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We were in Ontario last weekend for the field trials. Christina ran Dewey and I ran Junior in both trials. Craney Hill Kennel had a VERY good weekend, as Junior took 2nd Place on Saturday and 1st Place on Sunday! He clearly had a good trial going both days but fell a little short on Saturday. His success last weekend qualifies him for the Canada Spaniel Championship and he now only needs two poits to get his championship!

Field Trial Photos

We had not been to Canada in over ten years so it was nice to see some old faces again. Thanks to everyone that offered a kind word and a friendly face. It really is a comfortable place to visit and field trial.

We ran Junior in Ohio this past weekend. While we did not win, place or even get to the third series, Junior is making progress. He is not a young dog, but he is young in his field trial experience. This trial he was a handful in the first series and much better in the second series, but did not deserve to get called back to the third. Christina's photographs

The trial started with slight winds and sunny skies in the first series. The course for the first and second series had rolling terrain and nice prairie grasses for cover. It was generally an upwind cross on the outbound course and a downwind cross for the return course. Many dogs seem to mismark retrieves in the first series and the birds seemed to be clustered more on the west course going out and the west course coming [more...]

Christina and I went down to Texas to run Junior in the spaniel field trials. We went there looking to accomplish a number of things; Junior getting a placement would have trumped the other items on our list. I had not been to Texas for the field trials in over ten years so it afforded us the chance to see a few dogs that we have been keeping an eye on and to reconnect with some people we have not seen in a long time.

I did not have any luck with Junior at all. Aside from the specifics of his poor performance, a new side of him not previously seen reared its ugly head! Junior was completely out of control. He left holes throughout his beat and the result was obvious. I picked him up in the first trial for lack of control and production and we got kicked [more...]