We also had a wonderful turnout with folks coming from all over the country. There were lots of great dogs on display and I got to see some truly exceptional performances. We had twenty-nine entries on Saturday and twenty-three on Sunday, which was about twice as many entries as we had last year. We also had some really great judges who had the difficult task of winnowing down a large field of dogs to a manageable third series and placements.
I went into Saturday with no expectations whatsoever. It was our first trial and up until that point we had never run a brace before, not even in training. My goal was to keep Chunk on our side of the course and try to finish the first series; not lofty goals by any stretch. I needn't have worried though because he worked to the guns just like he has in our training sessions and paid no attention to what was going on next to us. He found his birds, made his retrieves, honored when needed and I was really pleased with his run.
The second series went pretty much like the first, with the exception of a sucker bird Chunk encountered on his second retrieve. He hupped to the flush, I called him in, set him up on a "back" and sent him. He ran straight out, found the dead bird and completed the retrieve. Again, I was really pleased with his run but unfortunately we were not called back to the third series.
I hustled back to the pavilion where our evening Social was taking place. A couple of friends of mine, Dave Shaw & Dave Orlomoski, were meeting me there to help out with the evening's entertainment. We were billed as "Def Spaniel". The Social was a great time, with lots of good food and drink and even included a make your own ice cream sundae bar for dessert, complete with lots of toppings. A good time was had by all. It was quite late by the time we were done picking up and when I got back to the hotel I was beat. Unfortunately I was too wired and never slept a wink.
Sunday was another beautiful day but not a very good one for Chunk and I. He started out running well, just like the day before. A bird was flushed on the other course which Chunk honored and then I cast him off again. We were working along a side hill and he flushed a bird on the downhill coming back toward us. The bird stayed low following the contour which kept him in Chunk's line of sight which proved to be too tempting for him and resulted in a "delayed" hup. The bird was a flyaway so he got a good long look at it. I called Chunk in, the judge said to keep going, and like the rookie I am, I cast him right back into the flyaway. He fired across the other course after the bird, I called him back but by then it was too late, game over. Oh well, live and learn...
Overall, I found the trial to be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I got to see lots of really great dog work and I got to see what I need to work on for next year. I feel fortunate to have met so many nice people at this event and look forward to seeing them at future trials. There are no better people than dog people. I can't wait for next year.
N.B. Just realized I don't have pictures of any of the dogs at the trial. How'd that happen???
