Tessa finished her JH this weekend in Walhalla, SC - we're done with the puppy stuff!

Her scores Saturday were 8's across the board, and Sunday they were 8's except 7 in trainability. I was glad to see that her pointing scores no longer came in last.

The bird field was a long field with high grass with two "hazards" on each side - on the right there was a wire fence, and on the left was the enchanted forest, full of (flyaway) birds (but off limits). We were advised to be careful not to let the dogs enter the woods or they just may not come out.

I tried to stay on the right side. Saturday she found and pointed two quail huddled together and when I flushed them they flew off over the fence, Tessa in pursuit. I called her back, she didn't come. I went up to the fence and she was pointing one of the birds that had settled near the fence. I flushed it again, and this time the fence kept Tessa from chasing it although she did try to get to the other side.

The drama came when towards the end of the run Tessa disappeared. She had run back towards the fence and I followed and then she was gone and didn't come back to whistle nor call - for 5 minutes neither me nor the judge had any clue where she might be. I was sure she had jumped the fence. The spectators then realized what was going on and signalled that she was across the field near the woods. Sure fooled the both of us!

So on Sunday I attached a bell to her collar which was a tremendous help. Unfortunately, after quite an unproductive while one judge hollered that she had been sucked in! By the enchanted forest, that is! I ran over, and was advised to get her out of there quickly before it's too late. That's when she went on her first point, right by the edge, she flushed it, I shot, she chased, deeper into the woods! Thank God she came back around, pointed again and I -  literally - picked her up and carried her out of the woods (didn't want to jerk her off a point), then lead her into the field where she was supposed to be.

My friend took some photos so here I am with the judge,  headed towards the forest:

And here Tessa in the field:

I will post a few more photos later taken during the entire event, in a new thread.

Big Congrats!  Nice meeting you and Tessa finally!!!

Francine: When we train she loves to search the woods and has learned where to find the birds there, and she wasted no time to check those places when she was in there. It's just they were not judged in the woods, only in the field. I had a tough time explaining to Tessa that she should leave the 100 birds in the woods and find the 5 in the field instead

MelB/Bev: It was unsettling, especially since there was a remote possibility she had gone after the quail across the fence. Also, I remember reading this in the AKC rules:

"If 
a
 dog 
is 
out 
of
 sight
 excessively 
long
 to
 diminish 
its
 usefulness
 as
 a
 hunting
 companion,
 this 
should 
be
 reflected 
in
 the
 score."

I thought it was bad news when both the judge and I stood there without a dog. There was no way however to see her half the time in that cover, and I guess they took that into consideration.

Bev, your post made me realize that I need to work on tuning into my dog's pattern more...