# Running a qualifying field trial



## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

you can't place if you don't run!!!!

Good luck and you'll learn a lot and that is all that matters...learning and having fun.

Take a deep breath before you leave the holding blind!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Good luck!


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## kbooch32 (Apr 15, 2017)

Good Luck!!! You never get anywhere if you don't take the first step. Have fun, and enjoy the day with Riot.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Good luck and have fun!


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Good luck!!!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Saturday we ran the qualifying field trial. 



It was scary. I was first dog to the line for the first series. Nothing like diving in on your first qualifying field trial! This meant there was no bird scent in the fields hardly with only a test dog running prior to us. I had no idea what the heck I was doing, my plan was to line Riot as best I could on the marks, figure out which side of me to run him on (he's 2 sided), take the bird from him at the appropriate moment, and hope like hell he knew what he was doing. And he did. More than I did. I walked away from the line after we ran, thinking I'm so glad he was way smarter than me on that one! The set up was an inline triple with the middle gunner retired. I had heard of these set ups. We've run inverted triples, where the middle gunner is closer than the right and left hand gunners, but never in a straight line. Here's link to the video of the test dog. 



 The way I thought I was supposed to run it was Left bird, right bird, middle bird. Outside, outside, inside. I had Riot on my left side to run to the left bird. Super close bird, no problem. Then I ran him on my right side, thinking I'd send him to the right bird. I'm dumb, I didn't know any better. I tried getting Riot to lock onto the right gunner. I kind of got him to look between the 2 gunners, hoped for the best, and sent him. He completely went to the middle gunner, which really surprised me. Got a little in the trees and picked up his bird. Then I'm really lost at this point. We have the right hand bird left. I tried to get him to run on my right side again, but Riot wanted no part of that. So back on my left side. I lined him way to far to the right when I sent him. 1/2 way out to the field, he corrected and ran straight to the bird. Wow, I was so happy he fixed my poor lining. I left the line, and ran into a long time field trialer. He told me that the set up was called an inline triple, which until then I had no idea. He also told me, that Riot had run it correctly, LH, middle, RH birds. Great, I was so happy the darn dog was smarter than me! 



Off to the second series. Now this one was a doozy. One of the judges wanted to do a "cold honor". Since we didn't have an honor on the first series, she wanted one on the second. But you can't really honor on a blind. So she added a mark prior to the blind. Then she added a cold honor dog to the set up. It was a very confusing way of running dogs. First you have the 2nd dog in the honor "box" (the area the dog is required to sit in for honoring). Then the first dog to run, goes to the line and runs the mark. The honor dog, then goes back to the holding blind. The first dog runs the blind, then finishes and leaves the line. The 3rd dog then goes to the honor box. The 2nd dog goes to the line, and runs the mark. This was so confusing. The other judge said no way, we can't do this cold honor, it's way to confusing. Too many timing things to consider and get just right. So the other judge backed down. We ran the series with just the mark and the blind. Here's a video of the test dog, with the cold honor. 



 Riot and I went to the line towards the end due to the rotation. He was clean on the mark. The blind he was great until the 3rd whistle. On the 3rd whistle, he sat crooked. I should have taken that as a sign and hit a second whistle to get him to straighten up. But no, I didn't. Riot took that as a sign that I was ok with him becoming an independent contractor. I knew after the 3rd whistle refusal we were out. But after a few wrong casts on Riot's part, he figured out he didn't know where the bird was and he needed my help to get there. So he went back to casting perfectly and I got him to the bird. But that darn middle portion of whistle refusals put us out. I was quite happy he went back to listening to me and I got him to the bird. 



Yup it would have been nice to finish the trial, but we learned a lot and I'm over my fear (well until the next trial at least).



All in all is was a beautiful day. 64 degrees, light breeze, and very sunny. Couldn't have been nicer. 



I know we need to work on Riot sitting and casting when and where I tell him. This coming Saturday is another qualifying field trial at the same location.



Sunday we finished Riot's CD with first place in Novice B, just missing another High in Trial. I have to say these field dogs are super special at versatility. I'm very lucky to own such a wonderful dog.


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