German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Tony]

Why is the closing date for the National Field Trial so early? There are two prime weekends after this date in which a young dog could qualify for the Nationals. Most trials have a closing date in the week before the trial, why does the Nationals need 2 1/2 weeks to draw the stakes?

[dualgwp]

Tony
All of the events close on the same date so the catalog can be put together in time. Believe it or not, it takes almost 3 wks to get all that info together and to the right place so it can be printed.

Hey, out here in the east, we don't even start trialing till after the closing date. It's tough especially with the young derby dogs and futurity dogs. Sometimes entering is a total crap shoot when the Nationals are run this early in the season.

Bernee

[Tony]

Is the catalog really that important? I would much rather see a few more up-and-coming wirehairs qualify for the broke-dog stakes than read about the dogs in a silly catalog.

Our trial season doesn't start until the weekend following the closing date. My Futurity dog isn't going to make the team, but my other 2 dogs won't be back from the prairies until Sept. 10th. Do the young dogs have to qualify somehow for the Derby Classic?

[dualgwp]

No, there are no qualifications for either the puppy or derby stake. Any dog of the proper age can enter. It's just that when you have a 12 moonth old pup who hasn't had a chance to get out and really run that season, entering them in a stake 3000 miles from home is a real crap shoot. For the first time in a long time, I will probably be coming to the Nationals dogless. Just too tough to get them there this year.

As far as the "Championships" are concerned, dogs must have placed in either a gun dog or all age stake prior to the entries closing to enter. Since this is a Championship, many feel that dogs who need to qualify the weekend prior to the actual event maybe shouldn't be entered. It is a Championship after all, not a weekend trial.

In the past, we took entries from non qualified dogs and if they did not qualify prior to the event, they had to scratch their entry. In those days, we needed the entries since the event was on the small side. But in the past 6 yrs or so our entry has doubled and we are now running the Championships for two full days each, along with the puppy,derby, and futurity. The quality of the dogs has improved dramatically.

Another problem was drawing these non qualified dogs and then having to re-do the running order because they didn't get their ribbon in time. A really big pain in the butt!

This is an item you can certainly present to the Field Events Advisory Committee for consideration. There will probably be others who agree with you, and will be others who don't. I can understand the frustration of having a good young dog that is "right there", but just needs that ribbon to enter.....been there, done that.

I have catalogs for each National event starting from 1980, they are invaluable reference material for me. Every year I make notes on the dogs performances and can go back and see who did what year in and year out, what dogs went on to be consistent workers, and which were never seen again. So, for me, they aren't silly, but I can see how they could be for others.

I hope you can get them qualified in time! The more dogs we get to see.....
Bernee

[Tony]

Thanks for the info, Bernee!

I already have one of my dogs qualified, it's the derby dog that I was wondering about.

I don't have a problem with the qualification rules as they are, though I would like to see a little for time allowed for the Fall trial season. IMO, the worst thing that could happen would be to have the Nationals in October during the hunting season.

[dualgwp]

No prob! Personally I would love to seem them moved to the spring. (May would be lovely!) Bring it up occasionally, but have always been voted down.

Oh well!
Bernee