Hampshire Gundog Society
Open Working Test
On 2nd March 2013, held at Hoyle Wood, Heyshot.
Results
1st Mr D Higgs's Levenghyll Cyyber Star of Higgscroft Lab D. (Ft Ch Greyhill Rustler X Pridelanes Kelly
2nd Mr J. Boyle's Countryways Nightshade Lab D (Ft Ch Tasco Alexander Beetle X Carolhill Quest of Countryways)
3rd Nikki Stranks's Lab B Woodlandway Skylark (Oakvalley Blackjack X Hobhearn Comet)
4th Rosemary Sadler's Lab B Opataz Cinders Folly (Ft Ch Bedgebrook Excalibur X Opataz Gracie)
COM Mr. Ray Hardie's Golden Ret D. Hanans Mace Spice of Life (Gospelash Victor X Hanan's Pure Gold)
Report
Ron Sills set the tests and once again made full use of the land to test not just the dogs obedience but their abilities as well. The handlers were also tested as they had decisions to make before they even sent their dogs out. A bitterly cold day for all but at least it wasn’t raining. Jo Hewison and Joy Venturi Rose were well organised as usual and soon got us started. They very sensibly decided to call a halt after 3 tests as everyone was getting very cold. The competitors might moan but it also hard for the judges, stewards and dummy throwers to stand there all day getting colder and colder on our behalf.
The three Judges were Paul Jennings, Chris Rose and Robert Worrall.
Robert’s Test was a mark and a blind. We stood on a track in the wood which dipped downhill and then up a bit and through a gate into a field. Woods on both sides of the track. The dummy thrower stood in the gateway and threw a mark with gunshot into the field on our right side. We had to get the blind first which was through the left hand side of the wood and in a clump of bracken just inside the field hedge line. The ground dipped down and back up again with a little ditch at the bottom which caused a potential barrier. Having retrieved the blind, the ‘memory’ mark gave a couple of options to the handlers. A lot of dogs remembered their mark and wanted to take a direct line diagonally through the wood to get it. The other option was to send your dog straight down the track through the gateway and turn it right. The problem with the direct line through the wood was that there only one obvious gap through the fence line to get into the field. This caused most dogs to hunt the wood inside the fence line and a lot of handling to get them ‘over the barrier’. The dogs that went straight down the track and turned right certainly made a cleaner job of it.
Paul’s Test was also in the woods. As one walked towards him there were 2 shots fired over on the right hand side. Paul explained that there were 2 birds dead on the right hand side (in the area of the marker) and also one possible runner on the left hand side somewhere by the fallen tree. So 3 dummies. Sounds bad but actually this was the easiest Test of the day. Even so, some people were caught out by sending their dogs for the two dead birds first rather than the runner !! And the dogs were working in woodland so it was quite difficult to see where your dog was some of the time.
Chris had the Test that proved to be the deciding factor. We stood on one side of the field. On the opposite side and about 25ft in from the wood, was a marker. We were told that there were 2 birds to be picked in this area. Dogs went out, picked a dummy (scent was very bad), and were duly sent back for the second dummy. After getting the dog to work the area for a minute (seemed like forever !), the judge approached and said that the bird had run right handed up to the corner of the field. I think if you had asked Chris at the end of the day he would have said that it was 50/50 as to which dummy each dog struggled on. I think the scent was not particularly good in the field, and a lot was more luck than ability.
Add to the interest, Chris gave 2x19s but no 20s. Robert gave 2x20s and 1x19. Paul gave 16x20s and 4x19s (plus 10x18s). The distance of the retrieves for Paul’s Test were not so great but all the dummies were blinds. I think this part of the wood did give a bit better scent. It certainly proved very achievable with the lowest score being a 14.
I found it interesting. There are many ‘’variables’’ on any Test.
The big one being wind direction and amount of scent, not only on the day but also ‘at the moment’ as the wind direction can change throughout the running of the Test.
The nature of the Tests that are set can benefit some types of dogs more than others.
The judges do vary in their criteria for assessing ability.
I have also always thought that anyone who runs more than one dog must have an advantage over everyone else when they run the second dog. Didn’t work out on this Test ! Roughly half the competitors were running two dogs and a couple of people were running three. You would have thought that by the 3rd dog they would have been able to handle their dog so precisely that it would be a 20/20. Why not ??? To my mind there are 2 reasons. The judges were all people that judged on the ’’dogs ability’’ – as opposed to handler direction ! – and that Ron set the Tests and he always manages to find the situations where the dog HAS to work on its own ability (out of sight) even though the handler has prior knowledge of where the dummy is and what might happen next.
So – variables – Same Tests, different judges ? Different Test, same judges ? Mind boggling really
Dan Higgs won it with 55/60. 4 were in second place with 53/60. The run off was a mark from one side of the field to the other. 3 black Labs went straight out and straight back. The Golden Retriever missed the mark and hunted around quite a bit. Two Labs were called up for a second run off. At a right angle to the first mark, there was a blind hidden in some rushes in a dip in the field. A mark was thrown out beyond the blind. The dog had to pick the blind in the foreground. The first dog managed to stop just beyond the blind. She then decided that it must be back where she had just picked the first dummy from for the first run-off. So had to be stopped again and persuaded into the rushes. The second dog also managed to stop from going on for the mark but on recall, managed to come back directly onto the blind in the rushes.
