Message from Clay Earl
Field Trail Chairman
Welcome to the 2021 Canadian National Spaniel Field Trial website. This site will be populated with information concerning the trial, social events, sponsorship, and logistics as the details become available and is designed to be the resource center for all interested parties.
This year, for the first time, the National Committee will have representation from across North America. Previously, this Committee was comprised mainly of folks from an individual club. For 2021, the hosting Club is listed as Southwestern Ontario Spaniel Club. The National Committee is formed to take advantage of people’s interests and skills from all different geographies to bring about the best quality trial possible. To those who have stepped up and volunteered to contribute, we thank each of you for your efforts and for embracing this new approach.
There is a quote from Steven Covey that I use a lot in managing many aspects of my life: “Start with the end in mind.” When a few of us began discussing hosting the National, we started with this mindset to define our Mission.
We determined that we would put forth every effort to host a National that would bring about finding the best National Champion possible. In answering questions about approaches we might take as obstacles or opportunities arose, we determined that if we adopted the mindset of asking “What course will help us find the best national champion?”, the answer would likely become clear. For if the purpose of field trials is to determine the breeding stock of the future, then we as a Committee would be pleased if the trial fairly and adequately challenged the competitors to bring out the qualities of a dog worthy of being crowned a National Champion. To do this, many factors must be addressed. Some are paramount: good grounds, guns, birds, planting, course layout, judges management, logistics, and hospitality. None of these come without planning, knowledge, and effort.
The hope is that if you put on a great trial, you will attract the best dogs. To the end of allowing the best to compete, the National Committee and the Canadian Kennel Club have taken the unusual but thoughtful approach of letting any springer or cocker that qualified for their US National Open in 2021 compete in this year’s National. Furthermore, all dogs that were qualified to compete in the 2020 National Open will also be eligible. For more information on qualification and the exact wording of the criteria, please see the information on the site under the Qualifications tab. This approach has been taken to bring about the opportunity for a best-on-best trial. It makes the National Open the trial you want to win.
With this new qualification rule in place, we would ask that folks still make sure they support the club trials. Some of these trials have made heavy investments in birds, judges, and other expenses; if we want them to be there in the future, you need to support them with your entries.
In conclusion, I hope you find this site a resource for your informational needs on the 2021 National Open. I look forward to seeing you and your dog compete and wish you a successful and enjoyable competition.
Kind regards,
Clay Earl
Chair 2021 Canadian National Open
