Dogpro Plus State Yard & Utility Championships 2023

Report by Nan Lloyd
Photos by Nan Lloyd and Karyn Buller

Our State Yard and Utility trials rotate between two clubs.

This year it was Northern Districts turn. The trial was run at Binnaburra, near Kelleberrin.

The weather was pleasant for the first day, and a bit chilly at night. However the rain started at midday Friday and continued into the night and halfway through the next day. This made things quite uncomfortable for man and beast, but local farmers were happy, as it has been dry this year.

The sheep were red tag wethers and worked quite well for most dogs. The gap was the most difficult obstacle, but once they completed it, the sheep settled for the remaining obstacles. Quite a few dogs managed to pen their sheep.

In the yard section the sheep worked well. They did have a fair amount of wool on them causing them to get jammed in the draft and the on the truck. When it started raining the sheep got a bit heavier and tended to stick in the race. All in all, they flowed well, and the scores reflected this.

There were two Patron’s awards for the best work which went to Daniel Beard and Steve Wallace.

The Novice Utility and Yard was judged by Simon Leaning. Simon was judged by Karyn Buller and Rod Forsyth.

The Open Utility was judged by Nigel Armstrong. Nigel was judged by Nan Lloyd and Gordon Curtis.

The Open and Improver Yard was judged by Ken Atherton. Ken was judged by Nan Lloyd and Gordon Curtis.

The winners for the weekend were.
Novice Yard – Tara Herbert with Marionvale Tess.
Novice Utility – Karyn Buller with Boco Louie.
Improver Yard – Allan Dunn with Dunns Smallchange.
Open Yard – Allan Dunn with Gogetta Thor.
Open Utility – Simon Leaning with Marionvale Chip, after completing a run-off against himself with Marionvale Di.
All winners this year were Kelpies. Marionvale Di did her best to represent the Border Collies.

Novice Yard
Judged by Simon Leaning

	Worker	Dog	Score
1	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Tess (K)	50
=2	Tony Boyle	Boylee Cournel	44
=2	Simon Leaning	Yarrabee Jack (K)	44
4	Tony Boyle	Boylee Gus	41
5	Nan Lloyd	Kumbark Lexi (K)	40
6	Nan Lloyd	Binnaburra Merlin (K)	38

Novice Utility
Judged by Simon Leaning

	Worker	Dog	Score
1	Karyn Buller	Boco Louie (K)	75
2	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	73
3	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Prickles (K)	67
=4	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Di	65
=4	Neil Kristiansen	Badgingarra Sir Ben	65
6	Tony Boyle	Boylee Cournel	64

Improver Yard
Judged by Ken Atherton

	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Total
1	Allan Dunn	Dunns Smallchange (K)	86	90	176
=2	Blake Robinson	Wyndora Ruby (K)	89	84	173
=2	Simon Leaning	Yarrabee Jack (K)	87	86	173
4	Gordon Curtis	Kumbark Scotty (K)	87	73	160
5	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Buzz (K)	76	83	159
6	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Tess (K)	76	78	154
7	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Bluey	76	77	153
8	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	84	LS	84

Open Yard
Judged by Ken Atherton

	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Total
1	Allan Dunn	Gogetta Thor (K)	92	94	186
2	Nigel Armstrong	Yarralonga Scope (K)	93	90	183
3	Blake Robinson	Ramulam Kick (K)	93	89	182
4	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Charlie (K)	90.5	89.5	180
5	Rod Forsyth	Kumbark Todd (K)	88	88	176
6	Blake Robinson	Nap	84	88	172
7	Allan Dunn	Dunns Smallchange (K)	86	85	171
8	Gordon Curtis	Kumbark Scotty (K)	87	80	167
9	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Di	83	82	165
10	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	84	72	156
11	Nigel Armstrong	Tumutvalley Jude (K)	80	75	155
12	Nigel Armstrong	Tumutvalley Roy (K)	93	LS	93

Open Utility
Judged by Nigel Armstrong

	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Score 3	Total
1	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Chip (K)	91	87	82	260
2	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Di	83	95	77	255
3	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Charlie (K)	86	91	–	177
4	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	82	83	–	165
5	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Bluey	85	70	–	155
6	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Fella (K)	85	68	–	153
7	Rod Forsyth	Kumbark Todd (K)	81	63	–	144
8	Rod Forsyth	Barkervale Clark (K)	71	69	–	140
9	Neil Kristiansen	Badgingarra Sir Ben	68	67	–	135
10	Nigel Armstrong	Yarralonga Scope (K)	81	48.5	–	129.5
11	Rod Forsyth	Grassvalley Hazel	68	37	–	105
12	Simon Leaning	Yarrabee Jack (K)	73	RTD	–	73
13	Blake Robinson	Nap (K)	68	RTD	–	68