First ever Field Trial entrant in the family

Gunner's grandson enters field trial

There are all sorts of levels of attainment in the world of working dogs. When Gunner and I pitched up for our first ever day of beating on 3rd October 2008 I thought we'd 'arrived'. Then when we did our first ever working tests I thought we were the bees knees! When Bugler earned a few  prizes I was over the moon. But the thought of entering Field Trials was too daunting to entertain. They, I thought, were the preserve of seasoned 'dog men' and professionals not mere mortals with beating dogs!
However, Skipper's been such a schoolmaster for me as a handler that I decided it was 'now or never' and took the mammoth step (for me) to enter a field trial with him. It was today. It was raining; hard. On the plus side, the Trial was being held only a few miles away from  home so it seemed less daunting! As it unfolded it became ever less daunting. Not a single bird was flushed for nearly and hour and a half. When one was flushed the guns couldn't shoot it. By the time we had our first 'run' at midday only 3 birds had been shot.Skipper hunted for over 10 minutes under the first judge without a flush and then had just 10 minutes before his second run because several dogs had been eliminated. Hunted for almost as long under the second judge without a flush and then got his nose down on a rabbit trail. Couldn't quite obey the whistle quickly enough when I called him off the trail so was put out for going self-employed. Shame. He'd done really well in all the preliminaries and sat to shot immediately he heard one.... did all he was asked and hunted exceptionally well and close so by no means disgraced. Couldn't blame him for getting attached to the rabbit scent when there were no birds about. His grandad would be proud of him.....
We've another Trial in two weeks. I wonder what will happen there? I begin to understand why people say it's a numbers game..... so much depends on luck, ground, weather, wind, scent..............