Dogpro Plus WAWSDA State Arena Trial Kendenup 16th - 19th August Report by Jenny Whitelock Photos by Nan Lloyd It's only a month since the Stirling Club annual trial was held at Kendenup and this last weekend saw triallers back there again for the WAWSDA State Trial. The Kendenup location is always a favourite with competitors due to the beautiful rural/bush setting and the welcoming community vibe, so there were no complaints at having to be back so soon. The sheep were once again kindly provided by the Slade family and provided the perfect challenge for competition at State level. They were Greeline ewe hoggets from the same large mob that were provided for the Stirling Club trial a month ago. This meant that some of the sheep for this trial could possibly have been used for the last trial, but the mob being so large, if that was the case the percentage would likely have been small. Triallers who tried to work these sheep the same as at the last Kendenup trial were unpleasantly surprised....the sheep this time around were very different to the last trial at Kendenup. They were more inclined to run and split. They could be educated to respect the dogs but not "broken in" as such. They would not be bullied or driven. They would only be coaxed to move in the right direction if other avenues had been blocked. The list of finalists for the Open Final was proof of the challenge these sheep provided. Only the most senior triallers who have been reading stock and trialling dogs for many, many years were able to read the sheep and put up the blocks to guide the sheep carefully around the course and, still with argument, into the pen, with most of their points remaining. The general conclusion around the ground for the difference in the sheep between last Kendenup trial and this one seemed to be that extra bit of feed around the place now that there's been some rain. The sheep were "feeling their oats" so to speak! The trial started at 12.30 on Thursday afternoon and ran smoothly through for a fairly early finish on Sunday, giving competitors a good chance to travel home in daylight hours. The weather started out cold and overcast with occasional showers blowing through, Saturday was overcast but mostly fine with sunny periods blowing through and Sunday was sunny and (finally) warm enough to shed several layers and strip down to short sleeves. A couple of nights were bitingly cold but members were able to warm themselves around the fire pit on the verandah of the club rooms. The WAWSDA Annual General Meeting was held on Friday night. This trial was the last trial with points counting towards the tallies deciding the two workers and their dogs to represent Western Australia against the other states at the Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championships to be held this year in Hawkesbury NSW in October. Congratulations to Dave Lacey with his dog Akoonah Holly, and Ivan Solomon with his dog Perangery Sasha who have qualified to represent WA this year, with Grant Cooke and Grassvalley Fly running a close third to stand in as first reserve if anything should prevent Dave or Ivan from travelling to the Supreme Trial in October. Also presented at the State Trial were the Patron's Awards....WAWSDA Patron Tony Boyle kindly donated prizemoney for the highest scoring competitor in each class never having won that level of class previously. Winner of the Novice Patron's Award was Helen Svalbe with her Kelpie, Boonining Swag (Teebo). Winner of the Improver Patron's Award was Vicki Dorrell with her Kelpie Ramulam Smokey, and winner of the Open Patron's Award was Jenny Nolan with Nolan's Nancy. Congratulations to those special award winners. There were 36 runs in the Novice with 9 scores, 32 runs in the Improver with 13 scores and 60 runs in the Open with 32 scores. Novice judged by Yvonne Haynes from Perth 1st. Malcolm Seymour. Coshie's Bella. 55. 2nd. Rod Forsyth. Barkervale Austen. 54. (Kelpie) 3rd. Helen Svalbe. Boonining Swag. 53. (Kelpie) 4th. Tony Boyle. Boylee Whitie. 51. 5th. Neil Eastough. Grassvalley Tinky. 49. =6th. Tony Boyle. Boylee Cournell. 48. =6th. Jenny Nolan. Nolan's Soul. 48. 8th. Rod Forsyth. Grassvalley Hazel. 46. 9th. Jenny Nolan. Nolan's Nitro. 43. Improver judged by Nan Lloyd from Brookton/Beverley 1st. Ivan Solomon. Perangery Trish. 56 + 94 = 150. 2nd. Jenny Whitelock. Boylee Talent. 71 + 67 = 138. 3rd. Tony Boyle. Chillie. 69 + 48 = 117. (Kelpie/Huntaway X) 4th. Jenny Nolan. Nolan's Chad. 62 + 45 = 107. 5th. Malcolm Seymour. Olboa Jess. 74 + X = 74. 6th. Peter Gorman. Badgingarra Pip. 55. 7th. Rick Janitz. Badgingarra Izzy. 54. 8th. Jenny Nolan. Nolan's Jedda. 52. =9th. Malcolm Seymour. Coshie's Bella. 49. =9th. Vicki Dorrell. Ramulam Smokey. 49. (Kelpie) Open judged by Colin Cosh from Manjimup 1st. Peter Gorman. Coshie's Dusty. 95 + 91 = 186. 2nd. Peter Gorman. Prince's Sally. 92 + 91 = 183. =3rd. Gordon Curtis. White's Joe. 89 + 93 = 182. (Kelpie) =3rd. Grant Cooke. Badgingarra Fly. 91 + 91 = 182. 5th. Dave Lacey. Akoonah Lady. 87 + 94 = 181. 6th. Grant Cooke. Grassvalley Sky. 89 + 87 = 176. 7th. Grant Cooke. Grassvalley Moss. 84 + 90 = 174. 8th. Dave Lacey. Fleetwood Devil. 86 + 80 = 166. 9th. Ivan Solomon. Perangery Trish. 85 + 79 = 164. =10th. Tony Boyle. Boylee Sugar. 90 + 69 = 159. =10th. Ken Atherton. Ramulam Punch. 92 + 67 = 159. (Kelpie) 12th. Jenny Nolan. Nolan's Nancy. 91 + 67 = 158. 
WINNERS CIRCLE 
Novice: Malcolm Seymour, Rod Forsyth, Helen Svalbe, Tony Boyle, Neil Eastough. 
Improver: Ivan Solomon, Jenny Whitelock, Tony Boyle, Jenny Nolan, Malcolm Seymour. 
Open: Peter Gorman, Grant Cooke, Gordon Curtis, Dave Lacey 
Gordon Curtis' White's Joe - equal 3rd in the Open 
Rod Forsyth's Grassvalley Hazel - 8th in the Novice 
Grant Cooke and Badgingarra Fly - equal 3rd in the Open 
Dave Lacey's Akoonah Lady - 5th in the Open 
Peter Gorman's Coshie's Dusty - Winner of the Open 
Peter Gorman's Badgingarra Gem 
Neil Eastough's Grassvalley Tinky 
Carolyn Bell's MeMate Mick | 
