| spaniel championships | By Dave Watts

The British 71st AV Spaniel Championships (2001)
Thoughts by Dave Watts
(Published in Spaniels In The Field Spring 2001)

I am just recovering from two days of real Field Trialing. That means Hunting for Pheasant, Partridge, Pigeon, Rabbit and Hare. Woodcock were being left and if any `Gun' shot one them, it was a hefty fine of 100 pounds (160 U.S. dollars) to be paid to the Countryside Fund. The Conholt Estate is huge and we were working an initial designated wood-land area of 4000 acres but on the second day we were also working some new areas that were set aside for the final `runoffs'.

This is English Springer Field Trialing and if you have no knowledge or have not experienced this then you are missing something very special. Forty dogs gathered at 8.00 am Thursday morning for the start. The dogs and handlers would be following the `line of the beat' all day as each one is called forward for their run. Each run may take half an hour of constant working interspersed with a retrieve when game is flushed and shot. The dogs all walk quietly `to heel' until they are called. Not one dog made any sound whatsoever. These are English Springers at their finest. Impeccable manners, no sound and from a quiet walk to heel will explode into working action at the slightest wave of their handlers hand. When their run is over they come immediately to heel and walk quietly back to the rear of the line. You have to see it to appreciate it fully, they are a complete antithesis of calm and excitement.

The Gallery was made up of people from all parts of the world who had come to see this wonderful spectacle. It is intense but at same time has a very friendly country atmosphere. The only clothing colours in view were tweed and waxed cotton of greens and browns with the smallest flash of yellow on the arm bands of the Spaniel Club officials and the numbered arm bands of the handlers.

It is very British and a typically understated everyday hunting and shooting scene. In Britain, Field Trials have always been a test of a gundog's ability under normal hunting conditions, nothing else. It is not a sport for the sake of it as all of the dogs are used for QYy hunting in everyday situations through the game shooting season and for rabbit and pigeon shooting through the rest of the year. Therefore, any dog that wasn't a hunting dog would not be able to take part in a British Field Trial as it would be hopelessly inadequate. Our springer breeding has always reflected this and is always aimed at producing dogs for hunting work. Field working and Field Trials go hand in hand in Britain. In saying that, I guess we are very fortunate, we have been left that heritage by the pioneers of our breed of gundog. Our co-host at Conholt, Caroline Tisdall who is Professor of Rural Development at Oxford University, remarked on that fact at the prize ceremony. The hunting aspect of our Field Trials is typified by the conversations with the handlers. As soon as a dog's run is complete and they came to the back of the line, I spent a lot of time with each of them discussing the events and everyday happenings of the present shooting season and the work their dog had been up to in various `beating lines' and shoots etc., up and down the country. It is where our dogs learn their `trade', and there is no other way to complete the training of a gundog for our Field Trial work. It shows too. Superb dog work that thrilled everyone at Conholt for two days.