The Nursery Trial
September 18-26, 2010 Middletown, Virginia
The USBCHA/ABCA Nursery program is, as the name implies, for young dogs. Officially, no dog whose date of birth is before July 1, 2007 is eligible to run in the 2010 Nursery Finals. In practice, that means that the oldest dogs you'll see in the Nursery Finals are a couple of months over three years (a special few of these older dogs may also be running in the Open Finals). There is no lower age limit for Nursery dogs: some pups are unusually precocious and are able to run a Nursery course before they are a year old. Most dogs, however, have not advanced enough in their training and maturity to handle the pressure of running at a trial before they are two years old, and some take considerably longer than that to train and prepare for trialing. Dogs qualify to run in the Nursery Finals by placing in the top twenty percent of at least two sanctioned Nursery or Open trials over the course of the season.
The Nursery course will be very similar to the qualifying Open course; it will not, however, include a shed, since shedding is considered one of the most advanced skills that a young sheepdog learns over the course of its training. Other than the shed, a Nursery course should be identical in all respects to an Open course, with as challenging an outrun, fetch, drive, and pen.
In practice, however, some of the Nursery dogs will be less polished and predictable than the seasoned competitors you will see in the Open trial. Young sheepdogs are sometimes excitable when encountering new, unfamiliar livestock. They also may find longer outruns more difficult than they will later in their careers, when they have more wisdom and experience to draw upon. Much can happen in a dog's training between the ages of two and three: some of the younger dogs who make errors today will be smooth working machines by this time next year, and some of those dogs will still be eligible to run in the Nursery program in the 2008 season.
Do the best Nursery dogs ultimately make the best Open dogs? That question is hotly debated among sheepdog trainers. Some contend that the dogs who end up having the power and authority needed to move difficult sheep around an Open course tend to be too hot and pushy as young dogs to do well in Nursery-one top trainer has always said that you don't want to see pups "too nice too soon." Others argue that the qualities that make a good Nursery dog-smooth, wide flanks, and a calm, settling manner over the sheep-serve dogs well throughout their lives and do not necessarily signify a dog who will mature into something with less than optimum authority over livestock. Many top Open dogs started their careers as top Nursery dogs. And, of course, some hot, pushy dogs remain too hot and pushy all of their lives, never quite settling down enough to be competitive Open trial dogs. In the end, we usually conclude that it is difficult to speculate about the future when watching Nursery dogs work; it is probably best to appreciate the good work that young dogs can give us without worrying too much when things go wrong. Nursery dogs provide us with glimpses of the future, but even these glimpses will never tell us conclusively what a dog will become. In the end, a combination (for better or for worse) of inborn ability, training, and experiences will shape the young sheepdog into a reliable working partner.
The Nursery course will be very similar to the qualifying Open course; it will not, however, include a shed, since shedding is considered one of the most advanced skills that a young sheepdog learns over the course of its training. Other than the shed, a Nursery course should be identical in all respects to an Open course, with as challenging an outrun, fetch, drive, and pen.
In practice, however, some of the Nursery dogs will be less polished and predictable than the seasoned competitors you will see in the Open trial. Young sheepdogs are sometimes excitable when encountering new, unfamiliar livestock. They also may find longer outruns more difficult than they will later in their careers, when they have more wisdom and experience to draw upon. Much can happen in a dog's training between the ages of two and three: some of the younger dogs who make errors today will be smooth working machines by this time next year, and some of those dogs will still be eligible to run in the Nursery program in the 2008 season.
Do the best Nursery dogs ultimately make the best Open dogs? That question is hotly debated among sheepdog trainers. Some contend that the dogs who end up having the power and authority needed to move difficult sheep around an Open course tend to be too hot and pushy as young dogs to do well in Nursery-one top trainer has always said that you don't want to see pups "too nice too soon." Others argue that the qualities that make a good Nursery dog-smooth, wide flanks, and a calm, settling manner over the sheep-serve dogs well throughout their lives and do not necessarily signify a dog who will mature into something with less than optimum authority over livestock. Many top Open dogs started their careers as top Nursery dogs. And, of course, some hot, pushy dogs remain too hot and pushy all of their lives, never quite settling down enough to be competitive Open trial dogs. In the end, we usually conclude that it is difficult to speculate about the future when watching Nursery dogs work; it is probably best to appreciate the good work that young dogs can give us without worrying too much when things go wrong. Nursery dogs provide us with glimpses of the future, but even these glimpses will never tell us conclusively what a dog will become. In the end, a combination (for better or for worse) of inborn ability, training, and experiences will shape the young sheepdog into a reliable working partner.
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