A Taste of the Trials

[Susan Stone]

Glen admiring the Cairngorms.

No Crufts for us... we had decided to head north to the Scottish Spring Trials this year. Imagine my surprise when I heard Glen was at Crufts! Not caged or benched, but larger than life and full of enjoyment together with his Pointer friend Beckett.

Unknown to myself (the KC says their email to me must have got lost) the photograph I had sent in for the KC photo competition had impressed the marketing department and was chosen for the KC's 'Breeding for the Future' stand at Crufts.

Thank you Hredar & Elin for sending me this fantastic photo:-))

On the weekend following Crufts, Glen and I were in Reeth for the KC training course in Yorkshire, trying for the Working Gundog Certificate. The training was fantastic, but none of participants for the WGC were lucky this time. Glen, who had behaved perfectly during training, finding & pointing grouse on the Saturday, dropping to flush, decided to have fun on the day of the test...  Admittedly the conditions on Sunday were very difficult and birds were scarce, scenting condition bad and the grouse not sitting tight. In the end after three runs with no find Glen just lost his nerve and decided to chase the one pair of grouse that he found!

Glen and I, setting off for the WGC. Thank you Diana for these photos.

Glen hunting...

Glen roading in on scent.

Next we drove North to various trials in Scotland. A record warm spring made this trip very memorable: we were sitting out in the garden of our B&B eating ice cream! The trials were most enjoyable and despite not being placed this year we had a wonderful time. Glen ran better at each trial, had some excellent finds and pleased me by backing his brace partners really well. OK, he was not always helped by his handler... ;-) We were running in the novice trials that took place on alternate days to the Opne trials. We went to watch the open stake and I was extremely impressed by the standard of these top working dogs. The ease, speed & style with which they hunted the rough heather was breathtaking.

A working bred Irish Setter. 

Glen backing a Pointer at a Novice trial.

Glen taking his job seriously!

 Glen backing, Gordon on point.

Dropping to flush.

We headed home on Sunday.. by Monday Sotland was covered in snow!

[Catherine Carter]

Superb photos! You must have had a fantastic time....and Glen too!!! Thank you for sharing these with us!

[Carmel Murphy]

Lovely story and beautiful photos too;o) Perhaps will do this next year instead of Crufts!!

 Never did see Glen at Crufts?;o))) Would have taken a photo of the girls in front of the super large photo of Glen;o)

[Jean Lippett]

Your pictures are lovely, but I'm very cross that the Kennel Club have so blatantly ripped you off over the usage of your photograph. I work with professional photographers and not long ago the single usage rights on a picture like yours would have been close to £1000. Please check the competition rules small print and see if you have in fact handed over all rights to them as a condition of entry. They should have obtained copyright clearance signed by you before going ahead with that picture, and, outside of competitions, that would be paid for handsomely. They're relying on you being flattered that they've chosen your excellent picture so that you don't ask for its real worth. The copyright in your pictures is your property and a valuable one, and people don't realise they're being robbed when they enter marketing competitions. It's as if they asked people to enter pictures of their cars so that they can choose the one they like best and come round and borrow it for a few weeks to go on holiday, as stated in the small print. And for everyone, never enter pictures (or post them online) without a copyright notice, either printed in the image or embedded in the file.

[Susan Stone]

Thanks Jean, but actually the copyright issue is clearly stated in the rules when entering the KC competition. As long as they use it for KC purposes I have no right to any payment - and yes, I did know this when I entered so i will not be complaining - much as I'd like those 1000 pounds;-))

[Melinda Auld]

Beautiful photos.  Thank you for sharing!  Glen looked like he had a lovely time!

[Rhonda Fisher]

Glen you are a beautiful now even more famous Irish. What a fantastic action image of Glen to promote Irish. The great images of the trials show what a great life this boy is having. Well done Susan and Glen.

[Trudy Walsh]

Congratulations Susan. My friends & I were very impressed with the posters at Crufts, so it is really nice to know who it is. Fantastic photo.

[martina mckeag]

Beautiful photos will Glen be able to cope with all this fame he is one handsome lad

[Laura Kolbach]

hope to be able to run together with Glen next year!

[Anna Kazimierowicz]

the first photo is ready for next poster:-) congratulations on very attractive first one on Crufts!

and a week??? in field with Glen! super! I don't know who could  be more happy!