On September 22, 2016 it was Guilty’s turn to run at the ACCFT (American Chesapeake Club Field Trial) national event. She was entered into the junior puppy state which was open to any age chesapeake under a year. The junior stake technically was for 6-9 months old. She was 7 months at the time of this event.
Hi Mom!
John was handling Guilty for this event. Land was the first and second series. 
Guilty nailed her first land mark. She ran straight out and picked it up bring it back to John. She then ran the second land mark which was considered the mark for the second series. She nailed that one as well. She was happy to finally get out and run since she hasn’t gotten to do anything all week.
The third series was the water series. It was a pretty hard series for young dogs. You started up on a side hill the puppy had to run down a good amount of land before it came to water. It then had to get in the water swim across the channel get back out on land and then run another piece of land to the mark which was thrown into cover. 
There were a number of puppies that were having problems with this mark as they were having trouble finding the mark in the cover and having long hunts. The judge then told the thrower to throw another bird and to help the puppy out so it got the bird and not frustrated. Guilty was playing the “I need to find the fastest way around the water” game where she doesn’t want to swim and wants to run around the water to get the mark. When she was doing that the judge got on his walkie talkie and told the thrower to get ready to help the puppy. John right then said “do not have him help that dog”, “she just started doing this and she will figure it out”. So the judge didn’t say anything and then Guilty jumped in the water and swam across to get her mark. She knew right where it was but being the typical adolescent Chesapeake she thought she knew best!
1st 2nd 3rd Guilty
John and Guilty received third place in the junior puppy stake. A job well done! There were 7 puppies pre-entered and one that entered the day of the event.
Who do you think is happier?
I was asked to write up a short note about the junior puppy stake for the American Chesapeake Club bulletin that comes out every two months. This is the write up I did that I think will be in the next edition of the bulletin.
There were 8 puppies that ranged in age from 4-9 months of age competing in the Junior Puppy Stake. The judges were Art and Robin Rourke who put on a really nice fair test, they had a nice set up, told us about the test, asked if we had any questions and answered them completely. They said “we want the puppies and handlers to have a good time. It’s all about them that’s why were here.” The Junior Puppy Stake started with Dee Dee running test dog, after that the test started with two retrieves on land the first one was about 40 yards in distance and the second one about 70 yards. The duck was thrown into a small amount of cover. These two retrieves were considered the first and second series of stake. All dogs were called back to run water which was a land water combo about 70 yards in length, the judges were very helpful with the puppies and handlers during the test. I asked Art if there was anything he would like to comment on for the write up in the ACC bulletin and after a couple moments of thought he said “I never commented for the press while working so I’m not going to comment now.” They were such down to earth judges that you could feel at ease with while running your puppy. You couldn’t ask for better scenery and weather to run the brown dogs. Thanks for a great ending to the NFTS. JoAnn Stancer, WI ACC Regional Director.
Nice work. They get good training practically in the womb!
congrats guilty&john… that’s a reason for a beer, I agree… cheers!
Congratulations! I would love to know how you train this. How much is bred-in instinct?
That is soooo cool! Way to go, Guilty! Congrats all around.
Way to go, Guilty and John! She sure looks great retrieving!
Go, Guilty – great job by you and your Dad! She looks so enthusiastic!
That is fabulous! Congratulations.