Dogpro Plus Albany Arena 2023

Report and Images by Marianne Rogers

The last official arena trial for 2023 was held in the cool coastal town of Albany.

Esperence club with help from members of various clubs ran this trial. Special thanks go to Terry Martino, Tim Foster and Rob Smith for all the work they put into setting up the ground.

Tim also brought his own yard panels. Stirling club supplied the obstacles and Perth Avon club supplied course markers, bunting and trophies.

Rain fell before and after the trial but during the trial it was cold to freezing and very windy! Good weather for sheep and sheepdogs at this time of year.

The sheep were red tag ewes with over 4 months wool and lots of attitude.

They challenged the dogs but could work if handled well.

The Open event was run first, judged by Simon Leaning. There were 24 scores from 56 runs.

The first round was completed on Friday and the Open final was run Saturday morning.

Ivan Solomon won the Slade Family cup for the highest score in the first round of the Open with Perangery Sadie.

The used shep were mixed with the unused sheep and were recycled for the rest of the trial. 

Kettridges Stockfeeds generously donated half a tonne of sheep pellets. These were fed out to the sheep on the ground at night to keep them well nourished for the weekend.

The naughty jumpers were raddled where possible to avoid repeat performances!

The Novice event followed the Open final. This was briefly interrupted by the Encourage event which followed the one minute silence at 11am to honour our war veterans. The Encourage event was well supported with six dog handler teams. Frank Sutherland did a great job ensuring that all competitors got a fair go. The winner was Courtney Moir with Rocky Keelie.

The Novice event was judged by Per Ostberg. From 38 runs there were 9 scores achieved. 

On Sunday the Improver was judged by Corey Rose and from 36 runs there were 14 scores.

After the presentations for the classes, Marianne Rogers’ Cocoacina Trophy was presented by Simon Leaning to Terry Martino and Marionvale Bo. This award is for the highest score in the DOY competition by a Novice handler.

Grant Cooke then presented the DOY cup to Ken Atherton with Ramulam Charlie with 58 points. Runner up DOY was Ivan Solomon with Perangery Trish with 45 points.

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Encourage
Judged by Frank Sutherland

	Handler	Dog
1	Courtney Moir	Rocky Keelie

Novice
Judged by Per Ostberg

	Handler	Dog	Total
1	Peter Gorman	Badgingarra Missy	85
2	Marianne Rogers	Amarillo Artimyst	73
3	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Gilbert	68
4	Steve Wallace	Rocky Roxie	66
5	Marianne Rogers	Marionvale Aykeira	56
6	Jane Dorrell	Cloverlea Dot	44
7	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Tess (K)	37
8	Danial Beard	Boonining Digit	29
9	Frank Sullivan	Rocky Bindi	22

Improver
Judged by Corey Rose

	Handler	Dog	Total
1	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Oak (K)	84
2	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Pickles (K)	80
=3	Steve Wallace	Rocky Roxie	79
=3	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Gilbert	79
=5	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Woody (K)	74
=5	Jane Dorrell	Cloverlea Dot	74
7	Per Ostberg	My Nr One Favvo	70
8	Rose Cassidy	Nolans Shana	68
9	Peter Gorman	Badgingarra Missy	67
10	Cree Monaghan	Graedawn Finn (K)	55

Open
Judged by Simon Leaning

	Handler	Dog	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Total
1	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Palmer	74	82	156
2	Neil Kristiansen	Badgingarra Maggie	72	81	153
3	Ivan Solomon	Perangery Trish	66	85	151
4	Corey Rose	Boylee Pick	62	83	145
5	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Charlie (K)	76	59	135
6	Tony Boyle	Boylee Midget	65	66	131
7	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Theo	78	49	127
8	Ivan Solomon	Perangery Sadie	89	29	118
9	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Fella (K)	74	43	117
10	Neil Kristiansen	Badgingarra Sir Ben	63	LS	63
11	Rose Cassidy	Nolans Shana	62	RTD	62
12	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Prickles	61	RTD	61

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