SEPTEMBER 17, 2024
CALLBACKS: 1,4,5,6,9,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,25,29,30,31,32,33,34,40,42,43,44,45,46,47,49,50,51,52,54,55,57,58,59,62,65,66,68,71,74,75,76.
47 Dogs back.
Dogs dropped: 3,7,8,10,23,27,36,37,38,41,53,63,72,73.
Dog # 51 starts series 6, a land triple at the corner of Hazel Glen Rd and Hwy 654. Caravan 7:00 am.
UPDATE 5:10pm Dog #20 is on line with 11 dogs to go and one more bird change. Guessing it’ll be another 7:00 pm finish. As the day progressed dogs were generally doing some nice work on the water blind. If they get the picture, they have no issue getting a good line down the shore and over the point. The short blind hasn’t seen too much trouble. The long blind gets interesting once the dogs hit the swale past the blind planter; most dogs drop their head in the scent and need a whistle & cast to push them past. Dogs are either falling for suction to the single tree on the left or want to turn right behind the poplars (deep of the planter) and then get loose at the end.
UPDATE 2:00pm We are just passed halfway through 61 dogs. There have been 6 DNF on the blinds. We’re going to be racing against the clock again today to get finished.
The September 17, 2024 Daily Report is brought to you by Banded – Avery Sporting Dogs (ASD) official sponsor of the National Retriever Club of Canada.
Good morning and welcome to Day 3 of the 2024 National Retriever Championship in Callander, ON.
We were greeted with another glorious sunrise and another day of ground fog. @ 7:00am the temperature was 11 degrees but is expected to warm up to 27 by 2:00 pm. The winds are calm from the SW and rising to 5-7 km this afternoon. Today’s breakfast is brought to you by Chris & Gary Mason – Thank you!
Today’s tests are concurrent series 4 & 5 – a water blind, then double land blind (by invitation). We are at the same location at the Lefebvre farm on Quae Quae Road as yesterday’s water triple and the running mats are also roughly in the same location.
Test 4 – The water blind is run from the right-hand mat and is down the right-hand shoreline of the same ponds as the water triple. The line is through two pieces of water separated by the land bridge and over the point and down to the end of the pond. The blind planter is on the right in a white coat visible from the line and situated roughly near yesterday’s go-bird. The blind is 198 yards and planted with a hen mallard.
Once handlers run the water blind, they are asked to move to the left-hand mat where they begin test 5 – the double land blind. They run the shorter land blind on the right @ 200 yards, then the left blind @ 300 yards. The water blind planter is in between the two blinds and the dogs must cross his trail en route to the long-left blind. Deep of the blind planter and left, is a shallow swale, a group of poplars on the right, and a large single pine tree to create a slot. Both land blinds incorporate a piece of the front pond. Both land blinds are planted with hen mallards and the planters are concealed deep of the blinds.
Cici & Doug were up first today. Cici took an initial line to the land bridge then was left and behind the cat tails and Doug couldn’t see her, so she was fat of the point. Handlers were instructed that the point “is online”. Cici ran the long land blind first and needed a few whistles to get to where the blind planter was sitting. She got hung up on the scent trail of the planter and then seemed to have difficulty seeing Doug with the tent and handlers in the background. It took several whistles and casts to push her past the poplars and out to the blind. The 2nd land blind (short) didn’t pose too many issues with a nice line into the water, then a few whistles to keep her on line.
The second test dog Jameson needed a whistle up front to put him on a better line into the water, from there he carried a good line over the land bridge and toward the middle of the point. He had one whistle before the point and carried the cast into the last piece of water. It was difficult to see him, and he popped out in the right corner at the end of the pond and needed two more whistles to put him on the bird (10 yards back from the shore). The judges asked to run the short blind first to compare – Jameson took a couple of whistles to try to get the skinny edge of the pond, but he skirted around, then ping-ponged needing a few more whistles to the blind. There was a lot of suction to the left. Jameson was a little left getting into the water on the long land blind and needed a whistle to straighten out. He had a whistle on exiting the pond and carried to near the blind planter. He also seemed to get caught with some scent in the swale but cast back easily towards the blind. The single pine tree pulled him left again and needed a couple of right-hand casts to the bird. Both tests combined take approximately 12: minutes.
Running dog #36 came to line at 8:35 am. Of the first eight dogs that ran, three dogs were not invited to the land blind or picked up, one dog was picked up on the long blind, and four dogs completed all three blinds.
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