"2012 already!

So here we are in 2012 .Trialling did not go quite to plan in 2011 ...Gertie was not in the zone !! but i am pleased to say that things have gone better this year as she won a one day open last week ! Hooray so a "B" qualification towards next season .
 I ran Gambol in 2 novices in september/October getting a 4th and a 2nd i was pleased with her performance ...Mike then ran her in late October and won whilst i was up north with Gertie so that was good , i have since run her in 3 all aged getting an award in 2 !
The season is now coming to an end.... we are planning to mate Gertie and Gambol as soon as they come into season and also Raven who mike won a novice with a couple of years ago so i will try and keep you updated on how we are progressing

The last 2 months !!

June was another busy month we had 2 litters of pups born ....the first one a little earlier than we expected unfortunately one was very small and didnt make it .The next litter was safely delivered 9 days later all puppies have now gone to their new homes except the 2 we are keeping and one which will be collected next week.
We went to Germany to judge a working test for the RTT retriever club , four levels Puppy/beginners(this can be anyage of dog that has not acheived enough points to go up a level) novice,intermediate and open . I judged three of these groups about  80 dogs !The standard in the open was very high especially the golden retrievers i think the top 5 dogs were all goldens very popular over there.... the hospitality was superb and i was very impressed with the amount of very willing helpers,WE had a good weekend enjoying the company of our fellow judges .
At the end of the month we went to Scotland for a week with Pip and Peter , we were lucky enough to stay on the Novar Estate which is beautiful , a brilliant week was had by all .
Sam Liz and i represented the Eastern Counties Utilities at Fred Braceys charity test always a great day and even better as we won with all our dogs going really well.

In the middle of July Mike Phil and i went to Holkham for the team event representing the Suffolk Gundog club , i think to say it did not go to plan is a understatement !! Our dogs did not want to play they certainly are great levellers !!
Now we are into August and we are doing a few training days in the sugar beet for different groups of people of all standards ..very interesting !
Last weekend we both ran our dogs in the Suffolk cold game test which our dogs enjoyed and ran very well Mike winning it with Butler and me 2nd with Gertie ...much more their thing than Holkham !

(Gizmo loves training days the sugar beet)

Gertie came into season the next day which is great as she will be clear for the trial season     

Gambols first novice test

My first blog will be about my 1st novice test with my young bitch Birdsgreen Griffon , kennel name Gambol.
The test was held at Watlington Hall Estate in lovely parkland the judges were Kieth Willimot Ian Buttle Graham Taylor and Phil Askew . We were divided into 4 groups as the test was judged on the safari system which is great for young dogs as they do not have to hang about for too long .All the tests had loud shots which again is excellent to help the youngsters.Mike ran his young dog Middlegate Vinnie of Brindlebay.Our first test was a mark on water and a blind across the corner just in the undergrowth Gambol picked the mark nicely with one back halfway across as encouragement and when i sent her for the blind she pullled out to the mark as expected so i had to handle her out to the right which she did although coming back to the front edge she then whipped round the edge to pick quickly.
I wont bore you with the rest and as my typing is not that good it would take too long but we had 3 more double exercises .
We then had lunch and 8 of us were callled for a mini drive where Gizmo my terrier joined in as i had forgotten to put her away (whoops). We all had one more retrieve a long blind into the trees away from the drive. Then myself and no 18 were called for a run off for a place this was a long launcher mark .I was very pleased with Gambols overall performance and the day was very well run with a lovely atmosphere , the tests were brilliant for novice dogs and thankyou to the judges and helpers for an excellent day.Gambol was second and the worthy winner was Birdsgreen Firefly bred by myself .