I recently get quite a kick out of the trials and this weekend was no exeption. We had the Retriever Qualifying tests on Saturday and I got to sit (or rather stand) with my hands in my pockets, as I had no dogs with me, but adrenaline was still high, as 4 dogs of my breeding and one that we co-own were entered.
We are now proud to announce, that WATERLINE’S ME AND MYSELF (Mia) is now qualified in the field! She had the power and despite her youth she had courage and consistency to pass all the parts of the test. Karin handled her very well and it was the first time for both of them! Thank You and congratulations!
It wouldn’t be fare if I didn’t tell about the others. MY BRAND JUNE BUG (Juanita) started off with excellent water work and brought nicely two ducks from the water. Piece of Cake. When going to the search, she found 3 birds and brought them nicely to Britta. After that she needed some assistance from the judge to have courage to go further and brought another one from far, but after that she slowed down and seemed tired. So no track for this baby today.
MY BRAND JAZZ MAN DO (Frankie) got a huge applaud after the search work.  It always amazes me, how this calm and steady teddy bear turns into Speedy Gonzales in the hunting situation. His work both in water and land was excellent and judge granted him the pass to the track. Unfortunately the Luck was not in his favour today and on the track, which was quite close to the search area, he wondered off and returned with a bird instead of a rabbit. The judge allowed another track for Frankie to be made, but then the poor boy was already too confused and tired and didn’t find the rabbit.
MY BRAND ELTON (Emmet) is “a working machine already” as the judge put it, but needs to have better contact with his handler and more self-confidence in the field.
MY BRAND JAZZ DEL MAR (Sarah), who had the dummy test, was also working nicely in the close area, but lacked self-confidence to go further back to the woods. I can also assure, that the clown-gene which her mother and grandmother carry, has not been lost. When the second dummy was thrown in the water, Sarah sat still for long time just as if she had waited if any of the people in the crowd or the person in the boat was going to do the rescue poor dummy from drawning. After 20 seconds she whined and started swimming towards the dummy. The crowd was so hard trying not to laugh.
I am very proud of them all nevertheless the results and for many reasons. First of all – they are all very young. The minimum age for this test is 8 months and the J-litter just turned 10 months! The second reason is that once again I feel so lucky to have such puppyowners, who are working with their dogs to keep them smart and mentally stimulated. The third reason for being proud of them is that they really did nice job and every one of them have high chances of passing the test next time. So keep up the good work and see you in August?