It was a long journey to inaugural Master National Invitational, MAI in Georgia. Angel started the 2017 Master Amateur qualifying period (March 1, 201 to Feb 28, 2017) with her 8th straight AKC Master pass, but we stumbled on the next few hunt tests. Cleary, we were both a little rusty after duck hunting season.
Waterfowl hunting on a frequent basis has a way of eroding some of a retriever’s disciple. But, at the same time it affords you the chance to focus on some skills like steadiness. Angel has been hunting since she was five months old.
Now, I’d rather hunt with my hunt test dogs than to leave them at home just so we can pass “x” number of test in a row or title out as a Master National dog. I looked at these first few hunt tests as just “training days”. They are just a chance to identified our team short comings and develop a training plan for improvement. Shrug them off and move forward.
Our hard work over the summer paid off. In the fall, Angel qualified for the Master Amateur by passing a series of tough test that would also count for fall 2017 Master National. She was on a roll, our only big disappointment came from not being called back after the 4th series of the Master National in St Louis.
In the late winter, Angel bounced back and qualified for the fall 2017 Master National quickly. I signed her up for more test going into the Spring Master Amateur event. Once again, figured these tests would be a good tune up opportunity. Ha, we both made some horrible mistakes in the next few tests. Maybe it was just her coming out of her recent heat or me being absent minded. Whatever the case, we took the next few weeks to pull our heads out of the sand and fix the problems.
Angel had now traveled 8000 back and forth between hunt tests in preparation for the inaugural Master Amateur Invitational. I knew in my heart she could do it as we headed off to Georgia. Just another 900 miles to go.