Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:21 pm Post subject: UK visitors
Tomorrow I am heading to the South Island for a weeks fishing with Pauline and Jamie, breeder of Kenmillix Gamecourt aka Katie, dam of my Dionee. Once down there, we will travel and fish with an Australian fisherfriend who also happens to have Brits. We will be visiting Chris and Barry which will be really neat. So we are in for a trout and Britfest!! _________________ "...amitie, respect mutuel et amour..."
Victoria please say hi to Jamie and Pauline from Katie's brother and me. _________________ My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.
I certainly will, John!! Thank you, Sue!! It seems like such along time ago since I had a break from work so am really looking forward to it...
Hope the weather is kind! _________________ "...amitie, respect mutuel et amour..."
Victoria, say Hello to Jamie and Pauline, they have had quite their share of health problems and had spoken to me about going to New Zealand.
I met Jamie when he bought Lorca's son Solo and we have kept in touch. When he had trouble selling his puppies we passed on John, David Hayes and Tony onto him. It was a good litter.
Give them my love and have a great time...
I certainly will, Patricia. It is going to be fun with the three of us and the two dogs in my twin cab ute plus all our gear!!!!! I just hope I can get a bigger trout than they do!! _________________ "...amitie, respect mutuel et amour..."
It was great to meet Jamie and Pauline and to catch up with you again Victoria. As always, a Brittanyfest is something special - with plenty to talk about, even though we had only just met J & P !
Easter weekend is almost drawing to a close and was a hectic break for our household. Three local gundog clubs ran championship trials all weekend, including three Pointer & Setter trials.
To spread the load, we entered Spice and Sophie on Friday, Kip and Sophie on saturday and Spice /Sophie on Sunday.
As it turned out, the Sunday judge was not able to officiate, so Barry stepped in as replacement.That scratched Spice. Kip came into season, so was scratched as well.
Results were varied - on Friday, Spice won the trial and Sophie was called off by me - she lost her concentration and went AWOL!
On Saturday, Sophie was much improved and was rangeing well. Sheer bad luck helped her cast upwind of the dead bird and she went on to establish a point on the second homer - this meant her run was called off by the judge as the game was found out of order.
The good news was that Spice's litter brother Folly emerged as winner.His score also awarded him his 6th CC and made him up to his Field Trial Champion title.
This means that NZ FTCh Leaningrock Lairg Castle (owner Jo Arnold) is only the second FTCh Brittany in NZ - Spice being the first.
On Sunday, Folly was also unlucky with a flukey wind and found out of order. Sophie began extremely well,with very good rangeing - and put in a big cast that brought her downwind of the second homer this time! She followed her nose and again pointed the wrong homer.
So it was the same result - called off due to finding out of order.
Clearly, the grounds used for our trials have a big influence on how well our dogs work. On Friday, the course included large areas of scrubby bush which was quite high and prevented the handler from seeing the dog and keeping in touch throughout the trial. The scores were not good and it was mostly experience of both handler and dog that got most through.
Saturday's course was beside Lake Ellesmere, shorter scrubby cover and
all the competing dogs performances greatly improved.
Sunday's course was in yet another location covered with large areas of gorse and lupin bushes - too high to see over in places. Both Brittany's made the same mistake.
In May, a Pointer & Setter seminar is being run in Central Otago. I am taking Sophie and Barry is one of the course instructors. We will be having a theory session with questions and answers - (boy, will I have plenty of questions) and a practical session where each dog and handler will be mentored through the course.
Central Otago is such a spectacular place, so it will be awesome to finally have a chance to run Sophie in country that is the "home" of the Brittany in NZ. _________________ Home of the canine "Spice Girls" - Spice, Sophie & Kip - and Lou the sheepdog.
I may be absent in mind and body but always addicted to man's best friend.
A dog doesn't care how much you know until he knows how much you care.
Fantastic news about Folly...Jo will be delighted...he really deserves the title as he has been a great campaigner and representative for the breed.
Congratulations to Spice too. _________________ "...amitie, respect mutuel et amour..."
I wasn't quite sure what 'out of order' meant until I started to think logically - it means just that - bird pointed in the wrong order. We don't have that here, as our trials are run on free range live game. So the dog points wat it comes across, flushes on command and the bird is then shot and retrieved. (hopefully if all goes to plan)
Pleased to hear about Folly - I rather think he has been mis-named - he isn't a 'folly' at all! :-)
_________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
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