Our starting Field Day was held on Saturday April 5, 1997 at Windraider Retrievers, Keene, CA.

Wendy Pennington, an active field trialer and the owner of Brookland Mischivous Sea-Lion, CDX, MH, came out and showed us the ropes. The day included an introduction to water, birds and guns. We had about 14 dogs at all levels of experience come out for a wonderful day in the mountains. We had dogs getting ready for their WC's and JH's as well as dogs that had never seen a bird or a gun. It was wonderful to see the instinct of the novice dogs take over when they saw their first bird. My dog and I were one of those who have never done any field work at all. I can't tell you how thrilling it is to see a young dog discover its heritage. By the time we went home, Giana was going after every bird she could and I had a very hard time keeping her out of the pond when it wasn't her turn to bring back the duck. At one point Giana was so eager to get someone else's bird that she snapped my favorite leather lead in two! We had many other wonderful stories: : Summer, a 9 year old golden, retrieving her birds like a pup, Addie, who loves to retrieve but not come back, bringing the birds back to hand, Surf, who wasn't sure he wanted to touch "one of those things" making successful retrieves.

We all came out knowing that we had a lot to learn and Wendy was a GREAT teacher. Her knowlwdge on all levels coupled with a wonderful sense of humor made for   a day long to be remembered. It isn't often that you get to spend the day in the beautiful mountains of Southern California with good dogs and good people. Needless to say, we are already making plans for our next day out...Hope you all can join us.

HDLRC sends out a big THANK YOU to Wendy Pennington for coming out and to Al and Kathy for loaning us their home for the day. It couldn't have been better.