Day 1 - Monday July 21st
The day dawned with cloudless skies and by afternoon the temperature.reached 32 C. (90 F) The test dogs; Briko, (male) owned and handled by Gary Wikjord and Chena River Speed Waggin’, (female) owned and handled by James Borsberry showed the judges the complexities of the test. As a result the judges then decided not to retire the center (No. 1) Bird. The guns fired at about 8:30 A.M. for dog #1.
Fifty dogs went into the first test with dog #14 scratched for health reasons.
Test # 1 - Land Triple.
Hen mallards used at all stations. No.1 (center) bird at 215 yds. was thrown from left to right at the base of a stand of pines. No. 2 bird on the left was thrown from right to left at 100 yds. No. 3 bird on the right was thrown from left to right. There was a soft breeze coming from the left during the earlier part of the test pushing some dogs, heading for the center bird, onto the hill behind Gun Station #3 with 4 dogs having to handle. Later the wind switched to come from the right, causing some other dogs to backside the No. 1 gun station on the way to the bird. The line to the centre bird was through a dry marsh of grass and reeds high enough to hide the running dog for 15 to 20 yds.
The test between 5 and 6 minutes per dog was completed shortly after 2 PM. Dog # 42 was not called back for the 2nd test.
Test # 2 - Land Blind
The test started at 3 PM with dog #11. The line from which the dogs ran was about 30 feet to the left of the line for the marks with the bird being placed on the hill behind No. 3 gun station at 206 yds. On the way to the bird, the line ran through the fringe of a dry marsh for about 60 yards before climbing the hill to the blind. A variable wind, with occasional strong gusts, was quartering in from the right pushing some dogs off their line into the marsh where the dogs were difficult to see and to get the bird had to be cast into the wind.
The test was completed by 5:15 PM. Dog #24 was not called back for Test #3.
