Moving from U.K to Australia!

[michaela miller]

Hi there,
We're considering a move to NSW (hubby will be working in Sydney). We have a two year old lab from top Welsh Bloodlines who is outstanding. Hopefully he would be out of Novice tests quickly and into Open during 2006. We may even trial him (tests over here are on dummies or Cold Game, and Trials are live game) this year, if he calms down a bit!

Just wondering if we did decide to make the move, what was involved in Australian competition, if you could basically describe what happens on a Trial day and if you have any shooting of game.

Do the dogs awarded a place in a Trial get any recognised qualification?

As you can probably make out I'm a bit green as to the Australian scene!

Hope someone can help

Cheers Michaela

[Jason Ferris]

Welcome Michaela

I am sure that the Working Gundog Club of NSW and the other retriever clubs in NSW will make you more than welcome when you arrive in Sydney. It is great to hear that you a bringing a promising dog along too. I am sure that people here would be interested in his pedigree.

For background on Australian trialling, there are two good resources on this site. The first is an article called
Retrieving Trials in Australia – An Explanationby Robert Tawton, and the second is the Rules for the Conduct of Retrieving Trials for Gundogs which describe the trial in some detail.

In answer to your specific questions - we conduct our trials on pigeons which are killed prior to the trial, so there is no shooting of live game. Handlers fire a blank (usually just a primer) at the birds as they are thrown by a mechanical thrower to demonstrate that their dog is steady to shot. There are five recognised titles for retrieving in Australia - Novice, Restricted and All Age Retrieving Dog, Retrieving Trial Champion and Grand Retrieving Trial Champion. The qualifications for each of these are spelled out in the rules (see link above).

Feel free to post more questions - there are lots of helpful people here.

Cheers, Jason.

[michaela miller]

Thanks for the great and informative reply, Jason
Cheers
Michaela

[Alan Donovan]

Hi Michaela

Apart from Retrieving Trials, in Australia we also run Field Trials for Spaniels and Retrievers (also for Pointers and Setters, and for HPR breeds). These involve shooting live game - mainly rabbits for the Spaniel Retriever trials, and quail for the pointing breeds.

So you do not have to leave your shotgun in the UK!

Cheers - Alan

[Jason Ferris]

An excellent point Alan, sorry I overlooked it. Unfortunately the field trial scene in NSW isn't exactly booming at present.

Michaela - definitely bring your shotgun. You might have to travel a bit, but there are good hunting opportunities here too.

Cheers, Jason.