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COCKER FIELD TRIAL M-AHSC will hold two Cocker Field Trials April 17 and 18, 2010 at Blue Ridge Summit, PA. All members are encouraged to participate. more ESS FIELD TRIAL M-AHSC will have an ESS Field Trial March 13-14, 2010 at Hillendale Hunt Club. All members are encouraged to participate. If you would like to help contact Churck Urland or Greg Butler. more
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT I am hoping this e-mail finds all M-AHSC members in good spirits in spite of the challenges we all have been experiencing with the snow and dismal weather. I am writing to the membership as your new Club President and I want to start by thanking you for the opportunity to serve you all. Its important that I begin my time in the position by thanking all outgoing officers, Jim Zimmerman, Julie Hogan, Mike Shaw as well as the service by past Board members, especially Jim O'Shea who has done a lot to in the past to make himself and his home available for meetings and events. I thank all who have worked over the past several years to build M-AHSC to be a premier Field Hunting Club. And I thank the nominating committee, Jeff Brooks, Joel Prescott, and Jim Zimmerman, for my nomination. I will take this position seriously and make a real effort to energize our membership and hopefully see an increase in activities and participation. When I was asked to take the nomination, my first response was that I wanted to first examine the Club By-Laws, as I believe organizations operate best when there is structure and direction and when the leadership work together with enthusiasm. Our By-Laws are very well prepared and I will work to use them to guide our club. Its important that I also tell everyone that I will never intentionally say or do anything that is meant to hurt anyone's feelings or impugn their character. That said, I know it has at times been hard to explain my thoughts via e-mail and there are times I may be misunderstood. I hope you will give me the benefit of the doubt and ask me to clarify things I may have not explained well. The Yahoo Group established and managed by Mike Shaw provides for an excellent vehicle for our communications. We owe a lot to Mike for his help in the leadership of the club and in bringing this club together through the Internet. Bill Fawcett has been managing our web-site and it has been another excellent site for our membership. I will work to use it even more for the benefit of the club. I hope we use both Yahoo Group and the Web site to their fullest.If you do not belong in the Yahoo Group, I recommend you join it. M-AHSC membership can help by being open with your thoughts. In the immediate future I will be in contact with the club officers and Board and schedule our first Board meeting. I hope we can set an agenda for events to occur this year. You should expect us to be reaching out to you to help us put on training events, trial events, and expand our memberships. I believe we need to find new ways to get everyone energized. I know we have a very diverse group of members who are owners of most, if not all spaniel breeds, i.e., Cockers (English& American/ Field Bred & Bench Bred; English Springer Spaniels (Field Bred & Bench Bred); Boykin Spaniels; Welsh Springer, Clumber Spaniels, Field Spaniels, etc., etc. I think it might be interesting if we could celebrate all the spaniel breeds by posting on the M-AHSC web-site facts and stories about all of the Spaniel breeds our members own. And, it might be of interest to a lot of members if everyone who wishes could post his/her professional interests, so whether someone needs a carpenter or lawyer, we might have another place to look for help or just friendly advice. Those are some of my thoughts and whether they are good ones or even possible, I want to start some discussions and get some feedback. Tom Schneider
Welcome!The M-AHSC is an organization of upland bird and waterfowl hunters, gun dog breeders, bench and obedience enthusiasts, and field trialers dedicated to the proper and ethical training, handling, and breeding of flushing spaniels. Our charter is to preserve the hunting heritage of the flushing spaniel breeds and to foster sportsmanship and ethics when hunting as well as when in competition. We also promote and stress the proper training of spaniels as competent hunting companions and game conservators.
Throughout the year, the M-AHSC conducts several activities such as As a club, we are very active in the AKC spaniel Hunt test program, typically conducting two tests in the November/December time frame. The Spaniel Hunting Tests are a non-competitive evaluation of the dogs in actual hunting situations in order to determine their suitability and ability as hunting companions. There are three levels of testing: Junior, Senior and Master, each with increased levels of testing requirements. Participation in the program allows the dogs to obtain official AKC field titles (Junior Hunter, Senior Hunter, and Master Hunter).
Our annual Grouse Hunt Trial is run on chukar partridge planted in wooded cover to simulate ruffed grouse hunting. Conducted in February, this event offers a different venue at a time when we are all suffering from cabin fever. The Grouse Hunt Trial is a competitive fun trial with awards for the dogs that are placed. This trial consists of separate stakes for puppies, gun dogs , and an open all age stake for advanced dogs. At our training sessions you will have an opportunity to work your dogs on live birds and share training and handling techniques with other spaniel enthusiasts. You may also learn the roles of various workers needed to conduct a successful Spaniel Hunt test of Field Trial.
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The M-AHSC is open to the owners of all flushing spaniel breeds. Our membership domain covers the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States from Virginia to the New England states, and from Ohio to the Atlantic coast. The majority of the M-AHSC activities are held in the centrally-located Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland tri-state area.
Our annual Water Trial, held in June, provides ideal seasonal relief for our canine companions as well as a keeping the dogs tuned up for the coming hunting seasons. The Water Trail is a competitive fun trial with awards for the dogs that are placed. This trial consists of marked water retrieves, with separate stakes for puppies and gun dogs (all single retrieves) and an open all age stake for advanced dogs (single and double retrieves).