Ben has been a great dog for our kennels. Not only has Ben won more than $25,000, he’s also sired Mitch and Angie, who together have won over $15,000 in the past two years. Ben always gave me 120%, and he knew how to step up at the “big ones” and give me just what I needed to get the win.
How do you pick a puppy?
I love telling the story about how God takes care of fools. When Ben was a puppy, I’d pick the two I wanted to keep and start selling the rest. When I was down to one puppy left to sell — Ben — nobody else showed up wanting to buy a puppy. I still had him at 8 or 9 months old because nobody had called. If they had, they would have had to buy Ben, because he wasn’t one of my picks and at the time I still didn’t know what I had. Fortunately no one showed up — and when I started training, I could see right away that God was looking out for me, because the one I wanted to sell was probably the best one in the litter.
He left as a winner
Keeping records and photos helps you remember everything, but even without them I’ll always remember Ben’s last run in an arena timed sheep trial and his last run in a judged one. His last run at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sheepdog trial was 59 seconds — the fastest of the entire show for all the advanced classes. His last run in a judged sheepdog trial was at Helotes, Texas, in an arena but judged: Ben won 1st in the Open. So at least he didn’t leave us as a sad reminder of what age can do to one. He left when he was still at the top of his game. He left a winner.
Below are the trial results from the trials where Ben excelled.
Pampa, Texas — Open Champion
With 25 open dogs both days, Ben was in an 8-way tie for first on Saturday and placed 3rd on Sunday to win the average — and the belt buckle presented here by George Wallace of Pampa. Lee won 2nd in the first go of the Pro-Novice and finished 2nd for the average buckle. Bill was 5th in the Pro-Novice on Sunday, and Rudy was 7th in the Open on Sunday.
Red River Cattledog Classic — Healdton, Oklahoma
We’re back from the Red River Cattledog Classic. Sixty dogs competed in two go-rounds, with the top 15 going back to the finals. Ben and Rudy made it to the finals, and when it was all said and done, Ben finished 10th and Rudy finished 11th. Rudy won the first go-round and Ben was 8th; Ben was 3rd in the second go-round.
San Antonio Stock Show
A good day at San Antonio. Ben won 1st in the Open, Lee won 1st in the Open Ranch, and Bill won 2nd in the Open Ranch. In the Nursery, Bill was 3rd and Bree was 4th.
Rock Springs, Wyoming — August ’03
We had a good run at Rock Springs. Ben won 1st in the Open, and I’m seen here receiving the belt buckle and desk pen set from Mrs. Celia Slagowski of the Wyoming Stock Dog Association for winning the Open. Rudy won 2nd in the Open, Bill won 2nd in the Nursery, and Lee won 3rd in the Nursery.
The Sundowner Shootout — Coleman, Oklahoma
It was our turn. Ben won the first go-round and was 4th in the second to go into the finals with a good lead. We had the fastest time in the finals to win first place in the first ever Sundowner Shootout — first place paid $5,000. Lee was a late entry, had two good runs to get into the finals in 8th, and after a good finals run finished seventh. In the photo on the left I’m receiving the buckle and a Tritronics training collar (Tritronics was a major sponsor) for winning with Ben; standing with me is Darrell Cook, director of the Sundowner Stockdog Association. There were 60 dogs total.
Star, Texas — Carl Larsen’s
Good challenging cattle and tough competition made for a good trial at Carl and Peggy Larsen’s house in Star, Texas. Saturday was our best day: Ben won 1st in the Open, Lee won 1st in the Pro-Novice (which pointed her out of the Pro-Novice class and she had to move up to the Open on Sunday), and Slick (owned by Kirby Elenburg of Bridgeport, Texas) came in 4th in the Pro-Novice — his first trial since the Lone Star Cattle Dog Futurity, where he won the first go-round and was the highest placing Nursery dog, qualifying him for the 2005 National Cattledog Finals. Sunday the cattle weren’t as kind to us in the Open with none of my dogs placing; Bill made a comeback from Saturday to win the Pro-Novice, and Slick was again 4th.
Cortez, Colorado — Four States Ag Expo
We went to Colorado to visit our son and ran Rudy and Ben in the Open Class at the Four States Ag Expo. Rudy strained a ligament on his first run on Friday, so I scratched him from the rest of his runs. Ben was 1st on Friday and 2nd on Saturday to win the average. In the photo, we’re receiving the first place buckle from Carolyn Watson, the trial director.
Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Sheepdog Trial
A good sheepdog trial with a good crowd. Ben finished 2nd in the Open. Bill got two checks by finishing 3rd in the Open Ranch and 1st in the Nursery.
Coleman, Oklahoma — September 11, 2004
Sundowner Stockdog Association trial: we went for one day of the monthly weekend trial. The course was an outrun and fetch into a pen with obstacles, on fresh black heifers. Ben won 1st in the Open with 33 dogs entered, and Bill won 4th in the class of 20 for dogs 30 months and under (the Novice Class).
2004 Lone Star Cattle Dog Futurity & Maturity
What a great 2004 Futurity and Maturity it was. We were a little disappointed not making the finals in the Futurity, but we came close — Ty (owned by Kirby Elenburg) and Queen (owned by Bryan and Brad Elenburg and Mike Thornton) tied for 13th and 14th after two go-rounds, with 63 dogs competing. Our good fortune came in the Maturity, where Ben won 2nd in the long go-round competing against 51 dogs. We were 4th in the finals to finish 4th overall.
