A typical trial.

The first thing that people must realise about my trial reports is that I compete under two essentially similar codes but as with so many other situations where things appear similar the differences are in the detail.
The Kennel Club and The Irish Kennel Club each have their own Field Trial Regulations and probably the most obvious difference in them is the number of dogs that are allowed to compete in an “open” stake.  Under Kennel Club (KC) rules up to forty dogs can run in an Open Stake while with the Irish Kennel Club (IKC) it is thirty. In my estimation thirty is nearer the correct number, especially for Ireland where there is much less game. The only reason that forty can be shoe horned into a day is that where there is a greater density of game there is a much higher risk of dogs eliminating themselves. Neither Kennel Club’s rules really allow for the stamina of a dog to be tested but it is interesting to note that IKC events usually take up a much greater portion of the day so the Irish dogs usually have to work harder. I don’t want to be misquoted or to leave myself open to wilful misrepresentation. I am not for one minute suggesting that the dogs that compete on The Mainland are not capable of running. Just that they get less opportunity in an event. When the dogs that make the annual pilgrimage across the Irish Sea to the IKC Champion Stake are loosed on the hill, their running ability is there for all to see.
While I don’t wish to dwell on the differences between the actual written codes the main difference is in the ethos that is reflected in how the events are run. The IKC events permit a much wider beat to be used and therefore the pace and the drive of the dog are much more important while the ability to back and for dogs to be under strict control seems much more important in KC events. Perhaps it is ironic that competitors in Ireland often bemoan the scarcity of game here and mainland trials seem to suffer somewhat from being run on comparatively over stocked moors.
The running order in any event is decided by ballot. The first round is announced and the trial begins. The main party is often made up of the two judges, the gun (quite often the beat keeper) who may also act as the steward of the beat or if that is not the case the steward himself will be up with the action. From time to time there may also be the odd photographer and sometimes an overseas visitor will be permitted to walk with the judges. The final two members of the party will be the two competitors and their dogs. It isn’t unusual to have the next two or three brace of competitors in close attendance, especially if the party is going on a down wind hike to get the wind.
When all are ready the two competitors walk a pace or two into the wind and loose their dogs. Ideally the right hand dog will go to the right and the left hand dog to the left across the wind. Conditions, the topography and the judges instructions will all have a bearing on what now takes place but on an ideal, relatively flat moor, each of the dogs should go out about two hundred yards before turning into the wind and going forward maybe fifteen yards before crossing the beat in the other direction. The dogs won’t stop when they reach the middle of the beat they will go on out the other side for the same distance before once again turning into the wind, going forward another fifteen yards and crossing to the other side of the beat again. This way the handlers will make steady progress into the wind with their dogs covering all the ground in a systematic way and with a symmetrical pattern. If no game has been encountered after about fifteen minutes the judges will stop this brace and mark up their books before taking the next pair. If both the dogs have pleased the judges with their work they will probably get a further run in a subsequent round. It is also possible that only one dog will go through or maybe neither will make the cut. If however one dog was obviously substandard then the pair will be picked up well before the full fifteen minutes and the better dog asked to follow on, the idea being that it will be used to create a “made up brace” ( one that wasn’t in the original draw) with another dog in a similar position. If on the other hand there had been an uneven number of dogs in the event and there was a bye dog, the first time this situation arose the bye dog would be called in to run with the better dog.
Just sometimes a clear run is a thing of beauty in itself. If both the dogs have been up for the fight and really beat their ground it is breathtaking to watch and sometimes the finding of a bird would be a disruption to a perfect performance. It is however undoubtedly the anticipation of two such fine going dogs coming to game that makes the good running exciting. Will the dogs handle the game correctly, will the dogs be far apart when one finds or will they be close together and one end up backing or even will we end up with a joint find?
I have to say that I prefer my dog to be on it’s own when it finds a bird. Time without number my oponent’s dog has put my dog under pressure and spoilt my chances. Even if my dog remains steady as the other goes past it to flush the birds, my dog has been robbed of the opportunity of producing it’s own birds and must therefore be further down the awards than a dog of similar quality that has produced its own game. There is of course a good chance that my dog won’t take the intimidation and will move, and in doing so be eliminated.
When my dog points I raise my hand to claim the point and may even say “Point” to draw the judge’s’ attention. Some handlers don’t formally claim the point. I put this down to them not trusting their dog and hoping that if the dog breaks off to hunt again that it won’t be counted as a false point. They may however just not know to do it or perhaps be overcome by the heat of the moment. I feel it shows you trust your dog and can read it correctly. When I am judging I certainly like to see a handler claiming but even if the handler doesn’t claim, if the dog is on point he is claiming.
