Galloway Gundogs?

[Rizzle]

Is anyone involved with or aware of this group in South West Scotland?

I can't access their website on the IPad as you need "flash player" but was looking for some information as they are quite close to me.

I havent thought about trailling but it would be good even to spectate, pick up some tips and advice or even go along if they do training days?

As this is my 1st dog, it would also be good to have a point of reference to see how we are progressing....

Cheers

[David]

Here's the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Galloway ... 77?fref=ts

[trekmoor]

I joined this club earlier this year and greatly enjoyed the test I took part in. It is too far away for me to go there regularly, I'm in central Scotland but "Bryn" on here is also a member and he regularly attends their training days and their tests. Javadud is also a member . It is a good club. It is not affiliated to the K.C. and the club is run to suit what the members want which seems to be reasonably priced training and regular tests . The club cannot hold trials since the K.C. has a monopoly on trials.

Wullie

[Bryn]

Hi, Canismajor is also a member.

Tests run from March right through the off season, the last being in August. Relaxed, very friendly atmosphere with all ages/standards. Three grades of competition Novice, Intermediate and Open, AV retriever and AV spaniel so 6 classes in all. The tests range from to , I treat it as a day out and a useful gauge as to what we need to work on.

Haven't been to a training day yet as as we were a bit late for the spaniel ones by the time we joined but Nellie and Poppy went to a retriever day which they found very useful and enjoyable.

[Rizzle]

Thanks for the replies, I managed to have a look at the website on an old laptop and checked out the Facebook link above. It looks ideal but they are both quite out of date due to the administrator being unable to continue. Looks like they hope to update it soon so I will keep checking.

For those who have already attended, what kind of ages are the dogs starting at and what type of thing are they expected to do at the 'novice' level?

Cheers

[trekmoor]

Do you mean "what level" for the tests or what level for the training days ?

Wullie

[Bryn]

Bryn was around 8m when he first had a go but it was all about experience this year, however he was the youngest by some way. Water retrieves for novice are pretty simple straight marks, most of the novice tests are fairly straight forward but seem to get progressively harder toward the start of the shooting season. The Corsock House tests were 'interesting' and Culdrain tests were ......testing. The next tests will probably be in March 2014 at Merkland.

[Rizzle]

Thanks for the updates:

Wullie, I was meaning for the tests. Just wondering what kind of age they started running in the novice tests and what kind of activities they were looking for the young dogs to do. Does it depend on age / ability / experience whether the dogs would fit in the novice / intermediate / open categories?

Bryn, cheers, I think I will give it a go, It is really just the experience i am looking for too (for both of us) he seems to be progressing nicely but never really been 'training' with other people / dogs about. He is well socialised but 'distractions' when training are sometimes too much to resist.

I will keep checking for info on the dates.

Ta

[trekmoor]

The test I was at seemed to expect all the dogs both Novice and Open to complete very similar retrieves but the retrieves were scored partially by the time the dogs took to achieve them. The novice dogs were given a longer time in which to complete the retrieves in some of the tests.

I wasn't in the Novice dogs but my cocker did O.K. in the Open . He dropped just four points in total from all of his retrieves. That test was at Corsock and, as a spaniel test , it was very unusual ....no hunting was done whatsoever , all the tests involved retrieving. The test was meant to simulate a days picking - up and the first test was a series of 5 blind retrieves of maybe 40-50 yards against the clock. Many dogs , including the labs that did the exact same test found that test very difficult. Some dogs failed to find all of the dummies within the allotted time.

I' m not sure I am remembering this correctly but I think all of the spaniels had a total of nine dummies to retrieve.
It was an unusual test but I enjoyed it.

Wullie

[Bryn]

Aye that test was unusual 9 dummies and no hunting, usually at least a couple of hunts and there is always at least 1 water retrieve (always guaranteed to help Bryn's scores ). Now and again a judge will throw in every trick in the book, some mutter about it but I just think they're better and more interesting tests (not necessarily enjoyable at the time ).