# Most Embarassing Mark at a Test - Stories



## Terry Britton (Jul 3, 2003)

I am not sure if mine is the first time I took our last dog to a hunt test at JH level, and on the first water mark she acted like she couldn't swim. It was the first time she had seen red water in western Oklahoma, and she refused to go in the water. This was before force fetch.

At another test for Golden Retrievers, they were shooting pigeon live fliers on a windy day. We had already put a few titles on Ginger, and trained with pigeons in preparation for the test. We had also been training with a lot of bumper boy retrieves which has some gunpowder smell on the bumpers. Everything should have went as easy as putting a 2 foot putt. Well, on the first mark of a triple, she sees everything just fine. The bird is thrown against the wind when it is shot. I send Ginger when all of the marks are down, and she flies out to the mark, and picks something up, and flies back. The girl had marked the shotshell wad rather than the bird. The judges excuse us, and we are through for the day. What seemed like an easy test was foiled by marking the wad. Thinking back, I wonder if I had resent her if she would have gotten the bird, and the proceeded to retrieve the wad and birds on the other two fliers. She had been hunting a lot, and had retrieved over 100 pheasants in a day in KS multiple times before that.


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## John Robinson (Apr 14, 2009)

I quit being embarrassed a long time ago. Anything can happen and even the great dogs look really stupid from time to time. I've had my dogs do crazy things and all I can do is shrug my shoulders and say oh well.


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## jacduck (Aug 17, 2011)

The last time we were dropped for two series consecutive "big hunts" at Master level.


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## Mary Lynn Metras (Jul 6, 2010)

Being dragged into the water HRC before test started with my Blackie. Always had to ride my bike w/ him before we did the test. Wear him down. Maybe!


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## BJGatley (Dec 31, 2011)

Having a dog that does constantly long marks in the 300 yards arena in training and goes 90 miles an hour passing a mark that is 100 yards away in a test.  You look at the judge and say beets me where the dog went.


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## copterdoc (Mar 26, 2006)

I ran a really tough poison bird that followed a marked triple. The dog did great on the blind, and after delivering, locked in on the "key" bird of the triple all on his own.

So, I sent him. 
But as soon as he passed downwind of the bird dryer, he spun a 180, and snatched a bird off the rack.


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## Coachtd (Mar 18, 2013)

Was doing the water marks on a JR test to title. It was the last water mark. My young dog is a fire breather and at that age he swam hard but would keep his mouth open swallowing a lot of water. After coming ashore with the bird he dropped the duck and proceeded to throw up all over the bird. Good thing he had been forced fetched well because when I said fetch it up he looked at the barf covered bird then back at me and then back at the duck and picked it up by a foot and brought him too me. I grabbed the bird by the other leg and handed it quickly to the judge and said thank you. Got the title.


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## BJGatley (Dec 31, 2011)

OK…I got another one. Hunt test was using chukars for live birds. Judge call and the two gunners both shot at the chukar and it went into hamburger; one piece going one way and another piece in a different direction. 
Judge release us and dog went off. When dog is in the area, you can tell she pick up something and then sit towards me and judges. Judge sez go and get your dog and heel back. When I reach my dog, I could tell that something was wrong because I didn’t see a bird in her mouth. I did see something hanging on the side of her mouth and command drop and a piece of meat was dropped in my hands. Brought the dog back to judge and handed him what was left over from bird. Judge sez have dog handle a bird from ground. He then goes into the bag of dead birds and drops bird on ground. I commanded “Fetch it up” and dog did just that. Got a ribbon that day…


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## RexG (Mar 16, 2006)

Owner/Handler Qual. I have owned multiple yellow labs and goldens, but only one black lab. That black lab has some Derby JAMS, 2 MH passes and 2 Qual 4ths. Took that black lab to the line at this O/H Qual, with friends judging. Male judge says "Guns Up", long retired gunners in white stand up, and that black lab breaks. Looked at the judges who had that "WTF?" look on their faces -- no shots fired, no birds in the air. All I could say was "well throw him a bird!". 

That black lab is beside me right now and a great hunting buddy. He just can't handle the stress of competition. And not sure if Mark Littlejohn has judged since then!


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## Lady Duck Hunter (Jan 9, 2003)

Coachtd said:


> Was doing the water marks on a JR test to title. It was the last water mark. My young dog is a fire breather and at that age he swam hard but would keep his mouth open swallowing a lot of water. After coming ashore with the bird he dropped the duck and proceeded to throw up all over the bird. Good thing he had been forced fetched well because when I said fetch it up he looked at the barf covered bird then back at me and then back at the duck and picked it up by a foot and brought him too me. I grabbed the bird by the other leg and handed it quickly to the judge and said thank you. Got the title.


Was that test in Texas? Because I was judging a Junior test where that happened! I almost threw up, myself. Lol

We had to clean up the area before the next dog could run. There was undigested food all over the place. Luckily someone had a shovel and scooped it up, dumping it in the woods away from The test.


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## CamoDog (Dec 9, 2010)

2nd series of a Master Test a few yrs back, tight setup,short marks, a real breaking test, marks go down, dog crept, judge whispers something, I turn to him to be sure if he was talking to me, he nods his head, I send the dog. Judge approaches and says "I didnt want to be loud and cause a break", i replied, " Oh he may creep but he 's not a breaker".... So we go to the 3rd series that is a walkup downhill to pond edge where a flyer is shot 1st from your right about 20 yds away. Well this flyer hooks right in front of us, dog sits, but on the 4th shot and the bird flapping in the water 10yds in front of him was too much for him to handle, and he broke. I looked at the Judge and said "guess i was wrong"


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## fnsret (Nov 12, 2003)

Three no birds in a row in a derby 4th series, my dog was last to run so I had to run back to back, he smacked the double and came back and peed on the judge with bird in mouth. The judge kicked my dog so I had a few choice words for the judge. Needless to say he got dropped. He ran a great trial with only 4 dogs left in the 4th series needing only 1 point for derby list. The other one with this nut case was when he was in the dog truck and saw a mark go down from the truck when I was letting him out and took off and ran in the middle of the test and got the mark. Very embarrassing.


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## Pete (Dec 24, 2005)

{Quote}Three no birds in a row in a derby 4th series, my dog was last to run so I had to run back to back, he smacked the double and came back and peed on the judge with bird in mouth. The judge kicked my dog so I had a few choice words for the judge. Needless to say he got dropped. He ran a great trial with only 4 dogs left in the 4th series needing only 1 point for derby list. The other one with this nut case was when he was in the dog truck and saw a mark go down from the truck when I was letting him out and took off and ran in the middle of the test and got the mark. Very embarrassing { Quote}

You had him over the barrel,, You could have made the derby list if you had told him to judge the dogs performance in the field or I'm writing you up Ha!

