Tuesday, February 10, 2009

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN IT?

If your following the "National Championship" at the Ames Plantation, it was reported that National Ch. Shell Creek Coin had 5 finds. His bracemate, last years champion Whippoorwill Wild Agin had two unproductives. The first two braces before them had a total of 3 finds.
Photo:Brad Harter Doesn't it make you wonder why this particular dog was able to find birds and the others weren't. Does he have a better nose? Did he go to different cover types? Was his race slower and more deliberate? Does he have a better handler that directed him to likely bird locations? How can you possibly explain what makes one dog so much better than the others, at least on one particular day? Ah, the mysteries that keep us searching for that really great dog.

4 comments:

Mike Spies said...

Dale:

This is one of the mysteries of birf dogs. I would puy it down to variablity of weather, the dog's search, and nose. I think some dogd just have the ability to 'manufacture' birds when other dogs cannot.

However, there are still a lot days and dogs left to run. I think that a dog that goes to cover will be rewarded with birds..

M

Craig Peters Warrens, WI 443-206-1091 said...

It's called class. The hardest thing in field trials to judge and the most mis-understood. Style is easy because you can see it and it fools many. Class is defined by intangibles, a measure of a dog’s heart, mind, and soul. It’s not all about flashy tails or how many birds were notched on the belt. It’s about the intellect and fashion of the course traversed that produced the burnt powder. It's such a fleeting and difficult thing it almost seems to float on the wind. A dog may have it today but lose it tomorrow. When you put dogs down for 3 hours it really floats to the top. This dog had class bottled up today and it took him to the birds!

Mntmaniac said...

Here is last year's brace synopsis..."Shell Creek Coin had two finds in the first 30 minutes; sustained an absence after, and Steve Hurdle called it at :86. Whippoorwill Wild Agin had ten finds and a stop to flight, and finished the 3 hours." There wasn't much differance in the weather compared to the 08 brace...slight bit less wind but humidity was about 50% lower. WWA went on to win with only one other dog coming close to the number of finds WWA had(8-WWA's 10). Many variables come into play, many we may never understand. Or it could be just as simple as going left instead of right.

Andrew M. Wayment said...

Dale,

All I can say is that some dogs have it and some do not. If there were birds anywhere around, Farles would consistently find them. He found more birds in his three hunting seasons than all of my other dogs put together.

Andy