National Spaniel Championship 2006
19 August 2006

What an event! Two top judges, 40-odd people in attendance, dogs entered from three states and some spectacular work. The inaugural Working Gundog Association of Australia (SSAA) Spaniel National Championship was all that the organisers hoped it would be.

We met on the morning of August 19 at Ondra Game Farm in Victoria. This prestigious event was organised by Patrick Torrens (SA) and from start to finish everything ran smoothly. Many thanks go to Stuart and Jan Bowd, the proprietors of Ondra, who went out of their way to ensure that everything was on hand for competitors and spectators. The judges for the day were Bob Whitehead (NZ) and Don Nicol (Qld). Both Bob and Don are experienced judges and made it clear they were looking for a high standard of work.

With the preliminaries over and the guns in position, the first competitors were called. The even numbers ran on the left under Bob Whitehead and the odd numbers ran on the right under Don Nicol.

The first dog down under Bob was Patrick Torrens’ Trioaks Archie - a very powerful dog showing a lot of experience, who very quickly flushed a bird which flew back over the gallery and was not shot. He soon found another pheasant and made a straightforward retrieve. A little more hunting and Bob had seen enough for the first round. Meanwhile, Jeremy Kent’s Fernweaver Flash was having a good run under Don and was soon into the game. Jeremy, in spite of suffering from a dose of flu, shot accurately and Flash made a nice retrieve with a little help from Jeremy.

Charlie Costa’s little black and white bitch, Noss Dashing Duchess - Patch to her friends - had an early find and nice retrieve, then unfortunately a bird shot from the other dog practically landed on Patch’s head and she leant forward and picked it up - very bad luck.

Neville Kent’s Fernweaver Madison (Meg) is a fast flowing young bitch who found her bird but had it retrieved by Charlie Costa’s Patch. Meg then found herself under great provocation when Rolf Bugden’s Rolhendel Wedge stopped listening to the whistle and lost his handler - a pity as Wedge was very stylish in the short time he was running. Meg remained steady and kept her head throughout.

Chris Farrugia’s Rosstulla Watsons Fancy was another stylish dog, unfortunately, this dog was working for himself, flushing and chasing, and Chris was asked to put him on a lead. Don Provest’s Palabaz Crepes Cornonsky was next to run under Don. He is a very strong running dog. He put up his bird, but followed through a little too far and struggled a bit on what then became a blind retrieve.

Patrick Torrens’ Rosstulla Hazel was having a good run. This bitch was running in her first trial and showed tremendous promise, but unfortunately Don Provest’s dog flushed a bird on ground, which should have been covered by Hazel while out on his retrieve, so ended a very nice run by Hazel. Maurice Pattinson’s Fernweaver Skiddaw showed tremendous power and his honesty on his three flushes was a pleasure to see.

Brian Smith’s Fernweaver Trapper pulled a bit, but made a nice find. Moving a couple of yards, Brian managed to stop Trapper and the retrieve followed with a very good delivery. Unfortunately, his second flush was too much for him and he ran in all the way, so ended Brian’s hopes.
Peter Yuille’s Driftalong Kate did not show herself well, but she made her find and had a straightforward retrieve. However, she dropped her bird on the return and refused to deliver to hand.

The last dog in the line in round one was Jerry Cole’s Tussock Ridge Little Fella (Swempie) from New South Wales. Swempie - which, incidentally, is the African name for a game bird - is a stylish little dog with an almost automatic pattern. He soon found a bird and made a good retrieve. Swempie’s second bird was a runner, but he made an excellent job taking a nice line and retrieving a very lively cock pheasant.
So ended the first round and five dogs were called up for the second round.

Patrick Torrens’ Trioaks Archie came in, but being the enthusiast he is, unfortunately ran in on the other dogs’ shot birds. Jeremy Kent’s Flash made a very thorough job of her ground and was soon into the game with a nice retrieve. Jeremy’s father Neville Kent and Meg had a very nice second run, finding her bird and making a good retrieve. Maurice Pattinson’s Skiddaw found a sleepy lizard and Skid left it untouched when told. He then had a good flush and retrieve of a pheasant, followed by a simultaneous flush of two birds, both of which were shot. Maurice was asked to send Skid for the first bird, which was a runner, and Skid handled well with a lot of temptation from three unshot birds flushing. After a short time, he located the runner and brought it in. Jerry Cole’s Swempie made his two finds and retrieves look easy and we all guessed that he was ‘on ice’ after that.

Round three commenced around midday and we were now down to the business end of the event. Several dogs had shown those sought-after spaniel qualities: drive, determination, excellent ground coverage, responsiveness to handler’s commands, steadiness to flush and shot and efficient retrieving.

Jeremy’s Flash was working nice and close. She had a find that was not shot, then a second find when the bird wouldn’t fly, but Flash was steady throughout. Neville’s Meg flushed two birds simultaneously and made a very nice retrieve on both. Maurice’s Skid came in and had a good find, which was not shot, and on his second find, the bird was shot by an outriding gun and fell within 10 yards of Skid, who was once again honest.

The judges conferred and decided they wanted to see Jeremy’s Flash and Maurice’s Skid run off together to assess their style. By this time, Skid was beginning to tire and didn’t show his usual power. Jeremy’s Flash was working nice and close with her usual thoroughness. Jeremy is one of the youngest handlers on the Australian circuit and always comes out with a well-trained dog. It was clear by the end of the event that one dog had shown itself to be a top-shelf performer. Jerry Cole’s English Springer Tussock Ridge Little Fella had a great day on the pheasants with clean finds and excellent retrieves.

In their summing up, both Don and Bob emphatically said that the work produced by Jerry’s dog was on a par with the best they had seen - high praise indeed! This was a very well organised trial with the birds coming to hand well. Thanks go to the outriding guns and Geoff Clayton and Stuart Bowd’s right-hand man. Well done and thank you to Ondra Game Farm. We all wish Jan Bowd a speedy recovery. Sadly, she missed the event, having been taken to hospital two days earlier.

Results
1. Jerry Cole’s Tussock Ridge Little Fella
2. Neville Kent’s Fernweaver Madison
3. Jeremy Kent’s Fernweaver Flash
Guns’ Choice - Jerry Cole’s Tussock Ridge Little Fella

by Al Pattinson