Well after a few days to absorb and think about my time in St. Ulrich, Tyrol in Austria, I feel now is the right time to reflect on my trip.
Six Competitions and a Day’s Training awaited myself and my fellow judges: Pieter Vivijs, Fons Exelmans, and Stefano Martinoli --- Friday to Monday, 19th to 22nd August 2016.
There was to be a Walked-up Mock Trial on Friday for Novice and Open categories, and then on Saturday and Sunday: 4 categories of dogs presented themselves for the Working Test.
In total, over 160 dogs competed in all competitions. The Austrian Retriever Field Trial Training and Competition Community is a very vibrant one! Amongst that group a number of competitors also travelled to compete from Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy.
For me everything about the weekend was wonderful. There were some really nice dogs in all categories, and I believe all dogs that came out on top were worthy winners.
The hospitality was fabulous.
The generosity of handlers and helpers pulled it all together.
I would like to express my thanks to everybody who made the weekend so special: Wolfram, Bianca, Gabby, Christoph, and all the helpers, my fellow judges and of course all the competitors.
On the Monday I took a Group of 8 Handlers for Training on the same ground as the competitions. As always a fabulous opportunity to help handlers and dogs to achieve their full potential. But as I always say when working with a group, listen to as many trainers as possible and take all the relevant bits that suit you and your dog. I hope some of my group could use and reflect on some of the things I talked about.
And then on Tuesday with my evening flight beckoning, myself and Wolfram took a real nice trip. We travelled up a ski lift close to St. Ulrich, and then walked down the slope. 
It was hard on my legs, but it is only when you go high in the mountains do you really appreciate the rare beauty of the surrounding landscape.
Thank you!
More Beautiful Photos of this Event
Taken by PETER at: www.peterweissboeck.com
(scroll down to view photographs)
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