labgirl
Forums Sage
Yesterday I took Cadbury to the Norfolk Dog Day and there was a scurry competition. If you've never been to a gundog scurry before it is a basic retrieve competition.
The basic set up was a large field size area roped off with the dummy launcher at the far end and a few piles of branches and leaves where dummies could hide and fall behind.
Quite a few of the people attending were gundog people and doing very well. I watched at the sidelines for a while and Cadbury was desperate to get on the field. Finally when I saw another dog with no prior gundog training giving it a go I thought I would try Cadbury.
I fully anticipated Cadbury grabbing the dummy, running off, charging into the audience, etc. So I only asked for a single dummy to be launched.
The dummy flew down and the announcer said release your dog when you want. So I released Cadbury...
And he flew out in a straight line, he went behind the dummy and picked it up facing me (that's correct isn't it?) then he started to veer off so I called him back and he ran straight to me, delivered the dummy to my hand and did it all in 14 seconds!
I was stunned. The announcer said he could be a real contender for the two dummy retrieve competition with the speed he had just performed.
I left the scurry course in a daze. My mum rushed over very emotional at seeing Cadbury perform so marvelously. She actually had a tear in her eye she was so thrilled with both of us.
This was the dog so many people told me was 'chocolate and stupid' 'out-of-control' 'untrainable' and he just retrieved like a proper gundog - faster in fact then some of the proper gundogs!
I actually had a complete stranger who also owned a choc lab named Cadbury come over to me and congratulate me. He was so impressed and kept saying how his dog could never do that.
I shall now cherish my little certificate that says Cadbury retrieved a dummy in 14 seconds. Not bad for a dog that has never done more than fetch a ball in the garden!
You can see in the pics just how fast he was flying!
The basic set up was a large field size area roped off with the dummy launcher at the far end and a few piles of branches and leaves where dummies could hide and fall behind.
Quite a few of the people attending were gundog people and doing very well. I watched at the sidelines for a while and Cadbury was desperate to get on the field. Finally when I saw another dog with no prior gundog training giving it a go I thought I would try Cadbury.
I fully anticipated Cadbury grabbing the dummy, running off, charging into the audience, etc. So I only asked for a single dummy to be launched.
The dummy flew down and the announcer said release your dog when you want. So I released Cadbury...
And he flew out in a straight line, he went behind the dummy and picked it up facing me (that's correct isn't it?) then he started to veer off so I called him back and he ran straight to me, delivered the dummy to my hand and did it all in 14 seconds!
I was stunned. The announcer said he could be a real contender for the two dummy retrieve competition with the speed he had just performed.
I left the scurry course in a daze. My mum rushed over very emotional at seeing Cadbury perform so marvelously. She actually had a tear in her eye she was so thrilled with both of us.
This was the dog so many people told me was 'chocolate and stupid' 'out-of-control' 'untrainable' and he just retrieved like a proper gundog - faster in fact then some of the proper gundogs!
I actually had a complete stranger who also owned a choc lab named Cadbury come over to me and congratulate me. He was so impressed and kept saying how his dog could never do that.
I shall now cherish my little certificate that says Cadbury retrieved a dummy in 14 seconds. Not bad for a dog that has never done more than fetch a ball in the garden!
You can see in the pics just how fast he was flying!
That caused a few discussions.