NEWS FROM GB!

June 2008

And again amazing results from our Moscargrange friends!

We had a good weekend last weekend. We went to the Golden Retriever Inter-club test in the south if England in Sussex.

We were competing for our club The Northern Golden Retriever Association and we made a team up with Phil and Anna.

We ran Steve with Blade and Phil with Barley as Novices and Anna with Polka and me with Danny as Opens. ( the qualifying date for novice dogs for this test was that they had still got to be novices on 1 May. Barley and Blade both won after that date so they could still compete as Novices)

Our team came 3rd but even better Steve was best novice dog and best overall dog of all 44 the Golden Retrievers running.

He only beat Phil by 2 marks so Moscargrange was in the awards again.

If you want to see sone photos from the test they are on the following website(http://www.countrysideimages.co.UK/) they are the 2nd entry
Under the "gallery". There are 208 photos over 5 pages. Each page can be
Viewed separately as a slide show.

Daisy (Blade´s daughter), Moscargrange Brooke, Pebbletoft Lyric of Moscargrange and Moscargrange Amos (from left to right).

Again great news from Tippie´s relatives. Anne Crookes sent us following nice report about a working test organized by the United Retriever Club North Midlands. Thank you very much, Anne and Steve for the great news! And of course big congrats to Steve and Blade for their amazing first rank! Tippie is very proud of her brother!

URC North Midlands Intermediate and Veteran Tests 2008

U.R.C. North Midlands Area held a Cold Game working test for Veteran, Intermediate and Novice Retrievers On Sunday 1 June 2008 at the Carlton Towers Estate Nr Selby North Yorkshire.
The event was sponsored by ALPHA Dog FOOD who kindly donated bags of food to the First Second and Third in each class
Judges for the day were Mr Glynn Coupar, Mr Graham Jones and Mrs Elaine Whittaker.
The Award winners were as follows:

Veteran
1st Mr Cliff Higham with Labrador Dog Ropehall Dipper (8yrs)
2nd Mr Trefor Richards with Labrador Dog Hob Hey Hercules (8yrs)
3rd Mrs Anne Crookes with Golden Retriever Bitch Millrythe Adelaide of Moscargrange (9 Yrs)
C.O.M.'s to Mrs Doreen Thompson with Golden Retriever Bitch Holway Ellie at Melgold (11yrs) and Mrs Carol Goodes with Labrador Dog Scotchill Slipper (10 years)

Novice and Intermediate
1st Mr Steve Crookes with Golden Retriever Dog Moscargrange Blade
2nd Mr David Sidwell with Labrador Dog Towserland William
3rd Mr Brian Holmes with Labrador Bitch Brackenbank Fennel
4Th Mr Gary Ellison with Flatcoat Bitch Blackflight Arietta
C.O.M. To Mrs Carol Greaves with Labrador Dog Craighorn Tully of Dragonswell

The winner entered as a novice therefore no separate award for best novice could be made.

The day started very wet so with waterproof gear and umbrellas at the ready everyone set off in good humour to complete 3 tests before lunch.
The morning tests consisted of:
A hunt in a wood for one of a pair of birds previously shot . The test to be done largely independently by the dogs, which once they had entered the cover could not be seen to be handled.
A mark into a lake, partially obscured by an overhanging tree. Again the dog having to use it's own initiative to locate the floating dummy after it has cleared the tree.
A mark saluted by gunshot into an area of long grass and weed, the low light levels due to the bad weather giving a false impression of distance.

The weather cleared by lunchtime and umbrellas were furled and coat hoods put away to make participants more recognisable for the afternoon.
The afternoon tests consisted of a walk-up for 4 dogs, each dog getting a marked bird in front and a blind at greater distance behind
Finally a marked retrieve under a tree with a shot saluting a blind in another area as the dog returned.

The standard of dog work throughout the day was very good with the intermediate winner only dropping 4 marks.
The top two veterans could only be split after a run-off.
As is common for the North Midlands area, the awards reflected the variety of retriever breeds which train with us and enter our tests.

Report and Photos by Anne Crookes

Steve with Blade and Anne with Katie after prize giving (both in red pullovers).

May 2008

Phil Wagland, well known british gundog trainer, judge for field trials and working tests, handler and breeder (Pebbletoft Kennel) of field trial Golden Retrievers sent me following report of a working test organized by the Yorkshire Golden Retriever Club held at Addingham Moor. Tippie´s sister Moscargrange Barley succeeded with a 1st rank in open class! Very well done, Phil and Barley!

Dear Folks,

Here is the latest update on our dogs. Barley followed up the 4th place in her first Open Test by winning her second one.

