We went to a field trial in South Carolina.
It was 5hr. flight from San Diego.

Have you heard what a field trial is about?
They have a lot of different rules.





The trial rules for this trip:
1) Release 2 bird dogs.(pointer & setter)
2) Object: see how many birds (quail)
they can find in 1hr
3) 2 judges follow by horse.


4) The gallery (us) follow them by horse & wagon
Bird dogs never walk, they just run
(they look like white lightning)


5) Dogs have to stay in the open field
so they can be seen by the gallery,
also the dogs have to know where their handler is at.
6) Handlers have to make a distinct sound
so their dogs know where they are at.
Bird dogs are always using their ears to locate their handler
and their noses to locate the quail.
Smart dogs always run downwind
so they can pick up the quails' scent,
which saves the dog a lot of time.
7) The judges are looking to see how powerful the dogs' run is.

"There is a quail in these bushes"

If the bird dog thinks that, they will point.

Click for larger picture!
The dogs tail has to point up,
it can't wag or point down, and all 4 legs can't move.
When bird dogs run, they are crazy,
but when they point they have to freeze like a statue
(WOW) goose bumps all over) when I see the dogs in action.
When the dogs point, the handler goes near the dog,
kicks and looks in the bushes to flush out the quail,
when the bird flies away in the sky,
the handler shoots the bird (gun loaded with blanks).
Click for larger picture!
The dog can't move, if they follow the bird they FAIL.
Click for larger picture!
The handler looks to the judge for the ok to continue,
if the judge nods his head, the handler grabs the dogs collar
(that gives the dog the ok to move) and they continue.
Some handlers show off by taking their time getting to their dogs,
proving their dogs wont move forever.
Sometimes the handler finds a dead bird or just feathers,
(the judge gives no points) if that happens,
the handler has to get his dog to look for another bird.
Smart dogs jump in the lake to cool off
so they can continue looking for birds.

There are a lot of water buckets on the course
so the dogs have water to drink.
sometimes the handler dumps
the water on the dogs to cool them off.
Some dogs found 7 birds in 1 course.

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