The "Best Puppy" prize for Sam on the Pointer Training Day in Harlow, after some pre-preparation in Paxton Pits before we left.
The stand off in Moscow caused by the constitutional vacuum continues between President Boris Yeltzin and the parliament led by its Speaker and the Vice-President with opposite forces exchange small arms fire in the vicinity of the parliament building
I was awake at 7.00am, which was in good time for what I had to do for the day, but this actually came as a lay in after the early mornings in Scotland. It was misty as I took Sam for his morning walk and, although time was short, I tried to put him through his paces and improve his obedience for today's event. I was delayed on my way back, looking at a large 21lb mirror carp caught at Paxton Pits and chatting to the angler who had caught around thirty carp this year; and all this made me a bit late. At least this meant that Diana was up and had made me a packed lunch but I had to rush breakfast and get out quickly afterwards to get there for the early 10am start.
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I should not have worried because, as usual, I was one of the first there. The stream near this training site on the outskirts of Harlow had overflowed its banks but the organisers had done well to set everything up and the event went ahead as planned. I had arranged to enter Sam in both Puppy and Open events, not really knowing what to do, and they had taken this as an Open entry and I first had to change this to Puppy. There were seven other entrants, six of which actually ran, and a few of them were quite good. The first test was a simple retrieve with the dummy thrown by the judge and, when it came to Sam's turn who was running last, we fluffed it a little and this left us about third to fourth best.
Sam had smelled where the other dogs had been and dropped the dummy to sniff a while and he also ran an arc via the position of a non-used dummy and finally failed to deliver the retrieve cleanly; dropping it short and having to be told to pick it up and hand it over. The next test was for a "memory retrieve" which involved him walking to heel, marking the dummy when I threw it out, but not to retrieve it until I had returned with him to heel and sent him to get it. This he did as well as any but he then triumphed in the next and most difficult test. For this, the judge threw the dummy under the far bank of a small fast-running stream, where the entry point was quite steep.
In many ways this was rather too stern a test for puppies and most of them refused to enter the water for fear of suddenly being out of their depth. However Sam was soon in after a little hesitation and, not only fetched his own retrieve well, but also went and got another's when they would not go. One of his best rivals had proved difficult to get in and then went out the other side and would not come back and suddenly Sam was leading the class with only the fourth obedience test to go. In this they had to walk to heel, as the handler went in and out of five stakes, then to sit and stay on remote command in the middle and not be distracted as an assistant threw one dummy over them and another short of them.
Then the dog had to come when called, stop and sit on command half way and then come to hand at the finish. One dog performed a perfect display walking tightly to heel and won a maximum 30 points but he had been one that had failed in the water and been ragged on other retrieves. Sam was a little unpolished walking wide and in front at heel but remained under control and completed all of the tasks. His 23 points for this last test left him with a total of 83 out of a maximum of 100, well ahead of the second dog on 77. He had one the red rosette for first place and a splendid shield to put on our mantlepiece.
Well done Sam! I had got to know the man (Jim Bird) running the second-placed dog (Ben), who was also from Norfolk, and we exchanged addresses and will meet for joint training in the future. The journey home for tea and the very pleasant job of telling the family how we had done. It had been a fine and sunny day which made the event a success despite the flooding. Tea watching The Simpsons on TV and then to my office to update this last week's journal onto the computer.
The stand off in Moscow caused by the constitutional vacuum continues between President Boris Yeltzin and the parliament led by its Speaker and the Vice-President. The opposite forces exchange small arms fire in the vicinity of the parliament building which has been besieged by troops loyal to Yeltzin but today crowds broke through to relieve them and then took over the headquarters of the City Council.