American Spaniel Trials

[trekmoor]

I thought I'd separate this from the "Opie" thread. Whenever I watch a video of an American spaniel trial it always seems to take place over fairly open ground with only light cover. My question to those of you with some experience of this is ..... do spaniel trials ever take place among thick brambles etc. in America ?

Wullie

[Stihl 090]

whilst i cant answer your question Wullie, would it be something to do with the "hard flush" style that is prefered? perhaps because the dogs have trouble leaping up through thick cover perhaps

[trekmoor]

I'd thought it maybe had something to do with the distances the dogs quarter the ground at and maybe because it isn't rabbits the dogs are hunting for ?? Really thick nasty cover would break up a dogs pattern if spaniels were hunted in American fashion out to 25 yards from their handlers and it could be a bit dangerous to shoot or even to see any rabbits flushed at that sort of distance.

Or maybe it just allows the man with the movie camera to keep the dog in the film !!

Wullie

[Gundogguy]

I thought I'd separate this from the "Opie" thread. Whenever I watch a video of an American spaniel trial it always seems to take place over fairly open ground with only light cover. My question to those of you with some experience of this is ..... do spaniel trials ever take place among thick brambles etc. in America ?

Wullie

Sure they do, Wullie! Only there is not point to doing a video all one would see are birds popping out of the cover! so most video's are done during the winter, spring early summer, when cover allows for dogs to be seen doing their work! I have done many videos, this fall that shows not much more than switch grass moving birds popping up and guns going bang. Concerning rabbits in thirty years of trialing I think I can remember seeing two rabbitts

[Springfield Pointers]

I thought I'd separate this from the "Opie" thread. Whenever I watch a video of an American spaniel trial it always seems to take place over fairly open ground with only light cover. My question to those of you with some experience of this is ..... do spaniel trials ever take place among thick brambles etc. in America ?

Wullie

Possibly because the trials have been presented in such a way that it is "viewer friendly" i.e. aimed more at the viewing public. The dogs are more "performers" than competitors.

[Gundogguy]

I thought I'd separate this from the "Opie" thread. Whenever I watch a video of an American spaniel trial it always seems to take place over fairly open ground with only light cover. My question to those of you with some experience of this is ..... do spaniel trials ever take place among thick brambles etc. in America ?

Wullie

Possibly because the trials have been presented in such a way that it is "viewer friendly" i.e. aimed more at the viewing public. The dogs are more "performers" than competitors.

That is an interesting take on the American Spaniel trialing game. The game would have ended 70 yrs ago based on the attendance of spectators in the gallery. Quite honestly promotion of the sport is done internally not externally for the public at large. Even the Nationals are a fairly low keyed venue.
By internally I mean by breeders encouraging new pup owners to give it a go!

[Springfield Pointers]

Fair enough, I accept that not all trials are the same. Given the sheer market in the US there are many facets to working dog trials over there. I have seen retriever competitions where there are stands set up for people to sit not unlike a golf tournament and the dogs run out on a finely manicured course much to the delight of spectators. I appreciate that there are many other competitions. Excuse my cynicism.

[Naj]

Aren't all springer trials run on planted game? And wouldn't a rabbit or other (unplanted) game be ignored by the guns even if it were seen/flushed in a trial?

Naj

[Comet]

yes we use planted game. I would say that 90% of our trials are on public lands. So there only irrigated by rainfall so if you have dry spring & summer the cover will not be good. So predators are abundant unlike yours where I think all your trials our on privately owned land. When you guys talk about rabbit pens. Are those pens planted with rabbits or are they wild? When you train in the rabbit pens do you shoot the rabbits in the pen or are they just for steadying & intro to game? I would say the cover in your 2012 & 2014 championship is pretty close to the grounds we use. We have 3 series in a trial, 1st series under 1 judge the 2nd under the other & the 3rd is under both & no brace. On the 3rd series the cover will be nasty such as horse nettle & wild raspberry bushes. Then some have a water series in order to complete your ftch, you have to pass a water test.

[Comet]

As far as the hard flush I don't know where it originated its just one of those things that has always been done. The only thing I can compare it to is why do you handle your dogs on marked retrieves? Americans import a lot of UK spaniels & most of them are great marked retrievers. In a trial over here you might see 1 dog in the whole trial that has to b handled & that's usually because its a 75yd plus retrieve other than that, you won't ever get a placement in a trial over if you have to handle your dog on a marked retrieve. So will your judges give you a higher mark if your dog handles really well?