Many moons go,, I walk to the line with a skitish around lots of people dog ,,but one who love to train and was a good marker. Jr test,,,,50 yard flier,, dogs ear goes up then goes down ,,then goes up ,,then goes down,,my number is called ,,I send the dog,,and it pulls a 180 and sprints to the parking area ,finds my truck and hides underneath it.  I'm lucky I;m not the embarrassing type when it comes to dog work,, but for that performance may be just a little

Pete


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## pat addis (Feb 3, 2008)

I left my wife holding my lab at a hrc started test and walked down to the handlers meeting and watched as my wife was being drug down hill on her belly and almost beat me to the meeting


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## Dave Farrar (Mar 16, 2012)

Our 1st junior test, the bird was a week old, stinky, dead water logged duck that had been used 36 times before it was Reggie's turn. He marked it great and ran 200mph straight to it. Looked at it, sniffed it and thought to himself "no freaking way am I putting that in my mouth." He looked around and saw the gunners and decided to visit them because they had live birds in the cages. The judges asked me to call him, so I whistled him to come back and he ran 200mph back and returned to heel. The judges complimented me on his OB... I wanted crawl in a hole.


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## O.clarki (Feb 7, 2012)

The dog decided to eat the bird rather then bring it in S.O.B. we had the walk of shame that day...


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## GRun (Oct 9, 2013)

The dog ran right over the first bird in a qual. Literally, trampled the bird, and kept going for about 200 more yards. The mark was in a flat field with almost no cover. You could see the bird tumbling along the ground in a cloud of dust as the dog ran it over. For the rest of day as I watched from the gallery, I heard every possible variation of "your dog really stepped on that mark"


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## 2tall (Oct 11, 2006)

This is a tough one. My two worst moments involve the same dog. At 11 months our Chessie ran his second junior test. He had aced everything through both land marks and the first water mark. After a perfect mark and pick up on the last water mark, he returned to his handler, (my husband) and as Ralph reached for the bird he sidled off about 4 feet. Each time Ralph would reach, he'd sneak off a little bit more. Finally, he just bolted back into the water and started swimming laps, holding his bird all the while. The judges shouted, threw birds on the shore, shot guns, no way, he was not coming back. Finally Ralph walked away from the line, about 400 yards back to the truck. When Scout realized he had been abandoned, he raced right in and ran all the way to the truck, stopped at heel and delivered the bird perfectly. The gallery and judges saw the whole performance and applauded, (laughed out loud). Move forward 6 years. I was handling at a FT in the worst weather I've ever competed in. Scout got three no birds in a row. All the while sleet and rain falling like mad and he getting more and more frustrated. Our last trip to the holding blind, we sat there for over 45 minutes due to equipment malfunction. The dog managed to sit while all birds went down but was right on that edge. When he was (finally) released to retrieve he started showing his displeasure by going for the wrong bird. I know you can choose either one, but he had never before deliberately ignored my direction. He hit that bird like a ton of bricks. When he turned around and headed back, I heard my husband behind me, "Oh ****". The look on that dog's face was murderous. I know fellow Chessie owners can understand. He was D-O-N-E and royally po'd! I didnt know what was coming but was pretty sure I would not like it. When he got back he did that little skip away from my side. So knowing he was about to go off the res, I grabbed at the bird. He ripped it in half!!!! I was so stunned that I stood there with my jaw hanging open and handed the tail end of the bird to the judge, saying, "thanks judges, I think we're done".


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## weathered (Mar 17, 2011)

HRC Started test. Marks were 180 degrees apart. First bird marked well, brought back perfectly. Turn around for the next bird. I call on the duck call for the bird. Dogs flips out and is twirling trying to get away from me to turn back and look where the other mark came from. He never saw the second bird. I was embarrassed by his ridiculous behavior. Thankfully, he's come a long way. Though using a duck call from the line still amps him up a lot.


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## justin300mag (May 28, 2010)

2tall did that terrible weather happen to be in Montana?


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## 2tall (Oct 11, 2006)

justin300mag said:


> 2tall did that terrible weather happen to be in Montana?


LOL! No! In South Carolina!


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## Mark Littlejohn (Jun 16, 2006)

RexG said:


> Owner/Handler Qual. I have owned multiple yellow labs and goldens, but only one black lab. That black lab has some Derby JAMS, 2 MH passes and 2 Qual 4ths. Took that black lab to the line at this O/H Qual, with friends judging. Male judge says "Guns Up", long retired gunners in white stand up, and that black lab breaks. Looked at the judges who had that "WTF?" look on their faces -- no shots fired, no birds in the air. All I could say was "well throw him a bird!".
> 
> That black lab is beside me right now and a great hunting buddy. He just can't handle the stress of competition. And not sure if Mark Littlejohn has judged since then!


LOL Rex,,, And as a matter of fact I judged a D/Q just last weekend, and as a 2nd matter of fact I shared this story... (again). Of course the owner/handler's name has always been spared.


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## Maxs Mom (Sep 17, 2009)

My last water mark for our JH. This is my first hunt test dog and my first AKC title. She's stepped on everything. First water mark was straight forward. Second mark off to our right, and comes out over the pond, and lands on a pile of sticks in the water. My dog is staring intensely in the proper direction, I hear the judges say quietly "let's see what happens" and they call me to send her. She is off the bank, swims strong straight out towards the duck, passes the duck, gets out of the water, climbs the embankment and heads into the cornfield..... WTF!!! After a few moments that felt like an eternity, she comes back gets back in the pond, spins, catches the smell of the duck swims over plucks it off the sticks and brings it to me. We pass, but I had a few more gray hairs. 

My husband came up to me and said "they should have called a no bird, it never splashed". So that made sense why she left the pond she was sure it was on land, no splash. Hey she got it...... Nerve wracking


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

Second duck of a triple. Duck was maybe 60 yards at the most. Went to area and popped. I handled him right over the duck several times. Finally just picked him up. It wasn't our day.


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## TRUEBLUE (Aug 27, 2007)

I was just getting started running Amt field trials with my energetic dog " Blue " 
There was a long punch bird I sent him for. Last I saw him was going over the ridge, and him not hearing a sit or come in whistle, or shots from the gun station. Had to get on an ATV , and go out and find him. It was hot, so I was alittle worried, but found him in a pond cooling off.


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## Tim Culligan (Nov 21, 2007)

Ran my first senior with a big YLM named Hank that was flawless in training. I was feeling pretty cocky as I walked to the line for a easy blind. I sent Hank off with a back and he proceeded to run through the field like a young colt on a warm spring day! He ignored my whistle and voice commands as he jumped and ran through the field. It felt like hours before I gained control and walked back to my truck!


