13/07/2026
Well, we are back home after our Qld dog trial roadtrip.
We had a very successful trip to Comet and Toogoolawah with the girls coming ahead on the leaderboard!
Dunbible Creek Meg and I are having a good run!! At Comet for the Australian Cattle Dog Trial Championships, Meg secured a place in the finals of the Open. We pulled together 3 great runs (90, 89.5 and 94.5) to finish 12th overall out of 240 dogs. Extremely proud to be in top 5% and an amazing result and a fitting 3rd birthday celebration for Meg.
Graeme had decent runs in the Open with Lass (84), Cloud (90.5) and Rocky (87), and made it to Round 2 with Cloud. The 2nd round proved to be too tough for Cloud and ended in a retirement.
In the Maiden/Novice Graeme and the dogs also had good runs with Lass (75), Cloud (80) and Rocky (91). Rocky made it into the next round and came away with an 87 which was not enough to put him in the finals for the Novice.
It ended up with him and Andersons Rocky being placed 12th overall in the Maiden and 23rd in the Novice (out of 194 dogs).
Myself and Ash penned the cattle in the Open for a 79. Both Meg and Ash drew some tough cattle in the Maiden/Novice and I retired them both.
Considering Graeme and I are relatively new to the trial scene, having started less than 3 years ago, I am extremely proud we both made Round 2/Finals at the Aus Champs!!
Then on to Toogoolawah!
A great weekend, venue and company.
Graeme had good runs with his dogs.
In the Maiden/Novice - Lass 87, Cloud 88 and Rocky 85
And in the Open - Lass 73, Cloud 80, and Rocky 77
For myself in the Open - Ash started of great, nice crisp stop and was doing well. The cattle got a bit wayward so I quit while we could end on a good note before Ash unravelled completely. In the Novice, he was first out for the morning and was very fresh, I retired him as he failed to have his listening ears turned on. Meg turned on a good but not great run, penned the cattle for 85.
She was just getting warmed up for the Maiden/Novice, where we penned the cattle for 95.
We made it to the final for the Novice and pulled together a tidy run with 94, but there were some very nice runs to follow by the more experienced handlers and dogs. I leave with some more homework to do!!
For the Toogoolawah campaign, Meg and I placed =3rd/4th in the Maiden and =5th/6th in the Novice.
So we were on the podium in foreign territory đŸ˜‹, very happy to take home a couple of ribbons and bag of biccies.
Special thanks to our fellow Mexicans whom made the trip across the border for the trial and sale. Thanks Steele Cannell and all the sponsors, committee, volunteers who put together a great trial.
