Dowerin Arena. Unofficial)

DogPro Plus Dowerin Arena (Unofficial) August. 28-29th.

This years Dowerin trial really epitomized the meaning of the word trial.

On the first day of the trial the temperature climbed to almost 30 degrees, a near record high for August.

Dogs and handlers struggled under the conditions as the weather had recently been quite cold and it is always hardest to cope with at this time of the year.

On the second day, whilst it was cooler, we had to cope with gale force winds and choking dust, with the occasional rainy squall thrown in. It was a battle to stand up and work and it made the already touchy sheep even worse.

The trial was run in conjunction with the Dowerin field day, and a vintage motor display near the trial ground did not help matters. The noise and wind prevented many dogs from hearing their handlers at the other end of the ground

They were 18 month old merinos about a month shorn, that could cover a lot of ground in a short space of time.

The pickup was the hardest and in some cases the sheep were running before the dog could even pick them up, and they kept going. Even when the dog managed to get around them they quickly took off back the other way. Some competitors were rung off before they even left the casting peg.

Some of the older experienced dogs managed reasonable scores and at times when the wind dropped they settled for a while and were quite workable. Sometimes they deceived us into thinking they were settled and relaxed only to split and run at the pen or the bridge. They also quickly worked out any dogs that were not strong enough, or broke off too much, and they simply pushed their way back up the ground.

They certainly represented a challenge.

There were 34 entries in the novice with 10 scores, 28 in the improver with nine scores, and in the open 48 runs and 20 scores.

Novice.

1st. Jan Cornish. Bellview Ted. 80

2nd. Jenny Nolan. Nolans Mystic. 61

3rd. Rod Forsyth. Grassvalley Hazel.52.

4th. Len Morton. Perengary. Sadie. 50

5th. Dave Lacey. Brands Hatch Tusker. 42.

6th. Tony Boyle. Boylee Whitey. 36.

=7th. Jenny Nolan. Grassvalley Penny. 26.

=7th. Jan COrnish. Belview Gem. 26.

9th. Jenny Nolan. Grassvalley Scout. 25.