Attended First Trial (As Spectator) - thoughts

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:09 pm

Well it was a big weekend - having put the wife and kids on a plane for Florida I had a real "dog" weekend.

I attended the North Jersey Brittany club field trial at the English Setter Club in Medford, NJ. I brought my pup down and she got a fair amount of attention. I also got to meet her sire, Bucks Hit the Road Jack. For the first time in 20-odd years I was on horseback which was a hoot (they don't ride western up here and I was like "where's the saddlehorn!") I rode with several braces and realized my spine doesn't have the cartlidge it once had for cushion - no wonder I am inch shorter than I used to be. Ahh middle age.

I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging with "Karen" of this board and she is a gem of a person and she showed me the ropes. I stayed for the dinner and party and won one of the raffle prizes which is a month of boarding and training with Pete DeAngelis, who I was going to use anyway. So I think I will pick up an extra month or two in this case. Everyone was very welcoming and made me feel at home, and there were plenty of "good old guys and gals" and the beverages flowed amongst plenty of storytelling and chop-busting!

The Setter Club is 300+ fenced acres and has a real cozy clubhouse and ground. I snuck Ginger into a wooded area and she went NUTS on some quail which was really reassuring, since this was her first exposure to gamebirds. After bumping a pair, she held her second point well over a minute! I was delighted.

Sunday morning I headed to Water & Wings to meet Karen and watch some training with Pete and met a few other folks. We hopped on ATVs and ran the dogs which was a blast. My pup sure has some legs on her. Then we spent a sufficient amount of time drinking coffee and solving the worlds problems along with much storytelling and jokes. I also found I was among fellow NRA folks and we lamented Charlton Heston's passing and argued over the content of the DC Supreme Court case.

After goodbyes I headed to shoot clays, but it was too crowded, so I headed to Buttonwood Preserve and purchased a few chukar and got Ginger on them in the backyard. I just got home from my hockey league and saw one perched by the garage.... poor fellow.

The trial lifestyle is really appealing. I got Ginger to be a hunting dog with dreams of hitting the grouse woods and woodcock mudholes here in the East. I am not sure which direction to go and will take this one day at a time I guess.

Cheers and thanks for listening!

Shout out to Karen for a great Weekend!

Sambuca, sorry I missed you.
Gary

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:42 pm

I absolutely love to hear reports like this. Met and made new friends, got to see some potential for your dog that you may not have realized, plus enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for the report GARY and thanks to KAREN for leading you astray and making you enjoy it.

Ezzy

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:16 pm

What were those grounds like? The NGSPA Region 2 is going to run out there and I am just interested. We went out last fall for the Pheasant, which is on the east side of Chesapeake Bay. Would be a long drive, but by plane not a bad trip at all.

Sure sounds fun.

Karen · Post by **Karen** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:04 am

Thanks Gary! Now all I have to do is convince you to enter Ginger in Delval's Trial on April 26/27th...same wrangler, much of the same group of people will be there. It should be a blast! Now that I'm back in the saddle, I'll scout for you.

When Gary won the free month of training with Pete DeAngelis, we joked that it was probably going to be the most expensive free month of training on record. It's addicting!

Saturday was my first time back on my horse since I broke my arm in late September, and I just had the BEST time! Of course, I've rediscovered muscles I forgot I had in the process

, but this too shall pass.

The grounds at the setter club are some of the finest in the area (keeping in mind that this is the Northeast). That said, an hour stake is pushing it there. The Brittanys run an inner loop and an outer loop to get an hour shooting dog stake in, and the GSP's and long tails would eat that course up pretty fast.

The grounds are well maintained, plenty of nice open fields to show off a nice cast, natural edges to run, plenty of water on the course and it is all fenced in so there's very little chance of having a dog go permanently missing on you.

The Philadelphia airport is less than 45 minutes from the grounds.

They have a nice, modern barn with straight stalls for trialer's use, and several places to run power cords from for camping/RV parking (regular 110 service). Oh! And running water and real bathrooms!

If you decide to come in for the trial, please let me know. I'd love to come down and meet you! I live about 2 hours north of the grounds.

CherrystoneWeims · Post by **CherrystoneWeims** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:29 am

Hey guys thanks for posting what the grounds are like! I'll be up there on April 15th for the Eastern Classic Weimaraner Trial. I'll be bringing Pearl and Scarlett so we'll see how they do.

If any of you guys are close by PM me and maybe we can meet up for a dinner.

WildRose · Post by **WildRose** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:50 am

Sounds like you had a good time, and a very similar time to my first experience at trialing.

The trial lifestyle is really appealing. I got Ginger to be a hunting dog with dreams of hitting the grouse woods and woodcock mudholes here in the East. I am not sure which direction to go and will take this one day at a time I guess.

Keep in mind that you are absolutely not looking at an either/or situation here. The very same dogs I've been winning with lately are the dogs I've been guiding wild bird hunts with, and hunting all over the western US with for the last four or five years.

You can absolutely enjoy both trialing and hunting with the same dogs. What trialing will do is extend your season by several months, put you in close contact with other dog minded people, and most likely raise your expectations and demands of both yourself as a trianer and your dog as a performer.

I will absolutely say on no uncertain terms that I am a much better and more rounded trainer and handler since I added trialing to my and the dogs world. CR

WildRose · Post by **WildRose** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:51 am

John I wish I could make that one. It would be pretty educational to see some of the bigger running dogs being handled around a 300 acre course with heavy cover. CR

TrueBlu Shorthairs · Post by **TrueBlu Shorthairs** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:06 am

Hey Gary, wanna buy a horse? How 'bout a saddle? Trailer? Stake-outs? Broke dog????? You may be in huge trouble! Better get your wife back to town for a little common sense training!

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:47 am

TrueBlu Shorthairs wrote:Hey Gary, wanna buy a horse? How 'bout a saddle? Trailer? Stake-outs? Broke dog????? You may be in huge trouble! Better get your wife back to town for a little common sense training!

It would be best to get it all BEFORE she gets back - so I have just a few days!

Lion Country should put together the Field Trialer Wannabe Impulse Package complete with all of the above - horse, dog, feed, you name it. They could make it a one click purchase - a trailer pulls up - and boom you have it.

You should see my garage as it is... it's like Sanford & Son in there.

utahmomof4 · Post by **utahmomof4** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:57 am

Thank you for sharing that, Gary. I'm planning to go watch my first hunt test in May and looking forward to seeing what it's all about. I'm not sure yet if I can/want to get into the trialing lifestyle with everything else we have going on in our lives, but it does sound like a lot of fun.

I love your idea about the LC field trialer impulse package.

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:02 pm

Wagonmaster wrote:What were those grounds like? The NGSPA Region 2 is going to run out there and I am just interested. We went out last fall for the Pheasant, which is on the east side of Chesapeake Bay. Would be a long drive, but by plane not a bad trip at all.

Sure sounds fun.

If you have Google Earth - the image of the Setter club shows up with very high resolution - the best I have seen.

In the search box in Google earth, put in "Brace Rd., Medford, NJ" Scroll upwards by dragging the screen due North of the words "Brace Rd" as displayed on the screen. You will cross a heavily wooded area and then it opens up. You need to go up about two full screen's worth. There will be some buildings (slightly left of this path) that are pretty much dead center of about a dozen fields. That's it.

here is the actual image from google earth. It is pretty much the whole picture.

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:15 pm

Ok, here is the image with some markings for how I best remember the course:

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:27 pm

utahmomof4 wrote: I love your idea about the LC field trialer impulse package.

I've got it! The Newly-Introduced Trialing Wannabe Instant Tack Kit, or the "NITWIT Kit"

utahmomof4 · Post by **utahmomof4** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:52 pm

gar-dog wrote:
utahmomof4 wrote: I love your idea about the LC field trialer impulse package.
I've got it! The Newly-Introduced Trialing Wannabe Instant Tack Kit, or the "NITWIT Kit"

Perfect!

jetto · Post by **jetto** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:58 am

Gar-Dog...thanks so much for posting that view of the course! And I'm glad you had a great time at your first trial. Yes it is addictive. Our oldest trial dog placed 3rd in OGD at his 3rd trial with the trainer and someone said that I should go shoot those judges because they just cost me a bundle of money. And boy were they right! LOL! But I wouldn't have it any other way. Problem is two and a half years later and we're field trialing with FOUR dogs, lol...Oh well- can't take it with you! Kristi

Post by **Kiki's Mom** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:26 am

Gary...welcome to the leagues of the " FT Infected"

Glad you had a good time and that you are eager to experience more.

