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  1. #41
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Barry... I visited with an Irish FT pro at his place near Carrick-on-Shannon last year. He was showing me one of his contenders and sent him over a wire fence and across a chasm. I was shutting my eyes like... OHJESUSGOD!!!! Scared the poop out of me. If I saw a test set up like that at a HT over here, I'd be pulling my dog and driving home. If that's the sort of work those dogs do... they have to have a lot of moxie.

    When I think of challenging factors here, I think of cover, wind, terrain (hillsides mostly) and diversions. (Water, of course... and if it's a FT, absurd distances.) I don't think of fences, thick impenetrable hedges, gullies and friggin' cliffs.

  2. #42
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dxboon View Post
    He is also behind my chocolate boy. Spencer was imported from England, so is a true English Lab.
    Spencer is also behind my chocolates too, and is the great-grandsire on my dam's side, of my coming chocolate litter. Spencer did a lot in the USA to improve chocolate lines, I think Anne also has Spencer or a Spencer son in her lines.

    Madeline Hill, who imported Spencer as a puppy from the Hodges, has both conformation and field lines of Labradors, and (is one of the rare breeders that) participates very successfully in both venues, NAFC (I think?) and AKC Hunt Tests with her field lines and AKC Hunt Tests with her conformations lines, and conformation shows. All these activities are very time consuming and very expensive, and she works very very hard to compete in both, I have done some field training with Mad, and she is amazing.

  3. #43
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    The first field trial I attend had a drive toward the line with the birds coming down behind us into thick cover over 6' high. Once the drive was done, the dogs were sent into that cover, one by one as directed by the judges. The dogs were completely invisible once there tails entered the cover. You could hear the dogs hunting, and I was totally amazed every time a dog came out with a bird in it's mouth. How the hell the judges knew if was the right bird or not I have no clue.

  4. #44
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    HT and FT's here... the general rule is "out of sight = out of control". So judges being the cruel b@stards that they are, will put something at the end of a blind (for example) that if the dogs run behind it, they are out of sight and then disqualified. AND they might arrange it so that there's fresh flier scent blowing right across the dog's nose pulling him in that direction.

    Once my little 55 pound lab ran a blind and (who knew) the dip in the terrain made her invisible from the line. Had the whistle not been blown, she'd have been right on the bird. But poor girl was stopped and waited for a handle she couldn't see. Out of sight = out of control. She didn't Q that day but it was the judge's poor test set up.

    I perceive two big differences in the dog work here from there. Our FT's emphasize sight strongly over nose. (Less so in HT). Nose is huge over there. Tracking a strong runner is highly regarded in a UK FT. In FT's here, a "nose-save" (dog takes the wrong line, but the wind blows the scent to it and he curls to the bird) is denigrated.

    And... correct me if I'm wrong... there really isn't a lot of water work in a UK trial.

    Wowsers Barry. I had no idea hunting was so expensive there. What a blessing our public wildlife preserves are!

  5. #45
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shelley View Post
    Spencer is also behind my chocolates too, and is the great-grandsire on my dam's side, of my coming chocolate litter. Spencer did a lot in the USA to improve chocolate lines, I think Anne also has Spencer or a Spencer son in her lines.

    Madeline Hill, who imported Spencer as a puppy from the Hodges, has both conformation and field lines of Labradors, and (is one of the rare breeders that) participates very successfully in both venues, NAFC (I think?) and AKC Hunt Tests with her field lines and AKC Hunt Tests with her conformations lines, and conformation shows. All these activities are very time consuming and very expensive, and she works very very hard to compete in both, I have done some field training with Mad, and she is amazing.
    I noticed that the Hills are members of the Marin Retriever Club. I wonder if they will be at the Lassen HT being held at nearby grounds in Corning, CA. Rocket Dog and I are going to try running another Senior and see how it goes. I would try to hide RD from their sight because the last within-standard progenitor she has is probably way back beyond the 5 generation pedigree I have.

  6. #46
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    I have really enjoyed this thread Lots of great info/thoughts

 



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