The test this past weekend was a bit of a drive, but since it was a one day test, we decided to go for the day and not stay overnight.  This test was held at Pioneer Scout Reservation which is in Pioneer Ohio.  There are a few tests held on these grounds each year and it is one of our favorite venues.  First, there is abundant shade.  Second and maybe most importantly (for me), there are bathrooms everywhere.  You just don’t know how that makes for a more peasant experience.  😆

Of course a lot of trees means that it was very difficult to see the test or get any pictures.  One of the judges for this test was supposed to be the same one that Thunder ran under and received his first pass a couple of weeks ago.  We knew he would set up a nice test.  However, when we arrived, we discovered there had been a judge change and the other judge Thunder ran under (where he failed the water blind), was there.  Oh well, it wasn’t that we would not run under the other judge, we just hoped to get one more test under Thunder’s belt first.  This was the land portion:

A double, diversion bird, a land blind, a walk out.  Quite a meaty test.  Not unreasonable, or impossible, but challenging.  It was challenging mostly because it was heavy cover and very hilly.  The marks were landing in the open, but the dogs had to go through some very high cover and due to the height of the cover, they could not see the mark once it fell past the sight line of the cover.  Also, hills can throw a dog off as far as distance.  It can cause them to pull up short.  The “Go” mark fell on a hill, but the “Memory” mark fell into a dip.  Challenging for sure.  Also, it was very hot in that field and it was a lot of running for the dogs.  The afternoon was overcast, but the morning session was blazing hot.

Thunder ran toward the end of the running order (there were only 12 Seasoned dogs entered).  His on line heeling was still not great and he was warned on that.  He was nice and steady at the line while both marks were thrown.  He went for the “Go” bird and got even with a utility pole stuck in the middle of the field, pulled up at that and veered right.  I don’t know why, but maybe that pole looked like a “stop” to him.  We train in and around trees so he is used to those, but not a utility pole, I guess.  The mark was further out and left of that pole.  He swung around and hunted further and left of the pole and found it.

This is the only picture that I got of Thunder at the test, because another few steps and he disappeared…

When he was sent for the second mark, he was heading straight to it and he must have winded the blind (in HRC they place all birds in the field at one time, in AKC they usually would not place the blind until the marks were run).  He veered right toward it.  However, his handler blew a sit whistle and he sat (he was in cover and it was difficult to see him).  His handler then gave him a hard left “over” cast.  He went straight to the bird.  Once you start handling on a mark, you have to handle all the way to the mark, but Thunder only needed that one handle.  He may have known where it was all the time and the scent of the bird by the blind stake pulled him off.  Thunder has always trusted his nose over his eyes and that is something we have worked on.  The judges were impressed with that handle, however, they reminded his handler that he could not handle to any marks in the afternoon session.  Thunder did fine on the diversion.  No interest there.  He also did fine on the blind.  His handler had a bit of trouble finding the stake (for some reason, it is tough to find those orange stakes in an open field) but Thunder took all casts.  He also did great on the walk-up.  He sat right on the sit whistle.

Speaking to other handlers, most dogs had issues with that second mark and had to be handled to it.  I guess there were other factors that were messing with that mark.  We would have liked to see Storm run those marks because she is a good marker and is used to running in high cover and hills.  It would have been interesting to see how she would have handled that set-up.  But on to water.

Since the meat of the test had been in the land portion, all that was left to be tested was a water blind and a water double.  This was a very straight forward set up and virtually identical to the last water series Thunder ran two weeks ago.  The only real difference was that the dog ran the marks from a dog stand and this pond was a little low with scum and muck around the edges.

It was very heavily wooded around this pond.  I could see some glimpses of Thunder working the blind and the “Go” mark, but for the most part could only judge his progress by the whistles used.

Thunder did a very nice water blind.  There was a rock at the end of the point and many dogs seemed to be drawn to it, (probably looked a bit like a duck floating on the water to them).  Thunder tried to head that way, but his handler gave him an “over” cast and he quickly gave up on the rock.  He had 3-4 handles to the blind.  Very nicely done.  His on-lead heeling was much better in the afternoon, (but then again he only had to go about six feet :)).  Just the double left to do and remember no handling allowed.  He would have to mark them.  We weren’t too worried because his water marks are usually clean.  The mark he got for the “Go” bird was gigantic…a huge arc as it was thrown and it went quite a distance into the clear water in the center of the pond.  Thunder was sent and when he left the dog stand it was a huge leap.  It was fairly shallow running water for about 2/3’s of the way so he was out and back in a flash.  He had no trouble with the “Memory” bird.  Overall he was much better about giving up the birds, but could still use some work to clean that up.

With only 12 dogs running the stake, we were done about 2:30 but had to wait until 6 pm to get the ribbon.  I wish some of these HRC Club’s would realize that people may have a long drive after a test and not make them wait for all stakes to finish before giving the ribbons.  We did not get out of there until after 7pm and of course that meant we did not get home until 10 pm.  We had left the house that morning at 4 am.  It was a very long day, but worth it because overall it was a fun test.

Thanks to our pal Elbert (Gravel Creek Chesapeakes) who clarified the HRC point system for us.  Turns out that Thunder only needs one more pass for title.  He can carry 10 of his points from his Started title so with one more pass (or 10 more points) he will earn the HR title.  However, we are temporarily switching gears next weekend.  Both Thunder and Storm are entered in an AKC Senior test.  The distances will probably be longer than the HRC tests so hopefully Thunder will be OK at those distances.  We anticipate a land test with changes in terrain or lots of cover and hills.  In AKC the handler doesn’t have to fire the gun so that is one less factor to worry about.  We plan to work on stretching his distances this week and his giving up the birds.  There is no on-lead heeling in AKC.  Everything is done off lead so hopefully he will be better with that.  Also, there is an honor but we can’t work that with only one dog.  We did work on that a lot when he was on his training layoff.  He couldn’t run, but he could sit and watch.  Hopefully he remembers…