2017 Nov Dec

Finally, Finals!
Thomas Morarre • Lolo, Montana
Format and Function
As I write this there are hurricanes and floods in Texas
and Florida; forest fires in Montana, Idaho, Oregon,
California, Washington and British Columbia; and
heatwaves in much of the rest of the country. But in
November as you are reading this, hopefully, all of these difficulties
will be behind us and we will have completed another ASCA Finals
competition. I find it a bit difficult to find a topic that is appropriate
for the Finals Column at this time of the year. I have elected to
present one idea that I heard recently concerning the format of finals
and the possibility of improving the opportunity for our stockdogs
to demonstrate their full range of capabilities.
I was at a trial in August where the idea of adding Post
Advanced and a Ranch trial to the finals agenda was discussed.
The general opinion was that by including the additional trial
formats, the competing dogs would demonstrate a more versatile
and well-rounded set of skills than they can show in an arena trial.
It was suggested that the additional types of trial would do more
to promote the working Australian Shepherd. By raising the bar at
Finals to include distance work and actual ranch tasks, it was felt
that our Finals would become a better showcase for our dogs.
I know that in the past Post Advanced has been used in Finals,
but that was before my time and I am not sure how those Finals were
conducted. The obvious issue that comes to mind when considering
the addition of Post Advanced and/or Ranch trials to the Finals
format and perhaps the one that is most difficult to address, would
be finding a facility that could host Ranch Trials and Post Advanced
trials as well as arena trials. There might also be an issue with stock
as additional stock would be required. Then there is the issue of
ducks. What do we do with ducks? But let’s set these issues aside
for a moment and look at the proposal as I heard it discussed.
In this proposal, the Finals competition would begin with a
cattle and sheep Post Advanced trial. Then the arena trials would be
held, and finally the Ranch trial would be held. The determination
of the overall winners would be calculated by adding the combined
scores from all events. This sort of high combined overall score
would address the issue that seems to come up often in discussion
of the quality of dogs at Finals. Namely, that many of the dogs
that get into Finals do not represent the true working Aussie, but
achieve their success because success in the arena courses that does
not really test for the full working ability of our dogs.
The proposed format would be quite time consuming and
would require a couple of extra days to complete, but if the
Post Advanced field were on the same site as the arenas for the
regular advanced courses being run, then the two events could run
simultaneously. I admit it would be a tight schedule. The ranch trial
76 AUSSIE TIMES November-December 2017
would probably have to be held on additional days and perhaps at
a different location.
To address the time requirements The Finals might need to
be extended by a couple of days, maybe even to an entire week.
It might also be necessary to have the number of competing dogs
reduced to twenty. The logistics of a combined trial like this might
make it unrealistic to include with Nationals. There would be many
obstacles to overcome. But I have heard it suggested elsewhere
that Stock Dog Finals be separated from Nationals. If Finals were
extended to more than four days, I think making it a separate event
might be necessary. In any case, the proposal I heard for including
Post Advanced and Ranch Trial courses in Finals would have
qualifying dogs competing in more diverse situations and really
showing the ability of our dogs to perform different useful tasks.
Our Aussies can do these things, so why shouldn’t we allow them
to demonstrate their versatility?
I have not tried to present a full blown description of how such
a format could be implemented. In this column, I am only trying to
sketch one idea for changing Finals to give folks something to think
about and mull over. If you have comments on this idea or perhaps
other ideas for improving the Stock Dog Finals, please send them
to me and I will work them into future issues of the Aussie Times.
ASCA Finals is supposed to be our signature event and demonstrate
the capabilities of our Aussies. Is it currently doing that? If not,
how can we modify the Stock Finals format to better showcase our
dog’s working abilities?
In the last issue one of our Mystery Pups was revealed. Donna
Marsh and her Aussie, Tex, formally known as Mystery Pup
Journey, were planning on going to Finals this year and competing
in Sheep and Ducks. It was to be their first Finals. Although Donna
will be sending me another contribution to comment on her firsttime
Finals experience, I asked her if she would care to reflect on
her thoughts preceding her trip to Bryan. She obliged me with a
contribution that shines a light on the expense and effort it takes
to make it into Finals that I am pleased to present here.
****
The Financial Road to Finals
Prepared and submitted by Donna Marsh
Tom suggested I write one more contribution describing my
efforts to qualify for Finals. I wanted to share the expense of my
journey to my first Finals in order to encourage more people to
give it a shot. I believed that qualifying for Finals was out of the
question for me because of the expense. But, as a regular Finalist
once told me, “You don’t have to go to a lot of trials to qualify.