Susan W., the breeder of our little dog, brought chili, and the Holiday Inn Express that we stayed at was kind and resourceful enough to let the group use the hotel breakfast room as our "party" room to have cocktails and eat dinner. But Saturday, the hunt test is the real story.
Susan W. chills with Larsen.
Kim's rejection of Larsen was - - of course - - a bitter pill. Susan thought that it might be helpful for her to run the dog. That was an interesting thought. You have to understand. Larsen does not really like Kim (and I think the feeling is mutual). Larsen loves me (even though everyone says he plays me like a violin), but he absolutely worships Susan. He just drinks her in with his eyes. My thought was that Susan is more arms-length from Larsen than I am (he's not her dog, after all), and she is more accomplished as a handler. What's the harm of her handling Larsen just to see what he can do and what we have to do next?
Susan puts Larsen onto the field.
The little guy did great. He was a merry little spaniel in the field, which is the most important point of any of this. He had a good nose, he payed great attention to Susan's signals, and he nosed out that stupid chukar. He flunked because (as is his habit) he did not quite bring the bird back to Susan. He toyed with it about 5 feet away, which is a disqualification. We learned a lot, and I had a nice conversation with one of the judges at lunch to see how I could best proceed. Some really good exercises for us to do. I will have join a group of about 15 people for a seminar with the judge in mid-March.
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