Arun and Downland
Southern Inter Club Gundog Team Match.
I would like to start by thanking the Arun and Downland for what was a lovely well organized day, also the Judges, John Stubbs, Helena Sully, Colin Pelham, Mary-Jane Opie, Kieran Smith, Rodger Wade, all the helpers and of course, my team mates Lindsay and Peter.
As it was last year we were given an envelope which contained all our six tests plus the order we would do them in. An excellent job had been made of setting the tests up; there was everything from marks on the water to blinds across water, a walk up paying close attention to heel work. There was also a picking up exercise in a wood of which the team captain was given three areas, we then had to choose who was to pick what and in what order they would be picked. This year I was running as the Open dog Lindsay was running as the Novice dog and Peter the ND/NH. A couple of the tests were very challenging and at times we all struggled, especially Test 5 this was Rodger Wade’s test, a very long mark of which your dog had to mark as half way you lost sight of your dog and you just had to hope he’d made the area, also at times you just wanted a little bit of breeze to lift as scenting conditions were poor! All in all though our dogs did some very nice work throughout the day, unfortunately not enough to get us in the awards.
I just would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the URC Essex for asking me to run again this year I had a lovely day made even better by sharing it with both Lindsay and Peter who both done very well! Also congratulations to all in the awards and especially Team 3 – United Retriever Club – Southern, Jan Kerwood, Wendy Harrison, Julia Smith, the overall winning team. Very well done!
Kelvin Smith