Spring trial season is finally over and my little brit is FINALLY home enjoying the finer things in life like couches instead of chain gangs, lounging around instead of roading, and chasing crap birds in the back yard instead of pointing pheasants and quail on several thousand acres of trial courses. It was a succesful season on several points, even though she got some really bad draws at a couple trials. We entered her in 8 trials and she walked away with 4 placements. She was entered in 1 OGD (1hr), 1 OLGD National Championship (1 hour), 1 Amateur All Age (30 minute), and 5 Open AA or OLAA 1 hour trials.
First thing we learned is she is no longer a Gun Dog, and will only be running All Age 1 hour trials in the future. We learned that at her first trial back at the end of January. We entered her in an OGD Championship because we weren't sure how she would run after 2 months of vacation and foot hunting. She had been running All Age before vacation, but we weren't sure she would keep her range. 45 minutes into the first trial when the judge said "You ever think about running her as an All Age dog", she was picked up for running too big for GD. The next week she took 2nd in an OLAA Championship which made her a 1X AF Ru Champion. That trial really made me proud because it showed she could transition from a foot hunting dog to an All Age dog quite nicelly. I also handled her to a 3rd place finish in the weekend Amateur All Age at the same trial. She ran 1 more 1hr AA before the AKC Gun Dog Nationals, and she took second out of 33 dogs. At the AKC Nationals she drew a HORRIBLE brace and went birdless. She also cut herself up pretty good 20 minutes in and didn't finish very well. However, 1 week later she was at it again and took 3rd in OLAA against 20 dogs. Her last trial finished last week near Lincoln Nebraska. Again she drew a HORRIBLE brace. She ran last Wednesday afternoon with temps hitting 92 degrees and a winds gusting to 25 MPH. I wasn't holding out much hope but boy did she ever make me proud, we learned that heat doesn't bother her. And I learned the trainer wasn't lying when he told me that in the prairies, she REALLY opens up. She went birdless, just like every other dog that ran after the second morning brace, but she REALLY laid it down. It was the best I have ever seen her run and she did it in 92 degree heat. Thankfully there were several nice ponds on the course and a big lake right on the edge so the dogs could cool off and water. But still, she never seemed to slow, even at the end. She was making some really nice 500-800 yard casts where she was just a little blip on the horizon. I took a video with my camera, but you can't see her running the edges since she was too far away for the camera... I watched the dog that won the trial run. He ran in the first brace when it was in the low 60's with some dew still on the course. He had two really nice finds but he didn't run anything like my dog did. I really think if she had a bird, she would have won, and definatly placed, but Oh well, thats trialing. Overall it was a great spring season and she is currently inside the top 10 in All Age points for the Purina AA dog of the year Award. Not bad considering she missed several of the big Brittany AA Championships that were running the same time as the AKC Nationals. For the next two months its lazy days and Frosty Paws before she cranks up again for summer camp in SD in July...
Can't wait to see what the fall brings for my little brit. She turns 4 in June and so far she was 16 placements for her career. 2 Derby placements (2 Firsts), 8 Open Gun Dog placements (3 firsts, 3 seconds, and 2 thirds), 5 Open All Age Placements (3 seconds and 2 thirds) and 1 Amateur All Age placment (3rd), the only time I have ran her in an Amateur stake. All of her Open All Age placements were 1 hour trials and 1 of her GD placement was a 1 hour trial. 6 of her 16 placements are 1 hour placements. Both my wife and I are pretty proud of her accomplishments in her still very young career. But at the end of the day, she makes me the most proud when we are hunting, and we are just doing what she was bred to do.