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## suepuff (Aug 25, 2008)

Only a little embarrassing....running a master test last spring with three dogs. My yellow girl (rare white) I'm running because I'm a masochist. She can do the work but prefers to do her own thing and in her own time. At H Cooper Black, Ellison Armfield and Rick Vaughn judging. Clean through the first series, a breaking water triple with a flier. Second series, land triple in cover. All dead birds. Keep in mind that Bree is NOT fast. She canters out and trots back. I laugh and joke when I'm running her because of her speed. But she is consistent and steady. Looks like she enjoys her work. I usually apologize to the gallery when I get up to the line and tell them to get coffee.

I'm at the line and the gallery is laughing with me saying how they are going to relax, and I joke back, "watch, the wench will break....."

First DEAD bird goes off, it's mid way in the air and she breaks. She's five foot out and I frustratingly yell at the top of my lungs, "REALLY.....you broke on a DEAD bird??!!" She stops, looks sheepish and strolls back. Gallery laughing all the while. Me too and ready to kill her. Donation to the club. Pain in the rear dog! 

She's still training but not competing. Saving my money for the dogs who don't like to make a laughing stock of me!

I REALLY want to know what's going on it their heads....

Sue Puff


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## Miriam Wade (Apr 24, 2003)

My first retriever, Kate, wasn't ever force fetched or collar conditioned (home schooled) and I had every intention of training Finn Amish too. I had never seen a Derby and thought it was the Junior HT version of a FT. Sooo... ...never having trained for one, I entered Finn in a Derby when he was 13 months old. He had a controlled break in the 1st series, but did a nice job on the marks. He did well in the second series and I'm starting to think this is going to be a cake walk. We go to the 3rd series and he is coming back with the bird and visions of a ribbon are dancing in my head. He then proceeds to puppy parade around the gallery with the bird with no intention of bringing it to me. Someone caught him, dragged him over to me by the ears and in a matriarchal New England voice said, "You MUST do something with this dog. He is far too nice for you to ruin". I ended up driving home in shame, but found a pro to do his basics. Not making the same mistake with my current pup! 

M


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## jhnnythndr (Aug 11, 2011)

Got a chance to prove how well my bitch handles. In water. In the land series of a jr.


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## P J (Dec 10, 2009)

We ran Finished in an HRC test about a month ago. Saturday was in the 70's, I was told by one of the judges that I had a "marking machine". 

Sunday the temperature dropped 10 - 15 degrees, she ran right over the go bird and over the middle bird. I never gave her a chance to get to the next one. Don't know where her head was, guess it might have been better if the marks hadn't been so close.


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## John Condon (Mar 27, 2013)

My young girl Betty's first Senior land blind. Blind was marked by wrapping orange tape on a horizontal root that stuck out of the side of a hill. Duck was placed behind the stick

Two whistles and I had her there, yay team!!!! She grabbed the root and started tearing it out of the ground.Finally she noticed the bird and brought it back

Judge said, she has only retrieved orange bumpers on blinds eh? Yep I said.....DOH,,!!


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## HuntinDawg (Jul 2, 2006)

I would love to share the story of my worst mark in a hunt test but my brain has this little defense mechanism whereby traumatic events are blotted out. I am confident in this though: 1) It involved my first retriever who was trained Amish and could have been very nice if not trained by someone who knew so little (me) and 2) it was an HRC Finished test at Old South HRC...or it was a Senior Test at H. Cooper Black...or it was a Senior Test at Middle Tennessee and 3) it was a well deserved failure even if I can't remember it.

I can remember when he got screwed but his well earned failures have primarily been forgotten except when I learned something from it.


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## Casey A (May 31, 2011)

My first lab I trained myself. He was crazy about birds but was doing very well in training with fresh shot ducks and pheasants. FF was good, hold was solid and OB was decent. In both his first JH test and mine as a handler he went out and picked up the first thrown dead duck. On the way back he begins to shake the bird, drop and pick it up and play keep away. I finally get him to bring it to me and the judges look it over. They decide that it was already in bad shape before he got to it and called it "a puppies favorite chew toy" so they call for him to do it over. He goes out and brings back the new bird perfectly. Fast forward to the first water mark. We were in the holding blind when the bird boy walks right past us with all of the birds and walk to his station. Ryder watches him the whole way... When we get up there he sees the bird splash, judge calls his number and he is off for the bird... running the exact way that the bird boy walked to the side of the pond, jumps in to get the bird, exits where he went in and takes the land all the way back, stopping to say hi to my parents and girlfriend before I can get him back. 2nd water mark he goes straight out, straight back and heels at my side... finally the test is over and the judges graciously give him a pass... Chalk it up to a great learning experience!


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## MikeJFalkner (Jul 17, 2014)

HuntinDawg said:


> I would love to share the story of my worst mark in a hunt test but my brain has this little defense mechanism whereby traumatic events are blotted out. I am confident in this though: 1) It involved my first retriever who was trained Amish and could have been very nice if not trained by someone who knew so little (me) and 2) it was an HRC Finished test at Old South HRC...or it was a Senior Test at H. Cooper Black...or it was a Senior Test at Middle Tennessee and 3) it was a well deserved failure even if I can't remember it.
> 
> I can remember when he got screwed but his well earned failures have primarily been forgotten except when I learned something from it.


Man, there's a lot about this post that dovetails with my most embarassing experience at a test. My first "real" dog was (sort of) trained by me using some very basic info from books, no collar, no systematic approach. Yet, he looked sharp working in the yard or pond or whatever. Enrolled him in JH at Old Hatchie HRC; we come to the line all confident. He's looking and feeling sharp and got some positive comments from the gallery. When sent, he tore off on the mark like a pro, got to the bird and found it to be a nasty stinky duck (it really was pretty gross) with fire ants all over it. Not being FF, he not only blinked the bird but stopped and took a dump halfway back to the line despite being aired twice that morning. I could cheerfully have shot him then, but I knew it was my own fault..... The judges were nice and supportive, but the damage was done.

The shame is, that dog could really have been special had I not been too dumb to get the right kind of training help. Lesson learned.


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## WPS (Jun 14, 2014)

jhnnythndr said:


> Got a chance to prove how well my bitch handles. In water. In the land series of a jr.


LOL!!! This whole thread has really had me laughing but I busted out loud after reading this. Thanks for all of the stories y'all, good stuff!


