30th July 2012 ~ Walked Up in Sugar Beet
Judges Cliff Chase & Chris Green
Stewart North & Russlayne Bracken of Northglen aka (Poppy) attended this event having had a 4 month break due a recent litter, we have been training hard over the last 3 weeks and this event was an ideal opportunity to get back into competition and enjoy some sugar beet training, "not a crop we see a lot of in Leicestershire".
The event was held by the kind permission of CJ Farms Limited and the chief steward was Mr. Paul Sykes with some excellent helpers.After the usual introductions, the chief judge explained that the day was going to be organised as close as possible to a normal shooting day along field trial lines and as such all the retrieves would not be identical, they did not intend to eliminate any competitor during the morning session, but any dog having fault or failure would be eliminated in the afternoon.
The first 4 gun dogs lined up in the sugar beat and the dogs on the right where asked to pick the first of a double mark from their own guns the second dog was asked to pick the second bird from the same area. Then a similar exercise on the left hand side of the line.
On occasions 4 birds were in the air at the same time and dogs were sent whilst another dog was working. This gave some handlers the added problem of controlling their dog whilst others were being handled to their marks, the added distraction of other handlers whistling is typical of a normal shooting day!
Their is always an element of luck on these occasions as not every retrieve is identical, the handler just needs to deal with the task in hand and the judges marked accordingly, just because one dog needed the whistle on a mark did not rank it below another dog if the pace, style and drive pleased the judge.
Some competitors need to mindful that it is a dog that most pleases the judge on the day, both judges are shooting people and although they want to see a dog under control both wanted to see dogs that showed initiative, style, pace & drive.
After lunch 4 dogs lined up again for a mark retrieve in the centre of the line and a blind across the line. After all the dogs had completed the task, 11 dogs made the cut out of 30.
The numbers of those succeeding were 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 16, 26, 27, 30. The difference between all eleven dogs was just 4 points (71 - 75)
Russlayne Bracken of Northglen was number 27 so we were pleased to have made the cut, with just 71 points "only just made it"!. Four of the eleven dog were on 75 points numbers 5, 6, 9 & 26
The remaining retrievers were then asked to conduct a short walk up in two's for a double mark, the dog on the right need to pick from the right over a stone wall and the dog on the left needed to pick from the left over a hedge.
This where is Russlayne Bracken of Northglen struggled! the bird was tucked in behind the wall with no wind advantage and the handler could not see the dog unless it was out in the open we eventually got back to the area and picked, but the damage was done 8/20.
The writer is obviously biased :0) but it was interesting to note that only 2 of the final 6 dogs had to pick from the right, this was clearly a difficult retrieve and certainly one for the training round.
What was reassuring the dog that eventually won did pick from the right hand side and clearly did an excellent job with 15.5/20 marks
The final 6 dogs numbers 5, 9, 11, 16, 29 & 30 went on to pick a double mark, unknown to some handlers the 2nd mark was attached to a fishing line and whilst the handler was picking the first bird the 2nd mark was dragged to the hedge to simulate a moving bird!
Final Results
1st Number 16 Knottsberry Kestrel (Dog 19/03/07)Mr. J Walgates
2nd Number 11 Leacaz Leo of Lincswold (Dog 06/04/10)Mr. C Busse
3rd Number 9 Kenmillix Dark Phoenix (Dog 24/08/06) Mrs. P Marriners
4th Number 5 Partridge Flush of Russjancoe (Bitch 27/01/07) Mr. R Hodgens
COM Number 29 Lowsommer Win A Million (Bitch 19/06/08) Mrs. S Lowe
COM Number 30 Stanthorn Queenie (Bitch 09/04/09) Mrs. V King
More Pictures on our Facebook Account at Working Gundogs
