Wylanbriar Labradors

… An exciting turning point being Bondys first trial. It was quite amusing being head to head with Allan and Fish…. no pressure then!

The trial started walked up. It was a freezing day, starting at around minus three and only drifting up to ‘zero’ around lunchtime before plummeting again very fast as the light faded.

The game, very sensibly, stayed in bed as long as possible So as number 3, for example, I was walking up for about 50 minutes to complete my two first round retrieves. However it flowed well, and personally I was pleased with Bondy with a blind off the end of the line, then a 35 odd yard mark that came back with its head up in heavy mixed beet/turnips. When they dropped in, with little scent, it was the devil of a job itself to get anything off the bird at all.

After a couple of hours, it was decided to hold a drive (with ALL dogs sat in lthe drive), bringing pheasant off a hill over the dogs dropping on the heavy cover hill and back in the wood and pen behind the line of dogs. A few more dogs first rounds were completed after this drive.

Bondy was taken back in for his second round retrieve at this point. As the birds from that drive were cleared, it was decided to hold a Duck drive. Only the four dogs under the judges sat through this drive. Yep kiddo was one of them. But he actually coped and settled better in THIS, very heavy drive with numerous birds coming down, than the previous one with only a handful over a long 40-45 minutes or so. I was very pleased with him for his first two drives under competitive conditions (and bloody freezing ones!!!!!)

Fish also by chance was one of the four under the judges and happily sat through the duck drive but then he is a cool calm character I swear I heard him gently snoring at one point

With maybe 30 or so ducks and pheasant down, Fish went off to complete his first round, whilst Bondy and I were sent on our second round retrieve. A blind, down the side of a field, and the bird was designated by the judges (not unfairly I hasten to add) as being one of two fairly close together with a few more a little further back on the same line. That was not too much of a problem and I was pleased that with two clearly visable, he committed to one and didn’t think about swapping. You just don’t KNOW till you are sent on these things

Blah blah fast forward to this last third round retrieve, back down the field in the same direction as his second round, around 120yard blind, over previous falls (now cleared) over a reasonable sized wire fence (No not barbed…. grin!) to hunt a small piece of wood where a runner had come down. Thrilled with him going out smart, honoring, briefly previous falls, pushing back happily, taking the fence clean and hunting well. A bit of handler miscommunication error meant he didn’t hunt back as far as he probably needed to, I somehow was intent on trying to keep him in sight, wrongly, as the bird was picked a fair way back, out of sight in the end…. but sadly, not by us, but the next competitor, who eye wiped us. However he then went on to win so you can’t grumble

Fish sadly found the challenege of two birds close together a little taxing and whilst happily about to pick his hen bird, clocked a duck laid, ten foot away, white breast up, and skipped to grab that instead. A very fair case of ‘wrong bird’. Not that if he’d gone straight to the duck he would have been penalised, but he went straight to the desired hen bird…. and then thought better of it with milliseconds to go before picking Fish prefers Ducks. Less loose gob feathers or something…. But thats life….

So we didn’t either of us trouble the 4th round, but making and putting up a decent shout in the third was not a bad result for Golden balls first time out.

A super friendly, positive trial, brilliantly managed by Neil Franklin and his SGRC team, and whilst the weather was seriously ‘Parky’, it stayed dry and not too windy and all the dogs ran pretty well to be honest with the judges declaring there was next to nothing between the first three dogs.

A happy good start for Goldenballs! God I love that little dog!

….. So then the phone rings…. and suddenly we have a run in the Southern Golden Retriever Novice trial tomorrow! Me and Bondy that is. Fish and Al already have one… so its, well, errr… head to head (…..as such! Just as far as personal rivalry goes anyway!)

I’m going to say right here right now, this is for experience for the yellow boy. There is no expectation and thats comforting at his tender age…. HOWEVER….. wicked grin…… THAT SAID…. Bondy and I are just off for an early night, incorporating mucho cups of cocoa, bedsocks, cucumber eye masks etc etc….. whilst AL is out at his works Christmas ‘do’ at a Casino in Brighton, and I am about to send Fish out ‘on the town’ with party animal ‘Thomas’ with a bottle of Wicked Vodka and his ‘night-bus-fare’ home……    😉   😉   😉

Fair? No of course not. But then the bloody dog does take a line from here to ETERNITY and Bondy and I can’t take THAT lying down…. 😉  😉  😉

Night all!

