# Field trial sign up questions



## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I'm thinking hard about taking the leap of running Lucy in a derby before she ages out. I know she's a show dog, and I don't have any illusions that she will win, but I think it will be fun. So before I sign up I have a couple of dumb questions. The field trials are listed for 3 days, May 30, 31 and June 1 then another on June 6,7,8 on Entry Express. I don't think the derby will run all 3 days. So do they skip the first day and run only amateur and open, then run the derby the second and third days? The 2 field trials I am looking at are here in Alaska. I need to decide fairly soon since I can either run Lucy in a derby or enter an obedience competition. The derby sounds like a lot more fun for both of us. We did get some swimming in last weekend and we have a few open ponds around town, no large bodies of water open yet, but probably by the end of the week, so we can work on some distance soon. We worked on water line manners last weekend. Lucy is of course overwhelmed with being in water again. The water just makes her head spin. Thanks for your help.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

I assume you are talking about the Faibanks Retriever Club and the Retriever Club of Alaska trial? If so the dates on which each stake starts is posted on Entry Express. Every trial is different in how they are run but it must be stated in the premium what day which stake will start. Derby could quite possibly finish in just one day but to be safe plan on two. 
Good luck and have a blast!!


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

I guess I missed an entire line or two in your post!! :doh: Sorry
Both those trials have the days listed as to what day the trial stakes start. Both trials have Derby starting on Saturday.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Thanks, I read and read and couldn't figure out which day(s). No I'm not headed up to Fairbanks (350 miles away). I'm thinking of doing the local trials with the RCA and AWRC clubs much closer to home. My deadline is Monday May 19th to enter either. Ambika have you ever run a dog in a derby?


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Alaska7133 said:


> Thanks, I read and read and couldn't figure out which day(s). No I'm not headed up to Fairbanks (350 miles away). I'm thinking of doing the local trials with the RCA and AWRC clubs much closer to home. My deadline is Monday May 19th to enter either. Ambika have you ever run a dog in a derby?


If you click on the Club on the EE schedule you will see all the stakes listed with the judges names to the right. To the right of that you will see the start date for that stake.
No, I have never run a dog in a derby or any field trial. I did enter a derby at a fun trial years ago but it was run VERY lax to put it mildly. I have worked at a derby stake one time and found it very interesting and fun to watch While it was COMPETITIVE I thought it was much lower key than the other stakes.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

That's what I'm looking for. Early in the year (for us) opportunities. Lucy isn't field trial material, but she loves birds and this will be an opportunity to get her out in a competition situation to see how she does. So if it's laid back that's great, if not we will probably wash out after the first series. Our first AKC hunt test isn't until July in this area. Who knows maybe she will surprise me!


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Alaska7133 said:


> That's what I'm looking for. Early in the year (for us) opportunities. Lucy isn't field trial material, but she loves birds and this will be an opportunity to get her out in a competition situation to see how she does. So if it's laid back that's great, if not we will probably wash out after the first series. Our first AKC hunt test isn't until July in this area. Who knows maybe she will surprise me!



Yep, you'll never know unless you try.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I would try to find a club that has a picnic trial and try her out. If you have never seen a field trial you just may get the surprise of your life if you just show up and try to run your dog in Derby.

I watched a Derby Stake five years ago. The dogs had to do double marks. What I saw at the water was a flyer of 150 yds.---25 yds. land, 30 yds. through thick lily pads, clear water then another 10 yards through more lily pads. The memory bird was 200? yds.---35 yards angle entry, 10 yds. lily pads, 60 yds. clear water, across a point of land, then into a cove. I was kind of surprised myself.

Not to discourage you, on the contrary I would like to encourage you to train so that you show up "loaded for bear".


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## tpd5 (Nov 7, 2013)

You never really know. My friend ran his dog in a derby last weekend. He went into it hoping to make it through the first series. He ended up with a jam.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

The water part is going to kill us. We have such a short water season here. All the serious dogs up here get sent down to the states to train to get their water work. I just couldn't afford to make that trip down and work on that part. So I do expect to not do well on that series. The land doubles hard to say, we might do ok. I do have a NAHRA picnic test this weekend and a double header NAHRA hunt test May 17-18. So I'll have more. We did some swimming last weekend and we do have a little open water here and there. Distances we do well in some situations and not in others. We have a little time to practice before, but not a whole lot of time.

George, I've only been to a qual. It was really tough. They do such huge distances, I was really amazed. Field trials are another animal that is for sure!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> The water part is going to kill us. We have such a short water season here. All the serious dogs up here get sent down to the states to train to get their water work. I just couldn't afford to make that trip down and work on that part. So I do expect to not do well on that series. The land doubles hard to say, we might do ok. I do have a NAHRA picnic test this weekend and a double header NAHRA hunt test May 17-18. So I'll have more. We did some swimming last weekend and we do have a little open water here and there. Distances we do well in some situations and not in others. We have a little time to practice before, but not a whole lot of time.
> 
> George, I've only been to a qual. It was really tough. They do such huge distances, I was really amazed. Field trials are another animal that is for sure!


I am also amazed at the distances. But the dogs do it.

I would try to do whatever I could to practice water work. I would also do what I could to stretch out distance on land and water for your dog.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> The water part is going to kill us. We have such a short water season here. All the serious dogs up here get sent down to the states to train to get their water work. I just couldn't afford to make that trip down and work on that part. So I do expect to not do well on that series. The land doubles hard to say, we might do ok. I do have a NAHRA picnic test this weekend and a double header NAHRA hunt test May 17-18. So I'll have more. We did some swimming last weekend and we do have a little open water here and there. Distances we do well in some situations and not in others. We have a little time to practice before, but not a whole lot of time.
> 
> George, I've only been to a qual. It was really tough. They do such huge distances, I was really amazed. Field trials are another animal that is for sure!


