(Photograph by Matthew Thompson)
The day started in rain, but fortunately it cleared up just before we started the training so the 28 members who attended had a great day. The trainers were Sue Lowe (Puppies), Julie Campbell (Novice 1), Charlie Albone (Novice 2) and Mike Birchall (Open).
After lunch, there were four tests:
In all the tests, the distance was increased for each class.
Test 1 was a picking up exercise. The puppies had a dummy in front that they could see and it was replaced in the same area as dog was returning.
novice 1, novice 2 and open had to pick two of three dummies.
Test 2 was a double mark. One dummy was thrown to the right onto short grass for the puppies. The judge told the handler when to send the dog. When the puppy was back and had settled, a dummy was thrown to left and handler sent the puppy when ready.
Novice 1 had a double mark with shot, picking the last one down first.
Novice 2 and Open had a double mark with shot, picking the first one down first.
Test 3 was a dummy over a dyke. For the puppies, it was a mark thrown over a small dyke onto short grass. A mark, with shot, was mark thrown on the other side of the dyke for novice 1, novice 2 and open. As the dog returned, another dummy was placed to the right in the dyke. The handler had to send the dog, stop it over the dyke and then put the dog into the dyke to hunt the dummy.
Test 4 was a mark and blind in the same place, put down as the dog returned.
For the puppies, the mark was thrown into short grass down a small incline. The mark, with shot, for the other dogs was thrown into rough reedy grass.
Results
Puppies
1st Nessa Thompson with Maggie
2nd Liz Walters with Izzy
3rd Bill Emms with Mace
Novice 1
1st Tom Sagar with Fugly (the only dog to successfully complete all the tests)
Novice 2
1st Paul Williams with Macey
2nd Phillipa Emms with Luna
3rd Casper Jonsen with Echo
Open
1st Margaret Pearce with Ebor
2nd Gary Wilson with Blade
3rd Jane Sawyer with Splash