Picnic Trials

February 3 & 4, 2007 @ Fort Lewis Area 14

February 24 & 25, 2007 @ Fort Lewis Area 14

Description of WRC Stakes & Schedule

Our February trial is held on Saturday and Sunday in area 14 at Fort Lewis. Sign up starts about 7:30am. During sign-up the judges are picking their areas to setup their stake. Please try to stick around the sign up area until the stakes are set. With daylight at a premium in the winter months we try to run the stakes as efficiently as possible. Having your dog ready to run when your turn comes up helps a great deal.

Saturday:

Our Puppy stake is divided into the two categories. The under 7 month old puppies (Junior Puppies) and the under 1 year old puppies (Senior Puppies). The puppies running the older stake are shot a live flyer pigeon. The younger puppies use dead pigeons. Most of the time we prefer that people don't double enter their puppies. We ask this because often the judges will use the same mark, just lengthening it for the older puppies. The puppies are not expected to deliver to hand, however they must bring the bird over the line where they were sent from.
With the senior puppies we run the Gun Dog Senior stake. These dogs are allowed to be older, they can not belong to someone that runs field trials with their dogs. The senior gun dog stake is designed to be for people running hunt tests or hunting with their dogs. For people running hunt tests, this would be similar to the Junior Hunter level.

The Qualifying stake consists of multiple marks and blinds that the dogs are expected to run. The Gun Dog Qualifying is held at the same time as the Qualifying, the only difference in this stake is that the Gun Dog entrants must not be trained or run by people who run Licensed Field trials. The Qualifying is closest to the Master Hunter level of the Hunt Tests, the main difference being the length of the marks and blinds.

Sunday:

The Derby stake consists of double marks and no blinds that the dogs are expected to run. The Gun Dog Derby is held at the same time as the Derby, the only difference in this stake is that the Gun Dog entrants must not be trained or run by people who run Licensed Field trials. The Derby is similar to the Senior Hunter level of the Hunt Tests in that the dogs run doubles. However the distances are longer and the angles are normally more acute.

The Open stake is for the dogs that can successfully run a Qualifying stake. Multiple marks and blinds are run. There is no corresponding Gun Dog Stake.