This was the Yorkshire Golden Retriever Club Any Variety Open Test on May 24th at Addingham Moor in Yorkshire. This is next door to a famous place called Ilkley Moor, which there is song about.

There were 27 runners, mostly Labradors, several Goldens and one Flatcoat.

There were three double tests for everyone.

Test 1 was a double mark over a stone wall, with the dummy seen high in the air, falling out of sight beyond the stone wall. When the dog had jumped the wall the handler was allowed up to the wall to see the dog hunt in long grass, and handle if necessary. Barley got the first one withour handling, and a quick back for the second harder mark, enabled her to wind it quickly (37/40).

Test 2 was a walk-up with three dogs in line, walking up hill on moorland with rough grass and rushes.

Each dog got a long mark in front, and a blind behind at some point in the walk up, with heeling assessed as well. Barley needed no handling on either and scored 38/40.

Test 3 was a double blind, with one shot for the first blind, and a second as the dog returned. The blinds were in tall clumps of rushes at the edge of a gully filled with gorse bushes, and required a dog which handled quickly to the area, and then hunted the cover. Barley scored 37/40.

At this point 7 dogs were called in for a final test. Apparently the scores were close, but not all the same, so it was a finale rather than a run-off between equal dogs. This consisted of a long blind (200m), with a long mark beyond a stone wall in roughly the same direction. The shot for the mark actually helped the dogs going for the blind, rather than being a diversion. The dogs had to cross a valley with a strip of cover, then continue uphill alongside the stone wall to pick the blind close the the gun. One got the wrong side of the wall, some needed handling to get the length, two were very good. Barley was the last to go and did it perfectly.

Apparently Barley was in the lead with 112 after the three tests, with the other dogs on 110 or 109.

Then she won the finale as well to confirm 1st place.

I attach a photo of the award winners.

Good luck to all of you in any of your events.

Regards Phil.

Phil with Barley in the middle of the group after prize giving.

March 2008

Emmas Halbschwester Decoymans Ontario gewinnt BEST BITCH auf der Crufts 2008. Richterin war Mrs P Blay. Hier Decoymans Ontarios Kritik:

"Withey´s Decoymans Ontario, no mistaking her sex, she is so feminine, looking from a distance she is balanced & this is confirmed on examination, such a pretty head & expression, correctly set & shaped eyes, lovely mobile ears of the correct size, good neck & shoulders, lovely forechest & bone, good depth & width of chest & a strong loin, well set & carried tail, coat put down in excellent condition of a good colour, when she moves she effortlessly covers the ground with the correct movement & a lovely front action, she ticked all the boxes for me & won a strong class & BB."

Herzliche Gratulation an Eliza!

January 2006

Sally wrote a very nice article about our great Toller weekend in the latest Nova News. Here it is!

Tollers in Austria

"In early October Janine and I set off to drive to Austria for a long weekend, with one toller (Wings) and a border collie (Dee) with us. We undertook this jount as I had been invited back to run another gundog training weekend, and this time I was determined to take my demonstration dog with me! So, with passports in place for the dogs and us, travel arrangements made, we set off. If you are planning on travelling abroad with your toller then be warned it makes life a lot more complicated! Quite possible, but you do have to jump through the appropriate hoops at the appropriate time, if you want to travel smoothly in and out of the UK.

Anyway, the highlights of our trip to the Alps - glorious sunny weather the whole time, Wing´s first experience with any amount of snow - gundog training up on the mountains where there was still 30+cm of snow. He just had to wriggle and roll in it, and then bark when people in the group started messing about and falling over in the snow drifts. Training and walking the dogs in the alpine meadows - seeing them rushing downhill and then having to power back up the slope.

We stayed in a fabulous typically Austrian ski style hotel - only at this time of year there wasn´t any snow or skis - just a hotel FULL of toller owner and their dogs. Red dogs in the bedrooms, on the balconies, in the garden, in the restaurant unter the tables. Yep, just about everywhere - this wasn´t an English hotel! The tollers ranged in age from a puppy of 15 week to mature adults, and combined with a few other gundogs (and Janine´s collie) I think there were about 20 dogs staying in the hotel. In addition the local organiser (Nicole Pfaller) and her gundog group arrived each day to swell the numbers further.

Nicole had done a great job of organising the whole thing - two days of gundog training with me, then a days gundog competition, and then another couple of days socialising and walking with the tollers. Oh, and we threw in a couple of evenings clicker training in amongst the socialising and problem solving over drinks after dinner. Tollers and their owners had travelled from all over Austria and Southern Germany to come and join the fun - some came for the whole time, some came to get fresh ideas for gundog training, some came to socialise and walk, but for all it was definitely a social get together.There was even a toller from Slovakia with her owners. Before we even finished they were planning autumn 2006 - to coincide with the school holidays, so the families can come again, as it was both dog friendly and also plenty for the children to do.

