I saw this thread on another BB and thought it made for some good reading and some good laughs. I'd like to hear some funny, interesting, embarrassing stories from folks on this board, either from trialing or training. I'll start by telling one of my own stories.
We, my chocolate lab and I, were at a hunt test last year and he breezed through the land serires. When I saw the set up on the water series, and how easy it looked, I just knew that a pass and points toward the all important tiitle were in the bag. Unfortunately, my dog had differnet ideas.
The test was run on a small pond that was divided by a fence running down the middle; on the test side was open water, on the other side of the fence, the water was covered with reeds, catails, grass, etc. Only the top foot of the fence was above the surface of the water.
Looking straight out from the line, the holding blind that hid the birdboy and bucket of ducks for the blind was to the left. The blind was planted directly in front of the line about 40 yards, about two yards from the fence. The next part of the test was an easy double off to the right. I confidently lined my dog up with the blind and sent him. He swam straight for a few yards then began to veer off to the right. I stopped him and decided to give him a straight back cast then give him an over when he got level with the duck. He took the back cast, when he got even with the duck, I blew the whistle to stop him for the over. He ignored the whistle and swam right for the fence. he tried a few times to get over the fence and when he couldn't, he turned left and swam along the fence, right past the duck he just about ran into it. All the time, I'm blowiing the whistle, trying to stop him. He just kept on going till he found a hole in the fence. He cliimbed through the little opening and then proceded to hunt the other side of the pond. Finally, he decides to come back to me but got stuck trying to climb backover the fence. I watched him struggle for a few moments and decided he might drown, if I didn't help him. Just as I was ready to set the gun down and rush to him, he untangles himself and gets back over the fence. As soon as he gets over, he sees the birdboy behind the blind, runs over there and grabs a duck out of the bucket. He runs the bank and drops the duck at my feet, looking up at me, 'wasn't that fun!"
At the time, I didn't think it was funny at all: all the training and hard work seem like a waste of time. but when I phoned my wife that evening to tell her what happened, she lost it. When she started laughing, I had to laugh along with her.