Well a long one but great.
Friday saw Fred, Mugi and Chase heading (with me as driver) to Leicestershire for the first part of a weekend of Brittany fun, we also shared the car with 20 dead partridge and Mugi was mesmerised.
First part of the training was Cold Game, Mugi was my star for this - Chase can and will do it but his retrieve in company needs work and I didn't want to push him with the combi of game and company. Plan was to do a Seen, Memory and Blind retrieve but when we got the dogs sorted only two were really capable so we just went with seen and getting dogs to pick up and carry.
Moo did his first as a memory and then he was sat with me while I took some pics....
All was going well when I found this in my viewfinder![blink.gif](http://3.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/blink.gif)
Please note the lead in the pic and poor Suki was a tad bemused that the old guy had stolen her bird. Next try he was held more firmly and she did react a bit quicker.
Second phase has no photos but was water retrieves. Chase was now on as the water was a steep entry and COLD, Mugi retired for a cosy snooze. Chase was so not impressed retrieving a tennis ball but as soon as he was allowed a partridge he was soooo keen![smile.gif](http://3.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/smile.gif)
.
Saturday saw a mixed day in which I ran a Clicker Workshop - two people are really keen to give it a go so I was happy. In the afternoon I got to handle a Common Buzzard and a Harris Hawk which was great (Brittanys are often chosen by falconers and so we had a great demo of how dog and hawk work together) and then ran some more water retrieves. Chase did some more good work and the roving photographer took some wonderful pics of him - I have ordered some as A4 shots as I was soooo impressed.
Sunday was the Club Champ Show, highlights were that Mugi and his sister Rosie had some great photos taken (more ordered), their breeder won Best Puppy in Show with her youngster bred by another of my friends. Chase was a dilemma - he looks pretty mature so I put him in Post Grad (he could have done Yearling or Novice) and he was youngest in the class as he is not yet 19 months. He showed like a dream - moved well and free-stood for the first time ever - nearly everyone afterwards told me they thought he would walk the class but he came 2nd. To be honest it mattered not a bit to me and in a way I was glad, he had no need to return to the ring and perhaps behave badly in the Challenge and so he left on a good note and got a bowl of his new dog food which he is loving.
On the way home I had 4 brittanys stuffed in my car and I was shattered as I had travelled each day (no way could I take 5 dogs and I had no overnight care for the dogs left at home).
All in all a great time, full of positives and today I went back to work - I was so tired I didn't get nervous![biggrin.gif](http://3.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
.
Friday saw Fred, Mugi and Chase heading (with me as driver) to Leicestershire for the first part of a weekend of Brittany fun, we also shared the car with 20 dead partridge and Mugi was mesmerised.
First part of the training was Cold Game, Mugi was my star for this - Chase can and will do it but his retrieve in company needs work and I didn't want to push him with the combi of game and company. Plan was to do a Seen, Memory and Blind retrieve but when we got the dogs sorted only two were really capable so we just went with seen and getting dogs to pick up and carry.
Moo did his first as a memory and then he was sat with me while I took some pics....
All was going well when I found this in my viewfinder
Please note the lead in the pic and poor Suki was a tad bemused that the old guy had stolen her bird. Next try he was held more firmly and she did react a bit quicker.
Second phase has no photos but was water retrieves. Chase was now on as the water was a steep entry and COLD, Mugi retired for a cosy snooze. Chase was so not impressed retrieving a tennis ball but as soon as he was allowed a partridge he was soooo keen
.Saturday saw a mixed day in which I ran a Clicker Workshop - two people are really keen to give it a go so I was happy. In the afternoon I got to handle a Common Buzzard and a Harris Hawk which was great (Brittanys are often chosen by falconers and so we had a great demo of how dog and hawk work together) and then ran some more water retrieves. Chase did some more good work and the roving photographer took some wonderful pics of him - I have ordered some as A4 shots as I was soooo impressed.
Sunday was the Club Champ Show, highlights were that Mugi and his sister Rosie had some great photos taken (more ordered), their breeder won Best Puppy in Show with her youngster bred by another of my friends. Chase was a dilemma - he looks pretty mature so I put him in Post Grad (he could have done Yearling or Novice) and he was youngest in the class as he is not yet 19 months. He showed like a dream - moved well and free-stood for the first time ever - nearly everyone afterwards told me they thought he would walk the class but he came 2nd. To be honest it mattered not a bit to me and in a way I was glad, he had no need to return to the ring and perhaps behave badly in the Challenge and so he left on a good note and got a bowl of his new dog food which he is loving.
On the way home I had 4 brittanys stuffed in my car and I was shattered as I had travelled each day (no way could I take 5 dogs and I had no overnight care for the dogs left at home).
All in all a great time, full of positives and today I went back to work - I was so tired I didn't get nervous
. ![ph34r.gif](http://3.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/ph34r.gif)