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## Bill McKnight (Sep 11, 2014)

Biscuits first derby, about 13 months old. On his way to the go bird in the first series, a very nice flier, a butterfly flew in front of him half way to the flier.....he followed the butterfly! Couldn't get him to the flier even with gunner help.
Didn't know what kind of dog I had. Very long week before I was able to run another trial. Placed second, had 27 derby points and became FC AFC. BOY, WAS THAT A ROUGH WEEK.

The other Bill


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## Brad (Aug 4, 2009)

Does one hicking his leg and peeing on me before sent count on this thread


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## Larry Thompson (Oct 3, 2007)

First senior test in Redding California. Last mark ... pheasant across small pond into field about 30 yards past pond ... never trained with pheasants. Dog returns with pheasant to far edge of pond, stops looks at me turns right and disappears into brush surrounding pond. I call and call, judges stand up to look for her, crowd starts getting up looking. I tell judges I'm out and ask for gunners to find her. They move up and she suddenly appears from across pond with muddy face and no bird looking at me. I call she jumps into pond and heels beside with no bird. Gunners cannot find pheasant, judges call for other handlers dogs to find bird, no bird found. I very quietly start my pickup, ease out of parking area, drive home and buy pheasants.


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## Eric Johnson (Dec 23, 2004)

Bill Watson should be here to see me confess.

The first dog I (we) trained. She was doing Finished work in training but I just couldn't get over my nerves enough to enter her. Finally my training partner talked me into it and I entered her in a club near Ozark AL. When we got there, we found that Omar Driskoll, a daddy rabbit of the program, was one of the Finished judges ...gulp. Land was in a cut cornfield that was L-shaped. The IP was at the juncture of the base and the height of the L. The base was about 300 yards deep and was the memory bird. You watched that one shot and then there was a racket and you turned about 180 degrees to see sort of a flower pot. Heather gets #1 and #2 in good order. Then we turn to the wide open field and there is absolutely nothing to aid the dog as far as depth. The bird could be 250 yards out just as easily as 50 yards out, I said "Where's your mark?" and she lined up and was ready to go. Sent and she was back with the bird after maybe 10 seconds. The blind was in between the long memory and the flower pot. She did fine.

We walked off the line absolutely over the moon. When we were about 30 yards behind the line, there was Bill. We stopped and chatted with him and as I said, I was higher than a kite.... all the while trying to untangle my lead and to get it on her. Then came Omar's voice ...."You folks would do well to duplicate that dog's performance. I really liked her style."

Then he started calling and the gunfire happened and ... next I knew I was chasing my dog through a barbed wire fence as she tried to get the flower pot birds. <sigh> I'd been so excited that I'd never put the lead on her and when the excitement started I said her name .....


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## Dave Kress (Dec 20, 2004)

How about the noted very successful FT'er now retired in the holding blind behind me. 
As I returned from the walk of shame ( going out to retrieve the dog) 
He says to me - your new aren't you- reply yes sir - can I give you some advice - yes sir please as I waited on the great one - he says - try to get the dog to look at the birds next time. 

Or 
Another one - dog watches the marks down. - I send her and she no- goes the mark, judge says try again as she's confused - send again and another no go - send again and another no go. 
Judge says that's enough. As I leave the line and I'm
Confused - wife says calmly you've got the wrong dog that's not her name. 
I still get reminded of that one. Everybody but me thinks it's funny 

Dk


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## BJGatley (Dec 31, 2011)

Dave Kress said:


> How about the noted very successful FT'er now retired in the holding blind behind me.
> As I returned from the walk of shame ( going out to retrieve the dog)
> He says to me - your new aren't you- reply yes sir - can I give you some advice - yes sir please as I waited on the great one - he says - try to get the dog to look at the birds next time.
> 
> ...


One for the books for sure.


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## RJG (Feb 18, 2005)

We could always count on our independent male, Sage, to provide entertainment value for the gallery. 
At a Senior test, he calmly watched the dead bird then the flyer go down. Trotted out in that direction, passed the downed flyer giving it a brief glance, and continued trotting out of sight into the woods. No sign of him for what seemed like a very long time. Finally he reappeared carrying something in his mouth. Too far away to figure out what.....at last he got close enough for us to see that it was a "leftover from some training" duck carcass - only bones, bill and feet. I tried to convince the judges that it was, after all, a duck - no luck


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## Willie Alderson (Jan 26, 2011)

1st series Master stake 2009, my boy Drake crushes the land/water triple and lines the blind. I'm feeling great as we take our position to honor and I can hear the gallery clapping and cheering (I just moved back to Idaho so I didnt know a soul) We are 2-2 so far in the master stake and he has "YET" to break. Yellow dog comes to line and looks like a bucking bronco. You can tell the handler is about to have a heart attack. Yellow dog is 3 feet in front high-fiving the dirt with every step. I look down at Drake and he's calm and collected...birds start falling...1 down. Working dog yips and creeps forward. 2nd bird down is a big mallard thrown right at the dog and lands in the middle of a pond 40 yards out with an astounding SPLASH!!! Working yellow dog has crept out further and is really chopping at the bit. I peek down at Drake and all is good. The second the go bird lands I can hear the bell ring and working dog is out of the gate kicking up dust as the handler is screaming "Here! Here! No HERE!" Too late, working dog broke and grabs go bird. I have yet to feel the anguish and despair of what a breaking dog feels like to the handler...oh wait. Drake fooled me and I hardly see him bust out towards the big bird in the pond. Working dog...have a nice day, you're out. Honor dog, go enjoy the rest of your day with the yellow dog. You're out too. From sweet sweet sugar to stinky smelly $hit in less than .5 seconds. Thank you. Come again. 

As I walk back to the truck I pass the gallery who earlier cheered me on. They felt bad. Real bad. I felt worse. Someone came up and said, "you have a fine dog. Look at him. Notice how his tail ISN'T between his legs. Neither should yours."


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## Dan Wegner (Jul 7, 2006)

Last weekend Master test needed to qualify for the Master National. Dog has never crept or broken and only failed 2 of 26 Masters. He goes out and pins the triple then one whistles the land blind. We move over to the honor and the next dog comes to the line. I'm feeling pretty confident and calmly watch the birds go down. As the flyer goes off, I catch a black flash heading into the cover and think to myself "that poor bastards dog just broke". I glance in the direction of the working dog handler and realize his dog is still obediently sitting at his side. Only then do I look down to realize I'm by myself on honor! "NO HERE!!!!" 

Thankfully I was able to stop him before he got the bird. I haven't been too overconfident since that day.


