Yesterday was a long, hot day at the United Retriever Club (Southern Area) Novice and Puppy test at Chailey, and as we drove down the track to the start it was impossible to see the vehicle in front because of the clouds of thick dust kicked up. As always, the organisers had made sure that we could be in the shade as much as possible and allowed us to dip our dogs in the lake to keep them cool, as well as driving round at intervals during the day to make sure that we all had enough water.
Moidart, who has just turned 14 months old, was running in the puppy test for dogs less than 18 months old.
We started with a two dog walk up, with a mark to shot thrown over a hedge into the next field, followed by a blind to shot in long grass under an electricity pylon.
Our next test was two dogs walking at heel towards the lake, then there was a mark to shot into the water for each dog in turn, which was a good test of steadiness if your dog loves water, as Moidart does.
The third test was a hunt up exercise, where three dummies had been hidden in an area of woodland and the puppies had to hold the correct area to find any one of the dummies, followed by being sent back to the same area for a second retrieve.
The last test was a blind in the woods; there was a shot to the left of the track, followed by a shot to the right, and you had to stop the dog on the whistle and ask it to pick the right hand dummy.
Moidart stayed calm and sensible all day, even dozing off to sleep in between tests, but she was keen to retrieve, did her best, and listened to me, so I thought that we would be in the awards. It was a good day for our trainer, Graham Home, who was there competing in the novice test with his young dog, because although he wasn’t placed, four of his trainees were, including three in the puppy test, with Moidart the winner.
This particular competition must be lucky for me; over the last four years I have entered it three times and won the novice Quiltan Kerrie Trophy with Shona in 2015, followed by being awarded the Claymore cup for coming second with Shona’s daughter Riska last year and this year the Rex Brown Trophy with another Shona daughter, Moidart, so I believe that I may be the only person to have won all three trophies with three different dogs.
Days like this only happen with generous landowners, along with lots of help from a small army of willing volunteers and we are very fortunate to take part in such a wonderful sport.
