NSTRA Champion Godfather's Dakota Elle

Dakotazeb

Dakotazeb

Well-known member
Elle finally did it. She got a 1st place at a trial on Saturday and that finally championed her. Should of had another 1st place on Sunday as she moved 7 birds in one brace. Unfortunately 4 of those birds were ones that just popped (marked birds). She caught one, 2 flew out of bounds and the 4th flew into the middle of a big slough. Oh well, it was a fun weekend and what made it even better is Saturday, when Elle got her 1st place, it was my 70th birthday. Great birthday present.
 
Hi George,

Congratulations to you and your dog - must make you very proud!

Can you elaborate a bit on - "moving a brace" and some of the content in your message. Would assume most of us aren't familiar with a dog trial and what a dog has to accomplish...
 
jonnyB said:
Hi George,

Congratulations to you and your dog - must make you very proud!

Can you elaborate a bit on - "moving a brace" and some of the content in your message. Would assume most of us aren't familiar with a dog trial and what a dog has to accomplish...
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There are 16 braces during the day. Each brace has 2 dogs and 2 handlers plus a judge for each dog. Your dog is scored on finds (points), retrieves, obedience, ground coverage and backing (honoring). The more birds your dog finds and retrieves to hand the more points you get. For each brace they plant 5 quail in a 40 acre field. However, if the previous braces do not get all the birds there can be a build up of birds in the field. In that brace on Sunday Elle had 7 bird contacts (moved 7 birds) unfortunately 4 of those birds flew before she scented/pointed them so she got no score for those. It's not uncommon to have a bird "pop" like that once in awhile but to have 4 in one braces is crazy. She had the potential of having 7 scored birds in one brace which is extremely rare. Her bracemate had 2 birds so we found 9 birds in that one brace.
 
I'll clarify a little more. 16 braces per field and 2 dogs per brace equals 32 dogs per field per day. We normally have 2 fields and you can run your dog once in each field per day. The dog with the highest point total on each field at the end of the day get 1st place. Placements are awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Championship points are awarded as follows. 3 pts. for 1st, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd. To earn the Champion title a dog must accumulate 18 placement points of which 9 pts. must be 1st place points. Once a dog has it's first Champion it starts to accumulate points toward the next Champion. Thus you will see in NSTRA dogs that are 2x, 3x, or more Champions. I believe Nolan's Last Bullet was a 32x Champion. That takes one heck of a dog and you would have to run a lot of trials. But some of these guys around a country are trialing every weekend. I'm lucky to get in 4-5 trials a year.
 
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BRITTMAN said:
Congrats.

All Britts or mixed grouping of pointing breeds?
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NSTRA is for pointing breeds only. So you have a mix of breeds. Predominately English Setters, English Pointers, German Shorthairs and Brittanys. You will see some German Wirehairs and a Gordon Setter, Red Setter or Vizsla once in a while.
 
jonnyB said:
Would assume if you miss (shooting) a bird, there's a deduct?
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Only the dog is judged. Not the handler. So no deduct for missing as long as your dog still runs down and retrieves the bird. In fact you might receive a higher retrieve score on the misses because if results in a longer, more difficult, retrieve for the dog. Of course if you miss and the bird flies off and your dog doesn't find it you would lose the retrieve score.
 
Way to go George!!!That's one heck of a birthday gift.
Time to get started on her 2X!!!
Congrats again to you and Elle.
 
Congratulations! I'm still trying to work on my first placement. My dog is getting into it's 3rd trial in two weeks in Indiana.
 
Very exciting and a great accomplishment. :10sign:
 
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