The Fcrsa National Speciality Hunt Test-June 2010 Auburn In

What a great experience. Wonderful people, awesome dog work and  supportive judges. The blind set-ups had master challenges including under the arc and to the back of the gun blinds along the shore line. Lots of dogs sucked to the gunner stations or area of one of the water marks. It was easy to lose a dog into the cattails so you had to be quick with your whistle if you had a fast dog. The dogs who liked to cheat the shore on their marks often lost their marks.

Keaton has always been an honest water dog and it sure helped us on the water series with all the cattails as his marking was excellent. His initial line on the shoreline blind was off  the right as he tends to want to stay away from the gun stations. I was pleased overall how well he worked with me.

The land was mowed into a variety of patterns which made the land marks and blinds challenging especially for green master dogs. As a dog busts through the cover, he loses his picture and often it causes him to veer off course. If the cover is dense enough, the handler can easily lose his dog . If you cant see your dog, you cant handle him out of trouble. This gets us into big trouble in our next attempt at master.

We made out with no handles, good marks and our first orange ribbion.