Peninsula
Australian Shepherd Association put on its seventh annual ASCA
sanctioned
TD and TDX tests over Presidents' Weekend at Fort Ord, an
enormous parkland developed from a decommissioned military
base,
just inland from Monterey, California. Six TD tests and three TDX
tests were plotted
on
Friday and run on Saturday. Four more TD and four more TDX
tracks
were plotted on Sunday
and run on
Monday.
Judy
Strom of Whitehall, MT judged both days. Donna Highstreet was
the
2nd judge on Saturday and Sue Rush was Sunday's second judge.
Both Donna and Sue are local and PASA members.
The Fort Ord
site is hilly but gorgeous. This year, in spite of the very
dry
season had decent cover. PASA has obtained special permission from the
BLM to use a
portion of the park that is closed to motor vehicles, so the space is
quiet and pristine.
Saturday
TD Tracking Area
Judy
Torin & Foghorn Apollo on track
Saturday started out foggy and damp, which was perfect tracking weather for the TD dogs who all passed. However, by afternoon it became very windy which probably effected the TDX dogs, non of which passed. Monday was pleasant, sunny and dry. We ended up with a 50% pass rate for both the TD and TDX tests.
Monday
TDX area
Janet
Massolo and Lunarlites
Knock on Wood on track
The Passing TD dogs were:
Tian Ma, a 3-yr-old Australian Shepherd female owned by Martha and Peter Ho of Woodbridge, CA
Coffeehouse Star, an
11-yr-old Australian
Shepherd female owned by Maia Halvorsen of Bellingham, WA.
Jole' Cajun Chaps,
ASCA TD, an
8-year-old Australian Shepherd male owned by Jean Danver of Los Altos
Hills, CA.
Rubi,
ASCA TD and TDXx2, a 6-year-old Australian Shepherd female
owned
by Donna Highstreet of San Jose, CA. Rubi now is just one
“TD”
away from achieving her ASCA Master Tracking dog title.
Kestrel,
a 13-month-old Australian Shepherd male owned by Anne Hershey of
Hillsborough, CA. Kestrel’s TD pass is
the final
credit that places his sire, Heartfire’s Thief in the
Night, into the ASCA Hall of Fame Sire
category.
Foghorn Apollo, a
2-year-old Portuguese
Water Dog male owned by Judy and Torin Knorr of San Mateo, CA.
Safari, a 2-year-old
Golden Retriever
female, owned by Michelle Pressel of Santa Cruz, CA.
Cedar, an 8-year-old
Golden Retriever
male, owned by Michelle Pressel of Santa Cruz, CA.
Saturday's
TD passing dogs. They are Judy Knorr and her Portuguese Water Dog,
Foghorn Apollo; Maia Halvorse and her Australian Shepherd, Coffeehouse
Star; Judge Donna Highstreet; Martha Ho and her Australian Shepherd,
Tia Ma ; Judge Judy Strom; Tracklayers Jenny Hutchinson and Lori
McCallum;
Michelle Pressel and her Golden Retrievers, Cedar and Safari; missing
from picture is Jean Danver and her Australian Shepherd, Jole'Cajun
Chaps (2nd ASCA TD)
Monday's
TD passing dogs. Tracklayer Debra Dove; Anne Hershey and her Australian
Shepherd, Kestrel; Judge Judy Strom; Donna Highstreet and her
Australian
Shepherd, Rubi (2nd ASCA TD); Judge Sue Rush
Passing TDX dogs
were:
Jole’ Cajun Chaps,
ASCA TDx2, an
8-year-old Australian Shepherd male, owned by Jean Danver of Los Altos
Hills, CA
Cleo TD, a
4-year-old Chinook female,
owned by Maia Halvorsen of Bellingham, WA
Monday's
TDX passing dogs. Tracklayer Chris Benz; Maia Halvorsen and her
Chinook, Cleo; Judge Sue Rush; Tracklayer Rita Crawford; Judge Judy
Strom; Tracklayer Dee Hutton; Jean Danver and her Australian Shepherd,
Chaps, who also earned his 2nd TD on Saturday; track layer Doug
Nichols.
Anne Hershey was the TD and TDX Test Secretary for Saturday's TD
and TDX tests, as well as the chief tracklayer.
Lora Cox
served as Test Secretary and as
Chief Tracklayer for Monday's TDX tests. Donna
Highstreet was there with her motor home parked at
the staging area. Mona Nichols and Ken Highstreet did a great
job
with hospitality
serving breakfast and lunch both Saturday and Monday.
Many thanks are due
to our
hard-working judges and to the volunteer
workers who
made
these tests possible: TDX tracklayers Doug Nichols, Susan
Roberts, Joan
Carpenter and Chris Benz , TDX cross-track layers Sue Rush, Janet
Massolo, Rita
Crawford and Dee Hutton; TD tracklayers Linda Lang, Jennifer
Hutchinson,
Diane Aven, Lori McCallum, Warene Waters, Marlene Gordon, and Debra
Dove.
Thanks, too, to hospitality hosts and chefs Ken
Highstreet
and Mona
Nichols, and to “Woman Friday” Linda Stamper.
We were lucky to
have
beautiful weather and dry roads. The cover was not as tall
and
lush as it
has been in wetter seasons, but the dogs didn’t seem to
mind.
A cougar, two bobcats, a large coyote and a flock of quail
were
spotted on the
tracking
fields. It was an exciting and fabulously
successful
weekend.
Monday's
TD/TDX Catalog
Pictures
taken by Jean Danver and Lora Cox
