Friday, November 19, 2010

Brought to you by Purina

Seventh Series: Water Blind

Today's test is a "no-see-'em" blind. There are only 28 contenders left in the field. Yesterday, someone in the gallery was heard to say that "Today, the field trial begins..." The sixth series proved that with 20 dogs dropped. We begin this test with dog #69. Test dog 6:40 am, first running dog at 7:00 am.

This is a no-see-'em water blind with a hen pheasant placed by a small bush 262 yards from the line. The mat is on the back side of a ridge. The instructions to the handlers stated that once the dog crosses the crest of the ridge, the handler can move up to the top of the hill. The dog tops the ridge and goes down a steep incline. At the bottom of the hill is a cedar bush on the left of a "slot." Just to the right, by the side of a pond, there is a bird boy sitting in a chair facing the line. The dogs must pass between the cedar bush and the bird boy. They enter a small stock pond, swim to the end and cross a piece of land. They then enter a small stock pond. There is a small point that is on line to the blind. Once the dogs exit the pond they continue up the hill to a small bush where they find a hen pheasant. There are decoys in the first cove beyond the second point.


Walking up from the mat.



What the dog sees as sitting on the mat.

Pride "takes off" with handler, Bobby Smith

Our Games Stewards look on.

Suzanne and Mark Medford dry off Mollie.

Lynne DuBose and Martha Russell brave the cold waiting for Jerry Lee's return.

We have run about half the dogs in a little over an hour. Dogs seem to have been taking their casts. Most pros are attempting to get on and off that small point. The blind is averaging 2-3 minutes. By the way, they say it is going up to 65 degrees today...that seems hard to believe just now!

Latest Wardrobe Quiz: Early morning starts require this special appendage!

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2010 National Open Statistics


As the 7th Series progresses this morning and as the Judges, workers, handlers and gallery shiver in their boots, please take a moment to review the statistics for this year's National Retriever Championship.

Qualified           Entered                 Qualified/Not Entered          Scratches

    104                    97                                        7                                     2

Starters by Breed, Sex and Color

Black Lab Males                      58

Yellow Lab Males                     7

Choc. Lab Males                       0

Golden Males                            1

Chesapeake Males                    0

Black Lab Females                  24

Yellow Lab Females                 4

Chocolate Lab Females            1

Golden Females                        0

Chesapeake Females                0

Oldest Starting Dog

#85 FC-AFC Two Step’s Tomboy

(3/31/99)

Youngest Starting Dog

#55 AFC Hoot N Holler

(5/26/07)

Average Starting Age

6 years 10 months

Qualifier Points Earned

7 dogs with less than 8 points

52 dogs with 8-10 points

26 dogs with 10.5-15 points

10 dogs with 15.5-20 points

5 dogs with greater than 20 points

5 Qualified by rule only

105 Total Qualifiers for the 2010 National Open

Father/Daughter Teams

Dave and Ty Rorem

Sires with 2 or More Progeny Entered

Fargo II                                                 7

Ebonstar Lean Mac                              5

Esprit’s Power Play                              5

Chena River Chavez                             4

Clubmead’s Road Warrior                   4

Creek Robber                                        4

Nick Of Time Lone Ranger                  4

Candlewoods Autumn Run Vince       3

Carbon Copy Of Horn Creek               3

Dare To Dream                                     3

Five Star General Patton                    3

Fordland’s Bored Out Ford                 3

Hawkeye’s Candlewood Shadow        3

High Tech CEO                                      3

Calumet’s Super Sonic                         2

Candlewood’s Ramblin Man                2

Carolina’s Smoke On The Water        2

Carronade’s Hammertime                   2

Code Blue                                               2

Hawkeye’s Viking                                 2

Rebel Ridge Cody’s Mischief               2

Dams with 2 or More Progeny Entered

Candlewood’s Rita Reynolds                5

Tequila Sunrise IX                                 5

M And M’s Buns Of Steel                     3

Rebel Ridge Up All Nite                        3

Cudashudabena Playgirl                       2

Dance Dimes Sabrina DeHaven           2

Littermates or Full Siblings Entered

#60 Candlewood’s Man In Black          #5 Candlewood Justin Time Xinga

#57 SML Stella’s Got Her Groove        #32 Fresh Squeezed Juice

#8 Adams Acres Water Lilly                 #10 Adams Acres Muddy Creek

#88 Hardscrabbles Powder My Buns  #14 Hardscrabbles Captain Morgan

#41 Land Ahoy                                        #16 Volwood’s Angel

#47 FC Honky Tonk Take It Easy, #83 FC-AFC Mercy Mercy Mercy Me and Test Dog Mollie.


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The test ended at 9:29 am, one minute earlier than Mitch Patterson said it would! Way to go Mitch! We've packed up all of our equipment and moved to a location looking at the same pond from a different perspective for the 8th Series, which will be water marks.

