[greg magee]

Yes, I do remember. I was invited to train with Connie Cleveland and saw the work done by FC-AFC OTCH Law Abiding Ezra. It set the standard for my training thereafter. His housemate FC-AFC OTCH Topbrass Ascending Elijah was also inspiring that weekend.

God Bless Ezra, Eli and Flash's buddy Annie

Ezra was an outstanding retriever. I remember judging him in the Open many years ago and put him up for the win which titled him. Handled by Judy at the time it was poetry in motion whatching that team work.

 

[John Kelder]

Chavez........'nuff said..

 

[kawarthalabs]

My wife and I were on holidays in July,1992 and I got a call from my father telling me about some friend of his from Alberta coming to Brighton Ontario for something called a field trial.My wife and I agreed to drive over for the day and she and my mother went shopping and Dad and I went looking for Nilak kennels.I remember driving up the dusty road and saw all kinds of trucks and trailers and off in the distance some yellow dog in a field hunting.I got out of my vehicle and was instantly and completely mesmerized by what I saw. What seemed like a mile away was this yellow lab running out and picking up a duck then the dog was directed by it's owner to pick up 2 other ducks.I knew right then and there I would someday have a dog that would do that.
Fast forward to 2009 and my first dog, 4 year old Pilkingtons Abby of Kawartha was a finalist in the 2009 Canadian national open on those very same grounds.
By the way that 1 day trip lasted a whole week and that yellow lab turned out to be owned by his friend from Alberta Helmut Frauscher, the dog's name was NFTCH Waldorfs High Tech and winner that week of the Canadian Nat. Am. and sire of the great Ebonstar Lean Mac.
That dog and week in Brighton has always been a great memory.
Tony.

 

[freefall319]

It was opening weekend of duck season last year for me. I had drawn a good number at a great refuge and my cousin and I put a beatin' on the greenhead's and Spec's the first morning. That afternoon we met a guy who did not get in to hunt because his number never got called and was'nt going to make it in the next day either. I decided to help him out and invited uhim to come out with us the next day. He had a chocolate male and said he was well trained & damn was he right......... I had'nt hunted over a dog in years and what a treat it was. He took all his whistle corrections perfectly and had one hell of a motor yet was very controlled. I watched, with my mouth open, that dog make a 200+ yard blind retrieve over 2 leve's on a winged Pintail. It was at that moment that I realized what I was missing and that I had to have a dog.

After a bunch of research & miles I found my pup, Niko. She continues to impress me with her natural ablitity and drive & I could'nt be happier. I can only imagine how great she'd be if she had someone better than me to train her. But, that aside I am proud of her and cant wait to share some frozen mornings together.

 

[22899]

That one dog for me was Calypso Mountain Ash.

Long time ago. I reguarly was given the opportunity to throw and live gun at master tests. You get a real good perpective of what dogs can do being a BB or gunner.

Ashton was the dogs call name. She was owned by Kadi Workman. I always looked forward to throwing, gunning for that dog, and watching her run. Other dogs as they came out may take a minute and look at you, or be somewhat interested in the BB presence. Not Ashton, that dog was a full charge a go, and had her eyes fixed on the exact fall of that bird. She would pick the mark up, and head back with the same full head a steam as She came out with.

This was back in the day when Heavy, blocky ,dogs were the norm. Ashton was a very slim athletic dog for the time. I bet she wasnt 42 pounds drippin wet. She was just a joy to watch work. I envy her to this day! many didnt like her looks. I did,, I wanted her.

Kadi if yer out there,, I tip a glass of red to you and Ashton.


Gooser

 

[22899]

Calypso Mountain Ash.

 

[Illinois Bob]

Boone was the first one that made me want to get my own and train him.Boone ran field trials in the mid eighties.His owner trained with Jackie Mertens.Her and her husband brought us to field trials to watch and vollunteered me to be a gunner in a few.They also gave me my first lab as a house warming gift when my house was built.The photo below is Boone in back and my dog Tracker in front while duck hunting at Horicon Marsh.Boone was retired from field trials by then.

 

[Joe Dutro]

2002- Sitting in a duck blind pit in Arkansas. To that point I had only hunted with sub-par dogs and fishing pools. We winged a drake mallard who sailed into the next rice field approx. 250 yards out. A now good friend of mine, Tom, brought Champ out of the pit blind and sent him on a blind. That was actually the first blind retrieve I had ever saw. WOW- "I want dog that can do that".

About 2 months later Tom called to say Champ was siring a liter of chocolates. I bought Dora who started all of this madness. I wouldn't change a thing.
Joe

 

[HeavenSent]

Yep! Wasn't even two years ago!
I had driven down to South Carolina to check out a puppy a friend of mine (runnindawgz)said was "perfect" for me and was ready to go home with me if I wanted her. We decided to take her home and were invited to go watch a "FT/HT training session" before heading back to Massachusetts. I had been friends with Danielle for years and had heard all abouther and her dog, Spice, running Hunt Tests etc but knew nothing about it. I knew Agility and Obedience. I would always congratulate her when Spice passed a test but didn't quite know why it was a big deal that her dog retrieved ducks At the training session, we watched Danielle and the others run their dogs on what they called "blind retrieves". That was it for me! I turned to my husband, in total amazement, and said "I want to be able to do that with MY dog". Knowing Agility and Obedience, I got goosebumps watching these animals and their handlers.

I brought Midge into my life for Agility and Obedience, in turn,Midge brought these "retriever games" into my life. I have Danielle and Spice to thank for that! Spice still amazes me to this day. In a couple of years, I just may bring a "Spice-Puppy" into my life This is Spice:

http://www.completelyk9.com/BlackFootKennels_Labradors.html

 

[greg magee]

NAFC-FC Candlewood's Bit of Bunny, (Babe)!!!

 

[Joel Thorstad]

I was hooked since I can remember. It was my grandpa's dogs that did it to me. By the time I was a youngster he was out of field trialing but for his hunting dogs, he had bought two black female washouts named Belle and Annie. Those two dogs are legends in my family, I wish I could tell you what kind of papers were behind those two, but I have know idea. It wasnt just their skills as hunters that got me though, they went everywhere with him, to the office, to restaurants, to the grocery store, and when we'd go in, they'd patiently wait outside and wouldnt move an inch till we got out. I never saw a leash on either of the two and everyone in town knew who they were when they saw them sitting quietly outside a store, waiting for him to come back out.