Friday June 19--Brought To You By Purina

The Eighth Series--Water Marks


This series is a water triple with all ducks thrown. The long left-hand retired is a mallard drake thrown right in the water at the shoreline of the pond and barely makes a splash—260 yds. The dog must transverse the field through low cover, but the direct line to the bird is through a scrubby bush. If they go left they will end up on the land to the left of the bird and if they go right, there is a chance they will get sucked right. The middle bird, a mallard hen, is a boat bird thrown left onto the edge of the water into some cattails—225 yds. The dog may not be comfortable with the boat and may flare left or right. The direct line to the bird is swimming through some decoys. The right hand flyer is a mallard hen thrown right and from the dog’s perspective, it lands just over a rise and they can’t see where it lands—155 yds.

The time is 7:31 am and the First Test Dog, Fannie, had a hunt on the flyer. When she was sent on the boat bird, she entered the water too far right and went to the right of the boat. She came up on shore and hunted behind. She went deep out of sight and was asked to handle to come in to the bird. On the long mark, she went in the same direction toward the boat, under the arc of the bird and then had a handle.

The Second Test Dog, Sunny, ran at 7:46 am. He has a fairly long hunt on the flyer. The middle bird took two whistles to handle him to the shoreline, when he came out, he went right and to the bird. For the long mark, he was sent to the left of the bush and came up on the shore way to the left of the bird and had to be handled.

We’ve run six dogs run so far with one handle and one very nice job. The dogs are picking up the marks in a very creative manner—they are going behind the marks and winding them from behind. The sun is just starting to peek out after heavy downpours last night. The wind is light from the southeast, directly in our faces and is aiding the dogs in winding the birds.

The time is now 9:35 and we have run ten dogs with one more nice job...

We've had a slight wind change from the west, since the rebird we've had a handle, a pick-up and unfortunately, a dog out of contention came and got the flyer for one dog. We are still having dogs go left of the long gun and winding it. The handles have been #25, #48, #54 p/u, #57, #59 p/u, #72, #73 p/u and #74.


The above photo was taken from a mound behind the gallery to try to clarify the setting. There is a long land entry for both water marks. An update: before the gun change, all handles were on the long gun, now the boat bird seems to be the problem.

Photo Opps






We've had another handle, #90. Since the gun change, there have been a couple more: #96 and #99. Now, the work seems to have settled down a bit. The sun keeps coming in and out--when it's out, it's really hot and the handlers are shading their dogs with umbrellas to keep them cool.

It's 3:15 pm and there are two more dogs to run. We have had handles on three dogs:#109, #110 and #120. The test is in the books at 3:40 pm with dog #15. Callbacks to come soon...


There are 22 dogs back. The Callbacks are: 3, 15, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 34, 50, 53, 68, 71, 72, 80, 85, 95, 102, 105, 106, 107, and 109.

There are 18 dogs dropped. The dogs dropped are: 1, 2, 25, 48, 49, 54, 57, 59, 73, 74, 76, 90, 92, 96, 97, 99, 110 and 120. The next test starts with dog #34.






The Ninth Series--Triple Land Marks


The Ninth Series is being held on Gary McIlwain’s property. It consists of triple land marks with two retired guns and an honor, all roosters will be used. The left hand bird is thrown to the right, just a little angled back. The dogs traverse a level field, across a small channel, to the bird—235 yds. The long retired middle is thrown to the left and the straight line to the bird involves crossing the same channel again—370 yds. The guns retire into the far tree line. The short flyer is thrown to the right—160 yds.

So far, most of the dogs have been doing the test. There has been one pick-up, #50, and a couple of really nice jobs.

Hot & Sunny Snaps





















A storm is approaching and we're keeping an eye on the sky and the radar. We're hearing thunder in the distance and the temperature has dropped by 20 degrees or so. The last dog to run is #72 and the judges have suspended the series until tomorrow morning. Test Dog at 7:30 am.