by Jason Ferris » Mon 05 Jan 2004 8:55 am
The message below was sent to me by Jack Lynch and is posted here on his behalf. Cheers (and Happy New Year), Jason.
I agree that there are too many occasions were handlers are compelled to stagnate in hopeless positions e.g. behind a tree, at the bottom of a ditch e.t.c. whilst the judge views all from up a ladder or similar, and then, after what seems like an age of frustration and helplessness, we hear "get your dog in the area". What are we supposed to do when we have not been allowed to see the dog since it left our side? A perfect example of this situation was demonstrated at a recent trial, when, what appeared to me to be a badly planned double fall mark was cast, most of the dogs that I observed did not see that bird, the handlers were then required to retire into a (hole) and send the dog from that position for the retrieve. I observed many dogs covering acres of territory, even hunting in the wrong paddock, trying to locate this bird, but out of sight of the handler, unduly disturbing too much ground, rule 4.
On another occasion, one of my dogs was presented with what was supposed to be a mark but was a dark bird against a dark background, almost impossible to see, as a result I used nine commands to retrieve that bird. My second dog was presented with a black and white bird which was plain to see, we needed no commands to collect this one. Some later dogs on this run had all white birds, where was the ambit of equality where assessment may be fairly made? rule 1. Handlers spend many hours training and teaching their dogs handling skills but are restrained from demonstrating them in trials on far to many occasions. Handlers are becoming disillusioned, myself included. We need to get a few things sorted out and quickly, before it is too late.
I will close by congratulating the Tasmanians for their efforts in successfully organising the Championships. It must have been a tremendous task and undertaken by so few.
Jack Lynch.