Usually a dog is a few yards off the handler when it points and once the judge indicates that he is going to your dog he will quite often say to you “In your own time”. Until you, the handler, are instructed verbally or by some motion of the hand to ask your dog to proceed the dog should remain stationary. That said it is deemed appropriate for a dog to move to keep in touch with running birds as long as it doesn’t flush before being told to. I have been binned for my dog moving many many times but I have also gone unpunished quite a lot. I have to say that I still don’t know what makes it OK sometimes and not on other occasions.
As the judge and I approach the dog I tell it to “Get in”. Some folks click their fingers, some slap their thigh but the instruction is the same. Hopefully my dog will go forward quickly to a point some fifteen to twenty yards in front of me from where the grouse will flush. If the birds are running the dog may stop again and when I get up beside it I will tll it to “Get in” again. This may happen a couple of times before the grouse flush but when they do I want the dog to drop onto his belly. In the event that the dog doesn’t see or hear the birds flush I want him to drop to the shot which should happen fairly quickly after. I now expect the judge to tell me to “Clear the ground”.  It may surprise some people that even with a gunshot, birds may still remain tucked in the heather rather than fly. This clearing of the ground is to put up all the remaining covey. In an event at Balmoral my Roi dog produced no less than twenty two birds at one point. About half of these birds were only put up after four shots had been fired, and birds actually retrieved and all this was in an area no bigger than half a tennis court just under the summit of Lough na Gar.
If when asked to “clear the ground” the dog flushes another group of birds he is expected to drop to the flush. He may go on to produce a couple more small groups or even a string of single birds but he is expected to react in the same way each and every time. Eventually the judge will ask for the dog to be picked up. What now takes place varies greatly between the mainland and Ireland. On the mainland it it fairly common for a brace of dogs to be put down to run again especially if the find happened very early in their run. It would be incorrect to say that this never happens in Ireland but it doesn’t happen very often.
Quite often the dogs will be relatively close when one has a find and in this situation the other dog is expected to “Back” the pointing dog. This means it assumes a pointing stance but it points at the dog that is already pointing rather than towards the birds. There it must remain until the pointing dog has completed it’s work or a judge tells you that you can put the lead on.
From time to time the situation arises that both dogs will end up down wind of the birds and pointing them. This is called a “joint find”. This can happen because a topographical feature hides one dog from the other, or the two dogs are in close proximity to one another when they both wind the birds at the same time. The judges will ask one dog to work out ( usually the first to point) and the other will be expected to remain steady until the judges deem the other dog’s work to be complete.
On occasions the first dog to work out will not be able to produce a bird. The judges may then offer the other dog a opportunity to work out and if it produces birds it will receive full credit and the failed dog will be eliminated. It also happens from time to time that if there is a backing dog and the first dog fails to produce that the backing dog will be offered an opportunity to produce birds. This is more likely if the two dogs are more or less facing in the same direction and also some times the dog that started off backing will move its head round to towards the birds and will end up pointing rather than backing.
By the time the first round has been completed all the situations above may have occurred and some others as well. Some dogs will have clean finds and productions. Some will have good runs but no birds. Others will have eliminated themselves for a number of reasons. It is now a matter for the judges to decide which dogs to bring back for the second round. Usually all the dogs with clean finds and good running will get through. Just having a bird isn’t enought some times. If a dog’s running was substandard and it just happened to bore up the middle of the beat and point a bird it may not get into the second round.  The make up of the second round is therefore usually the vast majority of the dogs with finds and the very best running dogs that have had no find.
In IKC trials a draw is always held for the second round while in KC events if the judges wish they can decide which dog runs against which in the second or subsequent rounds and in what order. In either case the “draw” is announced and the second round is run on more or less the same basis ans the first round. It must be remembered that at the end of the day it will be the dog’s whole performance that will decide its place in the results should it still be standing at the end and have demonstrated the necessary attributes. i.e. Pointed and produced game, remained steady to wing and shot and quartered its ground with pace and style.
If the second round is big then a third round and maybe even a run off are not uncommon as are “extensions” Extensions occur usually when at the end of any round the judges have dogs with good running but no birds. These dogs will be given another opportunity to run and if successful will go on into the subsequent rounds.
There is usually order in a trial but to the uninitiated the end can be confusing. The judges may have a list of possible award winners. It would be nice if the first and second placed dogs ran against each other to settle the results and quite often this happens but it can also work out that the judges will have decided on first and second but can’t split two other dogs for third and fourth. They will probably run these two dogs until one makes a slight error. They are not wanting to eliminate either of these dogs but the cleaner dog will obviously get the higher award.
At some time in the furure I will add pieces to this to cover some of the other situations that may arise but this is the bones of a Pointer & setter Trial.