Test 4 - Water Triple

Wednesday began with a clear cold morning with a brisk wind out of the southwest.  Temperatures were single digit in the morning but warmed later to mid to high teens as the sun warmed the competitors and spectators.  The fourth series initially was set up as a set of water quad marks with all guns visible.  The test was facing southwest quartering into the wind.  The first test dog Jazz and owner Murray Murphy found the test to be very challenging and an attempt to handle on one of the birds was complicated by the sun rising behind the line and the into wind marks.  In an effort to shorten the length of test, the short bird was removed and the middle bird was moved slightly.  The resulting test was an in line triple with all three marks on the far side of the pond.  The post was set on a high hill with a long water entry and a depression in the foreground.  The long right hand gunners threw to the right first with a duck splashed in front of a cattail lined bay.  The middle guns then threw a duck also to the right across a small bay landing in cover on shore.  The last gun threw a duck up the shore to the left.  The second test dog Code and owner Gord Benn completed a good set of marks and the test began at 8:40 am.  Most dogs had little problem with the go bird although the line to the bird was through a small bay in the foreground and over a high point which caused some water cheats.  Dogs then selected either of the middle or long birds.  Although all three guns were visible from the line, the long right gun was not visible to the dog as they left the line and crossed the side hill and low depression.  In some cases, dogs started for the long right gun second and then chose the middle gun after crossing the depression.  This resulted in some confusion when being sent for the last bird and in several cases dogs went wide of the test and either missed the water entry or were handled..  Although the wind tended to give the bird to the dog if the proper line was taken, many dogs did not take the proper line to all three birds and several pick ups and handles occurred. The test included an honour and was approximately 12 minutes long.  With 66 dogs back and a workers party scheduled for this evening, the test was not scheduled to be completed until later on Thursday morning.  It was rumoured that the kindness in callbacks by the judges was soon to end.

Committe Members: Sherrill Elm, Arline James and Laura Jones	Mickey Rawlins, Harry England and Asst. FT Marshal, Don Fiddle