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## Hunt'EmUp (Sep 30, 2010)

Go to my first Qual, walk-up to the line, instantly call for the marks, I focus on them intently. I look down at my ~19mt pup, only to find she has been staring intently up at me the whole time. :shock:. Dog goes when sent, even goes to the correct side of the gun station as she's been tuaght, which would've been nice if I had put her on the correct side for the mark. Gets out there hunts the prefect depth on the wrong side, starts to expand her hunt, but won't cross to the other side of the gun station, because I taught her not to  Single cast she's on it, (we're out). Run the other Marks, good lines-but we're out so I put her on them quickly, anything to shorten the humiliation. Told the judges as I leave "This is my first trial; I was just hoping to be able to see one Blind, didn't expect on seeing three"


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## DSemple (Feb 16, 2008)

The dog in my avatar was our family pet back in the 70's when I was a young teenager. Had a friend whose dad was in the Kansas City Retriever Club. I was too young to drive so I was the original "tennis shoe" trainer, walking my dog to farm fields and ponds around home, sitting him down and racing all over the fields throwing his marks and then running all the way back to the line to send Sherlock for them. Had to hitch a ride with other club members to the trials till I got old enough to drive. 

Anyhow Sherlock, who would become qaa, was really talented but I would get so nervous in the last series of a trial I was often guilty of sending him before the judges called our number getting us thrown out. I must of made the same mistake at least a dozen times. I even had a judge thump me on the head with his pipe one time and chew me out.

Don


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## Breck (Jul 1, 2003)

As a newbie I flew to Florida to take family to watch my first FT dog run derby. So Hugh is running dog, I hadn't seen her for a while and roll into the trial. She gets through a few series but knows im there and is going nutso. It all came apart just as Hugh sends her and she gets a nose full of my scent from the gallery and it was too much for little Darla who made a 90 deg turn mid retrieve to come find me in gallery. Oops! 
She was a good dog.


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## captain2560 (Jan 23, 2007)

I was the judge at a derby stake, and in the last series a handler and a Chesapeake male was running. The dog went for the go bird and when he got close to the gunner and thrower, you could tell he quit hunting the mark and wanted to play. He went to the gunner and nudged him a couple of times and then went to the thrower and tried to get him to play. At that point the handler said that the dog had brought in a sack with a couple of birds in it before. I assured him that the dog couldn't do that as the sack was full. Then the dog quit playing with the thrower and started humping the sack of birds. No amount of whistling and calling could get him to return to the handler. I was laughing to myself so hard, I had to walk away. Never saw that particular thing happen in over 35 years.


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## Cptmorgan177 (Oct 11, 2014)

This thread should go in the rtf hall of fame


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## miketuggle (Aug 21, 2014)

Though no where near as exciting as many of the other posts, I gotta add mine.

Dyna was doing her first JH land series and we hadn't done much with other than bumpers before. She was an incredibly talented market, often running like she was on rails. We walked to the line, signaled the judge -- up went the clipboard and up went the flyer... "Bang" went the shotgun. Down went the duck into medium cover.

The judge released her and off she went, flying like the wind. Through the cattails, and across a narrow creek... up a slight rise and across a jeep trail... straight to the bird. (A few folks in the gallery applauded softly.) Then, she just stood there and looked back at me across a little more than 100 yards of mixed cover. She nosed the bird but wouldn't pick it up. I called her back and she reluctantly returned to heel. Seeing her performance, the judge said, "Stay here."

He walked all the way out to the duck to see if it was gut-blasted or if there was something else wrong with it -- there wasn't. The red of my face was not sunburn as I stood there waiting for the judge to walk all the way back, carrying the duck.

Five weeks later, she had a live flyer... that was, well "live." Below, you'll see the duck looking to see where they were going. 







She was a really good girl -- I still miss her.

Mike


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## brian breuer (Jul 12, 2003)

I'll share. It was a senior Nahra test. It was a cold rainy day in Spokane, maybe 50 degrees. 

Water triple. First bird was fine. Second bird, Boomer decided he was thirsty, I don't know why, it was cold out. He had just swam for the first mark. 

Well, he stops in chest deep water and gets a drink. It was probably less than a minute but it was a long time. Enough that the judges looked at me and I looked at them and they said let's see what he does when he stops. 

Sure enough, he finishes up and gets the second bird just fine. Memory was shot on the third bird though and he had no clue. 

Never did it before or since.


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## Chris Thiry (Jan 26, 2005)

The first lab we owned was a dog named Josie. I was fortunate to get hooked up with a good group of guys to train with. Josie and I were progressing pretty well in our training so they talked me into running a Junior Hunt Test to get my feet wet. 

Josie and I get to the line of that junior test and the throw the first bird. She runs out and nails it. I feeling pretty good about know. They then shoot the flier. Josie takes a nice line to about ten yards from the bird. She stopped, looked at the flier station. She then ran to the flier station, jumped up on the crate of birds barking at them. 

I had to walk to the flier station to get her and walked her back on lead. That was a long walk!!!

She then went on to pass every test we ran after that day and two Master National passes. I'm glad we stuck with it.


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## justin300mag (May 28, 2010)

Not actually a mark but still hilarious. I had my training partner run my dog at our local trial because I had to work. He ran the qual. and the amateur. Qual went well dog did a good job. I asked how the amateur went and he says the dog never even got to see a mark go off. Why you might ask? Because on the way to the line he had to walk right past the honor dog and he decided to mount her and just plain go to town on her. He had to physically remove him and that was the end of that. Later he told me he was going screwy in the holding blinds and had his nose glued to the ground the whole time. I'm sure someone had a dog in heat but its hard to say who. I'm glad I wasn't running him haha. But I get to hear a replay of this story at every one of our club events. It has also become a running joke when someone's dog goes out for whatever reason "well at least he/she didn't mount the honor dog".


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## Peter Balzer (Mar 15, 2014)

We have new people in RTF all the time and its been a year since this has been discussed. Let's hear some more stories of everyone's embarrassing HT/FT stories.


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## BrettG (Apr 4, 2005)

My son was running his dog in started for her title (he was 11 at the time) they went to the line and she sat and looked at both winger hides, he pulled her to the first mark, bird thrown, she sits steady and he releases her, she hits the water hard and is practically running on top of the water. She returns with bird, sits at heel, he calmly took the bird and turned to hand it to the bird boy, she took off like she was fired out of a cannon, went straight to the area the second bird was going to land and put on a hunt. After a good hunt in the area he finally got her to sit and come back. She sat at heel watched the mark go down and went straight to it and brought it back. I felt so bad for him, he was so embarresed. 

I was running Cosmo bitch in seasoned and on the land blind, I shot the blind and turned to put the gun back on the gun stand and she broke (saw the stake) a quick whistle sit and reheel then she lines it kicking dirt on me as she took off.


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## Tyler Pugh (Mar 27, 2014)

Ok, I'll go. 

