 When
you see this icon  ,
click on it for a photo. VGP in Austria 26th and 27th September
1997
In Austria the VGP always starts on Friday. On Saturday, the
dogs for the Feld und Wasserprüfung, the Austrian version of the
HZP, are also tested. On Friday morning, all VGP-dogs start with
the retrieve of a fox which weighs at least seven pound or 3.5kg.
The handler has to lay down the fox behind a fence. Together with
three other handlers from Holland (Mr. Anton Gorgl speaking the
welcome to Landhurst and the judges), I entered my American import
Weimaraner bitch, Grayshar Windsong on the Rise (Windy, born September
27, 1994) for the Austrian VGP.
At the retrieve of the fox over the fence ,
Windy dropped the fox before giving it to me. The fox was already
a bit old, too long unfrozen and therefore had a disgusting smell!
She was penalized one point. After this test the 14 dogs were
split up in several groups, each of them with three judges. I
had to do the tracking of the fox. The tracking gave no difficulty
at all except Windy again dropped the fox before I could pick
it up. When the judge, who made the track of the fox and waited
near the fox to look at the way the dog would or would not pick
up the fox, upon returning he told the other judges Windy approached
the fox as if a rocket came towards him!
Windy and the icky fox |
On the tracking of hare and the lost retrieve
of the hare, Windy scored full points. The judge who watched the
track of the hare said Windy looked like the fastest dog of the
day! Then she had to do the bloodtrack. We practiced tracking of
a roedeer (Schweißarbeit) only a few times and I knew Windy might
have trouble with this subject. Comparing Windy to my old Weimaraner
bitch Joy, who is now more than 13 years old, both are representative
of two different types of Weimaraners. You might say Windy is the
field type: head held very high, always using her nose, independent,
fast, able to take the field. Where Joy is (or at least was in her
days) more the type for work in the forest. She is slower, very
thorough, head held low near the ground, surely able to point, but
much more useful for the lost retrieves and tracking. We had a problem
with the type of blood used in Austria. It came from a Red deer,
in German Rotwild, Hochwild with a very light scent.
The Austrian club used the blood of a single deer for all 14
tracks. You can imagine there was only a small amount of blood
used for each track. I trained Windy with blood of a roedeer (Rehwild)
as it is the only deer we are allowed to shoot in Holland. Blood
of a roedeer gives a much sweeter and stronger scent.  The
first part of the track Windy was not doing any tracking, but
rather ‘field work' in the forest. She went from left to right,
head held high and enjoyed everything she could smell, as there
was a lot of game. When you are doing the bloodtrack you must
look for blood yourself and if you find it notify the judges.
If you lose the track, the judges can bring you back to the place
where you last saw blood on the ground.
After about 70 meters, the judges asked me to stop and they
put us back on the track. Windy was following something all right,
but it wasn't the bloodtrack. And when she was on the track, she
went very fast. I was not able to see any blood! About 100 meters
further, the judged called me back for the second time. We were
lost again and I really didn't have the impression that Windy
was busy with the bloodtrack. At the VGP in Austria, the judges
may only call you back two times. A third time will mean that
you will get an insufficient (ungenugend, a zero) for the bloodtracking.
You must have at least one point for this subject to continue
the VGP and therefore, the situation was very tricky indeed.
The judges did not have much confidence in Windy and me. The
head-judge, Richterobmann, gave me two choices: either they would
bring me to the deer and the VGP would be over for us with a zero
for this subject or Windy and I had to find the deer ourselves
without any help or directions from the judges. If we would find
the deer, we would have one point for this subject. This automatically
means the highest result of the VGP is third prize, but we would
still have the possibility of succeeding. The choice was easy,
of course, and I remembered what I had to do was search in circles
with Windy. Circles which get wider and wider. I did this and
at one point Windy wanted to go to my right. I proceeded walking
the circle, turned around and walked back. At the same time, Windy
now wanted to go to the left. There must have been something she
could smell. We went on and it was as if ‘ the coin fell in Windy's
head' and she now knew what was expected of her.
In a straight line she followed the track and reached the deer.
She went so fast the judges and I could hardly keep up with her.
I can't tell you how pleased I was. I sat down with Win and gave
her a good hug.
The head-judge, Mr. Joseph Spannagl and the treasurer of the
Austrian Weimaraner Club, said if Windy had done the first part
of the track the same way she had done the last part, she would
have had a much higher result.In this case, because we were called
back two times, the result could not be more than a point. But
by jove, I was so pleased with this result! I was even more pleased
to hear two other Dutchmen performed the best results on the blood
track the judges had seen in years!
Windy next to a deer |
The next subject was following on the lead. This is where you
have to walk in the forest taking two turns to the right along
a tree and two turns to the left. Because I did some obedience
with Windy, she did well and received 4 points. Very funny was
the following unleashed and the staying. On this first day they
would not allow me to shoot. One of the judges walked with me
as Windy and I had to do this test. We walked along (4 points
for walking at heel) and then, I gave too softly the command ‘down'
to Windy as the judge and I continued walking along. Soon we heard
some shouting and turned around. We saw the other judges pointing
toward Windy. She never laid down but was still following us as
we were talking and didn't notice her! We got a zero on ‘remaining
in place' and it was my fault, not Windy's. I should have given
her a much more firm command. Anyway, this cost us points, but
it did not keep us from earning the VGP! Searching in the woods
was the next subject.. With a single command she went off and
I didn't see her again until the judge told me to call her back.
She hesitated as she searched the wood but didn't find any game
to bring back to me. When I told her it was all right, she came
back. The subject ‘buschieren' went all right, too. She searched
and went from left to right following my directions with my arms.
I didn't need to use the whistle. On the two shots, she reacted
by standing still, looking for the game that must have been shot
and earned full points again.
Windy on point.
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