Tony Webb of Gainesville, Ga., shares a moment with his dog Dougie, who finished second in both the amateur gun dog and open gun dog categories of the East Tennessee Pointing Dog Association's inaugural field trial recently.
Photo by Contributed Photo /Times Free Press.EAST TENNESSEE POINTING DOG ASSOCIATION
Inaugural field trial Oct. 7-9, Spring City
Open Limited Gun Dog
Open Puppy
Open Derby
Open Gun Dog
Amateur Puppy
Amateur Gun Dog
Amateur Derby
Amateur Limited Gun Dog
The East Tennessee Pointing Dog Association already was off to a solid start in membership, and its first sanctioned field trial two weekends ago in Spring City added to the enthusiasm.
Licensed by the American Kennel Club, the event attracted 68 entrants from nine states plus Ontario, Canada, at the Gun Dog Development Grounds.
"From all reports, the trial was an outstanding success," ETPDA secretary-treasurer Bill Barber reported. "The whole thing went extremely well. Of course a lot of work went into it, but we were real pleased. Bird dogs of almost all AKC and American Field-registered pointed breeds competed in eight different amateur and open stakes."
Open stakes allow professional trainers.
Brenda Roe, a pro from LaFayette, Ga., handled the winning open gun dog and open limited gun dog. That was Red Oak's Dez, which is owned by Andy Cooper of Edmond, Okla. Roe also owns and handled the fourth-place finisher in the open limited category, Snips Dalin Dolly.
The "limited" designation means the entrants had to win a derby race or place in a gun dog competition somewhere previously.
Both "Dez" and "Dolly" are German shorthaired pointers. So is Fuller's Point Em All Jack, the amateur derby winner owned and handled by Soddy-Daisy High School teacher and coach Trevor Fuller. "Jack" finished second in open derby to Pelfrey's Soddy Daisy Sadie, an English setter owned and handled by 16-year-old Paxton Pelfrey.
Pelfrey is on the Soddy-Daisy clay shooting team coached by Fuller.
"This was a first-ever field trial for both Paxton and his young derby dog," Barber said. "A first place against a field of nine other dogs, several of which were handled by professional dog handlers from around the Southeast, was an exceptional accomplishment for any amateur."
Barber said the club likely would hold another field trial in March or April.
"We haven't set anything yet," he said. "We had to get through this first one to prove to the AKC that we could do it."