Sunday, November 13, 2011

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Good morning......we at Retriever News are up early today to join up with the Caravan leaving for the grounds at 5:30.  We're expecting a partly sunny day with a high of 67 degrees or so (currently 47 degrees)...one can only hope!! More later...

We arrived at the Woodward Reservoir in the dark having been guided by the Traffic Committee complete with flashlight guidance. As the crowd gathered, the darkness lifted and we were greeted with a picture postcard scene.

Tests 1 & 2: Double and a Blind

The mat is at the base of a large mound. Bird number one is a dead Rooster 65 yards in front of the mat. Gunners shoot and throw to the left into a shallow ravine with heavy cover. After throwing, they retire into the heavy cover. Bird number two is a Rooster flyer 70 yards to the right of the line. The gunners let this bird ride very wide to the right. As the dog returns from the retired bird, the handler receives the dog behind the blind. At this time, a blind planter plants the blind at the base of a small bush 230 yards to the right of the mat and under the arc of the flyer.

We've been here for an hour and the sun has come up and is out in full force. The temperature is close to 50 degrees and is rising steadily. We have run 15 dogs in the first hour. There has been one no bird.
The wind has increased from 1-3 and is coming from the handlers right.

Test Dog FC-AFC Flyway's Ruby B. Gonia, LF with owner/handler Don Graves

Test Dog Horns Or Halo, LM with owner/handler Janis Olsen

The Retriever News Team

Taken from the Mat....Gun # 1

Taken from the Mat...the flyer station with the blind visible to the upper right

Vickie Lamb, Blogger Extraordinaire, and Official Announcer Dean Ellis

The wind has just about stopped and the temperature and the dogs are having more trouble with the left hand retired, however the last two dogs have stepped on it.

This test is going quickly....we are already at Dog #11. We had late word that Dog #6, "Hook," was a scratch, so we have only had 89 starters at this event. The work has been consistent throughout the day. The wind has changed all morning long. The Marshals estimate that the test will be in the books by 2 pm.

Eugene Day and Ed Ridenour of the Stanislaus Sheriff's Department keep watch to keep down the rioting.

Alex So from Dogtra and Tellus Calhoun of Enhance

Laura Owens of MCS Photography adjusts Ryan Brasseaux number before his Official Portrait

Danny Farmer waits his turn.......

Lanse Brown writes a message to Tommy Sorenson who is in a Rest Home.

Hat shopping at Brenda Little's Lucky Lab Pins

Site Concessions of Oakdale is serving food all week.

It's lunchtime folks and the food wagon is being run by Site Concessions of Oakdale. They will be here all day, having set up early and will, of course, be here for the remainder of the week. They serve a breakfast fare of burrittos with eggs and other yummy ingredients. For lunch, they serve hamburgers, corn dogs and nachos. This is a Mother-Son-Daughter operation that has been in business since 1936. People started to line up around 10:45 am, having had such an early start to their day.

Mark Medford, Kelsi Toth and David Carrington from Avery

What a beautiful scene!

Mike Witt, Jerry Cacchio and Roy Pelton of Purina

Merchandise Sales are available on site

We are almost done with this test....just a couple more dogs to run. We will be setting up for the Third Series right away this afternoon and the Judges hope to run as many dogs as possible this afternoon.

The test is in the books at 2:21 pm with Lanse Brown and "Eva."  Callbacks to come....

There were a total of three dogs dropped from the First and Second Series: 6 (a scratch), 62 and 76.

Test Three: Land and Water Triple

The Third Series is a land/water triple. The pheasant flyer station was replaced with a duck flyer station in the same location. The mat was moved laterally about 65 yards to the west. The new test faces south east. The first bird is a dead Drake duck thrown angle back to the left from a gentle, sloping bank up onto a level plane about three feet higher than the bank area. This bird is approximately 260 yards and is on the far side of a cove and directly off the back of the flyer station which is located on the nearside of the cove and is retired. The second bird is a dead Rooster pheasant at about 230 yards and sits to the left of the first set of guns. The dog must cross a small finger of the lake. The pheasant is thrown to the left across a small inlet and up against a row of heavy cover. The third bird is the Drake flyer and is a about sixty yard straight in front of of the line.

The first Test Dog: Horns or Halo, had to be handled on the left hand bird. We have had handles on three dogs: 64, 65, 66, 67 and 69 all on the left hand bird. The test is taking somewhere in the range of nine minutes per dog.

The third test ended for the day at 4:50 pm with dog #75 "Diva" doing a nice job. It was announced that the test dog will run at 6:30 am sharp. The starting dog is #77. Check back for more pictures later....