Somerset, OH HZP (Sept. 7 & 8, 2024)

The rollercoaster ride to HZP 

Written by Joe Beiter

Our Somerset, Ohio HZP turned out to be a success... but it was a bumpy road that led up to test day.

The summer in central Ohio experienced temperatures in the high 80s to mid 90s and was under severe drought conditions. These conditions put us over 8 inches below normal for rainfall. We painfully watched our 10 acre wetland consisting of sunken logs and tree stumps and dense vegetation of spatterdock shrink to approximately 2 acres of swimmable depth water. 

The drought struck again when we lost our search fields 14 days prior to the test. The land owner needed to turn his cattle into that pasture to limit over grazing the already stressed fields. We scrambled to find more search fields and drag fields and were fortunate enough to find new ground 25 miles away from the test water. Then to our disappointment the drought continued to haunt us, causing us to lose our new drag field less than 72 hours from the start of the test! So, once again, we scrambled to find more ground. After exhausting all my contacts of farmers in my area, we were able to secure a beautiful 50 acre hay field  nearby and just a mere 36 hours before our test. 

Our luck started to turn as we received about 3/4 inch of rain Friday evening adding much needed moisture to the ground for better scening conditions.  The temperatures also cooperated with Saturday's temperature falling to the mid 60s for the highs, and Sundays temperature started at 39 degrees and slowly climbed to 70 degrees. Perfect weather for testing dogs! So, after being blessed with 3 very accommodating landowners, the Somerset HZP was completed testing 9 handler/dog teams successfully.

The test director was Dan Carlisle and Test Coordinator was Joe Beiter. Our judges were Bill Witmer from Michigan, Randall Pearson from Virginia and Dan Carlisle from Ohio. Great Lakes Chapter member Steven Rogers was apprentice judge. The "shot bird" method was used in place of the feathered game drag.  

Success could not have been possible without the help of many friends and family members and GLC and Atlantic Chapter members stepping up to shuttle handlers and judges on UTV's and filling duties as Field Marshalls.

Test Results 

1 = Track
2 = Nose
3 = Search
4 = Pointing
5 = Cooperation  

Saturday, September 7, 2024

Sunday, September 8, 2024