MASTERS DOG FOOD (00 44 1327 811758)
SAVE THE CHILDREN GUNDOG WORKING TEST FINAL
4th July 2004

For the very first time Irish competitors were able to take part in this prestigious event held at Chatsworth House where 32 dogs from the UK and Ireland took part after qualifying in eight heats run by various clubs. Our Irish qualifiers were:

1st Retrieve

Seen retrieve into water, followed by a blind retrieve into woodland

2nd Retrieve

Walk to heel for short distance with gun out in front. A shot was fired and a dummy was thrown to the left, then a dummy to the right. Dog's were required to retrieve left hand dummy first, followed by the right hand dummy.

3rd Retrieve

Blind across water to an island, with dummy placed under overhanging branches, followed by a blind retrieve into woodland

4th Retrieve

Two shots were fired and then a dummy was thrown across in front of handler into cover. This seen retrieve was followed by a long blind retrieve ( more than 200 yards) out in front of the dog and handler.

After lunch two more retrieves were completed by all dogs.

5th Retrieve

Blind across water , a swim of some 50 yards to a clearing on the far bank, the diversion was not picked.

6th Retrieve

Four dogs in line to simulate a driven shoot. Three guns fired a volley of shots to the right hand side, then moved across to the left hand side of the lines to fire a further volley of shots. Each dog was then sent into heavy cover to retrieve a dummy from the right hand side, followed by the left hand side.

At the end of these 6 exercises it was still necessary to have a run off for 1st place, and for 4th place. With the following results:

1st Mrs. J. Coley
2nd Miss A. Clarke
3rd Mr. P. Robinson
4th Mr. S. Lavery from Ireland

The Irish handlers who travelled to Chatsworth would like to thank the organizers and a big thank you to Smart Telecom's sponsorship which enabled us to take part with their geneorous donation for travel and accommodation