Many congratulations to all who ran, from the comments it was a heck of a test, one I wish I could have seen.   Thor, Bo, Gator, Trooper, Bella, all great dogs that I've been privileged to watch this year and for all the ones I don't know or forgot to mention, way to go and keep up the good work!   This organization seems to really be coming into it's own, the caliber of dog seems to be getting better and better and more people are training and handling on their own, I know I've definitely been bitten by the handling bug, it's great to see everyone so involved and keeps me excited for the future.

On to Kansas, a very bittersweet test for us.   Ted got his very first GMPR in KS just last year and only needs 1 more pass for his 4x.   Seems fitting we'll come full circle back to KS to finish it off.  While I'm really thrilled that we've reached this milestone, I'm also sad and already wondering what I'll do next year without Ted running APLA.    I'm wondering if there's ever been talk of some division for those of us who just don't want to quit after the 4x GMPR title?    Sure seems like we've put in a lot of work and miles to not be running and Ted is only just 3 1/2 years old.   Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

Congratulations again to everyone who ran Iowa.    Whether you came home with a ribbon or not, it's the getting out there that counts, keep up the good work!

Congrats to everyone who got a pass/ribbon!!!! Dan, Steve and all the judges..great job and great grounds! Andrew and I had a great time and gained lots of experience...just came up short on saturday and learned what we need to work on before the Kansas test.

Dan, thanks for letting andrew help out...he really enjoys it a lot.

Hope to see everyone in Kansas!!!!

-Robert

Robert you have a heck of a lil dog there and you will be just fine whenyou to get each other figured out she is a lot of fun to watch

Congrats to all those who got a ribbon!

Zeke

STK
You make a valid point. I will start a new thread so as not to hijack this one

Congrats to all and thanks to everyone for coming out to Webb.

As judges, we had some really nice grounds to work with but they were raising ducks on property and 3 pieces of water were ruled out (because they had 500 live ducks on them) and three were dried up. But we had two very, very nice pieces of water that we shared and it worked out. Upland was a limited choice as we tended to run between very short and thick waist high brogham grass. So we made the best of what was there.

As usual, there were some nice dogs that did not have a good day, and some that did (some had 2 good days). For those that did not, learn from what you saw in that test and how your dog reacted.

We were scrambling to get things done and share handlers between MPR, APR and CP so I will appologize if I did not get to talk to some people much because of running around. Good test numbers and that is a blessing, coordinating it is the curse :-)

Mark Smiedeshoff, I thoroughly enjoyed judging with you and had an awesome weekend. It is nice to be in the same groove with your co-judge and I dont think we were a half point off each other in any of our scoring. I appreciate judging with someone who will take the time to run setup dogs on a scenario and really find out what we have in a test. HUGE thanks to Jim Springer and Bruce Marra at our bird stations on Saturday, and to John Schierholts (SP?!),and his friend Dominic for Sunday. You guys were some of the best help I have ever had. That is a long day in the sun. Thanks to Dan Koolstra (Congrats Dan on Rookie's GMPR!) and Steve Pawlyshns for a great job on Chair/Secretary positions and Doug Powel and Troy Benson working with them on the Hunt Test Committee for this.

I want to thank all the handlers we had in our flights both days. Not just for coming out but I really had a good time judging and talking with all of you. Everyone had a great attitude and were looking for ways to get better. Best of luck to all of you going forward.

Big Congrats to TROOPER on the 4X, Ted and Aaron are knocking on the door at 3.5. Cant go into all but, congrats to the new MPR's this weekend Andy/Brad and Bo, John Carstens and Ryder, John Schierholts/Brad and Thor, Justin VanDeHey/Troy B. and Mays, and Michael Hojer/Brad and Gator.  Didn't get to see CP or APR and have not heard much other than rough scenting conditions.  I do want to give a contrats to Bryon Hahn on his APR with his Duke dog.  Bryon is doing this on his own with his first dog, learning the ropes, helping at tests and I wish him the best of luck.   Little yellow dog was just not quite ready for the MPR saturday but is very talented and I am sure smoked the APR Sunday.  Contrats and thanks to all others coming out especially Mike L. and Guff, always good to share parking lot pop with you and good to see you guys hauling the ribbons home.

Look forward to MI this weekend.  Remember the Judges Handlers seminar Friday at test HQ at Omega.

Side note:  If you EVER consider a "man v. food" type eating challenge with Mike Letteau involving spicy food - dont go there.

Bruce

It was a fun weekend for sure ...went pretty well considering all the handlers and all the dogs going all over the place. Thanks to Dan and Steve and EVERYONE THAT HELPED !! Congrats to everyone that was lucky enough to earn a ribbon this weekend ... in what was some of the tougher condtions to run in ...heat and at times not much wind or breeze to speak of. It was great to see everyone and meet some new people.

There was some really impressive dog work this weekend that I saw the future of our little group looks very good !

Special congrats to Justin & Brie on new MPR Mays and thanks for letting me work with a such a fun little girl. Congrats to Brad & Dan with Rookie and his GMPR title ! I got to gun for him in the upland that was a great time ! Also to Dave with that little chocolate girl Kay she did a real nice job and earned a CPR ribbon for sure! Well better get back to work ! Gotta get ready to take of for the MI test tomorrow !!!

First of all I would like to thank Dan Koolstra for being the center point of making this test happen. He was all over the place this last weekend. Always seemed to make sure all the tests had every thing they needed. Very well organized. Thanks Dan! Steve I know its a pain in the ______ being secretary but your are pretty darn good at it and deserve a pat on the back. Great grounds, great dogs, great people what more can you ask for. Congrats to all that passed and for those going to Kansas we will see you there. Also big thanks to the judges and alll the workers for donating your time.

By the way Dan I felt it was one of the best organized tests I have been too.