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Burns and Becks Gundog Club Puppy Safari, Novice Walk up Test June 2018

Following a day of two of local torrential storms following a fortnight of hot dry weather the club held its June puppy and novice tests at Brackenburgh in steamy overcast conditions. The excellent ground was provided courtesy of the landowner Mr John Harris and his keeper John Elliot to whom the Club is extremely grateful.

The puppy safari test was well supported with 14 entrants, and a series of four stretching tests put the youngsters through their paces. The first was a double mark, on mainly open ground, at a right angle. Most of the dogs managed the test, but few excelled.

In the second test a blind was placed about 50 yards down a track, to one side behind a small bush, without shot. The better puppies dealt with this well, with two scoring a maximum 20.

In the third test the dogs were walked out about 50 yards at heel, a dummy was thrown and they were left on the sit, before being recalled half way, then left again to eventually be sent back to retrieve. Only one dog struggled with this steadiness test which was generally completed well.

The final test involved a hunt for two successive blinds in a patch of heather about 25 yards in front of the dogs. This test was also generally completed well.

Though there was quite a spread of marks, the three top dogs were tied on 74/80 and it took a long mark in the runoff to separate them.
Amongst a very good field, Linda Scott’s yellow dog Brocklebank Carson was the winner, with Nigel Barton’s Lindeth Frank in second place and Helen Paterson’s Peallaidh Caledonia third.

The judges were equally impressed with the novice dogs in the walk up, which followed on, with 22 dogs contesting. Run on field trial lines, with eliminating faults applied, this took place under threatening skies on open moorland, with a mixture of long and short heather.

Four dummy throwers, two in front and two behind, set up the first round, with two marks for each dog. Little or no wind and deep cover meant that there were some casualties in the first round, but most dogs progressed to the second round which consisted of a blind cross retrieve. The dogs found this much more challenging and several were lost in quick succession from eyewipes and handling errors. At one point a blind was indicated and four dogs failed to find it. Two were eliminated for failing to make the area even though the dummy was not found by the judges, just the sort of scenario which might be experienced in a trial.

In the third round of two retrieves further dogs were eliminated and after five retrieves the remaining dogs that had demonstrated excellent marking and ease of handling in difficult scenting and cover conditions had risen to the top. Mike Nelson’s black lab dog Turpin Green Curry performed consistently well to achieve first place, with Tom West’s yellow lab dog Abbottshall White Ermine Of Westhala a very close second. Third place was awarded to Julia Johnston’s Dodbank Reifelson and Fiona Maclean’s black lab bitch Afinmore Aziva was given a COM for some promising work.

Thanks were given to judges Paula and Steve Cullis, Sammy Shankar, Paul Dixon and Nick West, and to Nick West and Mark Palmer who had masterminded the event. The challenging walkup was run by chief steward Matt Rowlinson, producing an excellent test which made the most of an outstanding venue.