My first ever hunt test dog in my first ever finished hunt test. She was only 17 months old but figured I'd give it a try. Very skittish female and refuses to cross a log in the water (even after many "No No Drills"). We did great on land that morning. Got to water that afternoon and go bird was a very cheaty splasher. Of course, she cheats and when she decides to get in the water, there is a huge log in the way. She attempts to go all the way around. At the end of the log was the gallery where she decided to stop and heel to my buddy watching us. Not to mention my girlfriend of now a year, this was her first time ever to watch us train or test.


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## Karen Klotthor (Jul 21, 2011)

Our first YLF hated being in the holding blind. I was running her in a Junior test, we were up on a hill in a holding blind , the gun goes off for the working do, my dog jumps up over the holding, take me with her. It was wet and muddy, she dragged me with her part of the way down in the mud. I looked behind me and the galley was all but on the ground laughing. It was at the time the 10,000 video contest was going on and no one had a video camera. 
My current nut case YLF , when running Finished, got her HRCH title on Saturday, run Sunday in the rain, she smokes first series, goes to honor, I blow duck call and she is gone. Had a hard time getting her out of the field and judges could not stop laughing at a dog that broke on a duck call and no bird flying.


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## Larry Thompson (Oct 3, 2007)

Many years ago at a senior test one of the marks was a pheasant. Being newer to the game we hadn't trained with pheasants. Mark was short swim across a pond with bird landing about 50 yards in a field. I sent my dog she swam across pond stepped on pheasant picked it up and headed right back ... great!! She stopped at far side of pond looked at me turned right and disappeared in reeds. I called and called. She appeared with mud all over her face and swam back to me without pheasant. Six of us could not find where she buried the pheasant :-(


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## sunnydee (Oct 15, 2009)

First lab second master test. First bird to the left, flier up the middle, go bird to the right. I was watching the birds and not my dog so when I sent her she splits the difference between the flier and right hand bird. She goes out about 30 yards and then stops, looks at me in total confusion and then proceeds to return to my side. While this was all going on I just stood there like a deer in headlights watching this whole thing unfold. As I left the line with my head hanging down and feeling sick from embarrassment one of the judges said “you could have handled”


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## Kirk Keene (Jul 20, 2009)

I had a little Black female retrieve a water bottle from the bird boy at a Started test this past fall. That was a real crowd-pleaser.


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## Peter Balzer (Mar 15, 2014)

Kirk Keene said:


> I had a little Black female retrieve a water bottle from the bird boy at a Started test this past fall. That was a real crowd-pleaser.


Force Fetch success!


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## rrbcsask (Sep 26, 2014)

I was judging a JH test last summer. We were doing land singles. The thrower grabs the duck by the head (despite knowing better) and when he goes to throw it the head flies some distance and the body skids across the ground just in front of the thrower. We called for the dog. Handler sent her. She came back with just the head. We passed them.


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## 67632 (Nov 28, 2015)

Not a test but a picnic test. Was put on by a club, didn't know anyone, was a weird hot day in April and we were in the blazing sun. Basically, go to the line and the guy up there just hurried me through three back-to-back runs. All of which were over 100 yards. I have a big yellow conformation bred Lab with the coat of a bear and he gets hot easily. First was through the water, up a hill, bumper in the tall grass. Second was similar but valley instead of water and bumper was in shadows, not grass. These were above his training level so his brain was working as hard as his body. I probably should have just called it a day after that, but the third run was a live flyer (pigeon) and who am I to deny my dog a live bird? Short mark, down a little hill, through a large swampy muddy puddle and back. 

He ran out, through the puddle, grabbed his little pigeon, turned around, started to run back and when he got to the puddle, carefully put the bird down on dry land, hopped in, laid down like a frog, and pulled himself around by his paws to get the mud good and ground into his chest and belly. Then, he stood up, grabbed his pigeon and delivered it to hand.


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## Rick Hall (Jan 21, 2003)

In the early days of HRC, a friend's Chesapeake was running Finished, got wind of the bird bucket and went to check it out. Whereupon a bird boy who'd heard too many Chesapeake stories panicked and tossed the dog a bird. Wishing to nip thoughts of future such muggings in the bud, my friend proceeded to set up similarly tempting training scenarios and burn his dog off those "bird stations". 

Don'tcha know that in the very next test a water memory bird blew back against the point it had been thrown from, and ain't no way the dog was going to fall for that again. No, sir, ain't gone near that place.


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## KwickLabs (Jan 3, 2003)

Fortunately, the title of this thread is qualified by using the work "most".

So I had this well bred pup that did not do very well with his basics. As a last resort, we smothered him with birds in training and 
hunting pheasants in the uplands. So in return he became a monster in field.....and at the line.....plus very "noisy". Over compensation
is laden with pitfalls.

Fast forward, just could not get that last pass for his Senior title. After months of working on it and finally duplicating the issue in
training....testing seemed doable. 

With two Senior divisions we were in the water first. The test was an out of order flyer....short splash thirty yards....not good...."pucker
factor" off the charts. 

Kooly sits like a statue.....no motion.....somewhat amazing. As his flyer is shot it flares off line and heads for a splash down less than
twenty yards in front of us. In slow motion my mind is saying "OOOH! NO!" which was broken by Kooly's loud barking as he splashed 
down off the bank. With two huge lunging leaps he is sitting there starring back at me with the duck in his mouth.....and I'm positive
he was asking "What?"

I do remember saying to the Judges "Thank you for your time." and thinking "Kooly, you are retired".....not necessarily in that order.


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## Terry Britton (Jul 3, 2003)

We ran a couple of started tests in HRC this past weekend to pick up points before moving on. (She came into heat last fall the day of the test.) After running perfect on water marks on Sunday in strong winds, my cap blew off and drifted out 30 yards or so towards where the second mark would be. It was embarrassing. I asked the judges if I could send Stormy for the cap, which she had no problem doing since we had been running up to 120 yard water blinds for ducks and geese in ice during waterfowl season. She got the cap, and we exited with those watching from a distance wondering what happened. I am glad we didn't leave the cap out there to mess up any younger pups.


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## Tobias (Aug 31, 2015)

Not a mark, but a water blind in masters.

The day was very nice (read warm for Alaska) and my dog and I had just finished up the land series.... Well, I forgot water for my dog and he was thirsty and from running the land series... I gave him what I had left in my water bottle and hoped that would be good til after the next series, which we found out was the water blind ... 

We came to the line to run the blind and as soon as he entered the water he began drinking, and drinking, and drinking as he slowly took a 'sort of line', for about 20 yds.... result was he did a half ass job on blind itself ... needless to say, we did not get called to the water marks.... Lesson learned for me. It was pretty darn embarassing too.


