lead a happy, active life, but he'll never make a sheepdog, so he;s in urgent need of a pet home, where he can enjoy lots of snuggling and play.

Home alone

So here I am, stuck at home minding the pack while Richard swans about at Binnaburra utility trial...

Actually he's been judging the Novice, so more working than swanning, but still! I hear that Grant Cooke and Simon Leaning won the Novice events, Simon's crew of young dogs looks pretty promising, Sue Martin's son made his Encourage debut with Tyson and both did really well, and Jean Hydleman's baby dog Frankie had his first run.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch- Jack has lost his first pair of wellies, just 2 days after we bought them (if you were a toddler, where would you hide your wellies??), he's trodden in dog poo in his brand new specially fitted leather shoes, and we've discovered Bob The Builder (although I'm probably more into it than he is).

Dogs at play yesterday: