Hi Robert, I have just finished posting this "elsewhere" ......it is my perspective on today's spaniel tests. I hope nobody minds me posting it onto here...........
Re: On Edge
Gundog test day..... 10.30 a.m. and I had finished the run in Puppy. Cover was spike grass, ground was undulating hills :roll: and I was knackered before I'd even started. The test was held, to my surprise, on a partial cheek-wind.... it was partly onto my left cheek and partly onto the cheeks of my backside ! I more or less just let Edge do his own thing and sort out the wind and his pattern himself. I blew turn only once and I could have never blown it at all, he was doing his own turns but when he got about 15 yards out in front of me on one outward cast I blew turn ...........just to let the judges see I could turn him !
Only one pup was hunted at a time and this suited Edge fine. He was a bit puzzled by the presence of the two judges and the bang firer/dummy thrower and he did check while hunting a couple of times to take a squint at them. The test consisted of a hunt through thick rashes, then a shot fired to which the pup was to stop. I didn't have to give any stop command, Edge sat at once to the shot.
Then he was hunted on and another shot was fired and this time a dummy was thrown to which he sat and remained steady until commanded to retrieve. He did the retrieve very easily , the retrieve was a very short one ......less than 20 yards. He did a perfect, non-drop , sitting delivery.
Then he was hunted on again and then made to sit to whistle as the dummy thrower let him see a dummy dropped nearby. He was then hunted on away from the dummy and Edge did that perfectly too. I only had to say "leave it" and wave my arm and he resumed hunting away from the dummy without even a backward glance.
I was instructed to call him in and then to send him back for the memory retrieve. Edge went straight back onto it and completed the retrieve with another perfect delivery.
That was it over and Edge ended up 10 clear points ahead of his nearest rival and won the Puppy test.
The scoring was much the same as usual for the spaniels. The possible total score was 100 with 60 points for the hunting, and 20 points each for the marked retrieve and the memory retrieve. Edge had a total score of 85 . He lost all of his points on the hunting ...... I'm not sure what was "wrong" with it but it obviously was not totally "right." Edge had a "perfect" score of 40 for his retrieving which rewarded me for all the work that has gone into his retrieves.
The spaniel that gained second place had 5 points more for his hunting than Edge but it muffed the marked retrieve ..... I think.
I had entered the Novice but I warned the judge that I'd withdraw him if he couldn't manage the blind retrieve ........ and he didn't manage it ! That was 20 points lost and he lost a lot more on his hunting. The novice dogs were hunted in pairs and the other dog of our "pair" was a hard going little demon of a cocker that needed an awful lot of whistle. Edge responded to the other handlers whistle .... I never used mine at all........ and that caused Edge's hunt to look very "stoppy-starty." It didn't "flow" and any pattern he had was disrupted repeatedly.
Edge scored only 50 out of 100 in the Novice and gained the distinction of being equal last on the score sheet ! He did the Novice marked retrieve very well and got full marks for that but 20 points off for the blind and 30 points off for the hunting had well and truly cooked his goose in Novice............... Equal last ! I'll never live it down !
I re-learned a few old lessons today. A good dog with a decent handler trained and hunted on tennis balls can do quite well but a good dog with a decent handler trained and hunted on actual game will do a "bleep" sight better !
This was made even more obvious in the spaniel Open when one little total blitz of a spaniel managed the impossible score of 100 out of 100 ! I have never seen or heard of any spaniel gaining full marks in an Open before. Well done that man !
I also re-learned that having a somewhat noisy, whistle blowing handler working his dog next to my dog is very likely to bugger up my dog as it hunts................ more work required !
I came home very pleased with Edge. He can do the job. As usual my wife congratulated the dog and gave me no credit or praise whatsoever ! She's a hard wummin to please that one !
Bill T.