Thursday night the Saskatoon Retriever Club Workers put on a $5 shishkebob BBQ for all interested competitors and workers, so there was more visiting under the big tents. A few of the trailers were packing up, getting ready to leave the next morning, and the site was noticeably quieter. Many of the workers and trailers called it an early night, after a long day of trialing in the sun and the wind.
Another beautiful sunny morning with very little wind greeted the competitors as they awoke on Friday morning and wandered into the Clubhouse for another breakfast cooked by SRC workers, courtesy of Purina. The breakfast team of Anne Hildebrand, Marlene Whyte, Bonnie Lapensee, Sue Taylor and Tracy Evans used an assembly line to make the very popular breakfast sandwiches.
TEST 8 : LAND QUAD, 1 Retired gun
The test that had been scheduled for this morning was cancelled before it began when it was discovered that the warm weather had hastened the maturation of foxtail in the field. The competitors were told to cool their heels and enjoy their breakfast in the Clubhouse area while a different test was set up. At just after 8am a caravan left the Clubhouse for the test site.
The judges had set up a Land Quad facing South with a long retired gun. The first bird thrown (Gun 1, center right, 194 yards) was a long throw thrown from right to left from the edge of a clump of trees and then retired into the trees. The second bird thrown was the right hand bird (148 yards) thrown from right to left into a group of goose decoys - the line to this bird was through some patches of cover. The left hand bird was the third bird thrown (140 yards) and it was also thrown from right to left (Pheasant). The go-bird was 90 yards from line (center left) with a booming shot, causing many dogs to jump or creep forward. This bird landed nearly in line with the center-right bird (from Gun 1). During the setup and test dog the wind began to pick up and came from the SouthEast. This wind persisted and intensified during the morning, causing wind saves on some birds. The first running dog ran before 9am, and the temperature was 17C (64F) but promising to heat up during the day. The test was a quick one, taking less than 5 minutes a dog.
None of the dogs had problems with the go-bird. A few dogs hunted the wrong side of the left bird (Gun 3) but then came up with the bird. Many of the dogs cheated the light cover enroute to the right hand bird (Gun 2) and ran at the gunner, but easily scented the bird as they went by. Many of the dogs faded right as they went for the long retired bird (Gun 1), with some actually passing through the gap in the trees before winding the throwers and coming out to get the bird. Most of the work on the test was, however, pretty good and none of the dogs were dropped.
TEST 9: WATER BLIND, DRY SHOT, POISON BIRD SACK
Test 9 - Water Blind
The judges set up a tough cross-wind water blind ( facing North) to test the dogs. When signaled by the handler a gunner on the base of a point fired a gun and then sat down. Between the gunner and the end of the point was a decoy bag with ducks inside so that as dogs went past the point (downwind), they would scent the birds. The correct line was down a slope out of sight, into the water, approximately 4-6 feet off the left end of the scented point (128 yards from line), and then swimming past the right hand edge of a point 218 yards away before swimming to the blind near the shore edge 244 yards away. As an added enticement to the right shore, there were decoys in the bay to the right beyond the first point. Both test dogs had trouble - one went to the point and grabbed the sack of birds, the other got past this obstacle but required over 20 whistles.
Most of the competing dogs had a fairly good water blind. There were a few excellent jobs and some where multiple whistles were required, but most of the dogs answered the handles. There were two pickups. The test ended at 5pm.
Thirteen dogs were called back to the 10 th series. This will be a water test starting tomorrow morning at 9am. The finalists are dogs: 1, 2, 10, 11, 20, 22, 23, 27, 29, 30, 37, 40 and 43.
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Bernice and Emily |
Movin' the Bales |
