Our thanks to Mr Margrave, Ken Brookes and the Keeper for allowing us to use the ground at Atterby. It is always a popular venue as the reservoir has a gently sloping end, ideal for giving puppies experience in the water as well as deeper water for the more experienced dogs.
Twenty-five members came along despite the weather forecast and only had to endure a couple of hailstorms! Sue Lowe trained the puppies, Julie Campbell novice 1, Charlie Albone novice 2 and Mike Birchall the open dogs.
After the morning’s training session and lunch, there were four tests in the afternoon informal match.
Test 1 was a short water retrieve for the puppies. The other three classes had a blind in the trees beside the reservoir and a mark in the water.
Test 2 was a mark for puppies. The other classes had a blind in the grass along the side of the field and a mark in the wheat beyond the plough.
Test 3 was a double mark. The dummies were quite close for the puppies. Novice 1 and Novice 2 went from same spot but novice 1 picked the last dummy down first, Novice 2 the first down. Open dogs were further back and first dummy was picked first.
Test 4 was an exercise down a narrow track. There were two dummies down and both had to be picked. The more experienced the class, the further away the dummies. The puppies had a mark and a blind in the same place.
Results
Puppy
1st Sinead Wilkinson with Nora
2nd Liz Robinson with Izzy
Novice 1
1st Gillian Elson with Billie
2nd Nessa Thompson with Maggie
3rd Liam Priestley with Ruby
Novice 2
1st Sarah Skelton with Rowan
2nd John Harlow with Sky
Open
1st Chris Johnson with Oscar
2nd Nessa Thompson with Chilli
3rd Gill Saywell with Monty