No Luck last couple trials

Hoping to turn that around this weekend.

Last weekend I was proud of Dot - felt she had a win - no luck. Asked the judge if she ran too big (she was a wide shooting dog in the stake) and he said - that the first 15 minutes looked like she was running not hunting - she ran a great race had 3 beautiful finds the last 15 minutes and still didn't get a placement.

Tucker and Rocky all had 3 or 4 finds each - No luck there either - felt Rocky did a good job but knew Tucker was not in contention.

Primo - Ran a great race - but went birdless in the first brace.

Keith - Posting from Under the Live Oaks

Success again - great weekend trialing

We spent Friday and Saturday trialing at Dallas Pointer and Setter FTC trial at Wortham, TX - Parrs Tucker was 2nd in the Open Shooting dog stake behind RU CH Barshoes Top Gun (Ace) owned by Terry Tuley and handled by Jerry Lewis - Whiterock Cordite finished 3rd.

In the Open Derby - Arbuckle's Aces Annie was 1st place. It was a great win but I think Cody paid a high price for it - I had to ride hard to keep from getting buried by the other handler and when we finished Cody was bleeding bright red blood from his nose - and now I will be looking for a replacement and back up to Cody and Lacy.

Here are the runs as I saw them.

Tucker ran a big edge covering shooting dog race, well forward and using the wind great - his first find came near a mott of trees and he handled it well. He had a back after that and finished with a beautiful find well forward on a great cast.

Rocky - Had three beautiful perfect finds - however, his race was not as forward as Tucker and he looped a bit more than I would have liked - we will start running edges more with him and keep on him about staying in the pocket - still a nice performance.

Annie - God, I loved this run and I loved doing it on my beautiful old field trial horse he carried me to yet another win and gave his all to do it for me. Annie took off running big on edges and responding to ques from both my voice and Cody as we turned and put her on edges and blew her go whistle - she went - cracking her tail and putting the spurs to her brace mate (2nd place dog). The other handler was riding hard pushing his dog and Annie stayed up in front of the dog - checking likely cover as she went - she had no finds and after watering her I had to gallop Cody to catch the other handler, and he responded, even though it hurt him.

Near the end of time in the stake, After Annie cooled a bit in a pond I road up on the tank dam and blew her go whistle finishing well forward at the end. A winning performance.

Now the others - Tio had 3 broke finds, including a covey find on wild/feral birds but did not back in time and he was a little short (will put him up for sale as a gun dog) but a nice dog - just not a field trial dog.

Primo - Ran a nice forward shooting dog race taking the edges and responding well, had a broke find, and after leading him off (handler error - should have lead him further off) and releasing him he went back and pointed the previous birds that were left (delayed chase) and I picked him up - but still getting better on everything a very nice dog.

Dot - Had the performance of the stake - until her 3rd find. We broke away with Dot finding the front and staying on the left tree line (wind was coming left to right) through the gap and ran on the right tree line to her first and beautiful high and tight broke find on quail in a cedar, plum tangle. Watered her and turned her loose and off she went finding the front in a big and forward, cover and ground eating shooting dog race. She hit an edge and dropped into a creek as I continued forward singing to her and lost sight of her - knowing Dot doesn't get lost and always finds the front going with me whether she can see or only hear me - I kept going forward with my scout dragging the edge in case she was buried up on point in there and I missed it.

We broke into the open and Dot showed in front coming with me (evidently she followed the steep banked creek all the way up until she found a place to get out) and came to me - as she crossed to the front she had a beautiful find. As I was walking towards the cover, the bird flushed and flew over her head, She moved only her head to watch it go - I fired a blank and she was as steady as a rock - I turned her loose and tried to put her on another edge but she continued on down and found another bunch of birds - they were walking in plain sight and when I kicked and fired it was too much for her and she broke.

Both the judges rode up to me after I corralled her and had her in the harness and thanked me for running Dot - they loved her - had she continued on and handled those birds correctly there is no doubt she would have won the stake.

Even though she is a edgy dog I love Dot - she is what awesome field trial dogs are made of - awesome and breathtaking when they do it right - heartbreaking when they mess up because they are always in the hunt for the ribbon/trophy.

Keith - Posting from Under the Live Oaks

Had a good weekend

I had a good weekend - Rocky's little boy Gus was 4th in an Open Puppy stake and his Daddy got 1st in an Open Gun Dog stake.

Been a long dry spell for me since I had a blue ribbon.

Tucker had a great race and a nice find - bobbled a bit - but he is so much like his dad sometimes I forget that he isn't Tanner when he is running.

Keith - Posting from Under the Live Oaks

Still Plugging away

Well, we are still working dogs and getting some stuff done. This last weekend was a disappointing outing.

Dot - Had three beautiful finds and then looped back and knocked and chased a bird.

Primo - Failed to back

Annie - chased like a puppy

Duc and Gus - Just nothing to report - they were over there ability in a derby stake.

Keith

Only one placement

Well, we ran hard and tried hard but in the end only Annie got it done.

Back in Texas

All the dogs and horses are in great shape. No problems except for a blowout on the horse trailer

Travel Plans

Well, it looks like we will be leaving on Tuesday to head south to Texas. For those that live in the Ft Worth area - we will probably stop at Cabelas in Ft Worth to unload the horses and get the dogs out into the kennels to stretch their legs a bit - anticipating about 2-4 hours there. If it would be convenient for owners in the Ft Worth area you can pick up your dogs there. I am gonna try to keep everyone appraised of our progress via Facebook so the meet can be made if you wish.

Still working dogs - we introduced 12 ga shotgun to all the younger dogs - in prep for hunting seasons - progress continues with all the dogs.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill