Thanks to the National Australian Shepherd Association (NASA) for the judging appointment, NASA committee for all the help at the base, in the kitchen (fab food as always) and out on the field. Thanks also to Linda Reynolds for running the trial, a good role for her as she’s in her element being bossy. Special thanks to Norma Ansell for stewarding for me, you were good company and very supportive. Thanks to Tally and Liz for your sterling work out on the field organising the competitors and putting them at ease, we didn’t wait for competitors at all. Finally thanks to the competitors for entering under me, accepting my decisions with good grace, and for so many of you staying till the end for the presentations, it really makes for marking the occasion of your first certificates in trials. On the whole your handling was lovely, with a nice mix of breeds. Most of you remembered to thank the judge and stewards after the nosework and I think it was mostly nerves if you forgot in the C&A part.
How do we do it? 17 entries again for our little trial – fantastic. We were a little panicky at the prospect of this number of CD teams working in one day at this time of the year. With only 4 scratches we knew it could still be tight but “she who must be obeyed” decided we’d do the C&A first so we wouldn’t be trying to do jumps in poor light. On the morning of the trial we experienced one of the heaviest frosts of the year combined with freezing fog. However, with thermals in abundance, we were blessed with a gorgeous day once the fog lifted.
I designed my round with the first time handler in mind keeping the C&A straightforward and to flow easily between exercises. I gave the dogs a gift of a sendaway and the marks in this exercise reflected this. It was nice to see young dogs have such confidence with this exercise, but do bear in mind it won’t always be that easy. The jumps really took their toll on the day, and we lost some good dogs in this section. The square articles were generous, a 4” square of rubber folded in half, a 2” x 4” piece of green carpet and a weathered wooden dolly peg.
The standard of control was mostly very good. We had 12 potential qualifiers from the Control section (without stays) but only 5 after the Agility. This was reduced to 3 after the nosework, and lost one of those on stays. By the time we got back to base we weren’t sure if we had any qualifiers at all. Once the scores were on the boards we were delighted to see two qualifiers, and the icing on the cake was the only Aussie which competed, won the stake. To add to the achievement of the two qualifiers, it was their first working trial ever. Well done both.
1st place 87.5 COM. Mr & Mrs Stubbs and Fulmay Bright Spark ASD.
Jan and Mollie did a lovely control round with good jumps apart from the long jump. Two out of the square. Just sort that long jump and a little more work on the square and you’re ready for CDex.
2nd place 86 COM. Angie Fields and Just Red Robin. Lab
Storm produced some nice heelwork but no long jump. Two out of the square.
3rd place NQ. Ray Lea and Annmeetue Colourful Lady BC
Lovely control and agility but Ruby struggled in the square only bringing one article out.
4th place NQ. Diane Cottrill and Sandy’s Oak, Labrador Retriever
Superb trials style heelwork from this pair, lovely handling, very nice control, shame about the return on the scale.
5th place NQ. Tracey Lee Sinfield and Traceys Little Jezabel, X
At just 18 months Jezabel’s heelwork needs a little more work but the only team with full marks jumps and one of the few to get all 3 articles. Well done.
6th place NQ. James Warrier and Warriors Little Rosie, X
Another baby at 18 months with nice control but the jumps and retrieve cost you dear.
Best Nosework NQ. Becky Collier and Rosemarinus Rainmaiden of Pepperbox.
Just lost 1 on the nosework, Breeze worked the square well and a lovely retrieve. Sort the jumps and down stay and you’ll get there.
Below : Picture of Jan and Molly
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Trials Managers Report
We were very lucky with the weather this year, although it was foggy to begin with that soon cleared leaving us with a cold but bright day. A big thank you must go to Leamington Dog Training Club for the use of their training ground and jumps, very much appreciated – Thanks!
Once again we had a very good entry for an open CD. 17 competitors, three being Aussies, unfortunately we had four scratches, two of them Aussies, so 13 competed. Due to short daylight hours we did the control first, this worked out well. Thank you to our judge Zoe Finlay for setting a good sensible test and her steward Norma Ansell for all her hard work on the day. Special thanks also to Tally Rees for using her new motor for transporting the jumps, it made life a lot easier. Also for being out on the field with Liz Hulley, talking to, and helping competitors, and making sure the judge wasn’t kept waiting. Thanks to both of you.
Thanks must go to NASA committee members who come to help and support the trial every year, Angie, Catherine, Gill and Ted, and lastly to the competitors who were a great bunch, no moaning (or at least none that I heard), and for staying until the very end. Needless to say that the icing on the cake was the winner being and AUSSIE!!
Linda Reynolds
We only had one qualifier and three very near misses who just had a bit of bad luck. Winner was Mrs J Hickson with Border Collie Rosmarinus Rainbeau on 84/100, 2nd place not qualifying Norma Ansell (Leamington DTC member) with GSD Gefni Caught on Camera on 79/100 (just 1 mark short of qualifying), 3rd place not qualifying Lucy Clark with Malinois Caesaromago Iris on 78/100 (just 2 short), and 4th place not qualifying Veronica Hourihane with Border Collie Waggerland Witch on 85.5 (had enough marks overall but short in one section).
Best Control trophy went to J Fitzpatrick with GSD Concenn Yusha and Best Nosework trophy went to Di Assheton-Bowtle (LDTC member) with GSD Vongraf Kadi.
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Picture's below of NASA's Working Trials Training Event held in June 2006. Tally Rees and Zoe Finlay expertly guided the dogs and handlers through this training. Tally said "We covered all the basic aspects of W/Trials in the training Day except tracking (which we did not have any clean ground for)
So we did....Retrieves, Search, squares Sendaways,Recalls,Long jump,Clear jump,Scale
and Stays!! 2 min sit 10 min down
So those dogs worked really hard!!! not to mention the handlers
Smiles on everyone's faces !!!
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