10th May 2009 – Weimaraner Association Gundog Working Test (Medhone Farm, Petworth) – 3rd Place Special Beginners at his first ever test!
Judge Margarita Brooker
Gundog working test points:
- Sit stay recall – 7/10
- Hunting 5.5/10 (he was rather distracted by all the cow pooh!)
- Retrieve (seen) 7/10
- Water retrieve 20/25
- Memory retrieve 8/10
Woohoo! What a fab day!!
Kodi and I went on the Special Beginners class of the Weimaraner Association gundog working test today, along with 9 others with Weimaraners, GSP’s and Vislas ranging in age between 6mths and a couple of years old.
It was brilliant day, we had Margarita Booker taking our group and we started by heading up to a field, we arrived at the field and were told that we could start from outside the field by asking our dogs to sit by the fence hole then us climbing the fence to the field (just along from the hole) and then calling the dog in through the hole afterwards. Well this panic struck most of us straight away but all the dogs were fabulous and did a great job of both waiting and coming when asked (I think we under estimate them).
During the day we did a sit-stay followed by a recall (at quite a distance too) then we did some heel work (not our particular forte), a little field work / hunting and then broke for a nice long lunch and a rest. Unfortunately Kodi’s recall went very well, I called and began zooming towards me at full pelt then he came in to me, touched base and shot off to the side to go to the loo! Kodi’s hunt marks were knocked down by the oh so irresistable cow pat that he felt the need to adorn himself with!
After lunch we moved to the water and wow, what a fabulous grounds, the water area was huge and wonderful, I could have quite happily settled for a picnic and sat there forever. We were blessed with the most wonderful sunny day which made it even better. We waited for novice and puppy to finish their water retrieves which gave us a chance to chat amongst ourselves and ask some questions of Margarita then we headed to the water. All the dogs were great and everyone gave it their best shot, some dogs already enjoyed water and others hadn’t really been in before but all the dogs really wanted those dummies! Kodi isn’t a great swimmer but excelled at the water with his enthusiasm. As far and wide as that dummy went so did Kodi and he returned it to me each time, turned round and waited for it to go out again!!
Next stop was the woods where we completed a normal retrieve followed by a memory one. Some of us had never even attempted a memory retrieve so it was interesting to work one and again we had some great results. Kodi’s memory retrieve went really well, he shot straight out picked it up and headed back but unfortunately lost marks for not giving it back to me properly.
Finally (and quite exhausted) we then went back to base and chatted, got to look at and purchase pictures from the photographer that attended the water retrieve area, check our raffle tickets (sadly no winning tickets for me!) and chat to the judges etc re training in general whilst eating cake and drinking tea.
The awards were right at the end of the day and I stayed on as after all the effort that had been put in on the day I felt it rude to leave before them. You can imagine my shock then when Kodi (Morpheus Ruler of Dreams) was awarded 3rd place in our Special Beginners Group, the icing on a totally fabulous day for both me and him.
I am really glad that I gave the day a go and I would highly recommend attending one of these days as it is not a day just for highly trained dogs but is also a day for those who are interested in this kind of thing but have not done too much (well special beginners group is) to go along to, try their dog out, see what they are capable of, get some feedback and go away and work on the things that crop up during the course of the day.
Many thanks to Bernice McGee and to all those involved in organising and running the event!….when is the next one?
