Gun Dog Forum

Sunday afternoon Katie beat out an English Pointer who had himself won on Saturday, scoring 5 birds to his 2. The score held up over the last few braces and at the end of the day she had her final trial win needed to be certified a NSTRA Champion. This has been a long time coming, but I knew that she could achieve it. She has done so despite of her owner and handler's experience level and time dedication to train and campaign her. Katie was my first bird dog when I brought her home as a 7 week old puppy back in June 2009. It was not too long before that when I had even been introduced to upland bird hunting, over the back of an older orange and white Brittany on the plains of South Dakota. Everything I have learned about upland bird hunting, pointing dog training, and field trialing has been with Katie being the subject of my successes and failures. I am certain that under better circumstances she could have achieved this and more much sooner.

Congrates Nick

You have every right to be proud. Congrats!!!!

Congratulations!

Awesome NICK! So excited for you guys - you sure deserve it after all the work.

Congratulations

From someone who has participated in NSTRA for a couple years now, I congratulate you and Katie! What a great accomplishment! Nationals are next up - Ha!! Enjoy playing the game with your pup!!!

Congrats! Great accomplishment. Dandy dog!

Congrats

Fantastic!!

GunDogAdventures wrote:From someone who has participated in NSTRA for a couple years now, I congratulate you and Katie! What a great accomplishment! Nationals are next up - Ha!! Enjoy playing the game with your pup!!!

She's entered in the UKC Performance Classic at the end of May. I'm looking to keep her hot streak alive and have some success there.

Nice looking dog. Congratulations on her performance!

Congrats! My female Brittany, Elle, is sitting on 16 pts. and 2 firsts. One more first will make her championship.

Way to go Zeb. Keep Ellie plugging away.

Congrats on the second place at the Performance! Nice job.

Thanks ncpointers,we had a great time and met a lot of great people. I'm hooked on national competition and am already counting the days until the Endurance Classic. I have some training to do over the summer, but now I know she has the talent to run with the best.

Congratulations Nick! Give Katie a t-bone, rare of course.

Should clarify that Katie placed second in her field during the first round of the Performance. Good job. I see in the photo that you are flanked by Chuck Vande Hei from the Wisconsin Region and Chuck Ludolph from the Mid-North Region.

Good luck if you enter the Endurance in September. I went to the Endurance in Lewistown, MT in 2012 and 2013. In 2012 Elle advanced through the first two rounds and onto Saturday's final rounds before being eliminated. In 2013 we got eliminated in the 2nd round. I really like the Endurance because it's beat your bracemate all the way through the competition. Thus it doesn't matter what the conditions are or if there is a bird build up in the field. I think it really levels the playing field.

Yes, that should be clarified that I placed in the first qualifying round and not overall. Although I wished I had gone farther I did not make it past the 2nd elimination round. I was beat 3-2 by Nathan Tekell and his very nice GSP 4x CH Tek's Bitsy Boo. Katie put on a great performance but the third bird was a matter of putting the dog in the right place, and I simply failed to do that. She had great scores on that brace, her first point was awarded a 90. I'm happy to have run with the best in the game, and grateful that everyone involved upheld a very high level of sportsmanship. I did meet Chuck Vande Hei and Chuck Ludolph and got to see their dogs perform as well.

Nick

Good job Nick. Just remember to have fun. Some of those boys at the national trials are awful serious. And for the most part, their dogs are professional trial dogs that are running trials almost every weekend. Sometimes difficult to compete with them but we can do it. I doubt many of their dogs ever do much hunting. Vande Hei does hunt his dogs but I don't think Ludolph does much if any hunting.

Late in coming but , congratulations. It is great fun when you win with a dog you train yourself. Our region only has 4 or 5 Britts. I love it when one of them places. Beautiful dog!

Katie has been on a pretty good run lately. She has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the past two weeks. Two more wins and an odd point from somewhere and she could be a 2x champion! She has a few more trialing years left in her so I hope that can become a reality.

nhachman wrote:Katie has been on a pretty good run lately. She has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the past two weeks. Two more wins and an odd point from somewhere and she could be a 2x champion! She has a few more trialing years left in her so I hope that can become a reality.

Congrats to Katie and you. I ran my Brittany, Elle, in a trial here in Arizona last month and she got a 3rd and a 4th. Ran very well in her other two braces. I've entered her in a trial in Colorado on April 9-10 that I will hit on my way back to South Dakota. She is now sitting at 17 points but needs one more first place for her championship. Elle is 7 now so not many trialing years left. How old is Katie?

Dakotazeb wrote: Congrats to Katie and you. I ran my Brittany, Elle, in a trial here in Arizona last month and she got a 3rd and a 4th. Ran very well in her other two braces. I've entered her in a trial in Colorado on April 9-10 that I will hit on my way back to South Dakota. She is now sitting at 17 points but needs one more first place for her championship. Elle is 7 now so not many trialing years left. How old is Katie?

She'll be 7 on May 5th. She's very healthy and I keep her in good shape so I'm hoping she has at least 2 good years left in her.