Bruce Smiley recently joined HRC and ran his first seasoned tests this weekend in ILL. Doug Powell was one of his judges and I heard Mike Latuea was there too.
Bruce passed both His brown GMPR dog Cruzy and his black dog Yeager going 4 for 4 and I think  he may have lined 4 blinds on Sunday. Way to go Bruce!

Up here in Michigan a grizzled veteran of the HRC ran his dog Rondo in his first seasoned tests on both Sat and Sun and came home with 2 ribbons. The legend continues as I don't believe Frank F has ever failed a HRC test other then the Grand. (although I think he got gigged on gun safety Sat he blamed it on the rust)Congrats Franky looking forward to seeing Rondo run this fall in the APLA Masters.

I was able to run my first finished tests this season on Sunday with  Rooster and Kenai (both GMPRs) and came home with 2 ribbons which was the first finished pass for Kenai. Both dogs ran good blinds but Rooster stood out  for me on this day as  the dogs prior to him had struggled on the water blind and he(a pointy dog)  came out and nearly lined it with one whistle used to put him on the stake in the last 2yards. The judges were pleased and let me know and I walked away proud of the little red dog.

Congrats to Brad and Traci Wright on there dog Kenai he passed 5 of 6 Master tests(7 for 8 overall) this spring and now is 1 for 1 in finished. My biggest worry was the honor and he never moved even though he had to endure the first bird being thrown directly in towards him twice as the working dog got a 'no bird' on the last bird and we had to do it all over again. Again I walked away very happy this time with a yellowish dog.

Congrats to all the dogs and handlers.  I would have loved to be there to watch everyone run....

Please tell Frank that I have renamed his puppy "turtle chaser".  LOL    Will explain later.....heehee

Once again  congrats on another great weekend!!!!

OK we technically lined 3 of the 4 Sunday. Yeager lined the blind stake on the water, walked over the bird and I blew a come in whistle so he wouldn't drive up on the bank. So, I did use the whistle on one of them  but I didn't cast - does that count? Cool venue, good experience for the dogs (and me), supprised to see so many people I knew.

I saw Mike L. with a fist full of ribbons and a bunch of young dogs. Carolyn Elam has a few APLA title dogs and seemed to have a good weekend with a trailer load of dogs.

Frank - Good to see you back in the game and success with Rondo dog. Going to Kankakee?

Dale - Must be rough having to run Kenai and Rooster 

Brad, congrats on Kenai's first finished pass.  I imagine that dog will get it done pretty quickly.

Congrats on all the dogs and handlers great job

Way to go everyone!

Way to go!!! HRC is addictive, glad you guys had a good time,

Our HRC clubs test is this weekend, With walkups we will have 60 in finished each day, about 110 dogs in all events each day, cant wait...

Glad you enjoyed yourself Bruce!!

Hey Bruce, That Cruz is going to take you places you thought you already have been, and likely beyond, he's a nice dog.

Posted By bsmiley on 31 May 2010 04:25 PM


Frank - Good to see you back in the game and success with Rondo dog. Going to Kankakee?

Dale - Must be rough having to run Kenai and Rooster 

Brad, congrats on Kenai's first finished pass.  I imagine that dog will get it done pretty quickly.

Kankakanakanakaakanakanee, I like that test, and hope to be there.
I can verify that Rooster and Kenai are not at all enjoyable to run. All they do is smack the marks, and don't give you much of a chance to practice any casts. OH YEAH ! I did have to cast each one at least once all week.....LOL. Tuff work, but someone has to do it.

Grizzled veteran ? Rusty ? True and proud if it ! (the rust will come off with some effort)...

Always fun to see sucsess with great dogs in other venues. Congrats to ALL!

Congrats to all. No reason why APLA dogs cant dominate other venues as they are just as much retrievers as any other field bred dog. Personally, love the HRC with its focus on waterfowl type setups.

Wow congrats everyone on the all the passes!  Ok now I feel like a loser since me and JD didn't pass our first run at finished.  Oh well, we'll get it, just gotta keep learning and going for it.  Congrats again everyone!