ASCA Under the Big tent

The first week of August Brisco and I (and Tagg, and both crazy puppies!) all headed up to Double M Stockdogs (Molly Wisecarver) for the Northern Arizona Australian Shepherd Assoc. Under the Big Tent week long trial.

Molly's place is stunning! We've trialed here before, and every time I am taken aback by the beauty and calm of the large field and ponderosas. I've never stayed at her place before, but we parked the Airstream and settled in for a week of herding, hiking, and a bit of rally at the tail end.

Brisco is so young! It is so easy to forget that sometimes! He's so serious. But, his youth certainly showed on our first day of arena trials. In ducks - he was flummoxed! Molly's ducks are call ducks (a breed of duck) and they're SO Tiny! Like quail! Brisco literally had no clue what he was supposed to do with them! He figured it out with some urging and some help, and laid down two runs (Saturday and Sunday) that while not exceptionally beautiful, were nice enough to gain us over a 100 points (out of 120) both days, and earn his advanced duck title.

To say the sheep were wild does not begin to express their deer like qualities. I also erred by standing in the absolute wrong place, thinking - erroneously! - that they were somewhat fetch (willing to go to a human) - They were not! And after I messed up Brisco's fetch, and failed to line them out for the first obstacle, and they bolted from corner to corner a couple of times, and Brisco's tiny baby brain exploded and he gripped and we thanked the judge.

Brisco hasnt seen cattle since February, and it certainly showed! He went in on Saturday a bag of bravado and nerve, and made a hash of trying to control the cattle. I spent some time schooling him, and helping him gain some control, and let him show some power instead of frantic nervy mania, and we thanked the judge and put the cattle away. I wondered if perhaps I had moved him up to advanced too early.

I almost told the judge that if Brisco gained control of the cattle at the start, I'd step over the line and assist him (losing 50% of our score), but chose not to. Brisco was a different dog! He was calm, poised, held his line, and we had an outstanding run! We were the only team of the day (Thank you MSSA Nationals competitors - man did I ever study their pens on those tricky sheep!) to get all three cattle penned. We won our class, and high in trial cattle for the day.

Oh, and Sunday, Brisco laid down a beautiful sheep run and won that as well!

Brisco is a dog that had to sort through things himself. I help, but I also try to have a light touch. He is so worried about being wrong, that if I scold him for making a terrible mistake, he'll come out more worried. Rather, it seems to work to let him make these errors (or, ideally, stop them before they happen! But this is real life and so rarely does that happen!) and let him see the fallout and solve it his own way.

We had an opportunity to do set out (thank you, Molly, and Mary Alice!) for the post advanced dogs, and he got to work the cows some more. He's still all over the map, for sure - it's not like one great run will turn him into a five year old dog! But every step helps.

We did a ranch course on sheep, and his outrun - the big gather to get the stock to the handler - was a thing of beauty. I was shocked we had earned second! I mustve missed the winning run. He did that well.

We also had to pick up a single rally leg - ong! How annoying! I accidentally trialed him twice under the same judge, and so all of our rally legs came from the same judge, which means no title. So all I needed was one qualifying run.

Poor Brisco! After the first run (Friday) I'm sure he was looking for a handler who could read! I blew three signs, and we didnt qualify. He was error-free. His mom, not so much! Signs that we practice every week just fell apart under the distractions of the trial ring! The next day, I redeemed myself (see I too can learn from my errors!) and we got our blasted Q!

For me, this trial underscored how important it is to let our dogs work through mistakes. Brisco’s best moments came not when everything was perfect, but when he had the chance to puzzle through pressure, reset, and try again. Whether on cattle, sheep, or in rally, the lesson was the same: progress isn’t about perfection, it’s about resilience.

As for NAASA Under The Big Tent, I had a blast! Met friends, and made a few more. Watched some incredible dog teams, enjoyed a week of beauty in the high country away from triple digits down here in the valley. All wins! I'll be back next year!