Thirty dogs competed in the retrieving events at Hightest's Anniversary Field Day. John Folsom and professional retriever trainer Warren Grimsby set the challenging tests and judged some fine dog work. Warren was John?s business partner at Warcon kennels in Oroville 25 years ago. Professional Springer Spaniel trainers Gary Breitbarth and his father Gordon were the official gunners. Wow, where would you get this many years of professional experience together at one dog event! The Senior Gundog event started with a challenging triple land retrieve and a blind that angled off a bank. It finished up with a water blind. Hightest dogs had a strong showing but top honors went to Pat DeNardo and her two Golden Retrievers Terra and Lucy who took first and second place.

The Junior event started with two single retrieves on land and finished up with a water retrieve where the dogs had to cross an island and re-enter the water to retrieve a duck. Top honors went to the youngest competitor eleven year old Jake Justeson and Pistol. We can take credit for this one since Pistol is out of our own yellow stud dog Orvis.

Beth and Megan were official judges and facilitators of the Obedience event. Top honors went to Marc Goodwin and Champ who just finished up their six week obedience course. Nine year old Anna McGahan and Lego took second place. Everyone seemed to enjoy putting their dogs through the challenging course.

The dog events were followed by a fun barbecue on the lawn with time to unwind and reminisce about the events of the day. A cool breeze blew throughout the day making it pleasant for humans and our four-legged friends. Joe and Cheryl Justeson cooked up an excellent meal of barbecue tri-tips and salads. The barbecue was followed by the announcement of the winners and awards of ribbons and keepsake trophies. There was lots of congratulations and picture taking of the winners. Everyone who participated had fun and took home a few memories. Many thanks to our volunteer event Marshalls Anne Schlosser and JoAnne Fitzpatrick who kept everything running smoothly at the field events. A special thanks to the Hightest staff who spent many hours of innovation preparing, planning and hard work to make our 40th Anniversary a memorable event.