Wet N’ Wild
By Tom Schneider

Well, its 1.30 a.m., the morning after one of the great Mid Atlantic Hunting Spaniel Club fun water trials and I feel compelled to document what I experienced from judging this wonderful fun event. It is important to start by thanking Mike Shaw for inviting me to judge the event. I also thank Mike, Terry Quinlan, Chuck Urland, and Jim Zimmerman for doing so much over the past year to really raise the bar in expectations for the spaniel people on the east coast. I also need to thank my friend and co-judge Jim Zimmerman, a.k.a., Zimmy. I think we worked well together and I enjoyed the partnership and his good leadership.

This trial was a testament to what I am talking about. Wow! Terry and Mike are natural ambassadors and they teamed up to make sure every visitor, contestant/handler, dog owner not only feels welcome, but that they really have fun. When its time to honor someone and thank them for doing a superb job, Tammy Butler needs to be on the top of the list. Thanks Tammy for all the prep work, organization of prizes, managing the cook out and awarding the prizes.

Now, let's talk about those pooches and the trial. Zimmy and I developed a scoring of zero to 10 for three main elements, the water entry, the marking, and the retrieve and delivery. We began the contests with Unsteady Puppy, then went to Steady Puppy, Junior Handler and while Zimmy and I took a break our wives, Jamie Z and Diana S, judged the "Big Splash". After an excellent cook out we went to the Gun Dog and then the Open Dogs.

To start the Unsteady Puppy Steve Smith brought Chase to the bank and we saw what Steve accomplished with his first ever Springer in his first ever contest. Well, the pigeon was launched, shot and fell dutifully in the water. Chase had an impressive water entry, marked the bird and brought it straight back. Up came Jeff Brooks with Dew. Dew had a really great entry, and made a fine retrieve to hand, so we called up Tammy Butler with Reese. As Reese entered the water a car tire started floating into the course and did catch Reese's attention, but after a short visit to the tire Reese completed the retrieve.

I knew we needed to move the tire. Mike Shaw launched a canoe from the bank and as he was pulling this Goodyear steel belted radial to the canoe, Mike's eyes popped from his skull, his hand flew away from the tire, the canoe rocked and Mike yelled "Snapping Turtle". Hey! I told you how much Mike and Terry are dedicated to making sure we all have fun. Well, what Hollywood script writer would have put a 30 lb snapping turtle in the center of a tire and then reach his own hand in to retrieve the tire. We were all up on the balls of our feet, as Mike used the canoe paddle to rescue the tire. I have seen it all now. Apparently this giant turtle got itself lodged in the center of that tire and must have drowned. When Mike first pulled the tire to the surface what impressed me the most was the long bear like claws on the front legs. At first nobody knew the tortoise was already enjoying himself in the big aquarium in the sky.

Next came the Steady Puppies and Kelly Quinlan was ready with the eventual winner Repo. Repo made two great entries, good marks on both series, and clinched the win with an excellent second series retrieve. Tammy brought Reese back for the Steady Puppy and grabbed a strong second place finish with very good water entries in both series, good retrieves, and a demonstration on how to use the wind to find birds floating just at the surface.

This next event, the Junior Handler, was the most fun and maybe the hardest to judge because we needed to judge the dog's performance as it was influenced by his/her junior handler. You can bet all the tea in China that these high powered field bred English Springer spaniels have more love in their hearts than anything in the whole world for the handlers that paraded them to the bank. First up was Megan Quinlan with Lacey. With two strong water entries, two excellent marks, and two fine retrieves under Megan's very strong handling, they came out with a second place ribbon. Then came big sister Mary Quinlan handling Leo. Leo went about his business with two good water entries, no splashes here, but, very good marking, very good retrieves to hand and excellent and confident handling for a first place. Next in line was Alex Daniels with his dog Sam. Sam was one of the most powerful dogs of the day. Alex knows how to handle dogs and he really knows Sam. Alex told me he didn't want to use any restraint on the line this year because Sam lost his finest leach in the water last year when he leaped from the bank. I think I saw Sam wink his right eye at me when Alex shared that experience and I can tell you these two have a love for each other and a partnership Alex will remember for eternity. They earned a well deserved third place ribbon for doing all the right stuff.

