Last weekend Singer was entered in another herding trial. The first day he finished his Intermediate A Course Title (AKC) with a score of 92 and winning his class and moving up to Advanced.
Later he did a Started B Course (AKC open field) and scored a 93 winning his class and moving up to Intermediate. The next day on B Course Intermediate he scored an 82, tied for second, tie breaker is scored on the out run and his is not very good so he fell to third. The winning dog was a Border Collie and scored 85 so still a great finish for Singer. On his first attempt on the Advanced A Course he did really well and had a wonderful run. Unfortunately (I will not go into the judging rules) he had a qualifying score but was not qualified due to a 50% rule. Needless to say when I saw that the judge had not qualified us I was upset but soon found out the judge had failed nearly the entire class for the same reason. The good part is that Singer did the course very well and if not for the judging would have finished as one of the top dogs. Here are a few photos of us getting ready for lessons and putting some sheep “out to pasture” for some of my students. As always Singer’s favorite part is jumping into the water trough and splashing and playing to cool off.
Congratulations. What beautiful photo’s makes me want to grab Fred and come have lessons w/ you.
I am curious and (and a herding novice) what is the 50% rule?
Well Patti we might be able to go take lessons from Rich! I want to know what the 50% rule is too.
Great job, guys! Singer looks great and happy!
Awesome job! Rich, by now you should know that we require the details—explain away.
I second that, Carole. No such thing as too many details in this case!
Great work!!! Roman’s working hard and hopes to be as good as Singer someday!
I won’t go into the explanation as to why the judging was in error, but will explain the 50% rule. This rule only applies in AKC. Each course is broken down into several parts. Each section has a point value to it and all sections in total equal 100 points. If for any reason you lose more than 50% of your points on any section you can not qualify even though you total score was a qualifying one. So, if a section was worth 20 points and the judge took off 11 or more points I could not qualify even if my score was perfect on the rest of the course. In this particular case the class was 13 dogs and only 6 qualified. The 7 that did not qualify were all for the same reason. Also for your info. A dog must score 60 or more points to qualify (but must not lose more than 50% of the points on any section). Hope this clarifies it. If not you must all come to California and take lessons until it is clear. We are having a big trial, 10 days of AKC and AHBA, in January so come on out.
Wow, congratulations! Wonderful accomplishments and I absolutely love the photos. I adore herding – I wish it was more available in my area.
Sheep and swimming-looks like Singer has it made. Congratulations on your latest accomplishments.