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UPDATE 5:00PM The breeze has picked up and gusting to 17km coming from SW across the test making the difficult left bird a little easier.   The sun has come around so that middle and left gun stations are in the shade and right hand gun now very visible in the sun.  The million dollar question is will we get finished tonight with 13 dogs left to run?  The judges say press on!
UPDATE 1:35PM  We have just finished the 3rd bird change.  33 dogs have run with 34 to go.  Work continues to vary.  The wind has picked up and gusting to 15km, making the left-hand bird a little easier for some dogs.  With a lot of scent on the ground now, if they get past the gun station, some dogs are getting a whiff.  If dogs cheat the left corner of the pond it puts them into the cover sooner and often quicker to find the bird.  Most dogs are doing a good job on the go-bird with a few cheats around the pond.  On the middle bird many dogs are exiting the water early and taking the larger land mass to the bird, others are doing a good job taking the 2nd piece of water and going straight to the bird with a short hunt.

Today’s Daily Report is brought to you by Garmin, the official electronic training collar supplier and bib sponsor to the National Retriever Club of Canada.

Another glorious morning greeted judges, workers and handlers for Day 2. Judges enjoyed coffee and breakfast buns sponsored by Troy Dobson and served up by Sheila Andrew and her hospitality committee.

It was 14 degrees at 7:00am with a forecast of 27; winds are light out of the south 4km currently with a projection of 10km with gusts of 15km by 2:00pm this afternoon.  The test is oriented N/NW.

Once the fog cleared and we could see the gunners we got underway with the first test dog. Series #3 is a water triple, the order is 1) middle (retired) thrown L-R with a drake mallard, 2) left (retired) hen mallard, in-throw R-L into heavy cover against the tree line and 3) right (retired) steep angle back R-L with a hen mallard.

The male test dog, Jameson, came to line approximately 7:40, he skirted the corner of the pond to the go-bird and a short hunt back with the bird.  He was sent for the left bird, and took the water but squared the exit and came out oriented behind the gun.  The gun station is on the left side of the road with an open area below the road on the right side – he put on a hunt  behind the gun, then down on the lower right side, the judges aske that he be handled to the bird.  The bird is an in-throw into heavy cover, and it took several whistles to put him on the bird.  He was sent for the middle bird and took the initial water under the arc, so he exited early on land which pushed him toward the gun station; he found the station then quickly oriented himself and picked up the bird on the short point.

The female test dog, Cici, did a nice job taking a slice of the pond to the go-bird.  She left on a good line to the left bird, but also got hung up on the low side of the road and need several whistles to convince her to go left across the road.  She left on a very good line to the middle bird and took the 2nd piece of water into the next pond; she came out slightly left but quickly went to the bird – nice mark!

When the test dogs ran, there was a large prominent white-ish rock visible on the low side of the road where both dogs were drawn to, so this was brushed in before the first running dog came to line.  The sun is illuminating the middle and left gun station, however the right station is still in the shadows, but that will change as the day progresses.  The test is taking about 10:00 minutes per dog…it’ll be a long day with 67 dogs to run!

The first running dog (#19) came to line approximately 8:20.

The first 10 dogs have run and the left hand bird is proving to be the money bird!  There have been several long hunts, and a few handles.  The lack of, and the direction of the wind are not helping the dogs at all, so they have to persevere to dig that bird out of the cover.  On the go-bird, dogs are taking a good line through the pond or skirting the right hand edge but no difficulty finding the bird.  The middle bird has been varried with some very good jobs staying on line, but there is a chance once they get in the water, they’ll stay in and swim to the end of the pond, if they exit early they are on a large land mass to the left and work their way out to the mark. on the right.

More photos to come…

 

Callbacks – 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,25,27,29,30,31,32,33,34,36,37,38,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,57,58,59,62,63,65,66,68,71,72,73,74,75,76

Dogs dropped: 24,26,48,56,64,70

Test #4 and #5 will be at the same location 551 Quae Quae Rd.  #4 will be a waterblind, and test #5 will be a double land blind.

Starting dog is #36.

Thank you to the Lefebvre Family for sharing your lovely farm!

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