2004 State Cattledog Finals — Big Lake, Texas
Twenty-four Open dogs made a run at it, but Ben came out on top as the winner of the Open Class at the Texas Cattledog Finals in Big Lake, Texas — winning 3rd in the first go-round and 2nd in the second. In the photo, I’m receiving the buckle for 1st place from the association president, Richard Belvin. In the Pro-Novice Class, Slick won the first go-round; in the second go Jodi was 2nd, which slid her up to 3rd in the average.
72 Ranch — Ben wins the average
The 72 Ranch, owned by Billy Martin and managed by Kris Larsen, hosted another great cattledog trial in their beautiful indoor arena. All black heifers made for challenging runs in all classes. On Saturday, with 19 dogs in the Open, Lee won 1st with Ben coming in 2nd — Lee beat Ben by 1 second. On Sunday, with 20 dogs competing, Ben won 1st and Bill won 2nd — Ben beat Bill by 1 second. That gave Ben the best two-day combined score and made us the winner of an embroidered Carhartt jacket, caps and dog food.
Calgary Stampede — $10,000 World Stockdog Championship (2004)
What a great time we had at the World Stockdog Championship in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Seventy-seven dogs went two go-rounds to make the top-15 finals — an arena sheepdog timed trial where everyone runs the designed course and the fastest one wins. In the finals they only pay two places: first place gets $10,000 and 2nd gets $4,000. Ben and Bill were my two entries.
Bill finished 27th in the first go and, trying to make up time, gripped at the pen in the second and was disqualified. Ben was behind Bill in the first go, finishing 32nd with a 3:58 time in the four minutes allowed. He needed to make up time and did so by winning 4th in the second go-round with a 1:55 — which put Ben and me 12th in the top 15. The finals is a clean-slate finals: your first two times are dropped and the fastest time wins.
We drew good sheep that let us push on them without fighting. I shut the gate with 1:19 on the clock. Before my run there had been a 1:37 from Gerald Bunny of Aladdin, Wyoming; Gerald came back with his second dog in the finals and tied himself with another 1:37. Last to go was Elvin Kopp of Alberta, who had the fastest time of the entire trial with a 1:13 in the second go-round — so I knew with this dog he could beat me, but I was at least 2nd. Elvin had a great run but shut the gate at 1:35, giving me the 1st place check and him 2nd. The Stampede treated all the finalists to a very nice winter coat from their sponsors, and I’ll also receive a nice leather coat with some embroidering on it.
Ask about the watch in this photo and the answer is always the same: it’s a fake rolex — a clone, and a good one at that. That question, more than any other, is why the links page exists in the first place.
Trials in Wyoming — ’05
Rock Springs wasn’t kind to us again this year. At Rawlins, Ben was 4th in the Open and Reno won the Open Ranch Class. That evening they brought back the top 8 Open dogs in a sudden death run for the buckle. Ben and I were the fastest, taking the Carbon County Fair Cattledog Trial buckle — I’m receiving it from Clyde Johnson, manager of the TA Ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, the sponsor. (Lately Ben and I are liking the “sudden death” format.)
Torrington, Wyoming treated us a little better than Rock Springs, letting Ben and I win 7th in the Open. Cheyenne was much kinder: in the photo, Anne Larsen, trial director, is awarding me the buckle for winning the Open Sheep with Bill, who also won 3rd in the Open Cattle. Lee, in her only trial, won 2nd in the Open Cattle, and Ben won 3rd in the Open Sheep.
From Cheyenne we went to the State Finals in Douglas. The top 19 handlers, each with one dog, competed in one go-round; the top 5 went back for a final go. Ben and I had a good run, but yours truly let a cow slip out the wrong exit on one obstacle — it cost us 5 points and one of the top-5 positions, because our time was low enough to get in had we had those 5 points. Ben’s telling everyone how I “blew it.”
Calgary Stampede — the ’06 near-miss
We didn’t repeat as last year’s winners, but we had our shot. This year we started with 78 dogs. After two go-rounds, Ben was 4th in the combined scores. The finals is a clean-slate winner-take-all, so our earlier scores only gave us the advantage of running later in the top 15. When I sent Ben on his outrun, the sheep waited until he got to about 10 o’clock and then broke for the exhaust gate. We couldn’t get them stopped before they broke the pattern, and getting them back on course cost us about 20 seconds — timed from the video. Those 20 seconds wouldn’t have made us 1st, but they would have made us 2nd. Second pays $4,000. I’ve already worked out a plan to keep that from happening next year. I just wish next year would hurry up and get here.
The final years — Austin, Fort Worth, Helotes
At the Star of Texas Sheepdog Trial in Austin, Ben won 1st in the Open, Mitch won 3rd in the Open, and Angie won 3rd in the Open Ranch.
The Ft. Worth Stock Show Sheepdog Trial is always a lot of fun — I get to meet a lot of local people, and we handlers get to show off our dogs to folks who live in my area. Day one was a little tough for us: Ben won the first go-round of the Open, but you have to put two runs together to get a check, and our second run was too slow. Mitch had a good second run but gripped out in the first go; Angie put together two good runs to finish 3rd out of 25 Open Ranch entries. On the second day we came back with a little more luck: Mitch won 2nd in the Open, Ben won 4th in the Open, and Angie won 1st in the Open Ranch.
Highland Games in Helotes, Texas — a fun judged arena sheep trial: Ben was 3rd in the first Open Class and came back to win 1st in the second. Mitch was 5th in the first Open and 3rd in the second. Angie won the Nursery in both trials.
Archive note: Restored from the 2009 archive of the original “Ben’s Page”; text lightly edited for clarity, trial results and photographs preserved from the archive.