December 1, 2007 - At the last trial of the year in Bonham, TX Dollar placed 2nd in the
Qualifying stake making him Qualified All Age (QAA) at the age of 3 years
9 months. Over the last year Dollar ran 12 Qualifyings and finished 5
of them earning a 2nd Place, a 4th Place and 3 JAMS (Judges Award of
Merit). Trainer Greg Nelson ran him in each of the evens and did a
fantastic job with his training since he was a 6 month old puppy.
All the credit in the world goes to our good friends Greg & Patti
Nelson who have trained Dollar from a 6 month old puppy. Greg guided Dollar
through each of the levels of the AKC hunt test game in 21 months
culminating in earning his MH title at age 27 months. I even got to handle
Dollar successfully in each the Junior, Senior, and Master level Hunt
Tests.
The step from Hunt Tests to Field Trials is a big jump. The distances
are longer the lines to the bird are tighter. Which makes the tests
more difficult and tricky at times. Blinds and marks out to and
sometimes past 300 yards is not uncommon in the Field Trial game. Also, in the
field trial game the judges have to determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
places so you are competing against the other entrants. Whereas in the hunt
tests it is strictly a pass/fail so it's each dog vs. the test not the
other dogs.
I am very pleased that Dollar & Greg have continued to show enough
talent to compete at Field Trials. Our plan is to continue to work and
train for the All Age stakes. Dollar will have a short rest through
December and then Greg is getting an early start on the winter trip.
Also, Greg has had his hands on a few puppies out of Dollar and we are
pleased to report that they seem to poses the retrieving desire and
athletic abilities that their father has shown.
Dollar continues
to train for the extreme distance and control required of
Field Trial Competition. He has had some success in the Field
Trial arena already earning a 4th place and a JAM in the Qualifying
Stakes. He participated in a non-AKC event at the Kansas City
Retriever club. The super singles event was scored single
marks on a scale from 1 to 10. Each dog did 3 marks and they
threw out the high and low scores given by 3 judges. Dollar
scored a 28 out of a perfect 30 to tie for Fourth Place with
FC Downtown Dusty Brown who also had a 28.
Penny and I continue to work towards her Junior Hunter (JH)
Title. After spending 6 months with Greg Nelson getting the
foundational training securely in place Penny came home to
train with me for a few months before we tackled the Juniors.
She earned her second pass on Sunday June 10th in Valley NE.
She is entered in the double junior test in Lincoln, NE June
23rd & 24th if she passes both tests she will earn her Junior
Hunter Title (JH)
Nicki has been spending time working on her basics and might
be attempting Junior Hunt Tests in the fall.
Penny passed her first AKC Junior Hunt Test April 13th at
the Northwest Missouri Hunt Test at Smithville Lake, MO. She
had a couple of big hunts for marks but her line manners and
good delivery to hand I think helped her earn a pass. She
will be running several more Juniors to get line experience
and hopefully a couple of passes in the Juniors before next
year when we hope she tackles some more advanced work.
Dollar made his first appearance in an AKC Field Trial in
September. He ran the owner/handler qualifying stake at the
Missouri Valley Hunt Club in Valley, NE on September 22nd
2006 (Age 30 Months). He was handled by Co-owner and trainer
Greg Nelson of Plattsburg, MO. Dollar and Greg ran a great
trial and ended up placing 4th out of a 31 dog field. Dollar
will continue to run qualifyings in 2007.
27 months old
5 for 6 in the Masters between April 29th and June 25th
Passed a double master over memorial day weekend
Qualified for the '06 Master National
He finished his 5th and final pass needed to earn his Master
Hunter Title and Qualify for the '06 Master National on Sunday.
It was nice to have it on our "home turf" in Lincoln,
NE. My parents were able to make it down and to enjoy the
weekend and help me take care of the other dogs. It was good
to be able to spend the weekend with everyone from "Team
Castile Creek", pro trainers Greg Nelson, Lyle Steinmann
& Gary Cook, and their clients, a better group of guys/gals
you will never find!
Again ALL of the credit goes to my good friends Greg &
Patti Nelson, who have had Dollar in training (with a few
small breaks for hunting and R & R) since September of
2004. Greg took a pup with a lot of drive and honed him into
fire breathing, retrieving machine.
I don't think there is anything that Greg can't get him to
do. I'm just hoping that Greg can teach me to handle him myself
in the masters in the near future. My short handling career
so far consists of 2 Junior Passes, and 2 Senior Passes (I'm
not experienced but I do have a 100% pass rate!) :) I¢m
just teasing Greg!
Dollar and I were supposed to progress through this hunt
test thing together but I'm happy to say he progressed much
faster as a retriever than I did as a handler. Now that he
is titled and the "pressure" is off I can try to
catch up. :) I figured it would be
best to leave the "big dog games" to the pro. He's
only going to be 2 once and I want him to accomplish as much
as he can without my inexperience holding him back. There
will be plenty of time for me to learn later on.
The next step for Dollar will be to run a few qualifying
stakes in the field trial game. Possibly training for a Super
Retriever Series Qualifier in 06/07.
I will keep you posted on the progress.
Eric Johnson
Proudly Owned by:
Patriot´s Top Dollar MH
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