Trial Weekend Report

[Flairball 141]

Headed north for a weekend of back-to-back trials.

 

On Friday the pro trainer I work with, Steve, handled Ginger in the Central Virginia club's trial. They did well and finished the trial, though not without a few heart stopping moments. In the first series she had to make a long retrieve. She flushed a bird on the left hand side of her beat, which flew left to right. It was well over her brace mates beat when a gun finally shot it. Naturally it sailed a bit and fell about 70 meters from Ginger, outside the course, and over a hedgerow. She went straight out, and through the hedgerow, but came up short. Oh yeah. It was a down wind retrieve, too. She searched this side of the hedgerow briefly before Steve decided to handle her. She took the "back" nicely, and made the pick up.

 

Her second series was no less exciting when she was sent on a relatively simple marked retrieve, but flushed a bird on the way out. She stopped nicely, so no trouble there, but still had a retrieve to complete. Steve easily handled her off the poison bird, and to the retrieve.

 

Her third series was pretty good. She came in at the worst part of the course, with the thickest cover, but quickly made game and put a bird in the air. The guns all missed. A bit further along she did it again, and again he guns missed. Fortunately the judges were happy with what they'd seen and all that was left was to wait for placements. Having just come out of heat she'd not gotten much training, and was exhausted. Despite her best efforts, 4 other dogs had a better day, and she did not earn a placement.

 

The next day I handled her in the Patriot Club's trial. This was my first time handling in an open stake where we were competing against some of the best pro's in the country. Our first series was pretty uneventful; her first contact was a trapped bird. A bit further down the course she made a quick turn into the wind, and I knew she was on a bird, so I moved up quickly. She tracked the bird out about 10 meters, indicating the whole time, and made a nice find. The bird was shot just over the near hedgerow, but it posed no problem, and she retrieved it like it was attaining drill.

 

Our second series could have been spectacular. She worked the wind great, patterned great, handled great, made smoking hot finds and flushed, and nailed her retrieves, one of which was rather long. However, she had loosened up on me, and was not putting her but on the ground quickly. Rather she would take a step or two, or four/five, before sitting. I knew we weren't getting a third series call back. Oh well.

 

Anyway, Ginger ran 5 series in 2 days, and it was fun.

 

Here is a link to some picks from Friday.

http://philbrickphotography.pixieset.com/dogsday1/

If you count down along the left hand side, Ginger is the 16th pic, and the few right around there.

 

Also, here is a video of me handling Ginger in our second series on Saturday.

 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Flairball

[hily 379]

nice write up looks like good ground and its not all about the winning just being out and working the dogs brings it's own reward.

Can't find the video.

[Flairball 141]

Fixed it.

[Casso 1,256]

Box train the sitting issue separately to reinanforce it

[Flairball 141]

Box train the sitting issue separately to reinanforce it

That won't help in this case. She is non-slip steady when already sitting. She was rock steady on Friday, and was 1 of 21 dog in the trial that finished. She ran 5 series in 2 days, only 3 days after coming out of her heat cycle. I'm not too worried, and am certain that more of our regular routine will get her back where she was.

 

I've also decided, because she can be sensitive, that if she gets loose at training rather set her back, and pick up the bird myself, and the countless times I toss the dead bird over her, I'm just gonna run her down, snatch her up, and put her straight in her crate in the car for a 1/2 hour. It'll drive her batshit crazy not being able to play while other dogs are having a good time.

[Naustroms 92]

Nice showing, good luck with the rest of your trial season.