Tuesday 15th Otober

OK you lot. This is your friendly overworked and underpaid Secretary here. Instead of your regular e-mails with news and (my) views, you have this blog. Be aware that, unless I actually state differently, all opinions are MINE and not necessarily those of the Committee.

Where shall I start?? First of all, some great news, and a real source of encouragement for all novices.

On Saturday 12th October Vicky Payne won the Kent's Novice A/V Trial with

Rumour Has It For Quincegrove.

This lady has worked her socks off whenever her VERY full time job has allowed her any spare minutes. I watched her last year and, I hope she doesn’t mind me saying,  but she and the dog were both very green. However, what Vicky lacked then in expertise she made up for in enthusiasm. So, for her to win at the weekend, under those Judges and in that company, the girl done good! Well done Vicky!!

As for ordinary FT Sec type news... Sunday for me, whilst you lot were keeping warm and dry away from the piddling rain, was spent shopping for the Trials and liaising with Wednesday's Keeper and Judges. Oh, not to mention finding a new A Panel Judge and making sure the Hotel was kept informed of changing names and numbers.

BTW Shock and horror…  Gordons Sloe Gin has rocketed to £20 for only a modest sized bottle, and that was in Tesco’s! Get picking those berries, guys, we can’t afford that sort of silly money. I had to sit down,  I was stunned.…

This year has been a bit of a whirligig for Judges. Some years things are just plain sailing. Some years things are just a bit more fraught. In this day and age, what with work pressures and, what is it called, “work / life balance” (aka stress) and all the other crap that be thrown at us… I think we can all be forgiven for getting our diaries a bit muddled and having the need to change plans from time to time.

Anyway, all Judges have been sorted - you even have me as a replacement for Steve Roberts.

No doubt there will be a few newbies wondering how I ever got to be able "to judge when she's never run a dog". Hmmm - just remember, it's you that are the newbies. I ran myself stupid in the 80s and 90s and had a little dabble with a veteran springer in 2011/12.   I love training dogs but just seem to run out of time in late summer when the extra work, especially on fitness, becomes necessary... what was I saying about work / life balance??? I am single and self employed.

Yet again I have just let my best ESS Trial prospect go. Very happily Sybil is with my good friend Steve Ooms in Belgium. She will come back to me in a year or two but he needed something for this season and she is something pretty special....  My other yearlings who will not be appearing… Ash (ESS) is a good little shooting dog but not flashy enough to Trial. Santa (Cocker) has decided to squeak every now and then, so that’s her off the list. Ennis, dear naughty Ennis, might come out BUT she has that endearing (Cocker) habit of, when she gets bored, buggaring off into the distance.... What do I have left??? Hmmmmmm... a Crested? Don't think so LOLOL

Another thing about newbies... You do silly things. Like ask me who the replacement Judges are? Or... what the ground will be like? What difference is it going to make? If you are a newbie you can't possibly have fallen out with anyone that might judge you yet, can you? And, your dog should hunt anything that is put in front of it. You newbies sometimes make me pull my hair out, happily, usually, you make me smile. Anything you might do, I have done in the past… a zillion times. Trust me. There isn't a cock-up I haven't won prizes in.....

Years (twenty odd) ago, for the benefit of the newbies, we oldies used to DREAM about having heavingly thick, waist high briars to, hopefully, slow our dogs down. These days, more modern dogs "look like" the fast twisting turning whirlwind types but often are petrified of anything tougher than couch grass. Bring back the old fashioned type I say :-D

Right - apologies - I mustn't keep on about the new folk in the sport. I don't mean to be insulting whatsoever. We NEED you. The sport will die without you. We especially want people like Vicky Payne who work so hard at improving their handling and their dog's performance.

Getting back to Rumour, Vicky's dog. Just to mention, she isn't "classically bred" as they say. Yes, there are some class dogs in her pedigree but (OMG, hot flush coming, help me, help me) there are also show bred dogs in there. Quickly, lie down in a darkened room, take pills, do something, DO something.... call the Breeding Police.

Don't worry if you haven't got FTCh sire and dam. It just goes to show that, with the right basic animal, all that's needed is correct and consistent TRAINING.

I don't know how many people have looked at the KC's newly revamped website but there are many simply BRILLIANT features. You can look up any dog, it's entire pedigree, all it's health tests etc etc. LOOK OUT all the tossy people that make fraudulent claims on their websites?? "All my dogs are hip and elbow scored and fully comply with other AB requirements"??? Well I have just checked a few of these virtuous animals, and health checked they are NOT. Pick a dog - go and check for yourself...

Let the surfer beware of the net that he/she surfs... There are some VERY undesirable sorts out there with magnificent websites. They are as useful at training gundogs as my bottom. They know as much about their subject as a goldfish does about nuclear physics. Always ASK what THEY have done and then check what you are told. One chap (down the road from here) took one of his regular class members, a young ESS dog, in for kennelling/training whilst it's owners went on holiday and then used it at stud on their own bitch without permission. The dog was sent home as a sex crazed 10 month old puppy and then nine weeks later, to add insult to injury, the "trainer" asked for the pedigree and registration details of the dog. Yes, that's right, he didn't even know the pedigree and still used the dog. This dog was endorsed not to be bred from so ya boo sucks to another idiot and I hope he gets his just rewards. Karma is a wonderful thing...

Thank you readers, if there are any, you have no idea what therapy this is for me, just to be able to have a rant. Thank you for reading this far, IF you have LOL.  I suppose I had better get back to my typing; judges letters, Trial Cards etc etc.  It's only 0040 on Tuesday morning now. Maybe I will treat myself to a little Tio Pepe... Yes, I certainly know how to live :-D