RESULTS OF WORKING TESTS 2012

Working Tests at Park Farm, Caerleon - 25th March

Novice	Open

Once again, we had our first test at Park Farm, by kind permission of Vickie and Martin Prichard.  The weather was the first fine, warm day of a long dry spell with summer temperatures.  The judges were Dr Gareth Davies, Vickie Prichard, Johnny Morris and Craig Perry.

The morning classes were for Novice dogs, and Novice Dogs/Novice Handlers.

Test 1 consisted of a walk-up in an open grass field for two dogs with two seen retrieves; the first straight and then a crossover.

Test 2 involved two seen retrieves with a mark; the first retrieve was over a fence into a wood, and the second out in an open grass field.  Several dogs were reluctant to take the jump.

Test 3 was again in open grass and consisted of two shots; one to a seen and the second to a blind.  This test was slightly modified for the ND/NH, where the dogs had two shots to the sides for two seen retrieves; the handler specified which they would take first.

Test 4 proved to be really challenging for both categories.  The ND/NH had a straight seen retrieve to a shot alongside a fence and a diagonal seen to a shot by another fence.  The second one needed to be retrieved first.  There was a nice breeze which should have helped, but most dogs failed on one or the other.

The Novice dogs had a longerretrieve alongside the fence and the diagonal retrieve was a blind, both to a shot.  This revealed a big ability gap with the successful handlers using the wind to their benefit.

The afternoon was for Open dogs.  If you were among the early running order, you were lucky to ease yourself in with Test 1, again a walk-up with two retrieves to a shot, the same as the Novice test but at a greater distance, so the dogs had the opportunity to show their pace.

Test 2 consisted of a blind to a shot over a fence and ditch into a wood, then a blind to a shot right to the end of an open grass field.

Test 3 was a seen retrieve in the open requiring the dog to go down a dip and then up to the top of the field just in sight.  The second retrieve was for a blind across a gulley and up to a dummy concealed in logs by the side of a wooded area.  Again, correct use of the wind resulted in success here.

Test 4 was again the most challenging, consisting of a long 200 metre seen to a shot alongside a fence, but the first retrieve was for a diagonal retrieve from a tree pen without a shot.

The results on our scoreboard show that there was a big gap with a number of dogs failing one or more tests.  However, there was some excellent work on show.

The Usk Valley Club would like to thank the venue owners, Vickie and Martin, the judges, dummy throwers (particularly Rhianna who was roped in as soon as she arrived, having never thrown dummies before, but also stayed for the Open test - above and beyond the call of duty), and finally Roger Colver for organising the day as Working Test Secretary.  We all arrived home at a sensible time!

The results were as follows:-

Novice Dog/Novice Handler - No awards were made on this occasion

Click here to see the scores for the Novice

Click here to see the scores for the Open

Working Tests at Miserden, Glos. - 13th May

Photos and full report coming soon!   In the meantime, the results were as follows:-

Click here to see the scores for the Novice

Click here to see the scores for the Puppy

Click here to see the scores for the Open