Derby Dog Days

Strider is my first field dog and he has a lot of drive.  While our training is moving slowly, it is due to my work schedule and availability to train. Then we had that awful Mid-Atlantic winter weather and snow and ice covered the ground for months, limiting training even further. While Strider earned his Junior Hunter title last September (a first for him and me both!), a Senior test was a long way off because we needed to learn to be steady and to handle first.

Our little Golden training group was able to secure a training grounds spot this year and we added more people to the group.  One of those new members taught me an amazing steadiness drill.  She had me place Strider at heel, give him an extra “sit” command, and be prepared to nick him if he moved.  Then she stood 2 feet away from me and started swinging bumpers with a “hup, hup, hup”, tossing them 2 to 5 feet in front of Strider.  Guess what?  He broke.  I nicked and said “No.  Here.”  And with that one correction, Strider was steady, bumper after bumper.  We transitioned it to the field and again, with one break and one correction, Strider is steady – at the line and on the honor!   (Thank you Laurie!)

Okay.  Now I have a steady dog who needs to work on handling before attempting any Senior tests.  Then, his breeder suggests that we enter a Derby.  All marks, no handling needed there.  I enter before I can have second thoughts, after all, I’m doing it for the experience, for the fun… he ages out in 2 months!  My first Derby!

Now the nerves set in!  I reread the AKC field trial rules but they don’t help much.  Everyone I ask has a different recollection of what can be tested in the Derby.  The one thing I do know is distance.  So Strider and I and my trusty chair with a white shirt do stickman drills…250, 270, 300 yards.  Those drills require Strider to remain in a sit while I walk out all those yards, set up the chair, fire the pistol, toss the bumper, and walk all the way back to Strider’s side to release him.  I was doing just as much yardage as the dog, just slower!

“May 8, Derby starts after Qualifying is over but not before 9:00am”

I arrive at 7:30 after a 2-hour drive to discover that the Qual was stopped early the day before due to the threat of storms.  The Derby will probably start at 3:00pm and continue the following day…. oh no…. Mother’s Day.  The day is hot, 85°, humid, buggy, ticks everywhere, poison ivy everywhere, no place to relax, walk, air your dog except right by the cars parked alongside the narrow road.  And everywhere around me, dog trucks and the scary field trailers, many of whom are pros, almost all of whom travel south for winter training, and I’ve been told they don’t suffer newcomers gladly.  What am I doing here?

But wait! The scary field trailers are smiling and talking to me and encouraging me and explaining the process to me and are not so scary anymore!  In fact, they are downright friendly to me – so much for the rumors – they must’ve brought some of that southern hospitality north with them!  I watched the Qualifying, saw some great dog work and an incredible 200-yard water blind.  One poor dog had to hold the line while a pair of mallards swam right across her nose.

And my Derby results with Strider?  We learned a lot.  And I didn’t have to decide how to tell the family I wasn’t coming home for Mother’s Day.  I was out in the first series.  The set-up was a double at about 60° - a 270-yard memory bird and a 250-yard live flyer go bird, both marks thrown left to right.  The winds were brutal, the grass thigh high.  Once the dogs left the mound and entered the grass, only the leggiest Labs could be seen.  The tall grass also obscured the gunners when they sat down – they were only visible from the chest up.

Strider was steady coming to line and for the fall.  He took a great line to the go bird and disappeared into the grass.  Then I just had to wait, couldn’t even look for grass moving due to the wind. Those seconds took forever and then I see his smiling face come out of the grass running toward me, duck in mouth. Good dog.  Delivered to hand, set up for the memory bird… Strider!!  But he hunted short.  Unusual for him.  Then someone explained “blow back”.  Strider was the tenth dog to run that mark through thigh-high grass.  The grass brushed against every duck already retrieved.  The theory is that Strider smelled all the duck scent and stopped short.  He was only halfway there and established a hunt.  I picked him up. 

I had fun!  Strider had fun!  I met some really nice people.  Strider wasn’t ruined by the adventure. And, I got to spend Mother’s Day with my family after all.  The Derby wasn’t so scary after all!

Many thanks to the Maryland Retriever Club and its members for their kindness!