Walhalla, SC (Oconee County) Copyright 2009 D. Nelson
We're done! Tessa earned her Junior Hunter today.
Her scores were 8 in hunting ability, bird finding and pointing, and 7 in trainability.
After losing her in the field for about 5 minutes on Saturday, I attached a bell to her collar for the Sunday run and that was a tremendous help - I couldn't hear her when she was at the far end, but at closer range I was able to tell which way she was running and that really helped. Other than that, I thought we were somewhat of a mess today with no excuse at that. The conditions were perfect but it seemed to me that Tessa didn't settle in just quite right - she hunted wide and very fast and I feared she would overrun all the birds. She finally stopped to point but when I got there I couldn't find a bird, nor feathers (Tessa later returned and pointed again and that time I was able to flush the bird).
Now, the bird field was a long field with high grass with two "hazards" on each side - on the right there was a wire fence, and on the left was the Enchanted Forest, full of (flyaway) birds (but off limits). We were advised to be careful not to let the dogs enter the woods or they just may not come out.
We were able to avoid the woods on Saturday but on Sunday, after quite an unproductive while, one judge hollered that Tessa had been sucked in! By the enchanted forest, that is! Oh cuss! I ran over, and was advised by my judge to get her out of there quickly before it's too late. That's when she went on her first point, right by the edge, and although it was out of bounds, I fired my pistol when the bird flushed, and she chased it deeper into the woods! Of course! I was like a deer in the headlight. The judge came to the rescue by telling me to pick up my dog (meaning, physically grab her and lead her out of there). I whistled, and by the grace of God she came back around, pointed again and that's when I - literally - picked her up and carried her out of the woods (didn't want to jerk her off a point), then sat her down and lead her by the collar into the field where she was supposed to be.
At that point I thought there was a good chance that we failed today and that the shiphomes will be able to watch her perform some other time after all! Oh man, she was all over the place! But at least she did find birds and pointed everytime.
Time was up, "pick up your dogs"! Easier said than done. Ideally, you call the dog, she comes, you leash, and walk out of the field. The judges stopped to write out the score cards, and the ATV arrives to plant more birds for the next brace which will start in a few minutes.
Tessa didn't come! In fact, she ran further out, all the way to the freaking end of the field! And everytime I sort of caught up with her, she ran off again - always 100 feet ahead of me. I would have thrown myself on the dog had she been close enough. The bird planter stopped to help, and I was able to grab her when she went on a point, and off the field we rushed. That just had to be a low trainability score, however, thankfully it happened after the test.
Needless to say, I was delighted to see she passed (obviously, the junior level is judged with much more leniency than the senior level, and you can't really fault the dogs for wanting to hunt 100 birds in the woods rather than find the 5 in the field).
So she ran 5 JH tests and her average scores were 6.25, 8.25, 7.25, 8 and 7.75 out of 10. Nothing stellar, but I think it truly reflects as to where we stand given the training and exposure (or lack thereof) she had. At any rates, it's always fun to watch her hunt.