500 Points!

Well, we did it. We ran a lot of tests this spring, but we got 'er done! After the first couple weekends, the weather warmed up a bit, the snow melted, and the dogs ran a bit more freely. We ended up running Key City HRC, a new club that started up in IA next. They've got a great club going there and put on a great test even with the storms that rolled in on Sunday. Both tests went fine on Saturday. Sunday was one of those spring rainy days that you don't really plan to go outside all day. But we had tests to run. So, when we got a clearing, the judges got things rolling quickly. Elsi ran second and got a low flier right out of the gate. I guess after being pent up and not getting much to retrieve on Saturday, it was just too much and she thought she had better just catch it herself. When we got to the second test, the weather was threatening once again. We ran early, and got half way through the test when lightning was spotted. Back into the clubhouse for another weather delay. An hour later, we got back out for the second half of that test and got through it ok. So, 3 for 4 down in Key City, meant we still needed 15 more points, which meant 2 more (upland) passes. On to Big Wapsie.

The last upland test of the spring around this area is Big Wapsie's, typically the last weekend of March. They are an older club, and also run a good test, though they are struggling with membership lately. They have wonderful grounds and some great people there. And, the nice thing is, it's fairly close to home. A couple friends went down to run their dogs as well and hopefully rack up a few points themselves before the summer training got underway. Saturday turned out to be a nice day and the dogs were ready to roll. Some of them a little too much - Elsi included. Actually, she ran the test just fine aside from being deaf. The cover was pretty tall and fairly thick, which is a good thing for uplands of course. But not a good thing for a deaf dog trying to run hunt tests. After the second bird flushed and flew away, she was steady but figured we should keep hunting - I think she wanted a retrieve. By the time I could get her corralled back in it was too late. That kind of stuff just doesn't fly for HRC finished level control. On to test number two. This one went better, but I could still tell she was on the edge. It certainly helped that she got to pick up a bird on the first flush, however it would have been much better if it had been the second one! In any case, she passed. Just 5 points away! Guess we have to stay for Sunday.

So, Sunday comes. I was able to convince Pat to stay and run Sunday even though they had planned to go home after Saturday. Well, it was interesting, that's for sure. In the first test she looked eerily similar to the first test on Saturday. Not good - the saving grace was that the direction she decided to 'keep hunting' was the way we were going. So although it certainly wasn't ideal, it turned out ok. Honoring off lead - barring anything crazy we'd just done it. I'd entered both tests of course though, just in case. So we headed over there to run that one. Man she was getting loose. First bird, she didn't look good but got a rerun on a technicality. I was sweating bullets. Second bird gets up and flies away, OK no problem. Back to the first bird for the rerun, and it gets up and flies off too. Dog stayed, got her back and went to honor. Felt a lot better after that. Should have some insurance there. And that's the way it went down. After the rest of the dogs ran, we picked up our ribbons and thanked the club.

All things considered, we got it done. Things went downhill a bit at the end - She went 6 for 8 over the last two weekends. Not the same consistent 4 for 4 weekends I was used to, but for being deaf and getting a total of 2 training sessions during the whole spring season I guess I can't complain too much. Now the old girl can retire. She'll spend the rest of her days hunting, playing frisbee, and just relaxing. Speaking of which, we missed out on a lot of the spring snow goose season running all these tests. Time to get after that!