# Proof



## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I am hoping that we get to hear a description of the trial. MoP, let's hear from you!


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## Edward Lee Nelson (Jan 2, 2017)

Big Time Congrats! from his Grandfather!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

thank you!!! WE did it We got through the blinds!!!!! AND Jason and Hugh and everyone said I ran them perfect nothing they'd do different on my sits and casts!! I can't believe I did it and Proof obeyed me!! He worked so well for me first time he's let me totally drive the bus and it was great!
The first series was basically a bloodbath. I don't know how we did it but I convinced proof to get in there behind that flyer station for the long retired bird and he did so we made it back. I was hoping that after how hard the first was we'd catch some slack on the blinds. NO SIR...holy smokes I mean it was a blind I'd never tried before so I basically was about to throw up when I saw it. blind planter sitting in the middle of the field. Go down a steep hill square into the water, sort of angle a bit over some points then out and up some more hills. Had to skim an uncut mound on the right but immediately get into the left of a tree that was about ten feet deep then be on the right side of that gunner further out. The problem was you couldn't see your dog after that mound very well. 7 people out of 17 got dropped for their dogs not getting through that tree OR going way too far left and being on the wrong side of the gunner. The dog runs out past the gun about 30 yards and into a cover patch for the bird. PROOF TWO WHISTLED IT!! OMG! then we were invited to the water blind. Had to angle down same hill cut a corner of water get out on a dike road to the left of a hay bale get back into the water angle out on the ride side of another hay bale then angle across a hill to the blind. Proof did amazing. He took every cast and it was perfect. now down to ten in the fourth. OMG it was another hard series and the left retired was on the outside of that old land blind. I ended up deciding to handle him in the fourth but you know I didn't want to take a chance, I wanted to finish our first AA stake and we did. Nine dogs out of 45 actually finished and what was amazing is the judges didn't drop one single dog, they all dropped themselves by getting picked up or failing the blind! Proof and me held on!! I am so so so proud of this little red dog and I'm so proud of myself for keeping calm and getting him through those blinds. What is even better is my training partners got a first in the open and the other one a first in the Am. They have helped me so much with those blinds and getting more exposure with them. So It was just a fabulous weekend. Oh and I judged the derby and it went great!! people all told me that it was such a great challenging derby and there was a clear winner so it was great. I loved LOVED watching the young pups be so crazy and do such great work! man there are so many disappointments in this field stuff and its weekends like this that make it all worthwhile!!


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Thanks for sharing -- I could only dream about being in that position! What an incredible and surreal moment it must be!!! Wonderful job and congratulations to you, Proof, and all who have helped you along the way!


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Shelby that is SO SO awesome! I absolutely love reading about your journey, I know you've been working hard for quite a while, so seeing things going well just gives me a big smile. Congratulations on a great weekend! Looking forward to lots more great stories from you and Proof


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Perfect blinds and QAA!!!!!
Congratulations, your hard work is paying off.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

"Bayside Go Ahead And Eat The Pudding WCX *** (*DOB: 12/19/2014*)"

Hmmm, according to my math, I believe that makes him QAA as a TWO YEAR OLD!

AWESOME!!!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Congratulations! And hey congratulations on your first derby judging assignment. Let's also hear how that went??


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

thanks everyone!! What a fun dog he is. So thankful that George convinced me to take him! ha ha!

The judging assignment went great. My co judge I had known before the trial. She is a super lady and very experienced and knowledgable. She was great about guiding me in the right direction and giving me lots of little ideas about lots of stuff such as calling for birds and so forth. I have been very very blessed to have a lot of good amateurs help me and they all give me so much advice on judging and bird placement and dog safety. All sorts of good stuff. 

The first series was AWESOME. Shoot, I would have loved it for a first series. I think we did run something similar to it in South Carolina once and it was super fun. It was challenging but not tricky or hard. We had our flyer shot with the wind out of the test and our long bird shot in the opposite direction. Lots of cover strips and land terrain to get to it. Once the dogs got up there it was the moment of truth and a few were positive the bird was shot in the opposite direction and gut hunted behind the gunner. We had put him away from the trees out in the open and that opened up the space for the dogs to hunt behind him. 

Second series got flipped to water because we were in a time crunch. It was a long two down the shore that didn't give us the answers we needed. Since we had flipped our second series to water, our original land series we scrapped and quickly came up wiht another land series that would have been more challenging. That was tough. We came up with a decent long bird that gave us some good answers. We had our gunner up on a slope throwing flat but down hill over a road. Dogs don't like to cross that road! 
Our last series I really wanted to be the most challenging series. Too many times I'd go to a derby and the judges panicked after setting up too hard of a third series and then ended up with too few dogs. I had THREE super singles in the fourth due to this. I really didn't like that so I wanted to avoid it. I mean, really, if you have dogs that could get through your hard series how are you going to judge them in an easier series following that? So we did indeed have a challenging last series and I was very happy it turned out that way. The long gunner was up on a hill and the short gun was along the shoreline throwing to a tip of a peninsula. The line to the memory bird required cutting some water. If they cheated the corner they risked squaring up the hill and coming out behind the gun. IF they took too much water they risked going back to the old fall. The dogs had to have complete confidence where they were going in order to angle up that hill to the memory bird because when they went down to the water they lost sight of him. 

In any case, a couple young dogs that were really competing for a first, second and third, ended cutting around the water and coming up behind the gun and then hunting there. We got tons of answers and only one dog got picked up for going back (I think there was one.) So that showed that the test wasn't undoable but it also showed us which dogs were focused and dedicated to marking and retrieving the last bird in the trial. 

Only one dog had a perfect trial making her the clear winner. Interesting I had no idea which dog placed until they called out numbers. I had no idea what dog was what number so that was fun to see the placements! 

I did learn so much about bird placements. A couple things didn't work out the way we thought and a couple things panned out exactly the way I thought they would which was cool. It was definitely a good learning experience and fun to judge those youngsters. 

And you know I didn't judge for the judges thank you gift but I have to mention the gift I received. It is a beautiful wooden painted large canvasback decoy. It had a stand and had a medallion on the stand. They had them engraved with our judging assignment on the stand as well. How freaking cool is that? It was really really nice and memorable for my first assignment. 

I'm a lucky girl!


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Huge congratulations!!


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