Thank you to Jack and Kathy Knox for another epic trial at their beautiful farm in Butler, Missouri.

You know you are at a special place when 80-plus OPEN dogs show up!  It was a record breaking trial of runs, weather, food and fun.   Saturday was 26 degrees with winds NW 15-25.   How can you possibly whine when you realize that Jack and Kathy were setting out for 8 – 9 hours every day in sometimes frigid weather so each of us could have a good go at the bunch.  In order to get all those entries in they ran a separate field for Nursery and Pro Novice.

This year the Open judge was Paul Turnbull of Rothbury, England. 163 Open dogs to the post over 4 days.  Paul  was able to line them up in correct order and gave everyone a chance to finish their run.    Thanks to Peter Gonnet  and Larry Burch for judging the Pro Novice and the Nursery Classes.

A big thanks to Cheryl Munson who works diligently with the office work, getting the run orders done & posting the scores. 

This trial is a Memorial to Steve Munson, a friend to both man and dog. Each year Steve’s wife Cheryl presents someone with a trophy in Steve’s Honor.   This year the trophy went to Mary Homan.  Mary and her husband Bob showed us a lesson of good friendship in time of need. 

The Dinner at the Burch Farm was filled with good food and good stories.  Jack and Kathy both talked about life lessons and Jack made an emotional speech of gratefulness.    

Looking forward to 2018 and another year at the
Ettrick Kennel Open-Steve Munson Memorial Trial.

It was sheepdog handling at its best, just look at those scores.