As you’re going down your beat, you may take a different direction and head over to a fallen tree because there may be game there.  Unlike in the US, where we have our brace mates a bit closer. Not to say the British don't have brace mates close, but sometimes your brace mate maybe 30 or 40 yards away searching a different piece of ground.  The rules still apply for honoring your brace mate, etc…  Where they would differ would be that they would leave the dog out there for longer periods of time. One more important detail to a British trial is that the dog who made the find on a shot game, may not be the one that gets to make the retrieve. The brace mate may "need" a retrieve, thus they will be brought over to complete the other dog's retrieve. If that dog fails, they will bring another dog up in order to try to complete that retrieve. Should it fail, we have the "eye wipe". If both dogs fail, then the judges will go searching. If they find it, both dogs are out. If the second dog found it, then the first dog would be out. You don’t want to be the first dog, as it appears - nor not find your shot game.      The terms "taking cover" or "covering your beat" are somewhat different than we have in the US. We have a flag line. That flag line is the centerline, a course, per say, as to "where" to go. It also tells the bird planter where to plant the birds. We, in the US, are not to cross that line for that is poaching. We are to find all birds on our "beat" - or course, preferably in the order they are planted. Of course, there are extra birds, at times, and as many of you know, strange things happen out there on the trial course. A dog is to work a proper wind pattern and cover much more ground efficiently but yet at a quick pace. If a bird is shot, wing tipped or not and a judge sends you, you are required to make that retrieve. No eye wipes to back you up. You're just out of luck if you fail that retrieve. "But no one has ever written the differences down in a fashion that may help both sides to understand the other." American dogs tend to be a bit bigger. They are allowed to break pattern to "blow out a bird" and if they trap it, oh well. Of course, you want that sixty-yard retrieve, but that is luck of the draw. We want "big finds" with "good wind" usage to achieve those finds. Our dogs look on the edge of control but yet are in control without looking as though they are on any sort of "invisible leash". So why the difference? Why such dramatic differences at times? My simple theory - and it may not be correct - as it is just a theory; it is the amount of game and type of game. In England, they shoot everything. Rabbits, woodcock, snipe, geese, ducks, pheasants, you name it, if it flies or runs and can be shot and retrieved, then it is shot and expected to be retrieved. The game in England is much more plentiful because it is more managed and is raised. In Page 2 | Spaniel Journal | Next Page | Previous Page |