Friday, September 15, 2006 |
Day 5 - Water Blind and Water Triple
A cloudy day with North easterlies and quite mild in the 60’s greeted everybody at a large pond in a valley near Headquarters. Everybody was surprisingly alert after last night’s Workers Party which I will try to report on later. Judges had set up a water blind of 260 yards. Right in front of the mat especially on the right side were some shrubs that biased lines to the left. Halfway to the water at about 35 yards a large round bush had to be skirted. At the water’s edge, a gunner sat in a chair with the true line entering the water just left of him, 55 yards from the mat. A long isthmus snaked across the pond and required the dog to do 3 entries and 3 exits. The isthmus was scented and returning dogs scented it further. The requirements for the blind were obvious-enter the water left of the gunner, swim and exit on the right-run down the isthmus a bit and enter into the water on the right. Then, swim down that shore, exit on the left, cross the isthmus and renter left into the final corner before exiting and driving up the hill another 80 yards to the duck. The wind angled across from the left. Jim Green ran the first test dog, Hon:tsi and did a nice job until missing the final corner. He handled the dog back and navigated the corner for the benefit of handlers. Tom Hawley with Dreamer had much more trouble, especially with the scented isthmus. He also indicated that getting all the blind elements could be a challenge. The first dog number 39 was called to line shortly after 8 am. Dogs did quite well on this blind as handlers strived to get all the requirements. Quite a few dogs were wide to the left on the initial line and required whistles to get them over. A few dogs were skinny or missed the last corner water. There was considerable speculation about the seriousness of these errors, but there was hope most dogs would be back. Indeed after the last dog ran at 11:10am and callbacks arrived shortly thereafter, we saw that the generosity of the judges persisted. Unfortunately one dog was lost, # 9. A water triple was planned with dog 59 starting and the gallery was asked to vacate the area for the set-up.
A cloudy day with North easterlies and quite mild in the 60’s greeted everybody at a large pond in a valley near Headquarters. Everybody was surprisingly alert after last night’s Workers Party which I will try to report on later. Judges had set up a water blind of 260 yards. Right in front of the mat especially on the right side were some shrubs that biased lines to the left. Halfway to the water at about 35 yards a large round bush had to be skirted. At the water’s edge, a gunner sat in a chair with the true line entering the water just left of him, 55 yards from the mat. A long isthmus snaked across the pond and required the dog to do 3 entries and 3 exits. The isthmus was scented and returning dogs scented it further. The requirements for the blind were obvious-enter the water left of the gunner, swim and exit on the right-run down the isthmus a bit and enter into the water on the right. Then, swim down that shore, exit on the left, cross the isthmus and renter left into the final corner before exiting and driving up the hill another 80 yards to the duck. The wind angled across from the left. Jim Green ran the first test dog, Hon:tsi and did a nice job until missing the final corner. He handled the dog back and navigated the corner for the benefit of handlers. Tom Hawley with Dreamer had much more trouble, especially with the scented isthmus. He also indicated that getting all the blind elements could be a challenge. The first dog number 39 was called to line shortly after 8 am. Dogs did quite well on this blind as handlers strived to get all the requirements. Quite a few dogs were wide to the left on the initial line and required whistles to get them over. A few dogs were skinny or missed the last corner water. There was considerable speculation about the seriousness of these errors, but there was hope most dogs would be back. Indeed after the last dog ran at 11:10am and callbacks arrived shortly thereafter, we saw that the generosity of the judges persisted. Unfortunately one dog was lost, # 9. A water triple was planned with dog 59 starting and the gallery was asked to vacate the area for the set-up.
The seventh series water blind
The eighth series water triple
Eighth Series - Water Triple
Setup took a while and then the caravan had to move across to the other side of the pond and get parked. We were now located on the north side of the pond with down wind marks one of which was back in the direction to the blind mat. The test was a spread out inline with middle guns shooting first at 174 yards. They threw a hen duck to the left to the base of a mound and large bush. Technically, the line would just enter a corner of the pond. Next the left gun at 251 yards threw a drake to the left. This bird was in a patch of tules and down the shore and across the isthmus of the water blind. The water entry on this mark was at about 100 yards. Finally, gunners on the left and on land threw a hen duck to the right into the forest edge. Both middle and left gunners retired into well camouflaged blinds. Test dogs showed that this test had many perils as both handled. The first dog ran at about 1:15pm and he and the next few dogs showed that many dogs could be lost here. There was a very strong tendency to over run the middle bird which most tried for secondly. Dogs would climb the hill towards the return line to the water blind mat. Some would recover and scent the bird. When sent for the long retired, dogs would make a reasonable entry but then channel in the near water to where they entered for the water blind or land on the isthmus and run down it to the mainland. There, many dogs would climb the hill. Some recovered quickly, many were handled and there were double handles. Scattered through the field were some very good or at least respectable jobs on all 3 birds. The test was delayed a couple of times as Charlois cattle were shooed away. Finally, it became apparent their desire for water would be best dealt with by pushing them through the test and beyond to a pond below. Towards the end of the afternoon the wind began to subside and the last few dogs ran with no apparent breeze. At this time there was more of a tendency to swim to sea to the far end of the pond. The test finished at 7 pm. The field was now narrowed to 18 dogs with 14 lost. Dogs lost were 1, 4, 12, 15, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 38, 49, 59, 62, and 68.
The 9th was scheduled as a land quad with dog #8 starting.
Setup took a while and then the caravan had to move across to the other side of the pond and get parked. We were now located on the north side of the pond with down wind marks one of which was back in the direction to the blind mat. The test was a spread out inline with middle guns shooting first at 174 yards. They threw a hen duck to the left to the base of a mound and large bush. Technically, the line would just enter a corner of the pond. Next the left gun at 251 yards threw a drake to the left. This bird was in a patch of tules and down the shore and across the isthmus of the water blind. The water entry on this mark was at about 100 yards. Finally, gunners on the left and on land threw a hen duck to the right into the forest edge. Both middle and left gunners retired into well camouflaged blinds. Test dogs showed that this test had many perils as both handled. The first dog ran at about 1:15pm and he and the next few dogs showed that many dogs could be lost here. There was a very strong tendency to over run the middle bird which most tried for secondly. Dogs would climb the hill towards the return line to the water blind mat. Some would recover and scent the bird. When sent for the long retired, dogs would make a reasonable entry but then channel in the near water to where they entered for the water blind or land on the isthmus and run down it to the mainland. There, many dogs would climb the hill. Some recovered quickly, many were handled and there were double handles. Scattered through the field were some very good or at least respectable jobs on all 3 birds. The test was delayed a couple of times as Charlois cattle were shooed away. Finally, it became apparent their desire for water would be best dealt with by pushing them through the test and beyond to a pond below. Towards the end of the afternoon the wind began to subside and the last few dogs ran with no apparent breeze. At this time there was more of a tendency to swim to sea to the far end of the pond. The test finished at 7 pm. The field was now narrowed to 18 dogs with 14 lost. Dogs lost were 1, 4, 12, 15, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 38, 49, 59, 62, and 68.
The 9th was scheduled as a land quad with dog #8 starting.
A view of the 7th and 8th series pond