The Grandaddy of them all.

[jetjockey]

Started today at the historic Ames Plantation in Grand Junction TN.  This is THE pointing dog field trial National.  It's hard enough just to qualify, winning is another story all together.  Good luck to this years dogs, including the 8 Setters.  I believe there is even a dog originally from the PNW running.


http://www.amesplantation.org/field-trials/2015-national-championship/2015-brace-by-brace-synopsis/

[wildweeds]

Top dog in brace #22 was originally owned by Mike Eades of Enumclaw,the dog however was born in texas at Retired pro  Jerry Lewis's kennel Sired by 3-4 time National competitor Jetsetter and out of a Daughter of See Johhny Run named Johnny's Jewel.Coincidentally the bottom dog in the brace with her is another female setter that just so happens to be a littermate.

Started today at the historic Ames Plantation in Grand Junction TN.  This is THE pointing dog field trial National.  It's hard enough just to qualify, winning is another story all together.  Good luck to this years dogs, including the 8 Setters.  I believe there is even a dog originally from the PNW running.


http://www.amesplantation.org/field-trials/2015-national-championship/2015-brace-by-brace-synopsis/

[jetjockey]

Why'd the guy from Enumclaw sell the dog?  I can't imagine selling a dog capable of qualifying for the National.

[wildweeds]

Is 15k dollars reason enough?Couldn't swing the bill to go it alone by himself,wasn't interested in partnering up and with a setter,especially a female you really are fighting the members of the white dog mafia in memphis,setters get looked at with a fine toothed comb and quite a bit gets overlooked if it's all white with short hair from what I've watched on the CH videos.
From the video Ch Jetsetter outclassed Nat Ch Lesters Snowatch the year sno won it,Sno Flagged,had happy feet on a couple birds and was looking around on a couple,Jetsetter was high on both ends and had head crank going standing motionless and stylish until his collar was grabbed on every bird .Classier dog around game,Best mannered dog that year IMO was Dr  Corders pointer  Game maker, Handled by the good Dr. Himself,that dog heeled off back to the horse,whoaed and waited for the handler to remount and was off like lightning with a toot of the whistle,VERY VERY Classy work.All the rest had to be collared and held by the scout,alot of them flagged/ticked dropped lots of style at the shot and quite a few had happy/hoppy feet.

Why'd the guy from Enumclaw sell the dog?  I can't imagine selling a dog capable of qualifying for the National.

[jetjockey]

The video doesn't show the run though.  As you know, in AF, run is more important  than style.  A dog can let down while standing but if it hangs to the front an nails the edges, the judges will place it over a dog that looks great standing but has a mediocre run.  In all honesty, that goes for AKC judges down here as well.  From what I've seen, judges dont hold pointers or setters to a different standard down here.  As long as they have tails, either is fine for most the judges. The same can't be said for a dog with any sort of a bob.  If a dog doesn't have 7 or 8 finds, it's gonna be tough to win as well.

If a dog is just a trial dog, I could see selling it for $15K if you don't have the money to run it.  But if it's a family member and a hunting buddy as well as a trial dog, it would take a heck of a lot more than that for me to ever sell one.   I give him credit for giving the dog the chance to succeed and not holding it back though.  I hope I'm never in that situation.

[AspenBud]

If setters had an easy time winning there they would be more common. Simple economics has led Pointers to the top, that and much more selective breeding. A Pointer is going to be much more forgiving of training mistakes and much more willing to work for more than one handler.

Setters are much more all over the map genetically and they tend to be one man dogs.

However, a setter also won there the last two years and they more than hold their own in Cover Dog, also an AF venue.

[jetjockey]

There must be 1 or 2 good dogs because not much is making it around at this point.

[AspenBud]

It's not much but they have some video posted this year.

http://amesplantation.zenfolio.com/f914174494

[jetjockey]

That's pretty cool.  I guess they are bored since they aren't running due to the weather.....   The grounds at Ames are nothing short of amazing.  It's a Historic place.

[AspenBud]

So much for Shadow Oak Bo.

[jetjockey]

Yep.  There will be no threepeat.   Sounds like Gary Lester may have another NC on his hands.  Just don't tell that to the people who think trial dogs don't hunt and never see wild birds.  There's a reason certain people win at Ames.

[Forks]

I know nothing about field trials and am curious after watching videos of this years NC, why does the handler always grab the dog after the flush and almost redirect instead of just releasing on command when desired? I know there must be a reason and want to learn why. Thanks.

[jetjockey]

Because the dogs mark the birds.  You "collar" the dog and move them in the opposite direction so the dogs don't go look for the birds they just found.  It's basically telling the dog that that bird work is over, and to move onto the next bird work.  If you relase on command, the dog may try to retrieve, or at least hunt dead the birds it just found.  What you didn't see is the fact that not only will they often collar the dog, the scout will also walk the dogs well to the front before they release them so the dogs don't turn around and re-hunt the birds they just found.  I've seen scouts walk dogs well over a 100 yards before to move them to the front.

[Forks]

Gotcha, makes sense. Thanks for the info.

[wildweeds]

The classiest dog you'll ever see is the one that has been trained to "Heel off" and "Whoa" while the handler gets back up on the horse.Dr Fred Corders great champion Gamemaker was a dog of this caliber of training,no hands on required.I've been told that this "collaring" technique is actually relatively new.Most dogs in the 70's were trained to heel off.