What Neil Lessard needed was some luck, just a sprinkle. But that's a rare commodity in the birddog field trial circuit, especially at the national level.

Crisscrossing the grassy Tennessee horizon before him were the best of the best. All 64 pointers and setters vying in this three-day, invitation-only classic in February earned their place in the field.

Lessard and his wife, Judy, traveled nearly 18 hours from their Eastville home on Virginia's Eastern Shore to compete. Their English setter, Mac, was considered an up-and-comer on the National Shoot-to-Retrieve Field Trial Association (NSTRA) circuit. At only three and a half years old, the snowy-white male had accumulated more championship points than any dog on the East Coast over the past year. Blast's Big Mac, his pedigree name, came into the competion ranked eighth in the country.

Neil Lessard, 36, turned professional bird-dog trainer and handler in 1992 when he opened Stockley Kennels. A win or good showing in this national stake would further validate Mac and his owner. Both would be in greater demand.

The first round was the toughest. By dusk Friday, 32 dogs were eliminated. By Sunday morning, only eight remained. By that afternoon, there would be just one--the 1993 NSTRA Foster & Smith Quail Invitational champ.

Entrants came from as far away as Nebraska, Canada, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. Several braved a late-season snowstorm that nearly closed the Nashville airport, some 120 miles east.

The field trial was being held in the cradle of bird dog country-- Greenfield, Tennessee, a rural community with one traffic light and a skyline dominated by grain elevators. Just 50 miles south is the National Bird Dog Museum in Grand Junction, home to more than 100 years of bird dog tradition.

In western Tennessee, bird dogs are endearingly called BERD DAWGS. In this part of the world, 13-time champion Tricky Dick Jim, owned by Bill Moore, is tops.

Moore had three dogs in the running, including Jim, whose picture is in the Bird Dog Museum Hall of Fame. With a home-field advantage, Moore was among the favorites.

"They're all good, but he's definitely the one to beat," Lessard said.

Trickly Dick Jim and his 11-time champion brother, Tricky Dick, were getting old. Maybe a younger dog would outrun, outpoint and outretrieve them. Maybe it would be Mac. Lessard could only hope.

"You travel 18 hours and spend $1,000.00 and it could all be over in 30 minutes," Lessard said the night before the competition. "Any of these dogs in this can win. They're all the best.

"On any day, a dog can be a diamond or a stone. They can make you proud as can be or mad as hell. Half of it's the quality of the dog and the handler. The other half is luck."

Bird doggin' is probably as much a science as an art. The science part is in the breeding. A "super nose," intelligence and a desire to hunt are what make a champ. Good genes provide that.

The rest is up to the trainers. They try to shape genetic traits. The best formula is patience, patience and more patience. When that fails, some use force.

Dog handlers and owners try to figure out how much of each is required. That's the art. Some, like Lessard, come down hard on a dog, but only as a last resort.

Others, including some competing at this field trial, recommend heavy- handed techniques on a regular basis. For many bird-dog competitors, there is a fine line between love and hate.

"Berd dawgs...if you treat 'em right and get their respect, they'll go the limits for ya," said Bird Dog Museum hall-of-famer Ed Rader, one of four Indiana natives who founded NSTRA in the 1960s. "A bird dog will make you a liar in 30 seconds, or they'll make you so proud you'll be walking six feet astride."

Lots of the old boys running dogs at the championship lyrically compare man's best friend with wives and children. It's OK for an owner or handler to criticize his bird dog loudly and with passion. But don't anyone else dare. If there's a bird-dog etiquette, that's it.

Lessard didn't want to hear any criticism of Mac, not from his wife, not from his wily friend Joe Abruzzo of Arnold, Maryland, and certainly not from the competition. Mac had proven himself in several local, regional and NSTRA field trials. He had already accumulated enough points to be a two-time champion and was just three points shy of being a three-time winner.

NSTRA sanctions about 1,000 field trials a year. Dogs that finish in the top three spots for each trial accumulate points. Of the 18 points needed to be deemed champion, nine must come from first-place victories.

Winning isn't easy. NSTRA has more than 5,000 members, and in 1992 there were 32,000 entrants in its field trials. There are no money awards, just trophies and points. The events are suppose to be for amateurs.

The prestige and money that can come from selling a champion have lured increasing numbers of professional breeders and handlers and dog fanciers with deep pockets in the game.

Well-heeled bird dog enthusiasts have been known to spend $10,000 or better for a winning pooch and thousands more training and campaigning them around the country. The winning dog of 1992 NSTRA national championship fetched $30,000.

A Nebraska businessman running dogs at the 1993 Foster & Smith event--one of four national NSTRA field trials--has a professional trainer and handler who travels the country "Campaigning" his dogs. If you run a dog in enough events, it's bound to rack up championship points.

Bill Moore, the Babe Ruth of NSTRA, has built a successful business off his Tricky Dick Kennels in Selmer, Tennessee. His top dogs have sired more than 1000 puppies. The going rate for stud fees is $250 to $300.

Moore himself has 70 dogs in his kennels. Each is screened and trained by Moore and a trainer in search of the next Tricky Dick Jim. "You're looking for super speed, brains and one you can handle," Moore said. "You need it all."

