Birmingham Trial 6th & 7th January 2007

The day started with everyone meeting up at the club grounds, the weather was miserable and wet, but this wouldn't dampen the enthusiasm that surrounded the weekends events. There were to be 3 BH examinations, 2 Sch1 exams, 1 Sch2 exam and 5 Sch3 exams. We all sauntered off in convoy to our newly acquired tracking ground, the tracking grounds are all pasture land that are home at various times of the year to very rare cattle owned by our good friend Dave. The top meadow would hold the 2 Sch1 tracks and the Sch2 track and the bottom meadow all 5 Sch3 tracks. The meadows have a good covering of various grasses, weeds and wild flowers not to mention lots of rabbits, foxes, clay pigeons and numerous cross tracks.

TRACKING

Ian with (Elmhaus Brandon) GSD Sch2 track. A very nice track, with some minor points lost for lifting his head and a small problem with the last 12 feet of track, 95 pts.
Greg & Kara (bred from show lines) Sch1 track. A very nice track also with some minor points dropped for touching the articles with her nose, and an increase in speed on the last corner, 95 pts.
Travis & Xantos GSD Sch1 track. Also a very nice track with the only problem the last 20 feet where the grass had become barren and Xantos had to re-trace him self, 96 pts.

Now down to the bottom meadow for the 5 Sch3 tracks. Similar terrain, albeit with slightly longer grass.

Earl & Ira, a nice track, but missing an article cost Earl badly, 87 pts.
Elena & Jailer another nice track, 93 pts.
Kim & Jezebel one or two problems on the start but another good track, 86 pts.
Jackie and Spike, a really nice track, with some points lost for speed, 91 pts.
Rod with Pepnick High Spirit, the best Sch3 track of the day, 95 pts.

BH TESTS

Then it was off back to our club grounds for the 3 BH examinations.

Jo and Rudi, (tailed rottie) a really nice BH with Rudi paying lots of attention and Jo looking as cool as ever.
Mark and Otty (docked rottie) another nice BH round, but with Mark forgetting how many steps to take half way through.
Rog and Jess (GSD) with Jess doing ok, but Rog completely forgetting the correct time
as to when to do the sit in motion. LoL.

The traffic part of the test went fine for all 3 with all the dogs showing a nice temperament throughout.

Result....3 PASSES.

OBEDIENCE

The weather again was pretty poor, raining for most of the day.

Sch1

Trav and Xantos, a nice solid round of obedience, with 5 or 6 small errors, 90 pts.
Greg and Kara, another nice round of obedience, a few handler errors, the long down definitely needs more work and the mental problem Kara has with the 1 metre hurdle, 83 pts.

Sch2

Ian and his dog, (Elmhaus Brandon) another nice round but with a few errors, 82 pts.

Sch3

Earl and IRA, good solid round, some problems with the dumbbell rolling around when thrown and Ira's send away, 83 pts.
Elena and Jailer, lots of small errors, 80 pts.
Kim and Jezebel, great heelwork, good solid round, 91pts.
Rod and (Pepnick High Spirit) lots of small errors but a solid, 84pts.
Jackie and Spike withdrew, (family bereavement).

PROTECTION

Sch1

Trav & Xantos, A good round, with Trav opting to "call out" at the blind, and then after 2 failed attempts, walk him away, 90 pts.
Greg & Kara, A round with quite a few handler faults, 78 pts.

Sch2

Ian produced not one of his best performances, but non the less, a good solid performance, gaining 88 pts.

Sch3

Earl and IRA, a good performance, but with Earl producing one or two handler errors, 87 pts.
Elena and Jailer, another good performance, with one or two handler errors, 87 pts.
Kim and Jezebel, another good solid performance, with only minor handler errors, 90 pts.
Rod & Pepnick High Spirit, disappointing for Rod, as I know this dog can be awesome on this day failing to be called out from the bark and hold, 0pts.

SUMMARY

A great if somewhat wet weekend for our first club trial, 3 club members gaining their BH (2 Rotties and a GSD) 2 Club members gaining Sch1 Well done to you all.

A special thank you to ALL the Catering folk, absolutely excellent food and drinks. Also to the HELPERS, TRACKLAYERS, and GAVIN SMITH for judging our trial. Also to the SEVERNSIDE members that COACHED us through the event, especially Phil Sargent.

To see the rest of the photo's visit out Photo Gallery Page.