Central Minnesota Hunt Test

What a nightmare this trip was!!! Lyle's truck breaks down on our way up to the hunt test on
Thursday and we don't end up getting to bed until 1:00 am.

The Friday master test went great initially; Tug, Bella, and Charlie smoked the first series. The second series was a double blind, and they dropped Bella. Then, I lost both Charlie and Tug in the third series because they had to handle on two marks. It was a tough water test and it would have qualified Charlie for the Master National and given him his Master Hunter Title. I was very frustrated. The second Master test on Saturday was just as frustrating!!! Bella and Tug had to handle on the go-bird of a double, and then struggled to complete the land blind. They passed Bella, but dropped Tug. Then, Bella nails the second series, and Charlie handles on a mark that he should've nailed. In the third, Charlie handles again on another mark, and Bella handles on two marks. I'm not believing what I'm seeing!!!

The Senior test on Sunday was at least a little better. Rocky and Layne sailed through the first land series, in fact, Layne lined the blind. Reed had a big hunt on the memory bird and when I tried to handle, he struggled to work with me. We completed the test, including the blind, and honored off-lead; but they did not call him back to the second series. That was dissapointing, because it would've been for his Senior title. Scout, the young buck of the the Senior group, had a spell of bad luck. When we got to the line to start the test, the honor dog broke as soon as they live flyer was launched into the air. I had to go back to the holding blind with him and come back up again to the line. He watched the marks and picked them up cleanly, then ran a good blind. However, this time the temptation was too much for him when he had to honor, and he broke for the live flyer this time!!! I was dissapointed, because we had worked so hard on his blinds the week before, and he had honored fine in training. The second series was a very challenging water test and I was happy to see Layne and Rocky complete this series very nicely, and both recieved passes. It was Layne's AKC Senior title- congratulations Cody Woodland!!

We stayed the night on Sunday, then woke up and went back out to the test grounds and trained until about 2:00 in the afternoon. From there, Butch and I drove to Dubuque, Iowa to Ainley Fabrication, the birthplace of my dog trailer. We got a hotel about 11:00 that night, and had the trailer to their shop by 7:00 the next morning. I had scheduled to have some minor work done, and wanted them to fix a leak in my water tank. Well, turns out that my trailer needed a whole new stainless steel water tank; the aluminum one had rotted from the corrosive Texas water! Chachang!!! It took them most of the day to replace it, and we finally hit the road sometime that afternoon. From there, we drove back to Lyles, and got to his place around 11:00 that night. By the time we aired and fed the dogs, it was midnight. Man, we're tired!!!

I'll post pics tomorrow...gotta get some rest tonight!