Our first stop today was at Flight C continuing their work at
"Double Trouble," although by the photographs below, you can see it has picked up yet another "nickname." We were told that the dogs seemed to better yesterday when they first set up the test. This morning, the work was different with quite a few handles and a few pick-ups as well. The Judges Bill Teague and Carol Hynes remained cheerful despite the hot sun shining down on this land test.
We caught up with Flight A at "Give Me A Brake." We had published yesterday that they were going to "Censored" this morning, but due to a last minute logistical change, they changed the plans and went here instead, with their first Test Dog running at 8:30 am. As we had stated previously, they are ahead of all the other Flights, so they have a little more luxury of time. The Judges stated that the center bird is a watermark and they did not want to see the dogs running the bank. In other words, they must take the water to retrieve the bird. As they were setting up the Test this morning, Frank Barton told me he was playing
2001 A Space Odyssey over the loudspeaker....hmmmm?!!
Our next stop was at Flight D running the "Censored" land/water test. The work was "Pretty good," when we asked one of the gallery for some feedback ... when asked to elaborate, he said the work was "Pretty darn good!" Most of the dogs back to this next test have had strong performances. The water blind is the toughest element. As the dogs cross the spit, the light wind can make them drift off course and that can put them in a bad position for the last third of the blind. The sun was beating down with a high expected in the low 80s and we found most of the gallery seeking shade under their tents and umbrellas.
By the time we got to Flight B, it was the late afternoon at "Oh No, Mr. Bill!" The judges said that the conditions were favorable this afternoon for them to retrieve the long bird, someone added ... as long as they actually got over there. They guessed that they would have 15 or so dogs to run tomorrow morning. We left there and went back to the White House at the Cattle Ranch which has been our office all week. The internet reception is best there and many people come to get their updates from this location. We'll post a few pictures, then it's off to Frankie's Party we go at 6:30 pm.
Time for Frankies's Party! ... Photos to come
