The Breffnei & Oriel Pointer & Setter Club held it’s Open Stake on Grouse at Scotstown on Friday 4th August 2006. The judges were Aiden Dunne and Tim Fox. There was one withdrawal, the handler having brought a bitch, five weeks in pup by mistake and not the dog he had entered. As usual we got to the hill a bit late as the meet was in Moynah’s Pub.
The weather was awful but a bit of a Godsend in view of the preceding weeks of heat, drizzle turning to rain at times and back to drizzle. This obviously affected the trial but at least my dogs proved to me that there was more than a seven-minute run in them. There were birds about and quite a few haunts, which led to a number of non-productives. This is understandable, but not acceptable, as grouse tend to sit above the heather in these sorts of conditions and be up and away at the slightest noise. I saw the work of the award winners and they both deserved their excellent grades even if the winner was a bit right sided in his second round.
1st Lagopus Yorkie Jimmy Dalton’s Pointer Dog
2nd Maodhog Run Davy Byrne’s Red Setter Bitch.
Jalad :- Didn’t look like a novice in these conditions. Ran wide and flat but his bite was a bit more than I would normally tolerate. He had two runs in the first round having blown away his original brace-mate. In his second run he greatly out performed his opponent which doing a much shorter beat got ahead and had a find, after which it ran in. I presume Jalad was excluded because it was thought that the birds were there for him as well.
Jump :- I really thought he might be past it but the worry eased when I ran Jalad and got a performance. Jump was back to his imperious best and the best of my dogs on the day mainly because he stayed nice and flat. There wasn’t a sniff in either of his runs but I was still very relieved and pleased that he still could give a top class performance.
Judy :- Although birdless in her three rounds she put in three exceptional runs. If any of my dogs deserved a third round I thought it should have been Jump but as a small dog Judy seems very fast as she has a quick action. I have also noticed that when running against bigger dogs she can hold her own if they are both running in the same direction. She was very flat, very fast and very very wide. I talked with the judges on the walk back to the cars. We eventually agreed that her beat was somewhere in the region of 600 yards. I also noticed that even though she out quartered her oponents she still had the brains to pinch back the forward cast and what I really don’t understand is that she usually does it right in front of me. Although without a bird and therefore not eligible for a prize she still was mentioned in dispatches in the summing up.Bring on those grouse, we are ready for them.
