New Senior Hunter

Post by **Ayres** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:14 pm

Justus finished his SH title today. He had a good run both times this weekend. On Saturday we went to the line and he was wound up like no other time I'd seen before. Having been at the grounds the weekend before, he knew what was going on, and was ready to get at it. My dad came with me on Saturday and was able to walk the gallery. He'd never been to a hunt test before so it was neat to have him walk behind and get a good perspective on things while I ran his "grand-dog" out front. Anyway, my bracemate had three points in the backcourse with no birds produced, but Justus honored all three times. By the time we hit the bird field we were able to break off and do our own thing to get a find. Everything worked out great and both of us ended up passing.

Day two was more of the same. No points in the backcourse, but once we hit the bird field my bracemate got a point, and then I got a point, then my bracemate got a point and Justus honored. The judge didn't think Justus could see the other dog, but I've been with him enough that I knew it was a legitimate honor.. but we re-did it anyway to please the judge, and ended up with a nice point and natural honor situation while I was talking with the other handler about what we needed to get done. After that situation I put Justus on point again so my bracemate had a chance at an honor (something I don't envy is my bracemates trying to honor a rust colored vizsla standing 25" tall on a good day, sitting in 15"-20" tan colored cover). My bracemate got a little close before seeing Justus, but he slammed on the brakes naturally and Justus didn't budge an inch under the pressure of another dog coming up his backside. So, we both ended up passing with praise from the judges again.

The weather was very cooperative this weekend since I ran early, and I think Justus had just as good of a time as I did. First dog, first senior hunter title finished. Master is next on the list. I've got a couple weddings to go to that cut into test weekends so I may just get one more weekend to run this fall. There's always spring, though. We'll get it soon enough!

snips · Post by **snips** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:17 pm

Congrats Steven. It sure is great when things go right!

Post by **Ayres** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:21 pm

Absolutely right! Here's a few pics of Justus finishing out. Click on the thumbnail to view the pic full size:

The man with me in the first two pics is my dad. I think he's getting excited about hunting soon. The woman with me in the last two pics is my training partner, Debbi. I think she's getting relieved that I'm near finishing with Justus.

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:04 am

Congrats! Now, back to training for MH!

Best,

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:59 am

congrats again!!

gundogguru · Post by **gundogguru** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:05 am

congrats.

PntrRookie · Post by **PntrRookie** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:27 am

Lookin' good! COngrats!

mountaindogs · Post by **mountaindogs** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:36 am

Way to go Justus!

AHGSP · Post by **AHGSP** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:21 am

Congrats Steven and Justus! Sounds like you had some real good runs to finish up and didn't let the backing situation shake you up. Good luck going for Justus' Master Title.

Ps. That's pretty cool to have had your Dad come along to watch. I bet he really enjoyed himself and the time spent !

SharpMtn · Post by **SharpMtn** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:45 am

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Lara Spears

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:06 am

Congrats! Keep up the good work!

Post by **grant** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:53 pm

Great Job!

big steve46 · Post by **big steve46** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:04 pm

Congratulations on your progress and good results. Keep up the good work.

Post by **ezzy333** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:15 pm

Congrats Steve. Makes one feel good, doesn't it? Sounds like you plan on going ahead into the master hunter but don't forget it's hunting season and you cn do hunt test whenever. Sometimes it seems we get so wrapped up in our games we forget to just stop and enjoy what we got the dog for in the first place.

Ezzy

Post by **Ayres** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:05 pm

I'm probably only going to one more test weekend this fall, and it's in the middle of October. Season doesn't open until November. Believe me... Dad doesn't let me forget that we're going hunting this fall.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:41 pm

Excellent Steve!

hoffmann35 · Post by **hoffmann35** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:16 pm

Congratulations Ayres!!!