Test 7 Water Blind
The water blind was run at the north end of Weir Lake. It was a very cold morning with trucks covered in a heavy frost, and dog dishes frozen. The marshall reported a temperature of 26F when she arrived at 7:00 a.m.
The line to the blind was just a few degrees east of north with wind coming from the southeast, blowing over the handler’s right shoulder. The blind was run off a wide expansive slope out over a scented point, across a channel to the tip of a long narrow island.
By 9:15 a.m. the sun came out in force and helped to compensate for the cold wind which blew up to 30 miles per hour with small white caps at its strongest point. Judges, handlers and spectators kept themselves bundled up all day long.
The blind was 308 yards long. The point was about half way and the distance from the running mat to the water was about 75 yards.
Only a few dogs made an early entry into the water without a handle. Some dogs made a smooth crossing from the shoreline to the point. Others needed a number of casts to bring them back out of the bay into the wind. A number of dogs made it safely on and off the scented point (re-scented every 10 dogs), and then had trouble getting passed the reeds in the middle of the channel.
There was lunging water around the point and its far side where a handful of decoys were planted. The handlers who picked-up did so after the dog turned the corner on the point or proceeded back to shore once at the reeds.
Another trouble spot was once the dogs were passed the reeds. Some squared to the shore of the island and others looked as if they might swim by the island.
Indeed the blind presented a challenge from beginning to end which increased correspondingly with the wind. By the time the last dog had run, eight handlers had picked-up.
20 dogs were called back to the 8th series—a water triple. Dogs # 3, 5, 13, 15, 26, 27, 32, 62, 69 and 73 were not amongst them.
Test #8: Water Marks – Triple
A water triple was set on a reed pond south of the main road to Tunkwa Provincial Park in the early afternoon. The test was run in a northwesterly direction with wind coming from the southwest. It consisted of a long retired gun thrown at the far side of the pond across the reed shoreline from a boat (174 yards from line), a middle bird, thrown from a gravel knoll on to the grassy foot of a reed point (104 yards from line) and a go bird thrown out in the open on a berm (154 yards from line). All birds were thrown with the wind from the left to the right. The running line was a top a gentle rise about 20 yards from the water’s edge and the line to all three birds started with a trek through the sloppy mud and bunches or reeds.
The most challenging bird was the retired. The correct line to it was through the tip of the reed point. Some dogs headed to the left and took too much of the reeds. They ended up way up wind of both the bird and the boat. Without a corrective handle they drove through the reeds and on to the wide open grass field behind the pond. It was difficult to bring them back into the water for the bird.
There were 5 handles and 1 pick-up. 16 dogs were called back to the 9th series—a land quadruple with an honour at the field across from Gottan Lake just outside Tunkwa Provincial Park. Dogs # 18, 30, 42 and 53 were not amongst them.
