Peninsula Australian Shepherd Association put on its eighth annual ASCA sanctioned TD and TDX tests over Presidents' Weekend at Fort Ord Public Lands, an enormous parkland developed from a decommissioned military base, just inland from Monterey, California.
Eight TD tests and
two TDX
tests were plotted
on
Friday and run on Saturday. Two more TD and five more TDX
tracks
were plotted on Sunday
and run on
Monday.
Anne Hershey of Hillsborough, CA judged both
days.
Donna Highstreet was the
2nd judge on Sunday and Sue Rush was Saturday's second judge.
Anne, Donna and Sue are local and PASA members. Also Donna and Sue
finished their provisional judging and can now apply for ASCA approved
tracking judging status.
The Fort Ord
site is hilly but gorgeous. 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.
Fort
Ord National Monument
Sign
Hazel Olbrich & Sam on track
Saturday weather was
warm and sunny with
only slight wind. Five TD dogs and one TDX
dog passed. Monday's weather
cool, cloudy, and
dry with light to moderate gusty winds. Both TD dogs passed
their
track, but only one TDX passed. In
general the Sunday TDX tracks were quite dry, lacking cover in
places, The TD tracks were in a wetter place with better
cover.
The
big news was that Donna Highstreet's Australian Shepherd bitch, Rubi,
passed her third ASCA TD
on Saturday which earned Rubi an ASCA Master Tracking Dog Title (2 TDXs
and 3
TDs). The first dog in ASCA history to earn this
title.
Monday Base Camp
Donna
Highstreet with Rubi,
judges Sue Rush & Anne Hershey
and track layer xxxxx xxxxxx
The Saturday Passing TD dogs were:
Granite's Rubicon Star, Rubi, TD-3, a 5 year old Australian Shepherd bitch owned by Donna Highstreet
Deborah
Best & TD Pix
with Chief Tracklayer Sue Rush
Michelle Pressel & TD-2,
TD-3 Cedar with Chief Tracklayer Sue Rush and
judges Anne Hershey & Donna Highstreet
Lorac's Los Suenos
Texas Ranger, Ranger,
TDX-2, a 6 year old Australian Shepherd dog, owned by Laura Cox of
Milpitas, CA. Ranger needs two more TD passes for a Master
Tracking Dog Title
Laura
Cox & TDX-2 Ranger with
judges Anne Hershey & Donna Highstreet and tracklayer Susan
Roberts
Linda Stamper was the TD and TDX Test Secretary for Saturday's TD
and TDX tests. Lora Cox was the chief tracklayer.
Marcia
Hodes
served as Test Secretary on Monday and Sue Rush was
the Chief Tracklayer. 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. They
got
help from Donna Highstreet, Warene Waters and Diane
Aven.
Mona's
Monday chili really hit the spot in the cool weather.
Many thanks are due
to our
hard-working judges and to the volunteer
workers who
made
these tests possible: Saturday Tracklayers Joan Carpenter,
Linda
Lang, Diane Even, Warene Waters, Jennifer Hutchinson, Lori McCammon and
Gina Campodonico; Monday tracklayers Doug Nichols, Chris
Benz,
Susan Roberts, Janet Massolo, Gina Campodonico and Janice.
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 that seems to be the trend in
recent years.
Kyla
Smay has a really great description of her track with her dog Darrin,on
this link.