 2nd F.C.I. Selection Trial 2007
 June
2nd and 3rd saw the second F.C.I. Qualifier hosted by Birmingham Schutzhund
Club and held at Lichfield Rugby Club. I must apologise if this report is
a little vague in some spheres but I had no idea I was to be asked to write it
and as such made no notes whatsoever and I was not able to see all the handlers
and dogs in all three phases.
Contrary to the weather forecast we were blessed with sunshine for the entire
weekend and with such a superb venue it made for a really enjoyable trial for
both entrants and spectators alike. It has to be said that this must be
one of the best venues we have found yet on which to hold a trial with excellent
parking, a seated stand, and bar and toilet facilities. Birmingham gained
an excellent reputation for their catering at their first trial held earlier
this year and once again Joy’s now famous curries were on offer!
TRACKING
 The
club had had to make a decision re the tracking ground two weeks prior to the
trial on whether to have it cut or not, and with the unusual dry spell we had
been experiencing it was decided to leave well alone as without the benefit of
rain there was a chance of no re growth. Then came the rain, followed by
the rain…….. And by the day of the trial the grass in certain parts of the
fields had grown beyond belief. I had seen the tracking land three weeks
previously and allowing for normal growth was expecting something around knee
high, however while watching Phil Sergent tracking with his dog Beau with
nothing but his head visible (Phil’s not the dogs) I realised these conditions
might prove difficult for some of the dogs particularly in relation to
pinpointing the articles. This proved the case with several early fallers
however Chris Bows with his dog Arnie and Alan Wood with Molly went out and
proved yet again that if a dog can track and is trained accordingly it will
track regardless of conditions and both returned stunning scores of 97 followed
up by Jackie Bailey with 96 and Phil Sergent with 90, so it can be done!!
I have heard unconfirmed reports that a rescue vehicle had to be sent out to
retrieve “Big Phil” who had become disorientated in the undergrowth!!!
SATURDAY PRACTICE SESSION
 Back
to the stadium and time for the run through with the helpers. It was
apparent from the start that short work helper Vincenzo Magnati had no intention
of risking missing his flight home to Italy taking off at break neck speed on
the escape and despite attempts by the superb judge Louis Vanderpoel to steady
him down the dogs needed to keep both eyes on him at all times if they were not
to be caught out. For those of you lucky enough to have qualified,
Vincenzo has been short listed to the last two to do helper work at the F.C.I.
in Italy but thankfully for all involved for the long work which is more usual
for him.
OBEDIENCE
 The
Sunday morning saw the start of the obedience with some nice rounds, Dougie
Bannerman with Diego performed in their usual professional style and returned a
score of 90 with the big guns Alan Wood and Chris Bows on the field together
battling it out and returning scores of 90 and 85 respectively with Chris I
assume being penalised for his dog showing a little too much drive and
enthusiasm and displaying his characteristic of jumping throughout the heeling
phase a little more than I have witnessed in the past. Highest obedience
round of the day was new kid on the block Josh Bradley with his very experienced
dog Hirro returning a score of 92. Josh managed to keep his nerves under
control very well given the circumstances and from the outside appeared
amazingly calm and collected with some very accomplished looking handling and
minor points were lost for crooked sits and a bit of help on the down in motion
probably due to the fact that the dog missed this position at his last trial out
and Josh was taking no chances. Points were also taken for the dog being a
little chewy on the dumbbells however I know this was due to the training
required to make sure he would actually give them up as at his last trial it was
a bit of a battle to get him to release after the retrieve over the wall.
All in all a very good round and an excellent result for such a young handler
with a very strong and experienced dog.
PROTECTION
 Next
to the protection phase and as expected several dogs were surprised to say the
least at the level of acceleration displayed by the “little Italian”. A
special mention here to Elena Smirnova whose super young dog produced the
highlight of the day for the spectators when he managed to bring the helper to
the ground on the escape, something which I think many had been hoping for all
day!! The force of the re-attack in the short work though took a few dogs
a little high which resulted in some problems by the time they got to the long
work helper Ian James. With the drive being raised some dogs refused to
out or re-bit resulting in disqualification, amongst them Jackie Bailey with
Spike and John Clark, both which had put in excellent rounds up to this point.
Chris with Arnie returned a very good 90 points followed by Alan Wood with 92.
This little female has really come on since I first seen her and seems to be on
top form at the moment. Highest protection round of the day was Josh
Bradley with Hirro, returning a score of 93 with most of the points being lost
by handler error, calling the dog from the blind to early caused I suspect by a
bout of nerves. The control throughout the round looked very precise and I
would suspect this team are one to watch for in the future. Final placings
are included below.
SUMMARY
All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend and it was good to see both the
Chairman of BAGSD and the GSDL in attendance. A special mention should go
to the grassroots members of Birmingham who worked tirelessly during the entire
weekend to ensure a well and smoothly run trial and to Travis and Lorraine
Foster who I know had lost sleep over it!!!
RESULTS
-
97,90,92=279 ALAN WOODS
-
97,85,90=272 CHRIS BOWS
-
80,92,93=265 JOSH BRADLEY (BIRMINGHAM SCH CLUB)
-
88,90,85=263 DOUGIE BANNERMAN
-
83,84,87=254 ELENA SMIRNOVA
-
76,84,92=252 TOM NYE
-
90,76,81=247 PHIL SERGENT
-
80,82,84=246 GRAHAM GREEN (ONLY NON-SHEPHERD MALI)
-
84,76,81=241 BRIAN WINCOTT
-
73,80,87=240 PAT WOODS
NON QUALIFIERS
WITHDRAWN
PRE TRIAL WITHDRAWN
Thanks to all of you for entering the trial giving us a fantastic entry from
both BAGS and GSDL organisations from every corner of the UK.
Eric Wight
All pictures taken on the day can be seen on the
Photo Gallery page. |