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## hillsidegoldens (Mar 28, 2009)

I was out of town the week before our first ever test. A nahra started test. I got home on Friday afternoon Teddy was giving me cold shoulder. I figured throw a few bumpers he will like me again. The first bumper had to go get dog, then he reluctantly brought the next few back. Saturday we are first dog, first mark Teddy charges hard as ever, gets to bird looks over shoulder and I knew. After some coaxing he starts in gets to within 5 feet turns drops the bird and lays down beside it. We leave grounds go work dog. Sunday dog goes to first mark looks back at me I command no come. He grabs bird get to 5 feet dropes bird rolls on it. I get dog to deliver bird. Judges tell me bird not fit for consumption. 2 nights hotel 2 test entry fees 2 marks no birds. Not good.


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## Rick Hall (Jan 21, 2003)

I've already told on a buddy's Finished dog, but mention of youngsters reminded me of my own most embarrassing test mark. The youngster in question was a nearly year old, imposing looking 90+ pound Chesapeake I was _almost_ certain would smash the simple Started level test, with the only question mark being that this was in the days when the HRC still tested on live pigeons and ducks, and young Chien had handled nothing but dead ducks. He didn't hesitate to scoop up his land pigeons, and I was feeling a bit foolish for wasting our money on Started, instead of beginning with Seasoned. Or at least I was until Chien got to his first duck, which surprised him with a string of angry, or frightened(?), quacks that sent the big pup circling in search of something, anything, else to retrieve. Oh, well.


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## Kenneth Niles Bora (Jul 1, 2004)

Long ago, in a scrub field far, far away. The Campbell property actually. In Alburgh, Vermont. The field at the top of the hill with the Canadian Border camera towers at the north end. I was judging at a NAHRA Field Test, started land mark series. I was sitting in the same folding chair we all use. I had a rule book in a back pocket. A big fluffy dog comes to line. And a not enough paper to draw it monster hunt begins. Caught up in the viewing I leap to my feat to keep eyes on dog. The back pocket rule book hooks onto the back of the folding chair and jerks my trousers to the ground. So there I am, in full view of the entire gallery and the cameras of the border parole. Pants to the ground holding a judging book and pencil. So, I turn around and set book on evil chair. Pull trousers up and re-cinch belt extra tight (I sport suspenders at every Field Test now) pick up judging book and turn back around and face the field. The big fluffy dog had STILL NOT FOUND THE BIRD!!!!
The horror of the view left “Marks” on many and Wayne to this day asks if I have my suspenders on.


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## Spry (Dec 29, 2013)

Was throwing birds a couple of years ago at a picnic test. When a big beautiful Chesapeake comes to the line. Bird is thrown and the dog is coming to get it.
He marks it great then proceeds to rotate and look at his handler and dumps right on the bird. Handler whistles to bring him in. Dog obeys the command nicely. 
The look on the handlers face as he took the bird from the dogs mouth was priceless. And the judges refusing to take said bird from the handler.


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## Vicky Trainor (May 19, 2003)

Good grief, this thread has caused me to remember a very embarrassing moment that happened about 25 years ago!!!!

We were visiting friends in the state that the National Open was being held. We had our 4 Master Hunter Labs with us. On one of the early days of the National, we went to watch some of the event. Since our friends did not have kennel space, we had to take our Labs with us. When the time came that our Labs needed to be aired, we drove a good distance away from the area of the test to another area but you could still hear the gunshots from the test area. Hubby and I had all the dogs out together and I left him "in charge" while I aired myself. When we started to load the dogs back into the truck, one was missing! 

Of course we started the frantic search for the missing dog. No where to be seen! We started to drive around looking for him. We came upon a worker who was doing traffic control for the National. When we asked him if he had seen a black Lab, he told us we just might want to go to where the Marshal was for the test.

Yep, there he was, quite pleased with himself as he had run through the woods, across a field and through another area of woods, right into the setup for the test and retrieved a duck, returned to the line and sat for one of the judges to take the bird!!! The running dog's handler later told me it was a blessing because his dog had not seen the "money" bird go down and since my dog had entered the test, his dog was given a re-run and smacked all 4 birds!

I don't think I have ever been so embarrassed!


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## Eric Johnson (Dec 23, 2004)

Beautiful emerald green grass in the field where that year's GRCA WCX was run. The middle mark of 3 was tossed about 100 yards out. About the 5th dog was released and about half way there, stopped and rolled, got up and went to the mark and came back with the bird and the most awful cow poop on his back. Another 3-4 dogs ran and then one did the same thing. And then another, and another and another .... We were about the 60th dog to run. Sure enough, Heather stopped and acquired the mark of distinction and then picked up the mark. But her roll was a bit further to the right. When the 80th and final dog had run, a couple of us walked out. There was the evidence. So many dogs had rolled in the cow pie that it was now about 6 feet in diameter, paper thin, and drying nicely.


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## Tobias (Aug 31, 2015)

Eric Johnson said:


> Beautiful emerald green grass in the field where that year's GRCA WCX was run. The middle mark of 3 was tossed about 100 yards out. About the 5th dog was released and about half way there, stopped and rolled, got up and went to the mark and came back with the bird and the most awful cow poop on his back. Another 3-4 dogs ran and then one did the same thing. And then another, and another and another .... We were about the 60th dog to run. Sure enough, Heather stopped and acquired the mark of distinction and then picked up the mark. But her roll was a bit further to the right. When the 80th and final dog had run, a couple of us walked out. There was the evidence. So many dogs had rolled in the cow pie that it was now about 6 feet in diameter, paper thin, and drying nicely.


goldens... why is it they seem to love rolling on stuff so much? I swear I see the behavior more with that breed than with the other 2. Maybe it is because they get bathed so often and they are trying to get that smell shampoo scent off...  LOL


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## Brandoned (Aug 20, 2004)

This wasn’t an embarrassing moment for me, but it was for the pro… I was judging an Open several years ago and I still LOL at this deal all of the time. Dog went out and picks up flyer then comes back looking out in the field and he was clearly lost as to where the other 2 birds are. The handler works with the dog on line trying to line him up, but that isn’t working very well. So he gets the dog pointed in a direction basically between the 2 retired guns. Then he puts his hand down over the dog and sends him, and oh my… The dog slowly starts going but turns to the left immediately, then takes a hard left, then even a harder left. The dog ended up making a 180 and goes back into the holding blind where the next dog/handler are. The pro of the working dog says to the pro of the dog in the holding blind “is that a bitch” (as if that is the problem) and the other pro said “no sir it is a male.” I joke with the pro that was in the holding blind about it all of the time and he always says “I have never and will never see anything like that again”


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## fishduck (Jun 5, 2008)

This reminds me of an old friend now gone and a story he always told. Randall Ayers was a fixture at the hunt tests when I first started running. His old dog Sunny was always by his side regardless of the circumstances. At the tailgate Sunny kept an eye on Randall and tried to keep him out of trouble. This story always came out if you waited around to hear it.

