NEFRA members are always delighted to be offered the use of a different area to work their dogs, with new distractions, sights, sounds and smells to contend with. Today we also had the added distraction of horses to work our dogs around.

The ground, in the village of Burton Salmon, was offered by NEFRA member David Foster. This isn’t far from Ferrybridge and so wasn’t difficult to access. It provided a very useful lake for water retrieving as well as fields with varying cover and grass length which leant itself to simulate a variety of scenarios typical of a working gundog environment.

Our working secretary, Caroline Hewison, thanked Mr Foster for his generosity in offering the ground – we have been invited to return in a couple of weeks to train in a sugar beet crop. Please note this day is now fully booked.

Garry Ellison and Caroline Hewison were our assessors for the novice dogs this morning. The intermediate level dogs were judged by Cherry Wood this afternoon. All three assessors have been long-standing supporters of the working flat-coated retriever and we would like to thank them for their ongoing help at NEFRA events.

There was one Novice pass this morning: Rochelle Richards handling her dog Hopevalley Morning River through Kimberfield.

The three Intermediate passes were awarded to: Julie Matthews handling Ollerset Black Diamond, Garry Ellison handling Ollersett Black Knight and Caroline Hewison with Casblaidd Island in the Sky (who now has gained all three passes to obtain his Intermediate Certificate). All are pictured here with Cherry Wood.