Hintlesham
Special Puppy Novice and Veteran Working Test held at Hintlesham 19th Juy 2015
Results:
Special Puppy
1st Keith Foster Chilliwack Twister LRD
No other awards given
Novice
1st Anthony Peters Stagridge Mickael LRD
2nd Andy Ince Surprise is Golden LRB
3rd Kelvin Smith Hyntle Rosie of Tideshot LRB
4th Andy Ince Fencing Fiona LRB
Veteran
1st Liz Ingram Garrethall Myrhh LRB
2nd Mike Lawrence Kenmilfore Midnight Lady LRB
Elmbrook Cup Best opposite sex to Novice winner Andy Ince with Surprise is Golden
Kellhatch Trophy Best Essex entry Anthony Peters with Stagridge Mickael
Rising Star Cup Highest place ND/NH Christine Thurlbourn with Adams Ace of Spades
Mandy Trophy for Best Golden Retriever Lesley Crompton with Ghlenairh Silver Cloud
Our third working test for the year was held at Hintlesham, at the Highseas Gundog Training Ground, by kind permission of Jamie & Richard Bostock the landowners and Kevin Doughty and Peter Elmy from Highseas Gundog Training.
Masters dog foods kindly sponsored us once again, with bags of dog foods to the winner of each class, our grateful thanks to them for their continued support. We must also thank Sporting Saint for supplying additional prizes for the award winners.
The day started off quite overcast, but it turned out quite warm in the end although thankfully there was some breeze, but fortunately most of the time the dogs and competitors were able to find shade under the trees. The stewards for the day, Doug Laflin and Dominic Butcher had set four tests at this wonderful ground making good use of all the facilities available to be able to test the dog's abilities.
Test 1 was with Sam Morley-Riches, in a clearing by some water. There was a shot and a mark thrown into the water on the right, which was to become a memory. About 50 yards in front was a blind retrieve, with no shot in an area between two trees. Several of the dogs pulled towards the water, some people were successful in handling their dog back onto the blind, but several failed and collected the memory in the water first.
Test 2 was under Peter Elmy, which was a mark memory along a track and with a blind just in the trees on the edge of the track but short of the mark. The blind was to be collected first, so this was a good test for use of the “stop whistle” to ensure the dog did not run on too far and collect the mark. Several of the dogs mis-marked and returned to the area of the blind, so again a test for the dogs trusting their handlers and taking command.
Test 3 was with Nick Clitheroe and was a two dog walk-up in a tree and grassy area. First was a mark in front for each dog, then a mark across the line for each dog, all fairly straightforward with a double mark, but heel work was also being taken into account. The majority of the dogs succeeded on this test. Our stalwart dummy throwers Gordon & David made sure the dogs had good clear marks on the dummies, their throwing skills excellent as ever, thank you both.
Test 4 was a straight mark in water after a blind with shot had been collected straight ahead over two fences. Jim Collins was our judge for this exercise, and although it seemed very straightforward several dogs failed on one or other part of the test.
After the scores were all added, there was a two dog run off for second place, just two points behind the winner. Anthony Peters was the worthy winner, with Andy Ince taking second place and Kelvin Smith third, and a point behind in fourth place was Andy Ince again!
Special Puppy was won by Keith Foster, and sadly no other awards were given in this class.
First place in Veteran was Liz Ingram, and second was Mike Lawrence.
We also have several other trophies to present at this test, and details of all the winners are at the beginning of the report.
Many thanks are extended to our four judges for kindly giving up their Sunday to spend a day judging over forty dogs, and also we indebted to a very loyal band of helpers who give up their time to help, as without them we could not run these tests.
Our thanks again to the Bostock family, and also Highseas Gundog Training for allowing us to make use of this excellent venue.