URC Hants & South West enjoys a successful Open Test

The Hants & South West United Retriever Club held an Open Working Test at Mount Farm, Lockerley, by kind permission of Mr Lindsay Marshall.
​Judges were Peter Castleman, Di Stevens and Robert Worrall. The competitors enjoyed a first class day which was organised by Sarah Winter and run by Judy Venables. Twenty seven dogs entered on the day. The  ground enabled four tests to be set up which gave the dogs a challenge in a variety of ways.

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Test one included a long mark retrieve alongside a wood approximately 120 meters. On the return the dog was sent for a blind which was at a right angle into the wood, over a ditch, approximately 40 meters. Test two offered a double mark retrieve which was set in a paddock. The retrieves were up hill approximately 100 meters. The judge asked for the right hand one to be picked first and the second one on the return.  Test three  included a  three dog walked up with a long mark thrown up against a wood, approximately 140 meters. A short retrieve was thrown to the side. The judge asked for the short one to be picked first followed by the long retrieve. Test four offered a double blind, approximately 110 meters with no shot and a narrow angle between each dummy. The final test included a water retrieve which was a mark into a small pond. The dog had to swim across a large pond to get into the small pond. The Judge asked for the dog to swim across the first pond but he didn’t mind how the dog returned.

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Field trial judge Peter Castleman enjoyed the day. “The tests were challenging but they have to be for an open test. Dogs were of a high standard. Sometimes you’ll get a dog which can’t cope in an Open but today all the dogs ran well.”
All three panel judges enjoyed working together throughout the day and highlighted that the event was a success due to a friendly group of competitors who took all the decisions in good spirit.
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Field trial judge Di Stevens said “The ground has enabled us to test the dogs in a variety of ways which is important as some of them will be going forward to the area finals.”  She added,  “I’ve noted two observations from today. Some of the competitors didn’t look down to where they were pointing. The dog’s heads were wavering and the handler was still sending them. In a test it would be worth standing back up for a second, coming back down again and metaphorically saying no, listen, and look where I’m pointing to. The other observation is relating to the stop whistle at a distance. Most of the dogs were stopping at 100 yards but once passed that threshold there were five or six dogs which ignored the first whistle. Perhaps in training there is a limit with the distance that some handlers will go out and correct the stop whistle but you need to get out there every time, no matter what the distance and correct the dog.” 

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Left to right: Marion Hanman, Judy Evans, Jane Manley, Nikki Smallman, Dave England, Claire Salter, Mike Fleming, Peter Castleman, Di Stevens, Ken Green, Robert Worrall.

At the end of the day judges awarded first place to Jane Manley who was delighted with the outcome. 
Special thanks to the URC test organiser, Sarah Winter, test  co-ordinator Judy Venables, the host, judges, helpers and competitors for making the day a success. As always Skinners provided much appreciated sponsorship.

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​Results:
1st Lenyam Justintime - Jane Manley
2nd Lubbecke Queen of Hearts of Abney - Dave England
3rd Cynhinfa Napoleon - Claire Salter
4th Tuscanni Viking - Rob Smallman
COM Autumn Willow Tag - Ken Green
COM Mitforton Nado - Nikki Smallman

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