US COMPLETE SHOOTING DOG NORTHWEST
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
By Ron Pray
The Inaugural Championship for the Northwest Region was held on a beautiful, cool and sunny day in the California Foothills in November. A beautiful Fall day. Thirteen hopeful qualifiers were entered to be judged by the outstanding team of Tom Griffin of Watsonville, California and Rich Heaton of Boise, Idaho. Both men are deeply involved in the sport and each has won two National Amateur Championships. Suffice to say that this judging team was up to the task and we were fortunate and grateful to have them in the judicial saddles. The venue was outstanding and although there are several AKC trials held here each year it was the first time this scribe had seen it. The scenery is incredibly beautiful with sweeping meadows, groves of Oak trees and piles of fallen timber. Specifically, this is the K-Arrow Ranch owned by Steve Kistler. This is a fabulous Sierra Foothill property, which Steve’s grandfather bought in 1955. The Kistlers were the people with the first telephone in Tuolumne County. The place is a 3000-acre cow calf operation raising natural grass fed beef that are bred, born and raised and harvested on this property. This is the livestock equivalent of an estate bottled cabernet. We thank the Kistler family for the use of this awesome place.
THE RUNNING
Seven braces were run taking most of this wonderful day. Our winner came from the third and runner-up ran in the first. In that first brace ran Super Express “Belle” (Bernie Daviner) and Wenaha High Ryder a Setter male run by Mike Spies. The course was a loop taking off right outside of camp heading east up a grade paralleling Highway 120. At the top of that grade there was a drop to the east end of a large pond where contenders made a long right turn around it, back up through a saddle in the hill and down through heavy Oak groves back to camp. The course was open in spots, dotted with Oak groves and rock outcroppings, bordered on both sides by stone fences built by workers over a hundred years ago.
At nine minutes “Belle” went on point under a broad Oak tree that was so low to the ground her handler had to get on his hands and knees and crawl under to attempt flush. This would be a difficult situation for most but “Belle” held her position high and tight at both ends. At the top of the hill “Ted” went on point at a woodpile backed by “Belle” and at twenty minutes “Ted” went on point again backed by “Belle”; however, this time proved too much temptation and he went with the flush. Picked-up. From this point “Belle” put on a show. She had seven more finds in her remaining hour and one non-productive. As always she looked pretty on her birds; however, she has such a good nose that she would point at a great distance from her quarry. This would prompt relocation and she would slowly creep on those relocations, which is the only negative thing that could be said for this fine contender and could have made the difference in her placement.
Leif Lendrop, marshal for the day, had assigned times to each brace and sure enough he had the second brace ready to go at 9:20 a.m. with Sharkey’s “Rheo” (Tim Keohane) and Riverrun Super Deception “Jessie” (Cami Wolthuis). “Rheo”, the Red Setter joyfully left the line and went on point at five minutes. A single bird was flushed and all was in order. At about twelve minutes he had his second find and again the temptation was too great, he broke at flush. “Jessie” forged on and at twenty-five had a find in a downed tree. All was in order and at thirty she had a stop to flush in an open field. At forty on the backside of the course she had a non-productive in a heavy rock pile where birds had been found all day. However, it was a difficult flush and after a long attempt Cami took the non-productive.
In the third brace came our winner, the Pointer male Cache Creek “Bully” (Ron Shuman) running with Cache Creek “Shawna” (Rudy Difuntorum). “Shawna” was lost on the front side and was later seen by the gallery, across the course on point, however, she had already been timed out. “Bully”, however, had finds at ten, twenty-one, thirty-eight, fifty, and fifty-five. This was a strong and well-handled brace with perfect form on all finds. “Bully” hit every objective on the course it seemed. Shuman grew up in the dog business and has had some impressive placements of late and this performance was right up there with a victory in this Region’s Inaugural Championship.
Brace four saw Sunset's Madonna “Maddie” (Vince Teofilo) and Outrages’ “Ruby” Jo (Gary Rovarino) run. “Ruby” had a back and at her first find broke at flush at twenty-five minutes. “Maddie” had three finds but seemed to finish tired and short. In the fifth brace we saw superwoman Cami Wolthuis walk her second hour with Super Express “Nash” Begone. Running with “Nash” ran Deception’s “Smoke” (Ron Shuman) and although both had activity in the early running, both were ultimately picked-up. Brace six ensued, still on time, with Sunset’s Assured (Teofilo) and Horizon’s “Brutus” (Terry Erickson). Both dogs left the starting line strong with “Clint” having a find at twenty. From there he shortened up through the course having two more finds but he finished virtually at his handler’s heels. “Brutus” showed fine English-Setter style and at twenty-five had a find out in an open field, which seemingly surprised him. At about this time handler pulled a stick from the dog’s nose resulting in multiple sneezes. His next find required incredible patience and by the time of flush the dog was probably a little impatient. He chased at flush and was picked up. Vince Teofilo ran Sunset’s Vindicator “Quirt” as a bye dog in the seventh brace and was picked up early.
The Santa Clara Valley Bird Dog Club was our host and put on this Inaugural US Complete Walking Championship. They received sponsorship from Purina and worked very hard to put on this trial. They provided belt buckles to the winner and the runner-up and Purina dog food. Mike Spies and Leif Lendrop took over the Santa Clara Club from Vince Teofilo about four years ago. Mike Spies came to a Region 11 Annual Meeting three seasons ago to ask the various Region 11 Clubs to sponsor more walking stakes at their various trials. He needed seven walking stakes in a season to be in the position to have a US Complete Championship approved in the Region. These gentlemen are to be congratulated for their endurance in arranging this Inaugural event. They provided lunches and an excellent tri-tip dinner on Saturday night. Additionally, a thanks is given to Kristyn Spies, who helped her father, Mike Spies, with the event.
COMPANION STAKE
Although the walking championship entry was lower than management thought it would be the companion horseback shooting dog stake had a whopping 27 entries. This was run essentially on the same course within a thirty-minute time frame. It was judged by Rich Heaton and our own barrister, Bob Tennant. The winner of the stake was Waygoing Hoot, run by stalwart trialer Mike Stephens, with three finds in his thirty minutes. The second and third places were taken by the handler Ron Shuman who handled the winner of the walking stake. Specifically, second in the horseback shooting dog stake was Cache Creek Bully and third was Deception’s Smoke who carded two finds and a back.
As always a good time was had by all and the Santa Clara Valley Bird Dog Club did an outstanding job. We hope that this US Complete Walking Shooting Dog Championship for the Northwest Region becomes a fixture in the future.
