This is a beautiful morning at the Nez Perce … this test is a Land Triple with a Flyer and an Honor using all Mallard drakes. The right-hand bird is thrown right to left at 76 yards. Due to heavy rain last week, the dogs are running through standing water to retrieve this bird that is landing with a big splash. The middle bird is thrown second right to left landing at 96 yards. The line to this bird is up a slot between two pine trees. The third bird is the left-hand live flyer shot right to left landing approximately 108 yards into sage brush.
There are ten Avery full-body goose decoys scattered on either side of the live gun station. The dogs need to negotiate sage brush on all three marks and moving through and around sage brush will affect their line to the bird. After the dogs complete the test, there is an honor to the right of the working dog.
At 8:10 am, Test Dog "Yeti" and handler Mark Atwater came to the line. He had a small hunt and picked up the flyer. He went for the right-hand bird second, but went towards the middle bird and had to be handled back. He came back for a strong finish on the middle bird.
Test Dog "Wyatt" and handler Annette Pacheco got a no bird due to a winger issue on the middle gun. He returned to the line with a very nice mark on the flyer and an excellent job on the right-hand bird. There is a very slight breeze left to right across the field. Going for the middle bird, Wyatt went under the arc and ,made a quick left for the retrieve.
This test is taking between 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 minutes per dog.
