Saturday
Whaaaaat?!? 4:30am and the alarm clock is screeching!?! Bleery-eyed, we stumble outside in the pouring rain for my morning routine. Followed by breakfast...flurry of activity...numerous bundles of stuff ferried out the front door. Out to the car we go only to get soaked for the second time and it's barely past 6:30am! I think I know where we are going...but, what's this...we are headed in a completely different direction than I was anticipating. Where could we possibly be going at this hour??? I'm intrigued but it's dark, it's pouring, I'm sleepy...zzzzzzz. I feel the car slow to a crawl...hey, I recognize this place, we drove through here with Uncle Vadasz on our way to Vizslapalooza - it's The Border! Now, I am very intrigued but it's dark, it's pouring and I'm ... zzzzzzz.
My first ever Hunt Test experience:
RAIN drive drive drive drive
wait wait wait wait wait
lunch break
rain wait wait wait RAIN
meet the judges and my bracemate
play play PLAY play play
ignore whistles
play run play run play
ignore humans
play run BIRD! work work
work work work work work
(my bracemate was 7 months old and we had FUN!)
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| "Is that my rosette? That colour matches my collar." |
Sunday
In the car, headed west (or is that south, or east?), yup, I know where we're going - yippeee and it's not raining and it's not blazing hot! As the sun begins to rise, the melodic tones of the radio are interrupted by a steady stream of unmentionable words ... something to do with the time of day, blinding light, too much chrome, how's a person supposed to drive with the glare from all the bleepin' glass condos!!! I am way too young to be hearing such words so I better just...zzzzzzz.
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| "Thanks for not messing up my run, Mom." |
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| "Are you sure they don't need me to double-check the field?!" |
The AKC Junior Hunter test is similar to the CKC Field Dog Junior test with the added challenge of working with another dog in the field (also there are 2 judges in the field judging both dogs and JH requires 4 Qualifying scores whereas FDJ requires 3 Qualifying scores).
Great big thanks
to Kathy Sadlon and Tracy Novoa and all the other volunteers from the
German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Western New York who hosted the test
at Darien Lake State Park. In spite of Saturday's inclement weather,
everyone had a wonderful weekend working with their Pointers. Many thanks to all the judges for having tremendous patience with the youngsters entered in the Junior tests (even in the midst of Saturday's downpours). And thanks to Liz Outram for helping us to prepare for the AKC style test.
Both days sound awesome!!! Especially the play play play, run run run, BIRD! :)
ReplyDeleteHow cool!
Both pups were drawn to each other like magnets such that the playing continued on into the bird field! Finding birds in extremely wet conditions is a challenge even for experienced field dogs so it took a long while before they (thankfully) picked up bird scent and managed to control their puppy urges (not easy for a 15 mo old let alone a 7 mo old!), go their separate ways and work the field appropriately. ~ Corrine
DeleteSounds like a perfect weekend! Congrats on the two legs.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it absolutely wonder to handle your own dog to such successes? Congrats again from Breeder Mom & Mama Miska who are both very, very proud of birddog Bodi.
ReplyDeleteAnd proud of YOU for handling Bodi!!! Your second time! You're becoming a real pro at this stuff now.
ReplyDelete