The rest of the cover was high and thick, just perfect for a dog such as Flint who was big and powerful. Flint was a superior marker. He was one of those dogs that looks around at a shot, rather than fixing his gaze in one direction. In one of the series, he flushed a bird that soared back over his head, leaving him looking the wrong way. When the shot was fired, he glanced back through the high cover just enough to get a glimpse of the bird and made a spot on retrieve. Flint's dynamic water entry. In the last series, Flint put on a clinic of long finds and marking. Running into a quartering wind, he was making finds from across the course. On one of the retrieves, he had a long fall that landed and immediately ran across a road. Another handler, watching in his car, commented that no dog would ever make that retrieve. When sent, Flint powered out there and picked up the bird. I don't think those of us in the field even knew that there was a road in the way. In 1975, Flint ran such a good trial that everybody knew he had won it by the end. A pair of memories, from that trial, stand out. One was a runner that he took across the course. Chris stopped him on the center line. The other dog came up, picked up the runner, and produced it. Textbook perfect. Flint's water retrieve at the National The other incident happened at the water. In those days, they still shot live birds over the water. The water at this trial was in a bay of a large lake, with a rock breakwater protecting a boat launching area. They put the dog and handler on the launch ramp, and shot birds out over the water. When Flint came up, the bird veered off toward the breakwater and was shot about ten yards from the breakwater. The dog jumped into the water and swam straight out to the bird, at which time the judge said to Chris, "I'll give you a quarter if you can get him back up the ramp." The vast majority of dogs would have taken the bird to the breakwater and come back on the land. Chris gave the dog a whistle, and handled him back through the water, eventually bringing him back up the exact center of the launch ramp. We all had a laugh over that. The following year, in California, Flint had another incident that shows the capability of this dog. He had a bird shot Page 2 | Spaniel Journal | Previous Page | Next Page |