Monday, October 26, 2009

HAT TRICK

Finally competed in my first field trial. Rode with my puppys breeder all the way from North Texas to central Kansas.
We decided to stay at the "Barn" instead of going back to the motel in Harper. Not a completely bad idea. It was plenty fun and we had a great time. The drawback was that this place was LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. it was so remote that there was no electricity. When we needed to have light or hot water we had to run the generator.
Dolly had a small foul up in her first puppy run. actually she did exactly what she was trained to do but failed to mark her one flushed bird. So we waited til Sunday for the North Oklahoma trial. To say I was nervous is an understatement. Dolly finally opened up and her pattern got real smooth and fluid. She made two traps without doing anything crazy. I cast her off after bird number 3 and she made all of 5 steps when I saw her head snap left -- she broke into an up field run and I about had a heart attack!!!
At over 30 yards out she made a maneuver I have never seen any other dog make. when she came up to the bird she planted her right foot while the rest of her body was in motion around the bird. The bird flushed just as her butt hit the ground in this wild maneuver. The bird was shot and she retrieved to hand completing her run. I was so pumped going back to the trailer I didn't know what to tell Dolly -- So I looked at her and said "that'll do Dolly"
We decided to leave Kansas behind shortly after and headed for home. We got the news later from Dolly's trainer Mark who stayed for the awards. I think everyone was shocked at the announcement of that one Most especially me.

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