2017 NSW championship
Judge: Ronnie Cooper
6 elimination runs over 2 days
DAY 1
We started with 22 dogs - 3 only from NSW , the rest from Qld and Vict. 16 of the dogs were already RT Champions - so a very strong field. We lost 2-3 dogs per run. And finished with 4. Congratulations to these four first class teams! Ronnie gave us a very well graded set of runs, that really put the dogs through their paces! Ability to mark well was always a priority. As was willingness to enter chilly water from a distance. There were lots of relocations that in theory might have disadvantaged dogs and handlers. But generally the dogs handled the relocations very well. There were no two-birds, no double falls, no double rises. No tricks, but very tight angles. The following summary is to the best of my memory and may not be 100% accurate.
1st run: watch 90m Mark at left at the top of the hill. Proceed with dog 20m down into a steep gully. Watch a second max distance mark shot at the far end of a gully. Get 1st Mark fr new location, (largely out of sight) then get max distance mark. Plenty of time given for each leg. (See Run 1 diagram)
![Run 1 NSW State 2017 vvvsm.jpg](./download/file.php?id=632&sid=8df76c2ff5fdefe935ba02f51716dcf4)
- Run 1
- Run 1 NSW State 2017 vvvsm.jpg (39.09 KiB) Viewed 4560 times
2nd run: 2 marks thrown L to R left at treeline in medium cover. Blind dog behind car, proceed to first pegs and shoot blind. Judge very strict on not breaking the blind - sent handler back to replace a creeping dog. Call dog. Shoot 1st mark, proceed forward R and shoot 2nd mark. Send for L mark. Then challenging 120m blind through a distant dip to R of 2 marks. You could lose your dogs off to the right behind a hill and Gully. Last, get middle mark. All retrieves within about 75 degrees. P/u FAR LMARK, BLIND, LMARK. (See Run 2 diagram)
![Run 2 NSW State 2017 vvsm.jpg](./download/file.php?id=630&sid=8df76c2ff5fdefe935ba02f51716dcf4)
- Run 2
- Run 2 NSW State 2017 vvsm.jpg (37.96 KiB) Viewed 4560 times
3rd run: Dog beside you 40 m fr bank of river, shoot blind angled across river 150 m away, walk with dog forward towards bank, shoot long mark (thrown towards blind) in heavy cover this side of river on the flat. Turn away from river with dog and go back to where you shot the blind from. Send for blind. Very tempting to go for mark, and not take the line to blind and its distant water entry. Send for mark from new location. No opportunity for Handler to work dog on mark. (See Run 3 diagram)
![Run 3 NSW State 2017 vvsm.jpg](./download/file.php?id=631&sid=8df76c2ff5fdefe935ba02f51716dcf4)
- Run 3
- Run 3 NSW State 2017 vvsm.jpg (32.44 KiB) Viewed 4560 times