SEWSSC Spring Working Assessment , Meopham, May 2014

The SEWSSC’s annual Working Assessments for Spaniels (excluding ESS and Cockers) was held at Ashmere Farm, Sole Street, Meopham in Kent by kind permission of Mr David Stapleton on Sunday 18th May 2014. The scheduled Judges were Sandra Bell (Glenhafon WSS), and Louise Judge (Opalreef Sussex Spaniels). Sadly Sandra had to withdraw due to personal circumstances, but we were fortunate that Heather Mayes (Wooliebourne Clumber Spaniels) was available at short notice and stepped in to save the day. We hope to see Sandra at a future event.

The class winners were each presented with a 15kg bag of Masters Meaty Crunch for Active Dogs, donated by Masters Dogfoods, who have been generously sponsoring this event for several years now.

We had about two dozen entries from just over 20 handlers, with only two absent handlers on the day. The weather lived up to the forecast of dry and warm all day, albeit without much of the expected light cloud cover which would have made things a little more comfortable for the dogs. The ground used for the Special Beginner, Puppy and Novice classes was mainly open, which offered some close grazed areas for obedience and steadiness tests, and variable amounts of rough cover up to about 2 feet high for the hunting and retrieve elements. Although this was not particularly interesting for the dogs it did allow us to watch the proceedings from a single vantage point in the shade. It must have been tough going for the two judges and their assistants (Gordon Batey and George Isherwood), so our sincere thanks for all their stamina and perseverance on the day. After a brief stop to take on water we moved to an area of lightly wooded cover for the Open test.

It was pleasing to see two newcomers in the Special Beginners test – Wendy Buckwell and George Isherwood. Wendy also had two entries in the Puppy class, so was fully immersed on her first outing! We do hope they are all sufficiently enthused to continue with working training and to enter more tests and / or take their dogs on a shoot and do proper working (ahem!)

By contrast the large Novice class was won by Graham Constable with his Clumber Spaniel, Magiriaght Vindicator. Graham is a seasoned campaigner and we’re sure his latest will go on to even greater things.

The Open test was a close-run affair, with Ann Lyon’s Bushwacker Hotspot taking first place by a single point, but Julie Shawyer with Menstonia Misty Dreams, in second place, received the Best Hunter award. Husband Paul, with Fiergen Silver Spirit, was close behind in third place, but Paul had some very difficult cover to contend with.

All agreed this was a lovely day out with our dogs, and its success was in no small part due to contributions from several folk. On behalf of the Committee of the SEWSSC I would like to thank the following:

· Masters Dogfoods for their continued generous sponsorship of this event;

· David Stapleton for permission to use his land in this picturesque part of the world;

· George Coleman for arranging things ‘on the ground’;

· Our judges, Heather Mayes and Louise Judge, who endured a long day in the sun, together with their stewards Gordon Batey and George Isherwood;

· and all those committee members who helped in various ways to make this another great day out with our Spaniels.

Charles Dixon.

Our Judge, Louise, wrote the following:

Firstly I would like to thank the club for inviting me to Judge for you. We were blessed with a glorious day, all be it a tad warm for the chaps in fur coats! It was lovely to see “new” people out with their dogs, I hope they had a good day and went home knowing that they and their dogs are more than capable, just some elements need refining. Please do persevere with the training and enter as many of the minor breed events as you can. Half of the battle is owner nerves; once we relax, the dogs relax and the dog/handler partnership flows.

We had a super entry:

Special beginner-2

Puppy- 4 (sadly 2 entrants could not come on the day)

Novice-12 (down to 10 as 2 also could not make it)

Open – 6

Heather and I decided to run the dogs individually, with both of us assessing the hunting, steadiness and retrieving. Starting with 200 points (100 from each judge); points were deducted from each dog’s score to give the final results.

Special Beginner

1^st place- Killena Tumbaa- good all-round performance, nice steady dog, needs to learn to hunt a little further from handler.

2^nd place- Amblelight Trapezium Star- First test for dog and handler, Dog showed potential in all elements of the test, just needs more time and training for that potential to come through. Very well done for your first go.

Puppy

1^st place- Killena Tumbaa- Again good performance - as in Special beginner hunting needs to be further from handler.

2^nd place-Killena Safafina- Not her day, didn’t want to do anything except be with Mum! This one needs time to become more confident.

Novice

1^st place- Magiriaght Vindicator- Pleasure to watch, near faultless performance. (Best non-WSS)

2^nd place- Islemoor Beau Sancy- Cleaner retrieves needed.

3^rd place-Killena Mustang- Didn’t hunt as well as 1st/2^nd, also needs cleaner retrieves.

4^th place- Blythway Sunflower Gold- excellent retrieves need to up the pace on the hunting.

Bwgan Llwyd Ar Nantle- Just a few points off a place, up the speed of hunting and you’ll be there.

Isfryn Alpaca Alley- needs to up the hunting speed and refine retrieves

Fiergen Steamy windows- again up the hunting pace “go back” and direction on the blind retrieve went a bit wrong today!

Mestonia Fair Chance- lacked hunting pace, found the retrieves, and then messed about a bit before bringing them back.

Rosolly you’ve got the love- Bit of a wiggler on the steadiness, shows good hunting potential, needs more retrieving practice.

Fiergen City Limits- Pace of hunting needs to increase, retrieves need more practice, steadiness getting there!

Open

1^st place- Bushwacker Hotspot- Great overall performance, good clean retrieves, nice steady worker.

2^nd place- Mestonia Misty Dreams- Only 1 point between 1^st and 2^nd, Better hunter but not such clean retrieves. (Best overall Hunter)

3^rd place Fiergen Silver Spirit-Superb dog, steady excellent retrieves, just lacked hunting pace of 1^st and 2^nd (thickness of initial ground taken into consideration!!)

Coedybrain Ryan Ar Nantle- Good steady dog needed a bit more pace in hunting and just lost points on the retrieving.

Fiergan Private dancer- Great Hunter only 3 points less than best hunter. Good seen retrieve, not so good on the blind!

Hillpark Sunset Gold Over Blythway- Good steady dog lacked the hunting pace of others, retrieves not as clean.

Well done to all of the competitors, it was a pleasure to Judge for you.

Miss Louise Judge

Special Beginner 2 Entries, 0 Absent

Position	Dog’s Name	Breed	Handler	Points
1	Killena Tumbaa	WSS	Wendy Buckwell	159
2	Amblelight Trapezium Star	WSS	George Isherwood	85

Puppy 4 Entries, 2 Absent

Position	Dog’s Name	Breed	Handler	Points
1	Killena Tumbaa	WSS	Wendy Buckwell	127
2	Killena Sarafina	WSS	Wendy Buckwell	40

Novice 13 Entries, 3 Absent

Position	Dog’s Name	Breed	Handler	Points
1	Magiriaght Vindicator	Clumber	Graham Constable	182
2	Islemoor Beau Sancy	WSS	Ann Lyon	168
3	Killena Mustang	WSS	Carley Sandford	158
4	Blythway Sunflower Gold	WSS	Fiona Stevenson	146

Open 6 Entries, 0 Absent

Position	Dog’s Name	Breed	Handler	Points
1	Bushwacker Hotspot	WSS	Ann Lyon	178
2	Menstonia Misty dreams	WSS	Julie Shawyer	177
3	Fiergen Silver Spirit	WSS	Paul Shawyer	170
4	Coedybrain Ryan Ar Nantile	WSS	Alison Evans	140