Callbacks: ALL Dogs called back!

DOGS CALLED BACK to the 8th series;  1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 19, 23, 24, 25, 27, 36, 39, 45, 47, 49, 52, 54, 56, 57, 61, 66, 69, 72, 75, 77, 86, 88, 91

Eighth Series: Water Triple with Two Retired and an Honor

The mat is on the side of the hill, the order the birds go down is middle, left, right. The middle bird is a hen pheasant thrown to the left at 250 yards; this mark is retired. There is a small cattle pond at the base of the hill, in line for the bird. The second bird down is to the left of the line at 175 yards. This is a hen mallard flyer shot to the right that retires. The line is down the hill across the dried portion of a pond and back up a hill. The holding blind is wrapped well so it looks like a pile of thorns. The third bird is the go-bird. This is a mallard drake flyer shot to the right at 200 yards. The line to the bird is down the hill, running down the top of a small levee into a piece of water, over a point, back into the water and then drive up a hill.

Test dog #1, Bobby Smith with Pride had a hunt on the left-hand retired flyer and a handle on the middle-retired. Test dog #2, Mark Medford and Mollie, had a hunt on the middle-retired. She went up the right-hand side but turned and got the bird clean.

L to R: Connie Swanson, Mark Menzies, Jane Patopea and Ray Voigt.

L to R: Diane Clow, John Stracka and Charlie Hays.



L to R: Jeff Schuett, Lydia Fekula and Suzanne Medford.

The test started with dog #91. This test should take 4-5 hours, in other words, a very large portion of the rest of the day.

The dogs are doing it, but there have been some hunts; there were three no-birds and two handles thus far.

Seventeen dogs have finished the test. There were seven no-birds, three handles, one pick-up and interfering cows.

Luther Davis, our official announcer extraordinaire!

The view of the Eighth Series from the Gallery.

Eric Gawthorpe and Mark Menzies.

Dean Reinke and Jerry Caccio from Purina,
A hearty thank you to Purina--the Official Sponsor of the 2010 National Open.

Caroline dreams of her next puppy.......

Steve Ritter sends smiles home to Teena!

L to R: Lee Jolley, Joe Broyles and Brad Clow.

Announcement: The decision has been made to start the ninth today. The test will run in the same area as the water blind.

The Ninth Series is being set-up now. Once the Eighth has been completed, two test dogs will run. Then tomorrow morning, one test dog will run. Callbacks will be given tonight at Headquarters.

Ninth Series: Water Triple with 2 Retired and a Walk-Out, Wipe-Out Flyer

At the conclusion of test 8, the marshal announced that we would move to the location for test #9.  This will be a water triple with 2 retired and a wipe out flyer.  When the dogs come to the line, they will look out on to the same piece of water that was used in the 3rd series water blind.  The dog will see the long gunners at the end of the pond 375 yards from the line. They will look to their left and see the left hand gunners on the bank of the pond 175 yards from the line.  The long gun will be the first bird shot and this will be a Drake Duck.  This throw is to the left.  The second bird shot will  be the left hand bird.  These gunners will throw a hen duck down the shore to the right and it will land in some green cover by the water.  After both of these birds have been thrown, the flyer gunners will come out from a well brushed holding blind 150 yards in front of the line on the right hand side.  They will shoot a Drake duck in to the middle of the lake and it will be a wipe out flier for the long bird.  The gunners will then sit in 3 chairs placed on the end of a point.  The other 2 stations will retire at this time.

The mat is on a high hill looking towards the long lake.  The line from this high hill  is down a steep slope, up a levee and across a levee road before they enter the water.  There are several hills, points and mounds that a dog could easily slip behind and be lost from sight.  The difficulty of the test combined with the natural elements will have our handlers planning their strategy all night!!

The first test dog, Mark Medford and Molly; came to the line at 4:08 pm.  They picked up the flyer and the left hand retired with ease.  Molly had to be handled the very difficult long retired bird.  The test took 18 minutes to run.

Bobby Smith and Pride then came to the mat after the judges moved the line closer to the pond.  Pride was clean on the first bird, handled on the left retired bird and then made the huge swim to the end of the lake for the long retired without a whistle.  Bobby gave a loud cheer and the crowd responded!

We are at the hotel waiting on callbacks now.  The test dog will run at 6:40 am and the running dogs will start at 7:00 am.


CALL BACKS TO THE 9TH SERIES


DOGS CALLED BACK 11, 19, 23, 24, 25, 45, 47, 52, 56, 61, 66, 72, 75, 86, 88


DOGS DROPPED AFTER THE 8TH  1, 6, 7, 12, 27, 36, 39, 49, 54, 57, 69, 77, 91


Dog #45 will start the 9th series tomorrow