Thread: Pointer and Setter Trials

Please excuse masst the mustard spelling errors but cut and pasting from my iPad and haven't done a perfect spell check.
A short brief on the last two trials over the last two days .

The John Gaskin memorial Trial took place this Friday in the Taupo district on an area of land I had not been to called the 90s .An area dominated by Eucalyptus tree,s and low undulating hills covered in longish grass .
A Bird pen had been resurrected here last year and a population of pheasant had been left to wander the property for us to "find" if we could .
The first brace was two red dogs with Dale and Roche and Robyn and her dog Tonto. Roche a quick bitch had a flying start into what I would describe as dense tree-cover which isn't a lot of fun for handler or for that matter the judges who really cannot see what's happening .roche ran a bit long and didn't check in enough .A bird was away to the left nod although the judges couldn't see exactly what was happening the moving bell was telling the story .Tonto was a similar situation with not enough contact so both dogs were eliminated.
Second brace was English Setter Inti and Robyn's champ red dog Tanner good start for both dogs quartering the field well and hunting strong .With a tail wind the dogs pushed forward and then hunted back with INti on one cast missing me through the trees and going back toward the gallery before a whistle let him know where we're were .We move up the alley and all good until Inti punched to the left and went out of sight in the trees and went over a hill and off to never never land not to return for several minutes .Taner and on the other hand ran well worked the wind well and had great report and unlike Inti went through for the next round .
Third brace saw Dave red dog Billy and Rpbyns red dog Stella .This brace was dominated by shifting winds the judges commented so was not easy.Billy in General ran well and covered the ground well although did go behind Dave a few times but that could well have been the challenging wind conditions , with no birds Billy had done enough to proceed through. The comment was made by the judge Rob Merdith that this run by Stella made him smile so was the quality of the run .She hunted very well and hard through the native and only slowed in the longer heavier grass so Stella proceeded to the next round .As the second part of the trial was about to start the best bird of the date flew and landed about 20 metres in front of the gallery and strutted .
Second round Billy versus Tanner a really nice running brace and saw two dogs working together but sadly with no birds encounters .Cedderick versus Stella and again a good brace with Robyn commenting Stella ran ran her pants off
Cedderick versus Tanner and Billy versus Stella all in the final rounds and all had some good better than good running as commented to by the judges but again a lack of bird encounters saw a no result and with the most exciting bit of action was Dave falling face first over a log denting that pretty face .Tonight re we are sitting downing a couple of wines ,whiskey and beers complaining about the physicality of the day .It was a hard day out but great to be with passionate dog people and tomorrow we start again to find those elusive

Day two and it's a real wet one. The choice of cloths and foot wear is made and off we all head back to the 99 area.
First brace is Inti against Robyn's tonto. Both dogs cast off strong and proceed to work with gusto .Once again INti covers the ground well but pushed forward at speed and failed to check in enough without several whistle commands and for that he will not advance through .Tonto whilst covering growing also failed to give enough contact back to Robyn so didn't pass through either .
Robs Gordon Setter Banshee strides off and gets into his rhythm and has a good run but was cautioned to keep a bit more contact than he did on the day although he has done enough to proceed through to then next round .Barbs red dog Ruby set a good pace and had a polished run working the ground left to right and checking in on the way through ,other than having no bird contact had an exceptionally good run and through to the next round .
Dave Sheelys red dog Billy was next up against Morrys Gsp dog Charlie .Billy handled very well and kept in contact but had no birds , a very good searching run. Morrys started out we'll with his dog Charlie who is a big black handsome GSP who is a young dog with loads of go .Charlie worked well but did come back to the gallery a few times but did enough to go through .
Sorry lost my notes but at the end of the wrap up
Ruby and Ceddrick we last brace and whilst showed some birdyness it produced no birds and another day of no result .
We have decided to take a novice and a champ trial to the new ground at Rotorua and possibly one other novice if the next two days produce birds which they should .Its a real gut buster seeing what work has gone into the Taupo property only to have it not deliver the quality of bird encounter it should given the effort of Allen Jury to stock it for us .The most important thing all dogs need is birds as the bird make the the dog so we press onto new territory in our endeavours.