Yesterday was spent at the charity gundog day in aid of cancer research at Fletching in Sussex, organised by my lovely friend Mandy Smith, who sadly lost both her sister and father to this awful disease last year.
There were an abundance of helpers, which allowed me to run my dogs as well as take a turn helping on one of the tests, so Moidart did the puppy test, while Shona and Riska both ran in the open, which had some fairly tough retrieves. There are two lakes at Northall, and the open water retrieve was a mark into the second lake, meaning that the dog had to swim across the first lake at an angle, jump a fence and then disappear from view into the second lake to pick the dummy, which meant you needed a dog that would run a nice straight line out and back. I’m pleased to say that both Shona and Riska scored a maximum 20 points for this test, which really made my day.
There was also a scurry, and Riska was in the lead for a long time, before being beaten by her younger half-brother, Bear.
I then announced my intention to have a go at the agility competition, and several people came to watch me make a fool of myself, but they were amazed when Shona produced a very fast clear round to take the lead. I was asked how I’d managed to get her to go through the weave poles and answered that it was down to tight heelwork, but if truth be told, when Shona was a year old we did some agility to build our bond, and nearly five years later she had remembered what to do.
After tea and plenty of wonderful cakes it was time for the results. Riska was fourth in the open, Moidart won the puppy class, with her litter brother Bear in third place, and Shona won the agility, making me very proud of my girls.
This day had a very special atmosphere, with everybody thoroughly enjoying themselves, and I couldn’t have wished for better company, but the best bit of all was that over £2200 was raised for cancer research.
