Smudge gets his first placements, Hawk scores again

On March 5th and 6th, the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Atlanta held an AKC walking trial. Smudge got his first two placements with a 1st place in the puppy stake and a first place in the derby stake as well. He was handled by my wife Amber, who obviously did a great job and brought Smudge the luck he needed. Hawk got second place in the derby stake. It was a fun weekend, and Smudge's two first place wins got him his juvenile points toward an AKC Field Champion/Amateur Field Champion title.

As a reward for his efforts, Smudge has been given a month at camp with pro trainer Jim Tande. Jim is going to evaluate Smudge to help us determine if his talents lean toward horseback or walking events. Almost every judge that has looked at him and Hawk have indicated that they should be running horseback. We'll see what comes of Smudge's time at camp.

Charlie and Hawk both get first horseback placements

The Middle Georgia English Setter Club held a dual-sanctioned (AF/AKC) horseback trial February 4th through the 6th at Stockton Plantation. Jamie Fountain of Oconee Kennel handled Charlie in a shooting dog stake (AKC-Open Gun Dog) and garnered 3rd place out of 26 entries. In the Derby stake, Hawk had a nice run with a couple of good finds to take 2nd. I handled Hawk, and this was my first horseback placement as a handler. All in all it was a pretty good weekend.