seemed like the more I pushed on him the worse it got. I was nervous going into the specialty. It turned out I
shouldn’t have been. Preacher had qualifying PT runs on cattle both days and earned his AKC Pre-Trial title on
cattle.
In December that same year I met the late, great Bob Vest at a four day clinic he conducted at Flickerwood
Arena. Bob made me focus on fundamentals all four days. Prior to this I didn’t even have a down on Preacher.
Bob may have been old school but using his method I had a down on the dog before the clinic was over.
Preacher and I had the
privilege of attending
three more of Bob’s
clinics before his un-
timely death.
Tennessee Valley Cat-
tle Dog Rescue was
taking more of my
time. The dogs and I
were also outgrowing
our home in Chatta-
nooga and I started
looking for a farm. I
moved to Cedar Creek
Farm in Georgetown,
TN in the summer of
2006. I bought a small
flock of sheep. I
thought I would train
more. The reality was
that between my full-
time job, the expand-
ing rescue, and the added work of getting a neglected farm in shape, I had little time to train. Over the next two
years I managed a few lessons with Joyce Norris. I also went to two Kent Herbel clinics. I finally got all the fenc-
ing in on my own farm. Preacher worked in clinics I hosted with Joyce Norris in December 2007 and with Lyle
Lad in June 2008.
Preacher and I entered ASCA trials during 2007 and 2008. He finished his Started Trial Dog title on sheep in
2007. He also earned Intermediate legs on cattle and sheep. Preacher was in the ribbons several times, but
also had some non-qualifying runs along the way.
We had missed three National Specialties since Preacher earned his PT but I was determined to make the
2009 Specialty in Belton, TX. I wanted to have Preacher ready for the started classes and resolved to work him
more at home. I primarily used him as a chore dog to help me move and sort my growing flock of registered
Katahdins but did get in some more specific training sessions.
With the Specialty fast approaching I wanted to test my dogs in competition. I entered the German Shepherd
Dog Club of Western Kentucky’s duck and sheep trial. It was hotter than Hades that June weekend. Preacher
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