16th April 2023 - Novice and ND/NH

Today Dove Valley Working Gundog club held their first test of 2023 with our ND/NH & Novice AV retriever test at Brailsford by kind permission of Mr M Samworth.

The day started with a drizzle but thankfully the rain held off all day

Thanks to our working test secretary and the wonderful team of helpers supporting him, the tests started very prompt with an excellent introduction to the day with words of encouragement to novice handlers from Laura Hill.

As a brief summary of the days tests:

Test 1 - a mark in woodland to shot followed by a replacement in the same area.

Test 2 - a picking up exercise, whereby two of four dummies needed picking out of cover. The dogs had to cross a ditch and water.

Test 3 - a marked retrieve over a body of water onto a peninsular. A lot of dogs ran around in attempt to divert the water and struggled with spitting once out of the water.

Test 4 - a two dog walk up involving a marked retrieve through sieves and a blind retrieve behind. This proved the most difficult test of the day and heel work was a barrier to success for many.

Test 5 - a distraction mark was thrown to shot before being sent for a blind in a ditch. This test proved tricky for some as a neighbouring test shared the fences hedge-line and dummies could be seen. Whilst this may have been distracting for some, this simulated what could easily be a trial situation.

We would like to thank all of the helpers of the day, especially the flurry of new enthusiastic helpers of which we have been inundated with.

This was Bob Seaman’s very first event as our new Retriever Working Test secretary. I think all those who attended today, handlers, judges, helpers and stewards will agree what a fantastic day it was, as stated by Vanessa King at the end of the days speech. Bob has worked incredibly hard and this was shown throughout the day which ran smoothly, like a well oiled machine.

Thank you to the judges for giving up your day, Steve Burns Dorothy Walls-Duffin Dave Brown, Laura Hill and Lewis Butler

Sponsors - Sporting Saint - Gundog Training Equipment Twicebrewed Twines and Skinner's

With that said, the results were as followed:

NOVICE

After a 3 dog run off for first place with matching scores of 91/100

- 1st - Liz Saxton with Hiltonfarm Todd