The Premier County F.T.A. held an open stake of Pointers & Setters under Irish Kennel Club rules & regulations on Saturday 8th March 2008. The venue was The Cut near Kinnity and the judges were Declan O’Rourke, Patsy McCarthy and M Costello.
This is a heavy hill as heather burning is not permitted due to the proximity of extensive forestry and there is no swiping done either. Most of the heather is rank and varies in height from ankle deep to knee deep. That said a few birds were seen in the context of the stake and in the afternoon there were plenty of signs of grouse.
The weather wasn’t great with the temperature not much more than freezing at the start and although there were dry spells there were also some of the most vicious hail storms I have had the misfortune to experience for some time. That dogs could scent game was a near miracle but there were no finds during any of the storms probably because the judges had the good sense to abandon operations when squalls hit.
It was obvious from the start that the judges were judging to keep dogs in the trial rather than eliminate them for little reason but there were a number that made their job easier by falling on their swords.
Results : -
1st Lisduvogue Socks Pat Reape’s Irish Setter bitch.
2nd Jamail Adam Aiden Dunne’s Irish Setter dog.
3rd Starlight Princess P Martin’s English Setter bitch.
Judy.
Judy is a small dog and she was never going to sparkle in heather nearly as high as herself. Perhaps if we had had a chance at the birds that flushed loose from our beat before we cast off she may have got another run on better ground but she failed to impress the judges.
Roxy
To say we rode our luck to remain in the first round would be a major understatement but after a bit of a horlicks at the start of the first round we were put down again and Roxy had a good hard, flat, fast run without the opportunity of a bird.
Our second round was poor. Both dogs went to the right and basically refused to handle but eventually I got Roxy to the centre of the beat. I sent her to the left and she reluctantly went a few yards in that direction and turned. Again I sent her left and she went a few yards and turned. When I sent her left for the third time she lay down. At this juncture I put my lead on her and withdrew her.
Roxy, although in theory not in season was mated by Chris on Christmas Day and I was required to get her jagged just in case. This would be about her puppy time if she had been successfully mated. Although she hadn’t exhibited these symptoms before I can only assume that this was why she threw in the towel.
Irish dogs almost always run. Even taking into consideration the state of the heather it was no surprise that the vast majority of the dogs, even the pointers performed in the heavy heather and poor weather conditions. What Irish dogs don’t always have such a great reputation for is nose. Well the ability to find and point birds successfully on such a day suggests that they could find birds at the bottom of a bowl of custard. The dogs with finds deserve large amounts of extra credit.
