WAYNE1

Alright Doc.....Was great to hear you and Casey did well this past week-end. Casey was well deserving of his Master's Title.....He has an "AWESOME" trainner... It'll be interesting to see how he does at National's now.......Do they run the same sort of test there as they do here for the Master's test..??

Doc E

Wayne,

Thanks for the "Congrats"......... Casey definitely deserved the pass -- he was awesome (including the point on the "steady to flush" portion of the test)

There were 26 dogs that ran in the Senior Test on Saturday (4 were Grand Masters) and only 8 dogs passed (including only 2 of the Grand Masters). It seems that the tougher the Test is, the better Casey does.

Casey will be invited to the Master Nationals next year (in Colorado) --- definitely a really cool thing to happen....................might even be on TV.

We think that Tank has a pretty cool daddy

huntnma

congrats to you both.......this is great news

bowhuntinoh

congrats doc i really enjoy watching them dogs do their thing maybe some day ill take my babygirl to a show to see what she can do

drfatguy

Congradulations Doc. I am impressed. I know how much work you had to put in and to pass when 2 Grands didn't has to make it even sweeter. Could you give us an idea of the test which most dogs crashed and burned on?

Dr Fatguy

Rachswid

AWESOME!!!
Congrats to you both

Doc E

I posted a somewhat detailed description of the test at www.pointinglabs.com in a thread titled, "Who here also runs in NAHRA?"

I think the portion of the test that put a lot of dogs out was the Water Blind Retrieve. Your dog was the Honor Dog (HD) after making all of the Water Retrieves. The HD was 5 yards to the left of the Working Dog (WD) - both dogs were right at the shore edge.

A bird was launched at about 80 - 90 yards on the left (a line to this mark took the dog only about 3' out into the edge of the water. The dog would go through 50 yards of water and then the rest was on land. The 2nd bird was launched straight across the pond = 90 yards of water and 10 yards of land (kind of a gimme) -- BUT the 3rd bird was an "over the shoulder - from behind" and splashed down only 10 yards directly in front of the HD. The WD made this retrieve, and of course this was teh bird that all dogs picked up first. When the WD was sent on the 2nd retrieve (first bird down), the HD was excused. There were a few dogs that broke in this situation and were out of the game. The WD picked up all 3 marks and then the Blind was last.

The Water Blind : The bird was placed 25 yards downwind to the right of the first bird down. A lot of dogs couldn't be handled off the scent from the area of the mark -&- this is where a lot of them went out.

drfatguy

I am glad NAHRA is living by it's rules. I ran 2 Master Tests and had two passes in the mid 90's with a Chess. I gave up running Hunt Tests (AKC) because the tests were outside the rules. I ran a test with a 225 yrd mark and a 175 yrd blind (these distances were lasered). The judges and test marshall stated I had passed and had nothing to complain about. I complained to the AKC and was told we had to test the dogs. I hated this and stopped running. That short bird and the blind near the first mark are a tough fair test. I would like running that test. You have a dog to be proud of.

Dr Fatguy

Doc E

Distance doesn't necessarily mean difficult (but, of course, as distance increases, control decreases). I've seen 50 yard marks that because of 'factors' were more difficult than 100 yard marks. All in all it was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun.

Doc E

The distances will all be within the guidelines for all Senior Level Tests --- But, I'll guarantee ya that there will be "factors" that will make the tests at the Nationals extremely difficult.