Westwind Ms. Katahdin got a JAM in the Qualifying at the Port Arthur trial this weekend. This is her first Q. There were 9 dogs called back to the water series. MArk Mosher told me he had to handle on the last bird. She picked up the first two birds and knew where the 3rd bird was. But it was an "over/under" and too close for her comfort and she would not go back in for the short bird. After a handle she went right to the bird.
John Ackerman was judging. Katie needs a bit more work sitting on mats. After trying to position Katie on the mat, the judges finally told Mark he could send her if the handler were standing on the mat.
Katie's brother "Abe" should be joining her in April to run his first Q. We plan to run the Shrewsbury trial in NJ again this year.

Wendy

Congratulations on the JAM

BVM

Congrats, indeed! Thanks for sharing your good news.

Congratulations Wendy , Katie and Mark! Hopefully this is a good year for bitches!! Keep up the good work and we'll see you soon.

Mike & Johanna Coutu

Congratulations!!!

John Norris

Actually the mat was only for traction. The ground was very wet and we didn't want the handlers standing in mud. The mat was on the line but we din't consider it part of the test. We had the same situation in the Amateur.

I guess many judges use a mat or other marker as a "you must" or "your dog must" or "you and your dog must" be on the mat or behind the tape or chain or log or whatever as something to judge on - which to me is kind of like judging a race car on its paint job. I think its petty.

So when the dog didn't want to get on the mat it wasn't a big deal. If it had been part of the criteria we were judging on we would have told that to the handlers and I would have then marked it down in the long list of dumb things I have done as a judge.

As for the birds being too tight for the dog to be comfortable, maybe so, but others that ran the test did it and, as I recall, without handling on that bird ( one or two did handle on the long bird).

And also in our defense as judges, we had one pond to use and one day to get the qualifying done with 24 dogs and limited daylight. I appreciate the great help we had at the trial from the Port Arthur Retriever Club members and the fact that we only had to wait for dogs when we were running the last series.

My $0.02 worth.

John Ackerman

Fwiw, it wasn't this reader's impression that Wendy knocked the test, John. Just seemed to be saying Katie wasn't quite up to it. Least not that day.