COWDOGS IN CANADA

by Cathy Bishop and Joan Holmes
photos by Terry Stickle, Practically Famous Photography

The first weekend of June was a weekend of firsts for Canada. Graciously hosted by the Lee Family on their Swedelee Farm in Donalda Alberta, we started the weekend with the first Betty Williams cattle clinic in Alberta, followed by the very first ASCA Ranch Trial held in Canada, followed by the very first sheep and duck stockdog trial for our club, the Australian Shepherd Fanciers of Alberta.

We'd love to say it was a nice warm spring weekend . . . but it wasn't. Central Alberta has seen very little rainfall since spring 2008, add in a long cold winter and spring with not much snow, and we all really felt we deserved a nice warm weekend . . . it wasn't meant to be. The rain that we need so badly just teased us all weekend, with cool winds, and short showers followed by a peek at the sun. No matter, we're a hardy bunch, and we all thoroughly enjoyed two days of lessons with Betty, learning a lot!

Since we were going to be working cattle in the clinic anyway, we thought, why not have a Ranch Trial? So, ASCA Judge Lori Middleton flew in from Davisburg, Michigan to judge the Ranch Trial.

In Lori’s words: “The setting was truly a working farm. Over 4,000 acres of grain land plus an approximate 200 head cow/calf operation. The heifers used in the Ranch Trial were perfect. They were respectful of a dog but needed to be told where to go. There was no "lucking out". The course was challenging but not impossible, and it was large enough and complicated enough to warrant a 30 minute time limit.

However, not one of the dogs needed the full 30 minutes to complete the tasks at hand. The course had a lot of pen work (moving the stock from many pens to others) and sort work . . . something Aussies really excel at. What a pleasure it was to see these dogs really understand the job they were expected to do with limited commands. The five dogs entered in the Ranch Trial all made great ranch hands and each one of them would be a valuable asset to any rancher. I was very impressed with the savvy of the dogs.”

We learned our lessons with Betty well, as five entries equaled five qualifying runs on the Lee's Charolais x Simmental replacement heifers. Handlers were given the option of riding a horse or quad, or going on foot for the open field portion of the trial. The following teams got the job done with efficiency and good stockmanship by both the handler and the dog:

High In Ranch Trial — Jerry Kurbatoff of Calgary, AB and his Kelpie, Doss-Tex Jed (Jed)
Second — Mel Kartz of Sherwood Park, AB and his Aussie, Misty Ridge Nitro (Nick)
Third — Lill Roth-Lee of Donalda, AB and her Aussie Spinoff's Tray of Grit (Tray)
Fourth — Maureen Elgert of 100 Mile House, BC and her Aussie MRE Jus Taggin Along (Tag)
Fifth — Joan Holmes of Big Valley, AB and her Aussie Windsong's The Ever Redi Kid (Kya)

Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon also saw a very successful sheep and duck arena trial with many qualifying scores on good sheep and well-prepared ducks, with judges Lori Middleton and Marti Parrish.

None of this very fun and rewarding weekend would have been possible without the endless support and help from the Lee Family. Jerry, Lill, Jessica and Nick, you're the best!! It was a great facility, with the excellent stock, good friends, and good food all contributing to the weekend's success.

	CLINIC PHOTOS
	Terry Stickle getting some advice from Betty Williams, with her Aussie Ralf also listening closely.
	Jackie Tomayer's Ice, doing a nice quiet job.
	Cathy Bishop's Quade.
	Betty Williams' Spur, watching the action. Spur is a full brother to Mel Kartz' Nick, who went on to take second in the ranch trial.
	A stock stick and a squeaky cow toy were the prizes for the most improved handler and dog, awarded by popular vote of all the clinic participants. Voted Most Improved Dog was Cathy Bishop's red dog Quade; Kay Spencer with her Aussie Ty took Most Improved Handler.
	RANCH TRIAL PHOTOS
	Walking the ranch trial course.
	Joan Holmes and Kya in one of the large-pasture sections of the trial course.
	Mel Kartz's Nick turning his cows.
	Maureen Elgert's Tag in the pens and chute part of the course.
	Lil Roth-Lee and Tray.