A very big thank you to everyone for giving us a great day out with our dogs, not least the Landowner. It is only the generosity of landowners that enables us to hold such competitions and have such interesting, fun and educational days out with our dogs.
by Rosemary Saddler
1st Mr D Higgs's Levenghyll Cyyber Star of Higgscroft Lab D. (Ft Ch Greyhill Rustler X Pridelanes Kelly
2nd Mr J. Boyle's Countryways Nightshade Lab D (Ft Ch Tasco Alexander Beetle X Carolhill Quest of Countryways)
3rd Nikki Stranks's Lab B Woodlandway Skylark (Oakvalley Blackjack X Hobhearn Comet)
4th Rosemary Sadler's Lab B Opataz Cinders Folly (Ft Ch Bedgebrook Excalibur X Opataz Gracie)
COM Mr. Ray Hardie's Golden Ret D. Hanans Mace Spice of Life (Gospelash Victor X Hanan's Pure Gold)
Report
Ron Sills set the tests and once again made full use of the land to test not just the dogs obedience but their abilities as well. The handlers were also tested as they had decisions to make before they even sent their dogs out. A bitterly cold day for all but at least it wasn’t raining. Jo Hewison and Joy Venturi Rose were well organised as usual and soon got us started. They very sensibly decided to call a halt after 3 tests as everyone was getting very cold. The competitors might moan but it also hard for the judges, stewards and dummy throwers to stand there all day getting colder and colder on our behalf.
The three Judges were Paul Jennings, Chris Rose and Robert Worrall.
Robert’s Test was a mark and a blind. We stood on a track in the wood which dipped downhill and then up a bit and through a gate into a field. Woods on both sides of the track. The dummy thrower stood in the gateway and threw a mark with gunshot into the field on our right side. We had to get the blind first which was through the left hand side of the wood and in a clump of bracken just inside the field hedge line. The ground dipped down and back up again with a little ditch at the bottom which caused a potential barrier. Having retrieved the blind, the ‘memory’ mark gave a couple of options to the handlers. A lot of dogs remembered their mark and wanted to take a direct line diagonally through the wood to get it. The other option was to send your dog straight down the track through the gateway and turn it right. The problem with the direct line through the wood was that there only one obvious gap through the fence line to get into the field. This caused most dogs to hunt the wood inside the fence line and a lot of handling to get them ‘over the barrier’. The dogs that went straight down the track and turned right certainly made a cleaner job of it.
Paul’s Test was also in the woods. As one walked towards him there were 2 shots fired over on the right hand side. Paul explained that there were 2 birds dead on the right hand side (in the area of the marker) and also one possible runner on the left hand side somewhere by the fallen tree. So 3 dummies. Sounds bad but actually this was the easiest Test of the day. Even so, some people were caught out by sending their dogs for the two dead birds first rather than the runner !! And the dogs were working in woodland so it was quite difficult to see where your dog was some of the time.
Chris had the Test that proved to be the deciding factor. We stood on one side of the field. On the opposite side and about 25ft in from the wood, was a marker. We were told that there were 2 birds to be picked in this area. Dogs went out, picked a dummy (scent was very bad), and were duly sent back for the second dummy. After getting the dog to work the area for a minute (seemed like forever !), the judge approached and said that the bird had run right handed up to the corner of the field. I think if you had asked Chris at the end of the day he would have said that it was 50/50 as to which dummy each dog struggled on. I think the scent was not particularly good in the field, and a lot was more luck than ability.
Add to the interest, Chris gave 2x19s but no 20s. Robert gave 2x20s and 1x19. Paul gave 16x20s and 4x19s (plus 10x18s). The distance of the retrieves for Paul’s Test were not so great but all the dummies were blinds. I think this part of the wood did give a bit better scent. It certainly proved very achievable with the lowest score being a 14.
I found it interesting. There are many ‘’variables’’ on any Test.
The big one being wind direction and amount of scent, not only on the day but also ‘at the moment’ as the wind direction can change throughout the running of the Test.
The nature of the Tests that are set can benefit some types of dogs more than others.
The judges do vary in their criteria for assessing ability.
I have also always thought that anyone who runs more than one dog must have an advantage over everyone else when they run the second dog. Didn’t work out on this Test ! Roughly half the competitors were running two dogs and a couple of people were running three. You would have thought that by the 3rd dog they would have been able to handle their dog so precisely that it would be a 20/20. Why not ??? To my mind there are 2 reasons. The judges were all people that judged on the ’’dogs ability’’ – as opposed to handler direction ! – and that Ron set the Tests and he always manages to find the situations where the dog HAS to work on its own ability (out of sight) even though the handler has prior knowledge of where the dummy is and what might happen next.
So – variables – Same Tests, different judges ? Different Test, same judges ? Mind boggling really
Dan Higgs won it with 55/60. 4 were in second place with 53/60. The run off was a mark from one side of the field to the other. 3 black Labs went straight out and straight back. The Golden Retriever missed the mark and hunted around quite a bit. Two Labs were called up for a second run off. At a right angle to the first mark, there was a blind hidden in some rushes in a dip in the field. A mark was thrown out beyond the blind. The dog had to pick the blind in the foreground. The first dog managed to stop just beyond the blind. She then decided that it must be back where she had just picked the first dummy from for the first run-off. So had to be stopped again and persuaded into the rushes. The second dog also managed to stop from going on for the mark but on recall, managed to come back directly onto the blind in the rushes.
A very big thank you to everyone for giving us a great day out with our dogs, not least the Landowner. It is only the generosity of landowners that enables us to hold such competitions and have such interesting, fun and educational days out with our dogs.
by Rosemary Saddler
