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Hoffman, North Carolina. They call the field trial grounds at Hoffman, "A Course of a Different Color". Located at the ancient sea shore, now abandoned by the ocean and left to the southern pine forests and prairie like grasses, the Robert Gordon Field Trials Grounds at Hoffman, N. C. are considered by many to be one of the last places to run bird dogs on truly wild birds. The 31 miles of courses are a test for man, horse and dog - sand, sand spurs, cacti, thick cover, and of course illusive wild coveys of quail on a hair trigger to flush or run. |
| There are 6
one hour courses (or 12 half hour courses) seeded once a year with 25
coveys of 20 birds on each course stretching across 6,000 acres. By the
time the fall season is here the birds are about as wild as wild could
be. The Tarheel Brittany Club has been fortunate enough to secure the use of this venue for its field trial for the last few years. This year (2012) brought us to compete with our dogs in several stakes - Open Gun Dog, Open All Age, Amateur Gun Dog, and of course the Puppy Stake! |
 Breakaway from one of the adult stake courses.
|
 BIG WHITE at 5 weeks old |
When you select a puppy
out of a litter you never really know what you are going to get. At 6
weeks old you start to see some of the individual emerge. At 8 weeks
you see how the pup is adapting to a more independent lifestyle. But
you still never know how it is all going to turn out. BIG WHITE got his name from his name, MOSTLY WHITE BOY, when we described the litter at 2 weeks old. At 8 weeks he was beginning to grow faster and he became BIG WHITE BOY. Calm and easy going... Was he going to be a competition dog? Big and clumsy... Would he adapt the physical prowess to make an athlete? |
| His
last littler mate went to his new home and family and BIG WHITE
accepted his new adult brothers and sisters as equals. At 5 months he
was as big or bigger than the others. At 6 months he was the biggest of
our pack. His calmness made him an easy companion who takes pleasure in "hanging out" in the kitchen as we prepare dinner. His "clumsiness" fell away into a graceful way of moving in his long legs. And his discovery of birds has made him an avid hunter. But what a pup does at home does not always translate to the field! |
 BIG WHITE establishing point at the farm at 5 months old
|
| Tarheel Brittany
Club Trial - Hoffman Field Trial Grounds - puppy stake - Two days of
watching and running the big dogs. The course - out and back - had BIG
WHITE on the return route. My thoughts about BIG WHITE -
First Field Trial - First time on this type of terrain
- First time on a dog wagon - First time handled from horseback. |
 A photo of July in her brace - looking a lot like my memory of BIG WHITE. |
I take BIG WHITE from the dog wagon and put the Garmin tracking collar
on him - if you have the toys then use them. I have never "lost" him in
training but this is a new place - 6,000 acres to become lost in! The judges say "When you are ready.." - I release BIG WHITE while Kyle, my bracemate, releases his dog. Both dogs sail ahead with BIG WHITE taking the more left side position. Down 500 yards to a creek crossing, a pause to get into the water and cool off, then up 700 yards to the top of the hill and out of sight! So much for problems with horseback handling! |
| I like a dog to get out of sight a little - not too much though. I keep quiet - BIG WHITE likes it quiet. After a couple of minutes I start to think that he might have gone too far forward - I "sing" to him with a protracted "Arrrrrrrrr-oh". From the top of the hill he appears, looks down at us and I gave him an "All Right". He likes that and goes back to work on the left side, running just inside of the tree line. At 10 minutes into the course we start a left turn and he goes deeper into cover and hunts one area hard that is known to hold birds. I near him and gave him a "let's go" and he surges ahead, following the course. |
| The end of the
course has us going through piney woods and I ask him to take the
left, away from the sandy road and into the thick cover. He complys
with enthusiasm and hunts the area hard. The judge calls "time"
BIG WHITE finishes at the road and starts another roll to the front.
Fortunately someone is standing there and calls to him - he goes to them and is collared. If you field trial for long you know not to expect a placement - even if you thought that your dog bettered all of the other dogs. I don't expect it. But I got what I came for. BIG WHITE did so much better than I could ask for. He listened with very little handling, ran a big run, hunted with intensity, sailed like the wind - in short, he made me very proud of him. And while I might not expect placements, it sure is nice when I think "thiat was a great performance", to be recognized by others with, in this case, a blue ribbon for first place in the Open Puppy stake. BIG WHITE! You are the man!!! |
 Me with BIG WHITE and his blue ribbon. Thank you Martha and Patty! |