We just finished a two weekends of trialling in Frost, Tx at Jackie Tinker’s Arcadia Ranch.
The second weekend was the first Australian Shepherd Futurity in 30 years.
Brisco finished third overall. All together over 6 events, he finished second twice, third twice, and fourth twice.
Initially, 23 dogs were entered in this trial, which is for puppies born between March 1 of 2021 and April 1 of 2022. Brisco was the youngest dog by far, having been born March 8 2022. Of the 23 entered, 13 looked at their dogs, looked at the difficulty of the courses, and opted to not trial.
Brisco was very much out of his depth on many things, and I had to help him a lot. I came here with no illusions, not only is he calendar young, he’s also immature.
The calibre of the two dogs that duked it out for first and second in Open was excellent. They were well-trained, well-handled dogs, and they were a joy to watch.
Brisco is all try, all heart. He wants to please with every fiber of his soul and is probably the givingest dog I’ve ever worked. Another year and he would have made a bid for the top of the podium. As it stands, he impressed me every day. He was a trooper and he worked every second over two long days.
This was an amazing experience for him, and I think he’ll grow a lot after this weekend . I’m in no rush, Brisco will be a force in his maturity, he’s just not there yet - nor did I expect him to be. He impressed me every day.
We worked for two days, 6 different tests half on sheep half on cows. The tests were hard but fair, and we’ll-designed to test our young dogs’ ability to be useful ranch hands and valuable in day to day work.
I couldn’t be happier with my little red Aussie pup!
