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6/6/05
Beechfield 09:30
Bright & sunny, little wind.
Judy :- 10 minutes in the field. We practiced a bit of dropping and turning. Only really along because she is kenneled with Mad Dog, and I wanted to take him out. I have more control over Judy than any other dog in the kennel at this time. I can therefore go anywhere with her. She is a smashing dog who looks really stylish as she is small and looks flashy. She combines this with a deadly nose and AMAZING drive Bit of a head scratch needed when I consider that she hasn't managed an award in any trial to date.
Jalad:- Planet earth calling deep empty space, Is there anything in there? This is at times appropriate to Jalad's head. Still technically a pup till the end of this year Jalad has turned into a big, handsome, well muscled dog with a great turn of pace. What he hasn't got is any intention of pointing at present. He has a nose, I have seen him use it to great effect but here is no point in him just now. What there is , is an almost demonic desire to catch and pluck every wee bird in Northern Ireland, and before tea if possible. There must be doubt if the glue will ever hold the handle on this dog, but if it ever does I have a real contender. Did a bit of dropping and turning. There were no wee birds.

He was born 4/1/04.

08/06/05
Mud Flats
18c Dull, humid, would have been a good scenting day on the hill. Light Southerly air.
Jalad:- This dog just takes my breath away. I was standing mesmerised at his fluid rangy gallop and thinking what a beautiful fast dog he was. It began to wear thin after ten minutes. The reason he took my breath away was that he refused to turn, drop, in fact refused to to anything and you can only blow a whistle so hard and long before you run out of puff. I had thought that the tide was just far enough out to contain him. The only thing I learned today is that the Mud Flats are just that, flat. So if the water is only up to your ankles, it is only up to your ankles a mile away as well. I'll not be trying that one again, any time soon.
Jump & Judy :- 15mins each. A wee bit longer than I had wanted but I had walked so far to get Jalad back that I was way out in the bay. This does nothing for the dogs' state of mind but it does help get them fit, running on the hard sand helps their pads, and the salt water cleans their coat. I was pleased that they both kept going for the whole time without a stop. Must get them on heather soon.
Bess & Flake :- Two smashing responsive pups. I have started on the sit and even though they will come back and stand still beside me they won't as yet put their bums on the floor without a push. I was always going to keep Bess because of her markings but I am so glad now that I kept Flake as well. Not a cheeky as Bess but a big powerful bitch pup and sort of sensitive in a hair brained sort of way. If you understand what I mean.

12/06/05
Spelga
Dull overcast, odd drop of drizzle. NE light wind. Cold 9C
I have been using this bit of ground at this time of the year since before 1988 and have never encountered ANY game in that time during April to June.
Judy :- Ran flat out for 15 mins. Quartered surprisingly well. She ran over a snipe on the track and had a wee chase after it. Simply because it took me that long to get my whistle into my mouth, it was a total surprise. This moved her up a gear but only for about half a minute. I was telling Ned how long it was since I had seen anything at this season and I turned round and she was on point , another twenty yards further on. This time she worked forward in high rushes and produced another snipe. This was just what was needed after the mind-numbing trips to the mud flats. It even got Jump's dander up.
Jump:- Maybe twenty minutes down wind. We had things to do with young dogs and Jump just got the beat back to the car. The ground was mostly rushes and he didn't get much chance to quarter but at least he got the run under his belt and at a reasonable pace.
Flake & Bess:- A short run both before and after the main event event on the hill. Bess sat on command, as did Flake. Will work on this now I have made the breakthrough.
All in all not a bad days work.

You know some times you just know what has happened. Well having taken the pups to the reservoir after the main event in the bog I returned to see this shifty B*****d with a smug look on his face. After five minutes looking for leads I had left on the roof of my car I knew what he was at. He had either nicked them or thrown them into the bog.

Hissy fit or what?

Will update when calmed down.

What sort of a B*****D would steal two bits of rope? Something that crawled out from under a stone?

19/06/05
09:30 Spelga
Light Southwest. Bright & Sunny.

Jump:- Ten minutes into the wind and five minutes down wind to the car. Ran quite well. I am very conscious that I am way ahead of last year. There is about four weeks to the first trial and paradoxically I don't want him too fit too early. I am also still conscious that he is eight years old and I still haven't let him run with another dog,especially not a kennel mate.

Judy :- Fifteen minutes into the wind and then five down wind to the car. Covered a lot of ground and was nice and flat. Don't see that her pups have taken too much out of her at this time.

Bess & Flake :- Five minutes, bit of dropping.

Jump is very competitive but is not fully fit at the moment. I don't want him to bust a gut, almost literally, to keep in front while running against another dog. He would try even harder against a kennel mate. In competition dogs are always run in pairs. I do have a problem with Jump and his backing but most times I can handle it. It is however difficult to train a dog to back naturally if it isn't often beaten to birds. You can quite often see dogs, that I refer to as bluffers, in trials. You just get a feeling that they aren't running for the find , they are running for the back.

Bob Truman has been in trials for years and I don't wish to get into an argument about the state of trials however there are a couple of inconsistencies in his shooting times article, and at least one red herring.
We would all like our dogs to excel in all aspects of their work, and pace is one of those. If my fast dog is drawn against a plodder what is he to do? Run at it's pace? I don't think so. Don't forget that on a shooting days a good fast dog will cover more ground and therefore present a higher percentage of the birds available.
The red herring is the talk about brace stakes. Both dogs would be handled by the same handler and probably owned by him as well. There would therefore be no advantage in having one race ahead of the other. In fact one of the important style points of brace stakes is the symmetry with which they cover the ground. A bit like synchronized swimming. You would want both dogs at the extremity of their (opposite) beats at the same time etc.

25/06/05
Beechfield 11:00
Bess & Flake :- There is something really strange going on. These pups are comming on leaps and bounds on tasks that they really haven't been taught. Today, blowing the whistle for Tam, Bess and Flake dropped as well and they only started sitting regularally the other day. I have tried to evaluate what , if any, way this litter has been trained differently from the last few and I can't put my finger on it.
I did have a litter in 1993 that I could drop as a unit and call a single pup to me but I had 6 months of nothing else to do.
I spent literally every waking minute with them from the day they were born and they would drop as a unit before the frist pup left at about ten weeks old, or was it twelve.

2/7/05
Black Mountain 09:40
SSE 1 - 2 17C Foggy.
the 17C would suggest warm but the wind kept it comfortable especially since it had been cloudy since dawn.

Judy :- 10 mins. This is a tough wee bitch. She didn't let up the whole time she was off the lead and did her ground nice and evenly and even when she wasn't as neat as usual she took directions with little coaxing. Game as a badger.

Jump :- 10 mins. He is never his best when it is as overcast and cloudy as today. He cut short a few times and didn't really let go until he had a dump after about four minutes. However he is running with his head up which is a good sign and he would have gone on a good deal longer if permitted but the pace would have dropped. I will let the runs build up to 60 mins and then I'll split them up.

3/7/05
Beechfield 12:00

Bess & Flake :- You learn wee things about your dogs in the oddest way. Took the pups for a walk and got caught in a downpour. I didn't know if the water was running into me or out of me. The pups didn't like it at first, they cowed in the rushes and tried to shelter. Then Flake made a bid for freedom, quickley followed by Bess and once they were completely wet it didn't matter any more. In fact it was fun. For them , but not for me. Needed a bath.

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