You can absolutely enjoy both trialing and hunting with the same dogs. What trialing will do is extend your season by several months, put you in close contact with other dog minded people, and most likely raise your expectations and demands of both yourself and your dog.

VERY TRUE!!!!

Better get a good grip on your IRA, Roth, Saving Account and Credit Card balances. Karen's introduction to our little game may have just cost you a BUNCH of money..... :roll: You are safe right now.....at least until you get Ginger entered in a Puppy stake and you manage to garner yourselves a placement ribbon.....then the hook will be set and all that will need to be done then is to reel you IN!

Seriously though....thanks for sharing your experience. It was fun to read your report and experience your new found delight.

Hotpepper · Post by **Hotpepper** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:19 am

This is jsut a wonderful post, good news and a 1st completed and the man was impressed and enthused. GREAT STUFF>

We are happy to have you join the deal with the rest of the guys that jsut love to go watch the dogs and find the birds.

Wonderful

Pepper

The Zephyr · Post by **The Zephyr** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:12 pm

Just thought I'd give you an alternate view of the Setter Club ( I poached this off another site...)

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During the running of the Region 2 you won't have the foliage as seen in the accompanying photo.

John L.

remmy · Post by **remmy** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:36 pm

Hey that's Norman Basilone for those who don't know...He is Matt's father. Matt is my trainer. Both great guys and wonderful trainers! You can find that picture on their website: http://sunrisekennels.netkennel.com/def ... 4&HDR=HOME
The Setter Club, I believe is close to 400 acres and an attempt to purchase an adjacent lease would put it just over 500 acres, if I'm not mistaken (we use the lease now). Part of the property is cut off from the aerial view. There is more to the grounds which were cut off on the top left, top, top right and bottom part of the view. The view does capture most of the grounds so it'll give you a good idea of what it looks like. The best part of these grounds is the fact that the entire place is fenced in making safe for our dogs.

As mentioned earlier for the hour stakes, we will be doing 2 loops for the R2. Starting by the gate and running the outer most edge around the grounds and then the inner course the second time around. The inner course is pretty much what was described earlier.

John, as an FYI...it is only about 2 hours north of Wye Island, MD.

The Zephyr · Post by **The Zephyr** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:25 am

Remmy,

See that ……. Free advertising.

I saw Matt last weekend at the Nutmeg GSP trial at Flaherty. I believe he placed some of Katie’s dogs.

You should have stayed for the judges’ dinner Saturday night, porterhouses on the grill, baked potatoes, salad & warm berry pie.
Spent part of the meal talking with Bobby Seelye. He’s a real nice guy as well.

Matter of fact there are a lot of really good people that run their dogs in the northeast and Nutmeg puts on a class event with a superb kitchen.

I had a long conversation with some of the members regarding the Region 1. We really need to increase the number of entries to cover the overhead, especially with the American Field. I’m fairly certain we could pull some entries from the southeast, but it would be nice to see some of the Midwest guys make the trek over the Appalachians.

On another note, Tony Smid had an incident on a horse while handling his dog. I hope he’s recuperating ok.

Hudson Valley GSPC is running Apr. 25-27. If you’re on the grounds perhaps we’ll meet up.

Regarding the Setter Club and its enclosure. It sure does give you peace of mind when unleashing a young dog, or any dog for that matter. The worst that could happen is to have the dog end up in the birdfield.

John L.

remmy · Post by **remmy** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:21 am

Sorry to hear about Tony, hope he's ok.

I'm sorry I couldn't stay Sat night...had to get back home to help my wife with the kids. I try not to put a bigger burden on her than I have to. It would have been nice though, I'm sure.

As far as the R1, I'm sure there won't be a problem getting the minimum 10 dogs required for a championship. Hopefully, there will be more. The problem with getting the mid-western people to the R1 and R2 are the dates. There are a bunch of trials out there around the same time. It would be tough to draw them to the east coast when there are championships closer to home.

I get my dog back from Matt at the R2. I am working the entire weekend of the 26th but am taking a day off to run my dog at the Weim trial down in Assunpink the weekend of the 26th. So I won't be able to make the Hudson Valley trial...I'm sure Matt will be there with Katie's dogs.

Rob