A Record-Breaking 2025 NAVHDA Invitational and THREE New VCs

Handlers greet the dawn in the morning ceremony, where each dog receives a medal. It is an honor to be there and participate in the NAVHDA Invitational.

At the NAVHDA’s premier hunt test, the Invitational, every dog receives a medal -- and with good reason. To be invited to participate, each dog must earn a NAVHDA Utility Prize I score in the prior year. Months of training are then required to condition and prepare a dog for this ultimate test of both dog and handler.

The 2025 Invitational took place over six days in Searsboro, Iowa with 228 dogs from the 35 versatile hunting breeds, out of which less than 1/3 passed. Our breed was represented by five outstanding Spinoni and their trainer/handlers. Each dog participated in four events over the day, with temperatures rising to the high 90s.  All the dogs gave exceptional performances, and I’m proud to say that our breed now has three new Versatile Champions entitled to put the coveted title of VC before their names, a record in one year!

Congratulations to the 2025 Spinoni and their handlers:

VC Braschini’s Time Travelin’ Tiger (Karen Beyer)
Braschini’s Hurricane Nola Rey (Rebecca Axelrod-Cooper)
VC Cipresseto Brooke (Norm Prima)
Kala’s John Jameson Cowboy (Ted Wentink)
VC Lumpy’s Cleopatra Queen of the Nile (Delita Rosenbaum)

In this test, dogs are required to: 1) run an hour field brace with another dog, point and retrieve upland birds, and honor its bracemate’s point and retrieve, 2) do a blind retrieve over water of approximately 100 yards, 3) honor another dog’s waterfowl retrieve, 4) heel off-lead for each event, and 5) do a double marked retrieve over water. 

A total of 15 Spinoni have now earned the NAVHDA Versatile Champion (VC) title since 1988, when the first Invitational was held.

On a personal note, I am proud to say that Karen Beyer and I have now trained and handled four VCs. Our first VC, Brasch, earned the title in 2006 and is the father of VC Tiger almost 20 years later. It’s been a great adventure!

Ann Bagnell
President, SCOA

The Invitational from the Bird Cleaners’ Table - Tarn Rosenbaum

Sadly, this was the last Invitational to be held at the Big Springs Preserve. Brownells, the corporation which owned the property, recently auctioned off the hunting preserve which means the hosting Hawkeye Chapter will need to find new grounds for their field training and testing. 

I volunteer at the invitational. This was my 2nd year as a bird cleaner. Confident in my ability to mess up any dog’s work during a test, I volunteered for a role that can’t jeopardize contestants' performance. Delita also volunteers. She’s usually the ‘duck dragger’ - serving at the blind retrieve station. She was also supposed to act as marshal at the double mark on Saturday, but was unable to fill that role. More on that later. 

I learned a lot, and met many people as bird cleaner. It turns out the bird cleaning table can be a hive of social activity. This is likely due to the bird cleaning team leader - Joe Furrow. Joe is a long time member of the Hawkeye NAVHDA chapter, and a kindred soul in that Joe is a Bracco owner & handler.  On Wednesday, Joe and I were joined at the bird cleaning table by fellow Spinone Club Member - Andrea Spencer and her husband, Vaughn. Thursday, we were joined by Karen Nowicki - NAVHDA royalty. Karen is the daughter of Jim and Bobby Applegate. This is in addition to all the folks who just stopped by - helped a bit, or just visited while a particular brace was in the field.

What impresses me about this event is the scale, and the number of folks who volunteer to support it. For example, there are three bird fields. For each bird field there are four gunners - at least. Gunners alternate braces. There are bird planters too - usually two per field. And there’s a field marshal for each field. So, not counting judges, nor bird cleaners - there are 12 gunners, six bird planters and three field marshals - daily for six days. Each of the other venues - blind retrieve, honor by blind and double mark also have separate volunteer needs - from marshals to folks who run winger zingers. Then there are the volunteers who support the volunteers - the folks who pick up and deliver drinks and lunches. In addition to the volunteer who sign up to specific roles - there are the chapter members who are filling water tanks in the fields for the dogs to get a drink, or otherwise replenishing supplies. It is just a stunning piece of work.  

As a volunteer, each day begins with check-in, prior to the opening ceremonies. Check-in typically happens just about the time the sun is rising. This is when the volunteer assignments are confirmed, and if it’s your first day - receiving your volunteer tee shirts. Once registered, some folks need to get moving! 

Each day proceeds with announcements, and the singing of the American and Canadian national anthems. It’s a moving moment as all the handlers stand lined up together beside a sign with their and their dog’s name, and national anthems ring out through the breaking dawn silence. After the anthems, the handlers and their dogs are introduced. The judges are introduced; the judges greet all the handlers. And …they’re off!

Luckily, as a bird cleaner, I was available to attend the opening festivities and then some. On Wednesday, for example, after the parking lot at headquarters had drained, Vaughn Spencer and I had the opportunity to sample breakfast from the food truck. The loaded sausage gravy bowl was excellent… Wish I’d taken a photo. Thanks again, Vaughn! Then, Vaughn, Andrea and I set off to clean birds for the day. 

I headed over the bird fields ‘A’ and ‘B’ - there was another separate cleaner assigned to field ‘C’. We set up our canopies, chairs and tables; filled a bucket with water (for the cleaned chukkar), sharpened our knives - then waited for the 1st braces to come in. As each brace came in Joe kept count of the birds. At the end of the day, we rinsed the birds we’d cleaned, packed them in freezer bags, and placed them in a freezer - 634 birds over six days!

The Big Springs Hunting Preserve included large fields for the bird work, a couple corn cribs, a large garage, and a house! The freezer used is in the garage. This complex - which the Hawkeye chapter members called ‘the compound’ - also has bird pens, used for the chukkar and ducks necessary for the Invitational. Several Hawkeye chapter members stay at the house, or camp behind it for the duration of the event. As so many members volunteer to support this event, the chapter hosts a chukkar fajita dinner after the last day. Any chukkar left in the freezer are available for folks to take home.

This year seemed more poignant for the Hawkeye chapter members, as everything the chapter wanted had to be removed from the site by Sunday night. Bulldozers were scheduled to arrive Monday morning to turn what had been the event’s bird fields into cornfields, and the chapter is working to find new grounds.

I mentioned that Delita couldn’t fill her Saturday volunteer assignment. She fell and broke her ankle on Friday. While one story circulating is the fall occured while pole dancing at the Elk’s Lodge… the truth is she stepped off the sidewalk into a hole.