Last post I signed off with “Go Storm”.  Well apparently she took it to heart because she broke on the first bird at her test on Saturday.  In a Senior test you are allowed one controlled break.  She came back when called, so it was controlled, but of course she had her back to the second mark when it was thrown and never saw it.  She then had to be  handled to that mark, which she got.  OK fine.  You are allowed one handle to a mark at a Senior test.  She made it to the afternoon water series, but got hung up on another mark.  We were not there but we were told it was not an easy mark and required the dog to swim a bit, cross some land and then get the mark in a pond behind the land.  Storm got stuck hunting on the land and had to be handled back to the mark in the pond.  Second handle=not a qualifying score.

Storm still has trouble when she has to mark and go from water to land and back to water and back to land, etc.  It is something we are still working on.  She has no problem if she is handled, but when she has to mark a fall, she will often hunt short and not drive far enough back.  She just hasn’t had many of these types of marks as they not that common in a Senior test.  Oh well, just something to work on.

The good…her handling was very nice (that has really been worked on), and her honor was good (no breaking there), and she picked up all of the birds.  If not for her missing that one mark, she might have had a ribbon.  Darn!

I have no pictures of Storm since we weren’t at the test, but we were at the Junior stake on Sunday because Jim was working a gunner station.  We saw some mighty fine Junior dogs work.  I snapped a few pictures of the dogs.

Cheeto--A young Chessie who is also being trained by Storm's trainer
Cheeto--Long Land Mark
Cheeto--Long Water Mark and a Junior pass at his very first Hunt Test

Cheeto is a year old male and a very sweet Chessie.  He also ran that test very nicely for such a young dog.  We have seen him handling and he is a real team player.  He is a great dog.

Yellow Lab
Black Lab
Another Yellow Lab
Same Yellow Lab--Water Mark
And Another Black Lab

Even though the Club putting on the test was a Golden Retriever Club, I guess I didn’t get any pictures of Golden Retrievers.  It was pretty hot in that field and I will admit that I retreated to the shade for a good part of the afternoon session.  I could still watch the test, but it was too far to get decent pictures.

We took Thunder with us since it was going to be too long a day to leave him home.  I will tell you about Thunder’s day at the test in another post.