SEGS Open Water – by kind permission of Gilly & Clive Nickols
1st: Bubbles Van De Vaortkaant – Ingrid Van de Ven
2nd: Leadburn Gamble – Neil Franklin
3rd: Gowran Indigo Extra – Robert Willatts
4th: Laborie Cirrus – Julia Smith
The tests were changed from the Novice tests by tweeks and distance.
Test 1: Heelwork. Shot on the move and a mark thrown down a ride to the left of a small lake. That to be picked. Walk on. Shot at the back of the small lake and a blind was over that lake on the back path behind it. Distance of about 80 yards I suppose from handler to retrieve and whilst the track took you round the lake, the judge wanted the dog put over the lake or would be heavily knocked. Tricky.
Both achieved, Bondy over the lake, Fish round it, sometimes you have to know when not to fight it 
Test 2: Gulp. Serious blind at a angle over a lake no shot. Distance about 50 yards over the lake on the diagonal they judge wanted. Long piece of land jutting into the water which was the obvious point to make for on the dogs part had a dummy on it they DIDN’T want Dummy was tucked like any floating duck on a windy day, into the bank. Thrilled both boys achieved this pretty cleanly, many didn’t.
Test 3: Double mark over a lake into roughly the same area. The trick being they were not in a straight line to where the dogs got out, so therefore they had to remember them across the lake and out the other side or, as mine both did, go over, then run straight up the hillside infront of them and need handling left onto them…. not bad, not bad, couple of handles each … note to self need work on that – keeping a mark in their memory whilst going over a decent stretch of water, basically.
Test 4: The test that made me decide I’m going back to NDNH A double blind with no shot. One at an angle over a narrowish stretch of water but as the dog goes down the bank to the water you lose sight of them. Second blind straight across some rough ground to some easily spotted bracken but crossing a couple of tracks which begged the dog to pull offline. Both my boys did it in carbon copy style Down the bank, didn’t stay on the diagonal line out of sight but ‘squared off’, went over the water straight and so vanished, cleverly behind a huge bush which was deliberately there so you were heavily penalised if that occured. you weren’t allowed to move out from behind the bush so therefore the dog had to go on verbal commands alone as they couldn’t see you once they made land. The bolder Bondy stood for a while then made up his mind to just keep on going up the hill….eventally appeared over the top of the bush and then handled back down and left to where I wanted him. Hidiously messy. Fish, bless, just stood there once he got halfway up the hillside, and stared at the bush. he could hear me yelling ‘out!’ but in true Fish style would rather do nothing rather than the wrong thing so just stayed put, eventually sitting down I hurled myself in the air in a hugely gymnastic move which nearly put me and the judge in hospital, and he saw the tips of my fingers… and went, bang, straight onto the dummy. Both picked the second blind clean. However a 12 for Bondy and a 7 for Fish put paid to the previous decent work they had done… sigh and grin.
Not one of our better days but thats testing!
Congrats to the winners and thanks to SEGS for an excellently organised day.
Di
