Finally took the plunge and entered Faiths first Working Test of the non SB variety and it couldn’t have been any wetter! We bombed out of the obedience task so it was not the most glorious of starts but when a girls got to zoomie…..well you get the picture. However, everyone was so lovely and supportive that I soon forgot any embarassment and got back to enjoying the day. First retrieve was seen and in the open, Faith was steady to fall, waited until sent by me then cleanly picked the dummy and delivered it straight back to hand, I really needed the confidence boost after the obedience so was over the moon. The 2nd retrieve was into cover in the forest and she was once again steady until sent but didn’t see fall, however I was over the moon with how she hunted it down, picked and returned it to hand although wasn’t directly back to hand unfortunately. At the half way mark I was pleased and discovered plenty to work on for next time.
At lunch Faith was awarded a very good in the conformation assessment (she went back in for the best puppy final at the end of the day but wasnt the winner, that was a gorgeous GSP dog).
After lunch we did hunting and I was pleasantly surprised at how well she Faith went, she was driven and focused in her hunting, the forest cover didnt hold her back either! I was over zeleous with my use of the whistle and judges advice was to trust her more, so another thing to work on.
Overall our scores were not too shabby and I think we were 10th out of 14 overal, given we dropped nearly all our obedience points I was still pleased. We were joint 7th in hunting, 11th in second retrieve (with 9 ending on full marks) and did best at our first retrieve laying in joint 5th place.
Judge Jo Gosling
Puppy working test points:
- Heel off lead, sit, stay, recall, sit to whistle, recall – 1/20
- Hunting 28/40 (less handler input required!)
- 1st Retrieve (seen not in cover) 19/20
- 1st Retrieve (seen but in cover) 12/20
- Water retrieve – none included this day
Thank you to all those who helped make the day possible, the Bracco Italiano Club and helpers and judges from outside the club and especially to our judge Jo Gosling for being a kind and patient judge all day in torential rain and boggy mud. We met lots of lovely people and caught up with old friends too and look forward to our next!
