"Mom and Pops Soup" is a Land/Water Triple with a Walk-up and a Diversion Bird. This test begins with a walk-up where the handler and dog emerge from the holding blind and walk straight towards a small pond. When the handler almost reaches the edge of the water, the shot is fired and the bird falls on land across the water directly in front of the line at 35 yards. The second bird down is the flyer to the handler's right. This bird is shot across the gravel road and out into a field at 60 yards. The direct line to the area of the fall crosses near the right corner of the pond, through grass, across a gravel road and out into the field. Dead bird #3 is across the water to the handler's left. This bird station stands on the inside left side of a hooked peninsula, throwing across the peninsula and water to the far shore at 105 yards. When the dog picks up the third bird, a diversion bird is shot and thrown. This station is located to the far left of the line. The thrower stands on the shore and throws right back towards the line landing in the water. This Fourth Series test is taking approximately 8 minutes per dog.
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| The credit for the test diagrams goes to Terry Elliot – Thank you, Terry! |
Jack Morris of Stellar Retrievers has 13 clients running the 2018 Master Amateur Invitational. Here are some of his comments on this test … The hazard of this test is also the "money bird." This bird is thrown left to right at 100+ yards. The line to this bird is 60 yards or so the the "J" hook peninsula, the dog should go up and over this piece of land and then re-enter the water. one caution is that you will not see your dog until it makes next shore until it’s headed up hill. A lot of dogs have cheated and run around on the hook, which has caused them to hunt behind the guns and also on wrong side of gun. This has caused some dogs to be handled to recover.
The third (last) bird – go bird – is a land flyer on the right of the
test shot to the right. When the dog is
returning with the flyer, a diversion bird is thrown from far left shore and
creates a splash in the water. The problem is that some dogs do not see this
bird and consequently need to be handled to make this retrieve.
