The Northern Ireland pointer Club held an Open Stake for Any Variety Setter & Pointers under Kennel Club Rules & Regulations on Saturday 16th August 2008. The venue for the day was Lord & Lady Dunluce’s ground at Glenwherry and they were represented on the day by their grouse keeper Lee McMenamin. The judges were the Hon. Sec. Carol Calvert and John Murray.
I don’t know the wind direction but most of the day was spent in rain, some heavy some light, but rain.
My correspondent tells me he saw some good work on birds from Davy O’Neill’s red setter bitch but unfortunately the dog later stole a point and was eliminated. Andy Law also had a chance but the single bird appeared to outwit his dog and got up behind. The award winning performance took place just over the brow of The Brunt so he doesn’t know why only a second place was awarded but the brace mate of the award winner may have stolen the point and flushed, robbing the pointing dog of a workout. Of the dogs he saw for the first time Ross liked the initial ground work of Joan McGillicuddy’s Creg Rena, an Irish Red Setter Bitch.
Result :-
2nd Craigrua Kent Ned Flannelley’s Irish Red & White Setter dog.
Chris :-
Ross achieved his goal today of getting into the second round and it appears he did it totally on merit. Chris has upped the stakes a little each time he has been in competition recently and today was another best performance, according to Ross, and backed up by Ned Butler. The big dog ran very flat but it appears he could have been let go a bit wider and he would therefore have been flat through the whole of his runs. Both runs constituted good ground work and may just have been the best of the day. The only negative was that Ross had difficulty picking Chris up at the end of his second run. This all due to the fact that at 07:50 Ross was fast asleep about forty miles from the meet and took my whistles instead of his own. My silent whistle, which is brand new, doesn’t work.
Two things have been very heartening this year. The way Ross appears to have been accepted by the other competitors, both North & South and the accuracy of his critique’s when he reports on the work of somebody else’s dog. I know he has been about dogs for all of his life but many peolple look and watch but never see.
We knew exactly what the bird supply was on this hill and it didn’t disappoint in that respect but any event for pointing dogs relies to a very large extent on the weather and yesterday was a disappointment on that score as wet conditions badly affect scent and I don’t know many people who prefer rain on their backs to sunshine.