IDEA!!!!!!

At the end of the picnic test ask if someone could help you run your dog on a couple of long marks. This way you could see where your dog is on this kind of work.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Alaska7133 said:


> George, I've only been to a qual. It was really tough. They do such huge distances, I was really amazed. Field trials are another animal that is for sure!


Just FYI but that qual was um, well, expect similar if not more difficult marks at a typical derby. I would encourage you to enter but to find someone familiar with field trials and train with them a day or two before then.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Anney,
Good thought about training with someone that runs field trials for a couple of days. The retriever club training groups will be starting up in a week or two. I hope I can get in a few training sessions with them before the derbies. NAHRA hunt tests are not nearly as hard as that derby will be, so they will help, but not really give us the distance we need. We did do really long distances this winter, but it was in snow and reeds, so the conditions were completely different.

I went and signed her up for the 2 derbies she is eligible. What the heck, you won't know if you don't try. What's wrong with a day tromping around the fields of Alaska with your dog? Now she just can't go into heat, last heat cycle started on Sept. 16. Crossing my fingers.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

wow Stacey I'm interested in hearing about your experience with this


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Check me if I'm wrong, double on land, double on water. No handling. Wearing white is optional for derby. Distances can be very long like 200 yards. Minimum entry of 10 dogs for the derby to count? I can keep her on a leash to and from the line. No honor. Bare neck while running. I can't touch her until I take the bird from her.

Yesterday at the picnic, Lucy while on her retrieve, took off after a flyer in the next field. It had to be a good 200 yards beyond her bird. She was about to pick up her bird, saw the other and took off. It took a moment to convince her to head back, but she did and rounded up the bird she left behind. Should have had an e-collar on her. Not bad for a show puppy.

This next weekend we're NAHRA doubleheader hunt tests. Double on land double on water. Max distance 75 yards land, 50 yards water. Hope that's a good warm up for the derby.

I have had several friends say they wished they had run their dogs in a derby when they were younger. I can say I wished I hadn't wasted my time at the obedience trial today and trained for field instead. It would have been a lot more fun!


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

Alaska7133 said:


> I can say I wished I hadn't wasted my time at the obedience trial today and trained for field instead. It would have been a lot more fun!


I bet Lucy would say the same thing!!!

FTGoldens


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

FTGoldens said:


> I bet Lucy would say the same thing!!!
> 
> FTGoldens


:rockon: What _he_ said!

EvanG


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I really mean no disrespect to anyone that competes in obedience or rally trials. They are difficult and very hard to get titles in. I have a ton of respect for anyone with a BN or RN or above. I wish I could get somewhere in obedience or rally, but any titles for us in either remain elusive. So I think I'll concentrate on something we both enjoy and sometimes are good at!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

we've done both, and believe me, will take field ANY DAY!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> we've done both, and believe me, will take field ANY DAY!


I don't know....indoor plumbing, air conditioned buildings, retrieval items that don't carry the scent of dead animals....I would choose a day at an obedience trial over a day at a hunt test for those reasons alone! (I am not the "outdoorsy" type!)


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

* (I am not the "outdoorsy" type!)

What kind of a Cajun are you? 
*


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

gdgli said:


> * (I am not the "outdoorsy" type!)
> 
> What kind of a Cajun are you?
> *


A modern one


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

At exactly 8 months since her last heat cycle Lucy has gone into heat again. That means we won't be able to run the hunt tests this weekend. We won't be able to run the first derby on May 31. But we will be able to run the June 6 derby. I was really hoping to get in those double header hunt tests before the derby. So there you go, keep a bitch unspayed and you get a heat cycle when you don't want one. FT, I'm sure you've run into that before.

The good news is I have a couple of private land parcels I can train on and my training group doesn't care if a girl's in heat, we just keep the dogs separated. But it does limit training opportunities of running the hunt tests. Darn. But at least she'll be over it for the summer and fall.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Oh how well I know how this works. You can never count on them coming in when it is convenient. I had one bitch come in just before the GRCA National and she was entered in obedience, agility, WC and hunt test. It can at times be VERY frustrating indeed.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Hank,
I'm so sorry about national. That must have been horrible after all that planning! 
I'm hoping that this means Lucy won't go into heat if I do go to national this year and take her. Her mom is a 7-8 month cycle, which so far that seems Lucy is also.

P.S.
I'm very envious of your UD and UDX titles!


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Alaska7133 said:


> Hank,
> I'm so sorry about national. That must have been horrible after all that planning!
> I'm hoping that this means Lucy won't go into heat if I do go to national this year and take her. Her mom is a 7-8 month cycle, which so far that seems Lucy is also.
> 
> ...



I still went to that National with her mother and actually bred her while away at the National. 

Thanks but as for the titles they are due to the dogs and despite me.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

So we got the running order list. There will be 13 dogs in the derby. We are dog #12. So whew, I was hoping I would not be the first couple of dogs. I do know the order might get a bit jumbled as people run dogs in other trials and come back to the derby last. There will be 2 other goldens and 1 chessie and of course the rest are labs. Can you tell I'm nervous? As I talk to more people about running the derby, I find more and more people who wished they had run a derby before their dog aged out, but they all seem to have been intimidated. So anyone on here thinking about running a derby, go for it! It will cost me $50 and a day of my time. But you don't know until you try it. Now that Lucy will be 2 on June 10, this will be my only chance to run her. Maybe I'll look silly with a little show puppy that might not do as well as those professionally trained dogs, but hey what the heck. I'm already thinking about how I'm going to train my next puppy.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Good luck Stacey!!!!!


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