This test was held in glorious (but hot) sunshine and was run on FT lines mainly in sugar beet. This also meant that any dog running in or with very 'sloppy' heal work would not go through in the afternoon but being a novice, they were allowed to have their 4 retrieves in the morning.
This was also a 'big event' as this was BF's very first time as a spectator at a dog test and he was so excited about it all that he volunteered his very nice 'posh' saloon Audi and let Adder have the back seat 8O It was a very good experience for him as he now realise that he will most definitely have to change it to a new Audi Estate ASP as that just have more space for the all important 'khaki' gear that is needed for the field :lol: :lol:
Right, back to the test...
We started off with walked up in sugar beet with 4 dogs in line at any time - we were the last one to go being number 18. Two straight marked pigeons in front (first dog to go was on the left hand flank, then we would walk on and another pigeon would be thrown for the first dog on the right hand flank and so on). Adder mark his first pigeon well and went straight to the area and started to hunt but didn't find it so he expanded his hunting area and I had to do some handling for that on ending up with an 8 Next retrieve, Adder had now 'zoomed' in and new exactly what he had to do so he went straight to it and picked it, came straight back but in his eager to please, he presented the pigeon to the judge next to me and I had to call him by name - that saw me dropping 7 points to land us a 13 :roll:
Next one was still walking up but we were 'shuffled' around and were now running under a new pair of judges and this time it was two marked behind sending your dog across the line. Didn't touch the whistle at all so we scored full marks for both retrieves 20/20. The judges decided to make a cut after this (lunch) which meant that 5 dogs went out and one withdrew. We made it through.
One retrieve after lunch, again in sugar beet but this time using live, proper shotgun shots for marking. Two dogs in line walking up, with the gun walking ahead on a grass track indicating a shot rabbit to be retrieved (blind). The difficult part was to line the dog up to take a straight (but angled at 45 degee) run across the rows of beet to get the dog as close to the area as possible and get it to hunt. We obvious succeeded as we only dropped 1 point (hunt whistle) and landed us a 19.
A 2nd cut was made which we didn't make because we had dropped all the points on the very first test of the day. 6 dogs made the cut all being very, very close.
They then had to retrieve a rabbit (blind, the retrieve not the rabbit :lol: ) which was down a track that had a similar thing to a stock fence going across the track mid-way. The dogs didn't have to jump the fence but could actually run straight through. The other retrieve they had to do was a water retrieve for a pigeon.
As an overall observation, most dogs that were running were all older dogs with only 3 dogs being under two years old and the oldest being 9 years old.
The winner was very worthy indeed and is a bit of a success story when it comes to re-homing. The dog was bought as a pup by a woman that intended it to be company for her young son but the dog ended up so frustrated and under stimulated that it was about to be put down until his current owner - a gamekeeper - offered it a 2nd chance and a new home. The keeper's wife put some training into it and took it out picking-up but it was still hyper so they decided that the keeper husband would give it as much work as possible around the shoot and that worked. It has not only won a novice cold game test today but it also spent 24/7 with it's new owner and his young family 8)
Result:
1st: Want it all Didoe Swanky, handler/owner: P. Childerhouse
Sire: Pridelines Cossack - Dam: Crissila Best Guess
2nd: Vinham Indie, handler/owner: P. Wimmer
Sire: Conneywarren Angus of Stonedower - Dam: Lark of Ling
3rd: Redbreck Zoe, handler/owner: M. Moore
Sire: Westernash Edryck - Dam: Redbrick Tiny
4th: Kenmilquin Larsson, handler/owner: P. Childs
Sire: Henfold Leo - Dam: Blackcurrant Beech
Judges for the day were: Mr. Keith Bedford, Mr. Billy Frosdick, Mrs. Jenny Hankey, Mr. S. Littleboy.
Novice Field Trials, here we come!!! 8) 8)
Natasha
This was also a 'big event' as this was BF's very first time as a spectator at a dog test and he was so excited about it all that he volunteered his very nice 'posh' saloon Audi and let Adder have the back seat 8O It was a very good experience for him as he now realise that he will most definitely have to change it to a new Audi Estate ASP as that just have more space for the all important 'khaki' gear that is needed for the field :lol: :lol:
Right, back to the test...
We started off with walked up in sugar beet with 4 dogs in line at any time - we were the last one to go being number 18. Two straight marked pigeons in front (first dog to go was on the left hand flank, then we would walk on and another pigeon would be thrown for the first dog on the right hand flank and so on). Adder mark his first pigeon well and went straight to the area and started to hunt but didn't find it so he expanded his hunting area and I had to do some handling for that on ending up with an 8 Next retrieve, Adder had now 'zoomed' in and new exactly what he had to do so he went straight to it and picked it, came straight back but in his eager to please, he presented the pigeon to the judge next to me and I had to call him by name - that saw me dropping 7 points to land us a 13 :roll:
Next one was still walking up but we were 'shuffled' around and were now running under a new pair of judges and this time it was two marked behind sending your dog across the line. Didn't touch the whistle at all so we scored full marks for both retrieves 20/20. The judges decided to make a cut after this (lunch) which meant that 5 dogs went out and one withdrew. We made it through.
One retrieve after lunch, again in sugar beet but this time using live, proper shotgun shots for marking. Two dogs in line walking up, with the gun walking ahead on a grass track indicating a shot rabbit to be retrieved (blind). The difficult part was to line the dog up to take a straight (but angled at 45 degee) run across the rows of beet to get the dog as close to the area as possible and get it to hunt. We obvious succeeded as we only dropped 1 point (hunt whistle) and landed us a 19.
A 2nd cut was made which we didn't make because we had dropped all the points on the very first test of the day. 6 dogs made the cut all being very, very close.
They then had to retrieve a rabbit (blind, the retrieve not the rabbit :lol: ) which was down a track that had a similar thing to a stock fence going across the track mid-way. The dogs didn't have to jump the fence but could actually run straight through. The other retrieve they had to do was a water retrieve for a pigeon.
As an overall observation, most dogs that were running were all older dogs with only 3 dogs being under two years old and the oldest being 9 years old.
The winner was very worthy indeed and is a bit of a success story when it comes to re-homing. The dog was bought as a pup by a woman that intended it to be company for her young son but the dog ended up so frustrated and under stimulated that it was about to be put down until his current owner - a gamekeeper - offered it a 2nd chance and a new home. The keeper's wife put some training into it and took it out picking-up but it was still hyper so they decided that the keeper husband would give it as much work as possible around the shoot and that worked. It has not only won a novice cold game test today but it also spent 24/7 with it's new owner and his young family 8)
Result:
1st: Want it all Didoe Swanky, handler/owner: P. Childerhouse
Sire: Pridelines Cossack - Dam: Crissila Best Guess
2nd: Vinham Indie, handler/owner: P. Wimmer
Sire: Conneywarren Angus of Stonedower - Dam: Lark of Ling
3rd: Redbreck Zoe, handler/owner: M. Moore
Sire: Westernash Edryck - Dam: Redbrick Tiny
4th: Kenmilquin Larsson, handler/owner: P. Childs
Sire: Henfold Leo - Dam: Blackcurrant Beech
Judges for the day were: Mr. Keith Bedford, Mr. Billy Frosdick, Mrs. Jenny Hankey, Mr. S. Littleboy.
Novice Field Trials, here we come!!! 8) 8)
Natasha