Our day started with the singing of the National Anthem by Rylee Rosenburg. Shortly after, our first test dog, Lock Five’s Polk Salad Annie, “Annie,” LF, owned by Randy and Mary Spangler and handled by Mary, came to the line at 6:20 am. Our second test dog Pedretti’s Zeus , “Zeus,” LM, owned & handled by Bobby Raasch came to the line at 6:33 am. After our contestants got a good look at the 1st Series test, our first running dog #89 FC-AFC Abby’s Physician Of Antioch, "Luke" with owner/handler Dan Hurst, started the 63rd running of the 2021 National Amateur Retriever Club Championship at 6:59 am!
Our weather started in the 60’s and reached in the upper 70’s. We had a slight breeze through out the day ranging from 8-11 mph coming from the northwest. All in all it was a great day to be in the field with our beloved retrievers!
It was announced at the annual meeting the night before gun changes would happen every 25 dogs. Here is when they happened…
1st Gun Change – after dog #112 at 9:41 am with the next running dog #113 coming to the line.
2nd Gun Change – after dog #136 at 12:00 pm with the next running dog #137 coming to the line at 12:23 pm.
3rd Gun Change – after dog #10 at 3:14 pm where the next running dog should have been #11 coming to the line at 3:24 pm. Dog #11 received a no bird so dog #12 was the next running dog to come to the line at 3:25 pm.
4th Gun Change – after dog #29 at 5:30 pm where the next running dog should have been #30 “Mully” but he retired earlier this morning so our next running dog #31 came to the line at 5:34 pm.
Here are the way things turned out for the 1st day…
No Bird / Re-Run (8): 95 – 109 – 126 – 146 – 7 – 11 – 28 – 29
No Bird and did not get to Re-Run (1): 43
Handles (5): 148 – 1 – 20 – 39 – 40
Pick Up (1): 90
Injury (1): 124
Retired - #30
Our last running dog for the day was #43 that came to the line at 7:16 pm. She had a fly away and the day was called by the judges at 7:27 pm. Dottie (#43) will go back 6 spots and have her re-run in the morning.
104 dogs were sent from the line in this series, taking 12 hours and 28 minutes which averages to be just over 7 minutes per dog.
Tomorrow, we are planning to complete the last of 44 dogs in the combined 1st & 2nd Series “Interrupted Double with a Blind.” We will start with one test dog being called to the line at 6:15 am and the first running dog #44 will be called to the line at 7:00 am.
Have a good night and get ready for Day 2!