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UK field success at the
International Hegewald 2006 in
Germany |
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Peter McCullough of
Kimmax German Wirehaired Pointers, together with his
16 month old Deutsch Drahthaar, Pauline II v.
Böckenhagen, gained 232 points and 26th
place in a field of 203 dogs at the 73rd
International Hegewald in, Geseke, Germany. |
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Pauline
gained a maximum score in 9 of the 12 field
categories and only dropped 1 point in 2 of the
other categories. 2 more points in the Hare track
test would have put her in the top 5 dogs against
the best dogs and trainers from around the world,
despite Pauline being one of the youngest dogs
present.
Pauline
II v. Böckenhagen |
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The Hegewald is the most
prestigious field test event for the Deutsch
Drahthaar (known as a German Wirehaired Pointer in
the UK) run by the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar (VDD),
the VDH appointed German breed club affiliated to
the FCI. Each year the event is staged by one of the
regional groups, this year the honour fell to Gruppe
Westfalen, so the event was staged in Geseke, near
Lippstadt in mid western Germany.
The Hegewald consists of
field and water test conducted over 2 days with
about 200 of the best young dogs born generally in
the previous year, so ages range from almost 2 years
of age to some dogs being only 13 or 14 months old.
Dogs only have one chance in their lifetime to
compete in this event. To be eligible for entry,
the dogs and handlers must be registered by one of
the VDD groups, pass qualification criteria on a
natural ability test (VJP) and be certified HD
free. This year 203 dogs entered with 9 from
overseas including USA, Spain, Italy, Finland,
Holland, Austria and UK.
The eventual winner of
the Hegewald 2006 was a black and white bitch,
Vella vom Leither-Moor, owned and handled by her
breeder, Ute Jochims. Vella gained 241 points and I
believe also won most beautiful bitch of the
Hegewald with a perfect 12/12 for conformation and
coat. Vella is a granddaughter of Mirko vom
Böckenhagen who himself won most beautiful dog
at the Hegewald in 1999. Mirko was imported into the
UK in 2003 by Peter and Maxine McCullough. |
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GRADED
TRAINING |
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Peter
McCullough describes his preparations for the event.
“Last year, I had the
honour to be the first Englishman ever to
successfully compete in the Hegewald with Kira II
v. Böckenhagen. It was
quite a challenge but we managed a creditable 195
points and Kira gained her HZP and so became
eligible for breeding (in Germany a Deutsch
Drahthaar must gain sufficient field test gradings
before it is permitted have a litter registered).
Antonius Kohues, the
breeder of Kira, was so pleased with our performance
he asked me if I would train and handle one of the
new puppies that he had in this year’s Hegewald – I
was honoured to be asked. After spending a few days
with the puppies, I chose Pauline II v. Böckenhagen,
a 4 month old, liver and white bitch for her
fabulous temperament, conformation and hunting
ability.
Preparations for this year
were very different. Pauline lived with Antonius
until May 2006 until her Pet Passport was valid.
Unlike Kira, Pauline did not go to a professional
trainer for this period, instead I wanted to start
with a blank canvas and train her myself. Then came
the problems ….. first, she immediately came into
season (3 weeks lost), … then she cut her front paw
badly (another 3 weeks) …. and finally, the VDD
decided to bring the Hegewald forward by 3 weeks to
avoid the migration season and risks of bird flu
impacting the event. Suddenly my schedule of 5
months was cut to 3 months.
Despite all of this,
Pauline was superb in training and quickly gained
confidence in the two critical skills, tracking of
dragged game and searching for simulated wounded
ducks in water. In the first two weeks of September
things began to come together well and after a week
of practicing in Germany we were ready.”
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The other field events
consist of the more common HPR style hunting,
gamefinding and pointing steadiness and two
‘schleppe’ tests involving dead game (one a rabbit
and one a bird, usually a duck) being dragged for
about 300 yards with two 90 degree bends in the
drag. In that test the handler starts the dog on
the track and is not permitted to gesture or speak
to the dog again. The dog must follow the track,
pick up the game on first finding it and return with
the game, sit and present it. Pauline scored full
marks in all of these disciplines including
pointing, co-operation with handler, carrying of
game, obedience, search pattern and the two drags.
Peter was delighted with
Pauline’s performance and commented;-
“Pauline was just
outstanding for such a young dog. To think she only
had about 3 months of preparation in the summer
against dogs that have been with their handlers for
over 12 months and been through a full shooting
season, was remarkable. I am so pleased for her.
I must also
congratulate Ned Sorley of the USA, whose bitch,
Grace vom Orion, was bred in the USA and also
gained the perfect 12 points on the live duck search
to come 1 point in front of me in 20th
place. Ned did a great job and all the foreign
handlers supported each other immensely”.
Peter is already making
preparations to compete in next years Hegewald and
has great hopes for his new puppy, Timo II vom
Böckenhagen, a son of our own bitch Kira who
went back to Germany to have a litter this spring.
Report by Maxine
McCullough
Kimmax German Wirehaired Pointers
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