On the gundog side it was interesting to see and talk to owners about the differences between the English gundog world and the European way of doing things. The principles and aims are the same, but the specifics and emphasis are subtly different. The practicalities are also different due to the different landscapes - for example they can only train in the summer month, due to the dummies freezing in the winter when the temperatures are really sub zero! Not a problem I am familiar with in deepest Dorset! Equally their shooting is different to ours, with fewer driven shoots, more rough shooting, so the emphasis for training exercises is for rough shooring rather than the formality of driven shoots. However, the basics are exactly the same, but it takes a while to get used to a different set of verbal commands!

On the social walks, the first walk we did was around a zoo - with all the dogs! Yep, on lead, but round the zoo. Talk about an unusual concept for us poor English people. The dogs sniffed through the wire, and saw all sorts - from Bears to Lynx to Wolves, less than a metre away. The dogs were great, and took it all in their stride, much to my surprise, so now I can add additional comments when I am working as a dog trainer and telling puppy owners to familiarise their pup to all sorts of things and situations...

The walks up in the mountains however were my favourite, and not nearly long enough for either myself, Janine or our dogs. We are spoilt over here living near the New Forest and our idea of a good walk is several hours, off lead, in the countryside, we would have both cheerfully spent another week hiking in the mountains, but fell in with the group and undertook shorter walks, then returning to a hostelry for drinks, food and chat - about tollers of course. We did get cheeky comments about how we could both race up steep mountain tracks without getting out of breath, when we come from a country without mountains.

A memorable trip, with stunning scenery, great company, and a fascinating insight into tollers in Europe. Needless to say we often got onto discussions about how the different tollers were related, several owners had the foresight to take their pedigrees with them, an one person even hat the very latest technology in phones and was able to call up his dog´s pedigree and photos of relatives over his mobile phone! Combine this with the people with digital cameras, and the world really does seem small in toller terms.

Sally, thank you very much for this great article. Of course Sally will come back this year.

Please note the dates: 21th - 24th September 2006

July 2005,

Great news from the United Kingdom! Have a look at quotation out of the latest "Nova News":

"Good news on the working front, the KC has at long last confirmed that the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever be classified as a

Retriever in the Gundog Group, we await confirmation of our request to participate in working tests and AV Retriever Field Trials!"

"A Mutation Test for prcd PRA is now available the cost US Dollar 195 (162 Euro), less 20% if you join a 20/20 satellite clinic, less a

further 5% if you pay on line."

And again a very good result achieved by Sally and Wings. Here is a short report Sally sent me:

"Just to let you know, "Wings" Paludic Extra Pleasure, has yesterday (9.7.05) won his first Gundog Workingtest. This promotes him to the elite club of only two UK tollers who have won a working test (the other being Ailsa Galbreath´s Decoymans Piper Jasmine back in 1997). He had placings in Puppy tests last year, and in 2005 so far he has already achieved places in Novice tests. This time on 9th July at the Arun and Downland Gundog Society Novice Dog Novice Handler test, under judges Derek and Carol Buckland, Wings came out on top against 21 other dogs (mainly labradors and a couple of other retrievers), scoring 96 marks out of a maximum possible of 100.

The judges, organisers and other competitors were all fantastic, it was a great day out, friendly but fierce competition, and at the end of the day, no one was more surprised than me when they announced that Wings and I had won! The way the scoring works at these tests, no handlers really know what marks they have achieved right until the end - all you have is a notion that your dog has run quite well in all the exercises, but until the judges and organisers have counted up all the points, nobody really knows. Works well for a dramatic ending to the day!

Sally Sanford and Wings"

Wings at Crufts 2005

February 2005,

Congratulations to Sally and her boy "Wings". Paludic Extra Pleasure has become the first Toller to win a dual purpose award. Wings received the Calcot Trophy for 2004 - Top dual purpose AV (any variety = against all the other retrievers) Retriever Hunts & Show area of the United Retriever Club. This Trophy is for showing and gundog working tests and field trials.

Tollers CAN do it! Keep on the good working, Sally and Wings!

Emma is very proud of her cousin Wings!

Herzliche Gratulation an Sally und ihren Wings - Paludic Extra Pleasure. Die beiden haben einen dual purpose Preis gewonnen. Wings bekam die Calcot Trophy 2004 als Top dual purpose Retriever gegen alle anderen Retriever - Rassen. Dieser Preis wird vom United Retriever Club für den besten Retriever in Shows und in Field Trails vergeben.

Sally und Wings beweisen immer wieder, dass Toller genau so arbeiten können! Macht weiter so!

Emma ist sehr stolz auf ihren Cousin Wings!