There are two types of bird-dog trials. The first is the horseback trial, in which the handlers, judges and a gallery of observers follow a bird dog by horseback. When the dog locates and points game--usually quail--the handler dismounts, flushes the bird and shoots it.

The cost of participating is high. NSTRA was formed for the blue-collar enthusiast who hunts by foot. It's what bowling is to polo.

The first round of the Foster & Smith NSTRA trial started with 16 pairs of dogs being run on each of two fields. Lessard and Mac were in the eighth pairing.

Scores in the early rounds were generally low. Five quail were placed in the field for each pair of dogs running. The best dogs found three birds and accumulated 550 to 750 points.

Handlers followed their dogs in a sort of giant Easter egg hunt spread over about 50 acres. Each round lasted 30 minutes.

Judges on horseback kept score. They awarded points for the number of birds found, pointed and retrieved. Dogs were scored on how well they handled and how hard they hunted.

They could also score for what is called a "back." A back is when one dog finds and points a bird and the other honors that point with a backup point of its own.

That technique would prove critical to Lessard.

If Mac has a weakness, it is that he is sometimes reluctant to back another dog. Mac would rather sniff the bird out on his own and point it than yield.

"Sometimes he's just too smart," Lessard said.

Mac was paired with a male English setter from Illinois. When given the signal, Mac and the other dog, Smokey Tomoka, bolted. Both were headed for a large oak in the middle of the field.

Smokey Tomoka got there first. Seconds later, he was on point.

Seeing the other dog, Mac darted over and haphazardly cut in front of him, ruining a chance to get a back.

Lessard pulled Mac off and began working other sections of the field. Mac pointed and found one bird, then another. Judy Lessard stood on the bleachers, binoculars in hand, trying to decipher the white streaks, whistling, judges' movements and shotgun blasts in the distance.

Shouting could be heard from several hundred yards away. "I think that's Neil. I think he is saying, 'Here Mac.' No, maybe it's the other guy...Wait a minute, I think I see him."

Her anxiety was apparent.

It turns out that it was her husband's voice carrying into the damp wind. Mac had pointed a third bird. But Lessard couldn't find it. In this game, it's up to the owner to flush the bird and shoot it.

Sensing that he was wasting precious minutes, Lessard released Mac from point, hoping the dog would relocate and point the bird. It was a strategy call, one Lessard later regretted. The bird had walked behind Mac, and when the dog was released, it flew off.

Mac found a fourth bird, but it was out of bounds. Often, escaped birds leave the field, sometimes luring dogs off the course. Part of the trick is to teach dogs to stay on the open field.

On the field, 30 minutes can seem like five. But for spectators with a dog running, it seems like forever.

Sensing that all was not right, Judy Lessard was nervous as the judges rode back to the gallery and handed the field marshal their score cards. Mac amassed 489 points; his competitor, 512. The other dog found and pointed three birds.

With eight pairs down and eight to go on each field, Mac's score was dead in the middle. He needed to finish 16th to make the cut. Lessard and Mac were on "the bubble." It would be a long afternoon.

Lessard cursed himself. He made a mistake, and so did Mac. They were even, so no use getting too upset with the dog, he said.

Some competitors allow disappointment to spill over into anger and even hostility. To some, a dog is no more than a machine. When it stops performing, they dump it.

Many of the top dogs are traded like baseball cards. Those with the deepest pockets often wind up with the best collection.

For others, like Lessard's friend Abruzzo, the dogs are nothing less than cherished family. Abruzzo, a pediatrist, owns two English pointers and a crippled chocolate Labrador retriever.

Abruzzo's pointer, The Buck Stops Here, was a "bye" dog. Buck was placed on a standby list of entrants and invited to the NSTRA championship after a few owners of the top 64 dogs declined to compete.

During the event, most dogs in the trial slept outside in trailers and pickups while their owners slept in an Econo Lodge. Abruzzo shared his king-sized bed with his three canine companions.

When traveling, Abruzzo packs a picture portfolio of his Lab. He spent months rehabilitating the dog after its spine was partly crushed by a car. Veterinarians advised that the dog be put to sleep. Abruzzo refused.

He built a cart that enabled the Lab to walk with only its front legs. Abruzzo even catheterized him daily until he regained bladder control.

"Think about it," Abruzzo said. "What's dog spelled backwards?"

Abruzzo's pointer Buck made it into the second round. Lessard and Mac weren't as lucky. The missed "back" and bird proved too much to overcome.

As Friday afternoon wore on, Mac's standing continued to drop. At the end of the 14th brace, he was in 14th place. Four dogs were left. If only two posted better scores, Mac was in. If three were better, he was out.

In the 15th brace, both dogs outscored Mac, one by only 11 points. It was a last-minute back that put that dog ahead. In the next brace, one dog scored better

Back at the hotel that night, Lessard contemplated his narrow defeat over a beer and shot of bourbon. Mac lay on the bed beside him.

"I'm probably going to have to sell him," Lessard said. "I've got bills to pay. ...It's going to be the most painful thing I've ever done."

It's expensive running dogs in national trials. And there isn't always a lot of money in training and selling them. So you have to cash in where you can.

It's a rare bird dog that can do it. Bill Moore's dog didn't do it, not this time. Neither did Abruzzo's.

Mac could have, Lessard insisted. All he needed was a break, and a back.