the good, the bad, and the ugly.......

[david gibson]

good

my little 9 mo old Brady totally NAILED the Sr test Saturday, never a question, no bubble, no bleeding, nuttin but class work. smack down quality run on both series. temps from 33 in the am to 50 at the highest, 30-35 mph winds.....brutal brutal brutal....


bad

failed today. total control on the diversion/blind - then the land go-bird was 40 yds of land, then 30 feet of lunging water, bird 5 ft on the bank. Brady left his depth perception at home this day and hunted short, and apparently the handle back across the skinny water was less than desirable to the judges. oh well. cant change much to counteract this, sheet just happens.

ugly

my dear friend who is a totally novice handler just had hell. dog is pro-trained - way ahead of my dog, but very "hot". yesterday i was honoring, and her dog broke on the walk-up 1st mark couldnt stop her before she retrieved the bird. darn.

then today, the walk up was for a diversion shot. you are walking toward 12:00, diversion shot from 9:00, then run the blind to 7:00; then the double is tossed from 9-10:00 and 11-12:00. didnt matter, her dog sooo locked on the diversion shot and blew her off and would not take the lined to the blind. very clearly (to me anyhow) just a matter of a pro-trained dog ignoring the female momma-owner handler. i have faith in the handlers determination and she will convince this dog of who is boss. just sucks that they put this much effort into it to only bow out on the first bird of each day. oh well, there is no other way - gotta learn by trial by fire!


UNREAL grounds, absolutely gorgeous ranch, test was run OK, but a severe lack of bird-boys etc. gotta have a lot of envy for Bryan-College Station and their resident Aggie corp men to toss birds! Aggies are good for something, right????

[Ken Bora]

Nice Job on the qualification David. And I like your thread title. I used to/still do have a joke with it.
Why is a hunt test like a Clint Eastwood Movie? Chris Atkinson may remember it. Told it to him last time I was working the line for a test he judged.

So why?

For a fist full of dollars you will see the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[1st retriever]

Congrats David and Brady!