DEUTSCH DRAHTHAAR UK
The home of the Deutsch Drahthaar in the UK » UK Drahthaar 27th at Hegewald 2006

Peter McCullough of Kimmax German Wirehaired Pointers, together with his 16 month old Deutsch Drahthaar, Pauline II v. Bockenhagen, gained 232 points and 27th place in a field of 203 dogs at the 73rd International Hegewald in, Geseke, Germany.

Pauline gained a maximum score in 9 of the 12 field categories and only dropped 1 point in 2 of the other categories. 2 more points in the Hare track test would have put her in the top 5 dogs against the best dogs and trainers from around the world, despite Pauline being one of the youngest dogs present.

The Hegewald is the most prestigious field test event for the Deutsch Drahthaar (known as a German Wirehaired Pointer in the UK) run by the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar (VDD), the VDH appointed German breed club affiliated to the FCI. Each year the event is staged by one of the regional groups, this year the honour fell to Gruppe Westfalen, so the event was staged in Geseke, near Lippstadt in mid western Germany.

The Hegewald consists of field and water test conducted over 2 days with about 200 of the best young dogs born generally in the previous year, so ages range from almost 2 years of age to some dogs being only 13 or 14 months old. Dogs only have one chance in their lifetime to compete in this event. To be eligible for entry, the dogs and handlers must be registered by one of the VDD groups, pass qualification criteria on a natural ability test (VJP) and be certified HD free. This year 203 dogs entered with 9 from overseas including USA, Spain, Italy, Finland, Holland, Austria and UK.

The eventual winner of the Hegewald 2006 was a black and white bitch, Vella vom Leither-Moor, owned and handled by her breeder, Ute Jochims. Vella gained 241 points and I believe also won most beautiful bitch of the Hegewald with a perfect 12/12 for conformation and coat. Vella is a great granddaughter of Mirko vom Bockenhagen who himself won most beautiful dog at the Hegewald in 1999. Mirko was imported into the UK in 2003 by Peter and Maxine McCullough.

Peter describes his preparations for the event:-

Last year, I had the honour to be the first Englishman ever to successfully compete in the Hegewald with Kira II v. Bockenhagen. It was quite a challenge but we managed a creditable 195 points and Kira gained her HZP and so became eligible for breeding (in Germany a Deutsch Drahthaar must gain sufficient field test gradings before it is permitted have a litter registered).
Antonius Kohues, the breeder of Kira, was so pleased with our performance he asked me if I would train and handle one of the new puppies that he had in this year’s Hegewald I was honoured to be asked. After spending a few days with the puppies, I chose Pauline II v. Bockenhagen, a 4 month old, liver and white bitch for her fabulous temperament, conformation and hunting ability.
Preparations for this year were very different. Pauline lived with Antonius until May 2006 until her Pet Passport was valid. Unlike Kira, Pauline did not go to a professional trainer for this period, instead I wanted to start with a blank canvas and train her myself. Then came the problems.. first, she immediately came into season (3 weeks lost), then she cut her front paw badly (another 3 weeks) . and finally, the VDD decided to bring the Hegewald forward by 3 weeks to avoid the migration season and risks of bird flu impacting the event. Suddenly my schedule of 5 months was cut to 3 months.
Despite all of this, Pauline was superb in training and quickly gained confidence in the two critical skills, tracking of dragged game and searching for simulated wounded ducks in water. In the first two weeks of September things began to come together well and after a week of practicing in Germany we were ready.

The event is judged over two days. One day is a conformation and coat assessment (Form und Haar) followed by three water test events. The toughest of the water events is the ‘live duck search’ where the dog is expected to search for between 10-20 minutes on a heavily reeded lake for a single duck (that has had its flight feathers tied on one wing to simulate it being wounded). The dog fails the test and can compete no further unless the dog searches independently, finds the duck, retrieves it and sits and presents it to the handler with no commands. If the duck or the conditions are especially challenging dogs can be awarded 11 or 12 points. Pauline scored a perfect 12 points, one of only 12 dogs to do so.

The other day is a number of field events. The most heavily weighted is the tracking of live hares, where the dogs are expected to follow the track for upwards of 600m or 5-10 minutes. Like the live duck search, the score in this event has a multiplier of 3 co is worth a maximum of 36 points in effect. Conditions proved really challenging with the event being 3 weeks early as Maize crops were uncut and many hares ran into the Maize out of sight of the judges. Peter explains more:-

We started at 8.00am and by 11.30 we had only had 3 hares that could be scored. Pauline had yet to have her first hare and it was over 27 degrees by then. Eventually she got her chance but the hares went across fields of bare soil into the Maize, making it difficult for her. In the afternoon she finally got a third hare track that was visible to the judges for several fields. She did not let me down and followed the track accurately for over 5 minutes across a tarmac track and a small stream. Unfortunately, the earlier tracks meant that her overall score was only 9 points, 2 less than I would normally expect of her. Only 5 dogs gained 12 points and the majority were 9 or 10 points for tracking and only 1 dog scored 12 points for nose, demonstrating the difficult conditions.

The other field events consist of the more common HPR style hunting, gamefinding and pointing steadiness and two ’schleppe’ tests involving dead game (one a rabbit and one a bird, usually a duck) being dragged for about 300 yards with two 90 degree bends in the drag. In that test the handler starts the dog on the track and is not permitted to gesture or speak to the dog again. The dog must follow the track, pick up the game on first finding it and return with the game, sit and present it. Pauline scored full marks in all of these disciplines including pointing, co-operation with handler, carrying of game, obedience, search pattern and the two drags.
Peter was delighted with Pauline’s performance and commented;-

‘Pauline was just outstanding for such a young dog. To think she only had about 3 months of preparation in the summer against dogs that have been with their handlers for over 12 months and been through a full shooting season, was remarkable. I am so pleased for her.
I must also congratulate Ned Sorley of the USA, whose bitch, Grace vom Orion, was bred in the USA and also gained the perfect 12 points on the live duck search to come 1 point in front of me in 20th place. Ned did a great job and all the foreign handlers supported each other immensely’.

Peter is already making preparations to compete in next years Hegewald and has great hopes for his new puppy, Timo II vom Bockenhagen, a son of our own bitch Kira who went back to Germany to have a litter this spring.