Di and Bondy Meercat who are both trying to avoid Blonde moments tomorrow, more than anything else!  xxx

I think we basically left off, soaked but happy, standing at Knowle Game Farm, and hugely grateful to Neil Franklin who arranged the training day and invited us along.  Its fantastic *if* you have such regular picking up that you can bang your dogs out on only the retrieves that they need to pull them into trialing shape, but if you don’t, bona fide FT training days are essential. Priceless and hugely appreciated, although couldn’t afford to do them every week!  😉

So Saturday 13th saw Bondy and I with a spot on the UGS FT training day at a shoot at Box Hill in Surrey. Now the thing being, down this way, Walked up training days are reasonably easy to obtain, but DRIVEN training days are harder. Of course your own shoot is a Driven ‘training day’ UNLESS you have a shoot where they want almost everything picked during the drive and as much activity, fast picks and general excitement as possible  😉 Not quite what your average Driven trialing dog needs at 18 months of age (or so!)  😉 He needs to learn about Game. He needs to learn to stay completely steady….. that great conundrum 😉

So was grateful for a place on this training day, on a shoot frequented by the organiser, and on a beautiful ground it has to be said. Bondy pleased me with his attitude to the 6 drives we sat through. A heavy one had him slightly shifting his arse for a better look, but hell, I can deal with that, and being a training day, it was all good. Thanks Sue for the opportunity, it was priceless in its own way.

So amid lots of training, including working hard on little 6 month old Mia to a certain extent, as well as the trial wannabes, we fast forward to the weekend just gone. A day picking up on saturday, which saw me with Shiney and Mallie as Allan was shooting, and a day judging Labradors at an Open show on Sunday by kind invitation of Camberley and District Canine Society.

OK, truely, I was pleased. It matters not a jot what I think on the whole, BUT, there is a distinct possibility that the dogs entering under me, know that I work my dogs, and so, ultra heavy dogs need not apply, but quite frankly, almost everything entered was in basically good condition. You are NEVER going to make a showbred, showring dog look like a Bondy Meercat, and rightly so. Its not going to happen, and if they were his weight they would be DEAD. Even a ‘Fish’ would have them looking like they needed a few seriously good dinners, but the dogs that gave me a flatteringly good entry, were all pretty much in proportion to their own body shape and my class winners were excellent. My Best of Breed owned and bred by Dave Wilmshurst, Mandamay Fedde Le Grande, quite frankly, I could have brought home and paid almost any ransom for 😉 At 13 months, I only beg, don’t change him! Don’t feel the need to make him heavy as he is an absolutely smashing young guy! Dave is an old hand and has worked dogs on and off for many years so I can’t imagine he will pander to ring stereotypes and I will watch this lovely young dog with interest…. I really enjoyed my day!

Ok this week is filled with good things like going to see a Tomshoes litter who are at the cute stage 😉 Thats tomorrow and I hope to arm myself with a camera. Then training with Bondy Thursday before we kick into weekend ‘Ground Zero’. With Fish running in the Southern Golden walked up novice trial on saturday (and Bondy is still first reserve and has been for a couple of weeks now….) and then Bondy with a run in the Arun and Downland Driven Novice on Tues 30th. So its trial-tastic, but in a small way as we are moderate in how many trials we can put in a nomination for.

Nerves, excitement, ‘do you think we are readys?’, and ‘What have we got to lose?’ a plenty a we go onwards and upwards here in the next few days….. watch this space!   😉

Well by golly, its been ages since I caught up on the Blog and talked ‘dog’. Its been a heck of a couple of months in so many ways… Sad times, but also lots of good ones: trialing, picking up season starting proper for us, training till the cows come home, all sorts!

I think I mentioned that 23rd October was our first ‘own shoot’ day picking up. Lucky us had a few days elsewhere here and there before that, but sadly boring old work does not allow us dozens and dozens of shoot days through the Winter, much as we would love them! It IS fustrating to be rung by someone, as happens most weeks, to be asked… ‘You know such and such a shoot?’ and my mouth start to drool…. ‘Well I can’t pick up tomorrow as I have a trial run now, can you take my place..?’ and the answer, almost always has to be ‘No’!  Which makes us wince and feel gutted to the pit of our stomachs (and I know I speak for Al on that too!) Bloody work!!! Damn earning a living!!! A ‘V sign’ to ‘paying the bills’!!!   ;-(  Still, one day, we will win the lottery and be ‘of leisure….’  Best start by buying a ticket then… 😉

So anyway, its gone great. Al with Mallie ‘there is simply NOTHING you can tell me about anything…’ old hand girl. And myself with Tom and Shiney… ready, willing, and, pleasingly able!

I think what we both feel really blessed about is Mallie and the fact that, three months ago, she was having xrays and vet attention, and black diagnosis’s that her shoulder was shot to bits and she would possibly never come sound again. NOW, she worked 8 drives yesterday , and came out the kennel bouncing the next day. I don’t know if it is mind over matter with her, or just that her discomfort threshold is amazingly high, but she is plodding on, fast as ever, and enjoying her picking up like a 2 year old! Shes fab!

A Field Trial training day at Knowle game farm on Monday 8th, saw us about as wet as you can ever wish to be without being actually submerged in water…. Its quite possible i’ve been dryer whilst doing backstroke at some point in my life… rain came in off the Kent coast, sideways, diagnonally, horizontally and every which way possible. It WAS an enjoyable day, and we ran both Bondy and Fish and they both went well, but by golly, it made us realise our wet weather gear was NOT heavy duty, and it IS possible to drive home ‘gently sloshing’. Its also amazing how fast 6 guns can shoot 60 birds when they have to, and how fast 6 dogs can retrieve them! We were done by half midday 😉

More tomorrow!!