Northern Plains Shooting Dog Classic
NBHA Northern Plains Shooting Dog Classic
By Greg Blair
The Twelve O'clock FTC held the inaugural NBHA Northern Plains Shooting Dog Classic, April 1-3, 2010. We would like to thank the NBHA for working closely with us to get this approved and off the ground. The support of Purina, Tri-Tronics and Christie Enterprises to the NBHA is greatly appreciated. The weather, the week prior to the scheduled start, dumped heavy rains and wet snow on the course. After reviewing the grounds, it was determined by the club board members that we would not be able to use those grounds and unfortunately all other state grounds were unavailable. Not wanting to cancel the trial, or try to move dates around, a call was made to the American Field and they provided the approval the use of alternative grounds as long as it was adequate to hold the trial. We were grateful to have Dale Creek Gundogs of SE Wisconsin offer their grounds and facilities to host this trial. We can not say thank you enough to Tom and the entire crew at Dale Creek. Our club was not the only one to have weather issues the week. Due to the cancellation of other Midwest trials, a number of handlers brought their dogs to our trial and joined us for the weekend. Three Midwest pros brought their strings to the trial, increasing this inaugural stake's entries - Hifive kennels (Minard), Daniels Creek Kennels (Daniels) and Dale Creek Gundogs (Waite). many club members spent all three days at the trial handling their dogs, driving dog wagons, planting birds, cleaning facilities. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to get this trial off the ground and kept it running smoothly, special thanks to trial chairperson Deb Dlobik. All the food was provided and prepared Ralph Tordeur, and we never pushed away from the table hungry...thanks Ralph. Our judges for the inaugural running were Jeff Hoff of Menomonee Falls, WI and Bert Benshoof of the Twin Cities. Their close attention to our entries, and three full days in the saddle, were greatly appreciated and we can not thank them enough, especially since they had to ride in typical Wisconsin spring weather - rain, sun, wind and flurries!
Open Shooting Dog Classic Placements
Judges named Dale Creek Rail the winner of the inaugural Classic. Rail is a coming seven year old, orange and white pointer who was bred and trained by Tom Waite and is owned by Dave Matthews of Genesee, WI. Rail ran in the 16th brace on Sunday and handled the course with ease, consistently showing to the front and running with a purpose. His finds were scattered along the course from far edges, deep cover to thick woods. He finished strong dropping through the bowl and heading out past the buildings as if he was asking for more. Following Rail in second place was a liver and white pointer Romeo's Attitude. Jessie is a direct son of Honky Tonk Attitude, also owned by Matthews and handled by Waite. Jessie is about as consistent as they come. Producing finds with style and manners that anyone would sit up in the saddle to watch. Digging deep and finding birds that are in areas not frequented by many, seems to be his forte and he does it with purpose. Third place went to Cameo's Dixie Chick handled by Daniels. Dixie may have produced the highest number of finds for the weekend and handled them with the utmost class. One memorable find along the north treeline was impressive to watch. During the flush the bird dug deep into the brush and as Daniels worked through the cover, actually behind her, she stood poised and focused to the front, never blinking. After the long attempt and shot she held her posture as if she was etched in stone.
This report does not note specific bird counts because there were way too many to scribe. Finds on liberated quail, wild woodcock and a few pheasants were all witnessed throughout the weekend. The top three dogs had roughly 25 finds between them. As the judges noted, the high bird count separated those dogs who could consistently handle them for the entire 45 minute stake, and the top three separated themselves from the rest. Listed in brace order, the judges noted others that were in contention, Fireside Interesting Linda (Minard), Pinehill Silent Echo (Minard), Rebellious Heart Break (Luebke) and Fireside Drama Queen (Minard).
Open Derby Placements
The accompanying derby stake drew 25 participants and taking the top honor was Dateline Sharp Dressed Man (Minard). This black and white pointer exhibited a strong shooting dog range, a steady forward race and showed adult like application to the course. Second was Hifive's Country Mile (Minard) and like the winner, Country handled the course appropriately but with a shorter range. Her multiple finds showed that she should be a classy shooting dog in the near future. Taking third with a consistent forward race was Dale Creek's Cajun Queen (Dlobik), With a nice large derby entry there were numerous dogs that showed strong potential to take the next step to be competitive shooting dogs.
