When Sheryl Mayo and her 3-year old English cocker spaniel, Lucy, qualified to compete in the AKC National Field Trials in New York earlier this fall, a family discussion took place. Sheryl and her husband, Jim, were on the fence about competing. It was a long drive to upper New York. The competition would be fierce. “We finally decided at the last minute to go,” she recalls. “Jim and I reasoned, what the heck, why not? It would be a fun experience for us and for Lucy.”

Little did they know.

The AKC National Field Trials were held at Clinton Corners, N.Y., at Dyson’s Orchards in early November. It would be the fifth field-trial experience for Sheryl and Lucy — their first exposure to a national event, however. In recounting what happened, Sheryl’s excitement was infectious. ” I was so nervous I almost threw up,” the Hampden woman admitted.

The field trials for cocker spaniels include a mix of amateur and professional dog handlers, more professionals than amateurs like Sheryl Mayo. As a rule, first-place winners tend to be professional handlers competing in behalf of a dog owner, usually male handlers.

“In the early field runs, Lucy held her own. Things went well. I did make a mistake in not following Lucy close enough, and the judge told me so, quietly,” she remembers. ” But Lucy nailed her birds and made fast retrieves,” she said.

The Mayo family has always enjoyed gun dogs. Jim started out with English setters, but, in time, got hooked on flushing dogs. Jim has a female cocker named Sally. Their second dog, Lucy, became part of their family more or less by happenstance. A few years ago, Jim won a gun at a field-trial raffle. Over Sheryl’s mild protestations about caring for yet another dog, Jim bulled ahead. He swapped the gun for a cute, little black English cocker pup. The rest, as you will soon see, is history.

Back to the AKC nationals: As the trials progressed, Sheryl knew that her dog was doing OK, but she was still a “nervous wreck.” With just 16 dogs remaining out of a 60 starters, the final event was the water series. For this event, a dispatched pheasant is catapulted out onto a pond. The dog must enter the water, swim out and retrieve the dead bird. Sheryl and Lucy waited for their turn. “I couldn’t believe it,” she exclaimed. “The dogs of the professional handlers were balking. They wouldn’t go in the water!”

Soon Lucy had her turn. “She didn’t hesitate,” Sheryl says, pride in her voice.” Lucy hit the water and swam like a streak for the bird. She was smokin’.”

“Well, Sheryl, at that point, you must have had an inkling that you and Lucy were in the top of the heap,” I said.

“No, Paul, absolutely not. We really didn’t have a clue. The judges don’t give out any signals, and we were inexperienced enough not to read between the lines.” she confessed.

Sheryl says that as the competition progressed, she kept one goal in mind: to just complete the event and not get cut. As the competitors gathered for the awards ceremony, the minor awards were presented. One of these is called the Gunner’s Award. This selection is made, not by the judges, but by the gunners who shoot the birds during the field trials. The gunners decide among themselves which of the 60 competing dogs they would most like to hunt with.

“I have always thought that that award was very special,” says Sheryl. “When the judges announced that the gunners had selected Lucy as the gun dog they would most like to share a normal bird hunt with, Jim and I were surprised and thrilled. It was the best thing that could have happened,” she exclaimed.

But it wasn’t over for Sheryl and Lucy, not by a long shot.

As the judges announced the fourth-place, third-place and second-place winners, Sheryl recalled that a number of people starting looking towards her and Jim. ” I know that it sounds silly, but I guess it just didn’t sink in. Soon people began to applaud and then one of the judges came over and said,” Sheryl, you won. You and Lucy are the AKC National Champions for 2009.”

Sheryl says that she and Jim were dumbstruck.”We just could not believe it. And to think that we almost didn’t go to the trials at all.”

Jim says that it was, given the odds, “some kind of miracle.” The statistics underscore his point. Sheryl was the first female amatuer dog handler to win the AKC field trials for cocker spaniels since 1962. She is still pinching herself and smiling at Lucy.

What’s next? The Mayos no doubt will take time to gaze at the AKC trophy and the coveted AKC Golden Whistle. Lucy will flush a few more Maine grouse with Sheryl and Jim before the snow flys and enjoy her year’s free supply of Purina dog chow.

Oh, one other thing. During the exultations following the presentation of Lucy’s national championship, the predictable question kept coming to Sheryl and Jim from field trail well wishers. “What’s Lucy’s lineage? What line is she from?”

Sheryl says, “All I could say was the truth. I don’t know.”

You can bet your dog whistle that Jim and Sheryl will spend the winter learning a lot more about the lineage of this special little black cocker spaniel named Lucy.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, author of a new book, The Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook and co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].