Sunny was a big dog. Not just big boned but muscular in his prime. A big, happy, yellow dog and at his first Junior test he was bound to shine. So Randall walked to the line with confidence. He and his dog were well prepared and nothing could possibly go wrong. Bird was thrown and Sunny took a good line but ended up between the bird station and the bird. The wind was blowing from the station and Sunny could not ignore his nose. He disappeared behind the holding blind and barked. The bird boy came running out of one end of the holding blind and Sunny came out the other end. Sunny was dragging the entire bag of birds and brought them all the way back to the line. He delivered the burlap sack to hand and Randall thanked the judges and left.


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## Eric Johnson (Dec 23, 2004)

Same dog as in the rolling in the cow pie story ...

Scene was a NAHRA Intermediate test, water series. The judge was a bit of a horses patoot to everyone in the morning and was continuing that way. Basically just being mouthy and a bit derogatory to all. We line Heather up and BOOM - BOOM. The double is down. Heather gets the first and delivers to hand. She takes off for the second, gets it and swims back. The judge is sitting on his stool right behind me. Heather comes in and turns around. Instead of delivering she just keeps backing up and backing up and backs up right between the judges legs. Then, without command, while holding the bird she shakes off the water and soaks the judge. The she steps forwards, sits, and delivers. The crowd, especially his wife, loved the whole episode though I was worried about a passing score. We indeed passed.


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## Julie R. (Jan 13, 2003)

Guess I have to add mine. From 2 weeks ago, at the Blue Ridge Q. Very nice first series, excellent use of terrain. My male who is a good marking dog, was so fixated on the flyer station I was pretty sure he never saw the first bird down, which in this series was the middle and longest mark. But, you never know, so I sent him on the flyer, no problem, then the left hand bird, that he also went straight to. But when he got there, he seemed to take an unusually long time to pick it up (it was too far away to see if he was hiking his leg on it or eating it...) but finally he picked it up and started back. The terrain was such that you couldn't see the dog after he went down a hill, until he was about halfway back, and he is a deadgrass Chesapeake, so he blended in pretty well. He was taking forever to reappear, and he's normally a fast dog, so I was worried he had gone somewhere else, like to China, until he finally reappeared... carrying a 4 foot holly bush, which had made for slow going as the cover was fairly thick. In the middle of the bush was the duck. When he finally got to the line, he dropped the bush and the duck tumbled out; he picked it up and delivered it to me, to the great amusement of the gallery and judges. The judges had placed the bush to make the duck less obvious to dogs backsiding the gun, since this bird landed on a road at the edge of some woods. Apparently his mark had landed right in the middle of the bush, he couldn't get it out so he just brought the whole thing back. Alas, he had no idea there was a third mark there and didn't care to be handled past the first two marks, so we were done.


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## Pat Puwal (Dec 22, 2004)

Ran a hunt test last fall at Cooper Black, Patrick, SC right after the Master National. It was a right triple with three ducks thrown in a converging pattern. Dog picks up two ducks and then goes out for last bird and takes quite a bit of time. When she came in she had a live pheasant in her mouth, but the gunners were throwing ducks. Turns out this test and the field had been used for the Master National and there were many fly away pheasants on the grounds. Dog was dropped because she brought in a live pheasant.


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## mjh345 (Jun 17, 2006)

Pat Puwal said:


> Ran a hunt test last fall at Cooper Black, Patrick, SC right after the Master National. It was a right triple with three ducks thrown in a converging pattern. Dog picks up two ducks and then goes out for last bird and takes quite a bit of time. When she came in she had a live pheasant in her mouth, but the gunners were throwing ducks. Turns out this test and the field had been used for the Master National and there were many fly away pheasants on the grounds. Dog was dropped because she brought in a live pheasant.


Would not have been dropped for THAT reason if I were judging


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## NateB (Sep 25, 2003)

I have 2, both involve the same dog. Probably the best dog I will ever own, but still, sometimes they are just dogs. We were running a NAHRA Double Senior (master) test in PA under judges I have seen many times and always liked their tests. This dog and her mother had just crushed the tests all weekend and we just had to pick up the water marks. Mother dog runs them and does fine. This dog is running the marks and as she starts to the third mark the judges start telling me what a pleasure it was to watch my dogs as they were just crushing it. Just as I thanked them I worried about them cursing me, sure enough the that mark was thrown out of a canoe, the dog got a little lost in the lilly pads and got into the canoe from swimming water with the bird boy. I hit the whistle and she sat in the canoe looking at me, took the cast back into the water to the bird. Everyone who had heard the earlier praise was just cracking up, we still got a ribbon it was her only "handle" all weekend.

Jump forward 2 years are we are running quals. Previous summer we got to the 4th series in the couple that we ran but never finished. This trial I entered the AM and the Q. She blew up in the Q too excited, big hunts on all the marks and terrible casting on the blind. We had a little talk about paying attention then went to the AM land marks. First bird was straight out about 275 yards and would retire. Second bird middle to the right throwing toward the line to the long bird but not really tight, then flyer to the far right. I showed her all the marks, and had her lined up ready to go and called for the birds. They did not come out, so I called again. When the shot went off for the long gun, I realized that I had her looking at the flyer. I was completely backwards. She did not even acknowledge the shot for the long bird. Heard the second shot, marked the fall and the flyer was easy. Wind blowing right to left. Got the middle bird very easy, some other dogs had a problem with it and wanted to go behind the gun into the wind. Now the long retied bird she did not even see, but had marked the gun and the blind was a bit obvious. I tried to line her but she was looking behind the gun, when I tried to pull her over she looked at the middle gun. So I let her look behind the gun and sent her, she ran right behind the gun winded the bird and picked it up. I figured we were done since she took a line behind the gun. As she brought back the last bird the judges told me that we all do stuff like that and the excitement is what keeps us going. They were so nice to this rookie of AA stakes. They called us back and we made it to the final series, and she was the only dog to pick up the retired water mark without cheating. We got a fourth and was told we were catching up fast. I was so happy, but will never forget that feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized I lined her up on the wrong bird. Thank goodness for a great dog.


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## Rick Hall (Jan 21, 2003)

fishduck said:


> This reminds me of an old friend now gone and a story he always told. Randall Ayers...


Made me smile just to see the name. He hunted with our Louisiana camp a fair bit in the way back when.


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