It was time for Zimmy and I to take a break, add up the scores and let Jamie and Diana see which pup could jump the furthest and make the biggest entry. Chuck flipped the burgers and rolled the hot dogs for us all and everyone enjoyed each other's covered dishes which ended with an awards presentation for the morning events.

The afternoon got real serious real quick with Gun Dog entries and I didn't see a dog I didn't want to take home. A special treat to a lot of us was watching Don Gardner with his Water Spaniel. A couple of fine English cockers were also entered and made very good showings as well.

Cindy O'Shea handling Luke took first place with a flawless first and a really great second series. Charlie Daniels handled Sam and secured second place with a very good first series and near flawless second series. Charlie moved to New Jersey from the Rocky Mountains (Colorado Springs, CO.) and brought a Roy French bred dog with him, so we are all glad to see him here. Leslie Brooks snatched a third place finish with a fine job by Jack. And, just a point behind Leslie was Janie Haworth handling Sadie. A treat to me was seeing Sadie handle long water-land retrieves just three weeks after delivering twelve puppies who Sadie nursed between events. I have to point out that three of the four placements, to include the win, went to women handlers? I think Julie Hogan was back in Manassas, VA knowing she could have made it four for four with anyone of her finely tuned huppers.

Hey AKC! You want to see a water trial athletic event, just ask Terry Quinlan to script a course/trail. There were so many aspects to the Open dog event, Trial Chairman Mike Shaw, Zimmy and I thought it was going to go to the last dog standing. Here's what the contest amounted to: In the first series the dogs are handled from the dam end of the pond and live pheasants are thrown to fly 60 - 75 yards up from the left bank flying across the pond. Once the dog got the bird and started the swim back a duck call sounded from the right shore about thirty yards from the dam and a dead pheasant was launched into decoys along that shoreline with a single shot. This was a memory bird the dogs needed to retrieve second. Seven of the eight dogs came back to the second series. And the second series was no cake walk. In this series a pheasant was launched forty yards from the opposite shore with a shot. The contestant dog had to honor while another dog made the retrieve. How long do you think it takes a dog to swim 80 yards? Will your dog honor that long, too? After the dog honored, he had to move down the bank and make the retrieve in front of an honoring dog. Hey, the Springer Spaniels can!. You can tell Mr. Nike in Portland, OR that Nike needs to replace the trademark swoosh with a ESS launching from a bank next time they say "Just Do It!" Forget M.J. as a symbol of athleticism. These dogs "Just Do It."

Scott Hoover handled Badger to a first place. Janie Haworth took second with Sadie, Jim O'Shea took a third with ten year old Bonner, and Terry Quinlan took fourth with eleven year old Mike. How about those senior citizens showing the way they "Just Do It!"

On top of the challenge in the Open event, Sam had to encounter a snake swimming across the pond. When Sam got the scent he was clearly distracted and may have attempted a retrieve, but I didn't want to take any chances on what kind of snake this was, so I instructed Charlie to direct Sam away from the snake. Gunner Terry Quinlan saw what I saw and came around the bank just in case he was needed, but Sam took the command and completed his second retrieve efficiently. I still wonder if this wasn't scripted by Terry 'Stephen Spielberg' Quinlan.

The day's event ended with a "Gunner's Select" contest which called for the handler to select a gunner from the gun pool, two pigeons were launched over the water. Then both birds had to be shot and land in the water and the dog had to retrieve both birds. Do you want to test a marriage? Well, Cindy O'Shea handled Bonner and selected her husband to shoot. After two series, three contestants were still in the event. In the third series, Jim shot the birds, Bonner retrieved and Cindy took home the cash. Talk about the luck of the Irish, I bet there was a lot of luck in the ole log cabin that night.

And fun was had by all. Thank you to all the contributors, the hard workers, the super canines, Mother Nature and the great fellowship.