Royal Panic

Nightmare!
Panicking!
Totally unprepared and facing immense public humiliation!

It must be Royal Show time...

Every year I do this- I leave preparing for the Royal Show to the absolute last minute, then run around like a headless chook panicking about how unprepared I am and what a fool I'm going to look. And I do look like a fool, but if I let that bother me I wouldn't get out of bed most days.

In 2007 I decided to debut Bill in agility, and only remembered a couple of weeks beforehand that I hadn't taught him to weave, so his first "straight pole" experience was the night before the trial...

In 2008 the prospect of running my two barely semi-trained dogs (Bill and Muddy) just didn't promise enough public humiliation, so I spiced things up with two new completely untrained dogs, Ziggy and Queani. Ziggy must have run through a few tunnels as a baby puppy, but Queani's only experience of agility equipment was two training sessions in the month before the trial. We didn't win anything, both of them enjoyed themselves, and I looked like an entirely new class of fool.

There's no way I can top last year's effort for agility unpreparedness, so I didn't bother to enter the Royal this year. We weren't sure we going to be able to get there in the first place, but it looked like Fred might qualify for the yard event again, in probably his last year of trialling. So I was actually looking forward to the first Royal Show in about a decade where I can just relax and enjoy the show. A day free from event schedules to wander around with BabyJ at our own pace- awesome.

But... Of course there's a but.
Bill qualified for the Arena event.
Yes, that's right (stop laughing), Bill.



The Royal Show sheepdog events are invitational, demonstration events. The 14 dogs to compete in the arena and 16 dogs in the yard are selected based on the results from the previous year's official 3sheep and yard/utility events. Of course there are some top dogs and handlers that can't attend every year, and I guess that's how Bill ended up on the list. But still- we weren't the bottom qualifiers, and he did make Open finals at a few of the tougher 3sheep events this year, so it's not a total Steven Bradbury moment...



I'm not expecting it to happen again for Bill and I, so making the Royal is probably going to be the pinnacle of our 3sheep trialling career. I'm thrilled, and proud, but as the days tick away I'm getting increasingly nervous. Perhaps terrified is a more honest description. It isn't helped by R, who revels in announcing the "countdown" every morning- "7 days until the Royal Show!" this morning. I nearly died.

The Perth Royal Show is the biggest "agricultural show" in the state- and I use the term "agricultural" loosely because it's held in the city, and for at least 90% of the 400, 000+ attendees, it's more about the showbags, fireworks, Sideshow Alley and junk food, than anything vaguely related to farming. But most people do take time to visit the Baby Animal Pavilion, pat a pig, and cast a brief eye over the district displays. The agility and obedience is always a big hit. And the lunchtime sheepdog runs on the main arena seem to attract a huge crowd. So I can expect at least a few thousand people to see Bill and I step out there. I'm trying to stay positive and look forward to the experience, but the reality is that Bill and I haven't been running well lately, he never does well in his first run of a trial anyway, and since he broke his toe he's been doing rather too much of this:



And nowhere near enough of this:


So I have a week to drop a few kilograms of fat off him, add a few of muscle and a chunk of aerobic fitness. And maybe do some training... Chances are I won't. Oh well. Lack of preparation and the potential for public embarrassment at the Royal- it's a tradition!

There will be a heap of actual quality dogs and handlers in both the yard and arena competitions at the Royal, and here's the full schedule:

The yard events are held at the northeast corner of the showgrounds, next to the agility/obedience, the pigs/llamas and the sheep shed. Demos run throughout the day, with the final runs of the day judged.
The arena runs are in the main arena.
Map


Saturday 26 Sept
Arena - 1.30pm

• Ray Sutherland- Christies Tammy (collie)
• Sam Weaver- Boylee Bill (collie)

Yard- 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Andrew Gorton- Boylee Ella (collie- Esme's dam)
• Richard McGuire- Boylee Fred (collie)

Sunday 27th Sept
Arena - 1.30pm

• Grant Cooke- Pendalup Candy (collie- Tess' litter sister)
• Gordon Curtis- Nolan's Minnie (collie)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Grant Cooke- Grassvalley Tod (collie- Mick and Moss' sire)
• Gordon Curtis- Binnaburra Tuff (kelpie- Bonnie's sire)

Monday 28th Sept
Arena - 2.15pm

• Ken Atherton- Ramulam Gus (collie)
• Jenny Atherton- Badgingarra DotCom (collie)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 4.30pm

• Ken Atherton- Badgingarra Tony (kelpie)
• Nigel Armstrong- Yarralonga Darkie (kelpie)

Tuesday 29th Sept
Arena - 1.45pm

• Ivan Solomon- Perangery Jill (collie)
• Grant Cooke- Grassvalley Tod (collie)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Ken Atherton- Boylee Gus (collie)
• Nigel Armstrong- Yarralonga Delta (kelpie)

Wednesday 30th Sept
Arena - 1.30pm

• Ivan Solomon- Perangery Danny (collie)
• Peter Gorman- El Shamah Ellie (collie- Tess' dam, Queani's cousin)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Rod Forsyth- Binnaburra Milo (kelpie- Bonnie's brother)
• Tony Boyle- Bellview Dale (collie- Bart's sire)

Thursday 1st Oct
Arena - 1.45pm

• Wayne Hall- Boylee Wal (collie)
• Peter Gorman- Springvale Cindy (collie)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Rod Forsyth- Binnaburra Wal (kelpie)
• Tony Boyle- Boylee Dot (collie- Bart's mum)

Friday 2nd Oct
Arena - 1.45pm

• Malcolm Seymour- Glenview Ruby (collie- Moss' dam)
• Gordon Curtis- Binnaburra Tuff (kelpie)

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Gibb Macdonald- Boylee Poppy (collie)
• Gordon Curtis- Binnaburra Jess (kelpie- Bonnie's sister)

Saturday 3rd Oct
No arena event

Yard - 9.45am, 11.30am, 3pm, 4.30pm

• Marianne Rogers- Christies Cocoacina (collie)
• Karen Buller- Badgingarra Barney (kelpie)

And whatever happens to Bill and I out on the arena, he'll always be our best Biww...