The beginning of March isn’t noted for hot weather, but the sun shone down on this beautiful ground giving every semblance of early summer. That is until one ventured beyond the shade of the woodlands to face the icy wind for test 3. There is so much variety of terrain here from lakes to woods to grassland to scrub. It is a test setter’s paradise. We thank Mr and Mrs J Milligan-Manby for allowing us to work our dogs over the land and we were delighted that he was competing with his labrador.
Our Chief Steward, Martin Eveleigh, kept everything running smoothly and our judges, Julie Campbell, Sue Lowe and Lee Hayman, did a great job, ably assisted by an excellent team of throwers and dog stewards.
Test 1 was a seventy yard mark to the left onto grassland followed by a blind nestling in the corner of the field edged by woodland with a narrow band of long white grass just behind the dummy.
Test 2. Dog and handler stood ten yards from one end of the U-shaped lake. A shot was fired and a dummy thrown into the lake. After that was retrieved, the dog had to go across the end of the lake for a blind. This proved to be a problem as a number of dogs either made a detour into the ‘U’ of the lake to visit the thrower or decided to have a second swim – or both.
Test 3 was a double mark on grassland. A dummy was thrown into the valley in front of the trees and then another long throw put a dummy up the slope alongside the wood. The dogs had to go fifty yards into the wind to retrieve the second dummy before retrieving the one thrown first.
After a break for lunch, the judges took fourteen dogs through to complete two more tests.
Test 4 was a picking up exercise. The dogs had to go fifty yards through trees to the bottom of a slope to an area of dense scrub where a number of blinds had been left. Two dummies had to be picked.
Test 5 was a two dog walk up on grassland between a wood and the lake. A mark was thrown to the right, but the first dog had to collect a blind in the trees to the left. After the second dog had picked the mark, the handlers changed places and the exercise was repeated.
Finally, there was a run-off for third place which was a very long mark down a steep grassy slope on the edge of the lake.
Results:
| Position |
Dog |
Breed/Sex |
Handler |
| 1st |
Keyholme Farm Sealavender |
L B |
David Toombs* |
| 2nd |
Arkglas Taylor |
L D |
Andy Slingsby |
| 3rd |
Laurinco Red Flame of Hollowgate |
L B |
Janette Sayer |
| 4th |
Toprosell Kelly’s Girl |
L B |
Gilly Bell |
| CoM |
Kirton Holme Tally |
L B |
Freddie Tunnard |
| CoM |
Kelmagra Astra |
L B |
Alan Harrison |
*(awarded the Rasenfield Shield)