Series Five (Water Marks) & Six (Water Blind)

Friday, August 25, 2023

Report composed by Sue Taylor with help from Tim Fahl (drawings) and Jesse Vanhouwe (technology)

Well, here it is – the final day.  Difficulty with yesterday’s marks and blinds combined with some cumulative faults during the first few days of the trial resulted in 9 dogs not being called back to the next series.  Dogs dropped were 3, 9, 10, 18, 20, 27, 28, 31 and 34.  There are 20 dogs remaining in the field who will run the 5th test this morning. Dog 14 will run first. The judges informed us this morning that we will then run a 6th and final test this afternoon – water blind(s).

The weather today is forecasted to be cloudy with sunny breaks in the morning, with most of the clouds disappearing by early afternoon.  It was cool this morning (11C) but it should warm up to 18C by noon and 20C by mid afternoon.  The wind was light (6km/hr) from the NE this morning when we started and is forecasted to stay light and come from the East by 11am and then from the SE by 1pm. 

The caravan gathered at 7:30 am at the Clubhouse and travelled North through the property and then headed South on the dike road past the test to park along the dike road. The gallery has been positioned East of Water Pond 3 looking down on the test from above. No tent today, just posts telling them where to stay.  The sponsor banners are posted for Purina, SportDog, Garmin, and Kent.  Today’s test sponsor is Cedarbrae Labradors, Tracey Griffin and Jim Girvan.

Pond 3 is a pretty pond with 3 points, two islands and channels at the North and South end. 

As the participants arrive this morning they see the pond at morning light with a few dozen floating duck decoys. There are brushed in holding blinds and mounds hiding all the gunners and throwers.

The judges have their table set up left and back from the line where they can watch the dogs run.  Off to their left is Wally Turk who will shoot most of the marks from the line.  Mark Atwater is also there concealed in a blind he has decorated with grasses taking photographs. 

Handlers will come down from the holding blind and sit their dog in front of the right hunting blind in the orange circle at the base of the point.  In an attempt to relax the handlers and inject a little humor this reporter made both running circles into smiley faces.  My 12.5 year old NFTCH dog Cheeky got to watch all these birds go down earlier  this morning during setup (while helping adjust the landing spot for the short bird winger) and she broke on the go bird - the first time in her long career that she has broken – and she had a huge grin on her face.  Handlers are a little nervous.

Handlers will sit their dog in the painted circle in front of the right, further forward holding blind on the base of a point and leave them, with the handler sitting behind their dog in the blind.

Judges and handlers will call to start the test.  The gunners/throwers in the holding blind behind a mound to the south will call on a goose call, throw and shoot a mallard hen from a winger, throwing a very high and dramatic slight angle back throw left to right at 113 yards. (MARK 1, CENTRE LEFT BIRD)

Judges will call again and the gunners/throwers in a holding blind on the base of a point 89 yards away to the right (North) will call back and hand throw the right hand bird from right to left, landing on the point.(MARK 2,  RIGHT BIRD)

Judges will call again and the gunners/throwers behind a brushed in holding blind 60 yards away behind a mound across the water will call, then hand throw a mallard drake using an in throw from right to left, landing in the grasses and cattails at the water’s edge. (MARK 3, CENTRE RIGHT BIRD)

As soon as the 3rd mark has landed, the judge will signal with a wave and a huge high winger bird is launched to land in the water approximately 15 yards in front of the dog with a big splash (MARK 4, GO-BIRD).  This is a combination breaking bird/ wipeout bird and may make it difficult for some dogs to remember their long left middle mark.

Once the dog has retrieved all the birds they move to the painted circle in front of the holding blind on the left where they will sit and honour until released by the judges.  The release will happen at about the time that the running dog reaches the go bird.

The male test dog  today was CH GMH OTCH ZANIRI'S ALL IN RN WCX (Dealer), owned and handled by Valerie Beliak.   Dealer found the go bird and then the point bird quickly.  He was then sent for the short left middle bird (MARK 3) and slipped under the arc and up past the mound and was stopped and handled to the bird.  Dealer then handled again on the long bird.

The test was now ready to start for the participants.  While we were waiting for the dogs to line up, a group of geese did a low fly by and marshall John McDonald used his goose call to try to convince them it was safe to land in our decoy spread. 

 The first running dog, Dog 14, was called to line at 9:11am and the test was underway. 

In the first 10 dogs (before the first bird change) every dog handled, mostly on the long left middle bird (MARK 1).  There were three double handles.  Two handled on the point bird (MARK 2) and a few on the short right middle bird (MARK 3).  The biggest challenge seemed to be getting dogs to take a line to the area of the longer MARK 1, with many curling back into MARK 3 instead of driving long.  A couple of dogs did make it out to the mound but still got handled when it looked like they were headed off course.  None of the dogs broke.

Not much changed with the test for the rest of the morning/early afternoon.  Every dog except two handled at least once, usually on the long MARK 1.  The wind is still very light but has been shifting from NE to E to SE to SW and then back again – very unpredictable.  The wind, however, does not seem to have been a factor in this test.  The bye dog, PRAIRIESTORM HANK 3RD run by Jesse Vanhouwe ran at 1:30pm (and did a pretty darned good job!).

CALLBACKS TO 6

TEST 6  WATER BLIND 

August 25, 2023

The judges described the scenario. You know your buddies shot a bird that glided to the end of the pond and you want your dog to get it.

A shot is fired and that is the handler’s signal to leave the holding blind and move to a stake marking the running line. At that point the handler is on their own and can send for the blind.  The correct line for the blind is in the water, over a tip of the point and across the pond between the island and the rock point. Once the dog is ½ way between the tip of the point and the island handlers can move up to the point to handle if they wish (to improve visibility), but that will limit their lateral movement.

Now the running dogs started to work, and most had a few whistles but no real trouble with the blind. According to the gallery a couple of dogs had some problems – I had come inside to type my report because my phone said it was too hot to function.

The event closed with a swan song blind ran by dog #32 GMH NMH Eromit’s Tinker Bear QFTR (Sidney) handled by Steve Bushie. She is a dog that has had an incredible career and will now get to enjoy her retirement years. Soon after the judges had finished their deliberations and the 12 qualifiers were announced. On top of achieving their National Master titles with this pass a couple of the teams also achieved their Grand Master title and several people got the dunked by bottles and buckets of water as is customary when achieving a new title. Following the presentation of the ribbons Mark Atwater of Up Close Photography took photos of all of the qualifiers and the group had a champagne toast with snacks to celebrate their achievement. The party carried on into the night around a campfire beside the clubhouse and people began packing up and heading home from the grounds throughout the rest of the weekend.