Our first 20 running dogs give us a feel for the first series …
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Quite a few dogs have put on a backside hunt on the retired memory bird. Even the dogs that take good initial lines heading straight for the bird sometimes decide to veer as they approach the retired gun station and commence their hunts to the right of the throwing station although the bird was thrown to the left. But many dogs show a good memory of where the bird is by making only a couple of loops backside before heading to the side of the gun where the bird is.
The several hay bales off to the right, together with the roll of the land, have proven to influence some of the hunts. A small number of dogs have simply over-run the retired bird but this error is not a common one. One significant influence on the dog work so far would be simply the relative tightness of the test, being a "classic" short retired in front of a flyer. Several strong jobs show that it is a very doable test for the well-trained retriever.
No-birds have plagued this set of dogs, with 6 of them so far.
