07/20/2024
With all the upcoming hunt tests this summer season here is a good read - a bit of a long read but worth the time:
Hunt Tests:
Junior
by Glenda Brown
Hunting tests should be fun for both the dog and the handler. They represent a really pure form of competition, similar to tracking in that you are competing against a standard rather than against other handlers and dogs. Everyone there should be on your side, encouraging you and your dog to succeed, and you in turn, should be cheering for everyone else. Tests can be set up that are creative and enjoyable without resorting to contrived tests or trickery. In discussing hunting tests, one complaint heard is “this isn’t what I would do in a real hunting situation”. Many times the person saying this has never hunted and is basing it on what he thinks would be done in a hunting situation. Sometimes the basis for the complaint is predicated on whether the complainer’s dog can or cannot do the test! Again, the participants must realize that hunt tests are simulated situations set up to judge a dog’s performance against a set of standards.
Ideally, the judges are looking for dogs that they would like to hunt with on a regular long-term basis. Obviously, in Junior you will have a green dog, and the judges are looking for potential. They are trying to determine if that dog will eventually become a good hunting dog. They are looking for a dog that shows drive, instinct, good marking ability, and trainability to an extent. With each step up, they are looking for a more polished performance. When you and your dog reach Master level, that dog should be one that anyone would be delighted to hunt with at anytime, anywhere.
Junior
One problem encountered at the Junior level (and sometimes beyond) is that the participant has never read the rules and has not spent any time working with the dog. He/She believes the dog will be judged on natural attributes. This is fine to a point, but it is not realistic. Too many of the problems seen at the Junior level fall under the trainability category and show up in a variety of ways. A dog may have done a beautiful job of marking the bird, and then it plays with the bird, drops the bird, or even plays keep away! These are all obedience (training) problems. You would not want to see your dog perform in this manner if being sent for a dumbbell in the obedience ring. Working the dog in the yard on basic obedience, then transferring that obedience work to the field should help clean up many of these problems. Do not go to the field until the dog is solid in the yard.
In Junior, many persons do not realize that the dog must deliver to hand. The handler lets the dog drop the bird and then reaches down and picks it up himself. This is an automatic zero. If this should happen with your dog, tell the dog to “fetch”, then when the dog picks it up, take it directly from the dog. In a training situation, one should always make the dog sit, hold the bird, and when you reach for the bird and say “drop”, the dog should release it. In a test, if you are worried that the dog will not sit holding the bird, feel free to take the bird as quickly as possible. It doesn’t look as good, it is not a good habit to establish, but it might mean the difference between a passing score and a failing score. Then, return to the yard and work on obedience! Fetch, hold, and drop are not requests, they are commands, and your dog should respond accordingly.
If your dog is reluctant to return or it looks like he might stop and play with the bird, move backwards behind the line (obviously not to the point of being ridiculous) and encourage the dog to come in. Make sure your dog crosses the original line and gets to your side. You cannot go out to the dog and take the bird. Do not start telling the dog what a good dog it is while encouraging it to come to you. It is not a good dog until it crosses the line and willingly delivers the bird to you. Again, if this is a problem, return to the yard and work on your recalls. After picking up the bird, your dog automatically should return directly to you.
Before indicating you are ready for the bird to be thrown, make sure your dog is looking at the guns or in that direction. This sounds like a very basic instruction, but often the dog is looking anywhere but at the guns, and the handler is not paying attention to the dog. The handler is looking out and sees the gun and indicates he is ready, but the dog is looking at something off to one side. Although a duck call, “bird coming in”, or shot is used to get their attention, an occasional young dog will be turned around and looking at the gallery as the handler is signaling the judges! When the dog hears the shot, he may well turn back, but could easily miss seeing the bird go down.
Gentle restraint is allowed to steady the dog, however, the steadier the dog is the more likely it is to mark the fall. Even if you are convinced your dog is rock solid steady, since the rules allow this restraint, don’t let your ego get in the way of common sense, and hold on to the collar. Do not send your dog for the bird until the judge either says “dog” or calls your number. You do not have to send your dog the exact instant your number is given, and before sending, make sure your dog is looking towards the area where the bird fell. Sometimes the judge will forget your number and will just say any number which qualifies as a release for you. I know some of this seems very obvious, but I have seen persons freeze when the judge says “9” and their number is “19”. Be sure to send a dog on a command rather than allowing it to go on its own. These are basic things, but in the excitement of being on the line, it is easy to forget them. Try to practice with friends and set up these situations so that you will become more at ease on the line and be able to convey this ease to your dog.
Generally, a test dog is run first to show handlers what is involved with a test and to show what problems might arise. The main purpose of a test dog, though, is to make sure the mechanics of the test are working well before a running dog comes to line. It is important to watch the test dog, or at least to watch other dogs run before your turn. This will help prepare you for what you need to do to prevent problems with your dog. This is more important at more advanced levels since in Junior, the marks will consist of singles. If you have any questions re the procedure, ask them after the test dog runs. If there are special instructions, these should be posted in the holding blind so that every handler will have an opportunity to study them.
Don’t forget to expose your dog to working around and through decoys. Never allow your dog to retrieve a decoy. You will receive a zero if your dog comes back with one. Many types of decoys are used so it is a good idea to buy, borrow, or train around many different ones. Get your dog used to shots going off behind it, duck calls from the line and in the field, and to your using a duck call. You should practice entering the water from a boat and returning back into a boat just in case a test such as this is set up. Practice working your dog with a gun in your hand and be aware of what good gun safety is. Never point your gun at a judge, no matter how strong the temptation may be! Any type of proofing you may do will be time well spent to prepare your dog for what it might encounter in a test.
Courtesy at hunting tests begins with checking in with the marshal when you arrive. Once there, you should stay available as it is your responsibility to be ready to go to the line when called. It is not the responsibility of the marshal to find you. If you are not there within fifteen minutes of being called to the line, you may be dropped if you cannot provide a reasonable explanation for your absence. If you need to go to another stake, be sure to tell the marshal where you are going. At one hunting test, the last dog present had run and the judges wished to move on to the next series. One participant had not shown up and no one knew where he was. They “put the clock” on him, and he was dropped. Later, he turned up and said he had been busy watching another test. He was upset, but it was his responsibility to be at the test he was scheduled to run. It is discourteous to make the other participants and the judges wait for you unless there are strong mitigating circumstances preventing your being there on time for you to run.
Another courtesy, often forgotten, is when there is a dog on line, you should be as quiet as possible, especially if the gallery is near the line. If you are more interested in talking than watching the dog, move to another area where you cannot interfere with the running dog. Do onto others as you would have them do onto you when you and your dog are the ones on the line.
Do not wear white when in the gallery. Some of the dogs may have run either in field trials or in events where they have to turn to look for someone in white to give them directions. If you are in white, the dog may focus on you rather than on the handler who is in camouflage. If someone is handling a dog, and you may be in the dog’s line of vision, do not move---especially, do not move to the right if, for example, the handler is trying to cast the dog to the left! The judges should position the gallery so no one can stand behind the handler, but sometimes they are a little remiss in regard to this.
One thing beginning handlers do not always understand is the judging and what the judges are looking for in the dogs. A good mark is one in which the dog knows the direction, the area, and the depth of the fall. It does not necessarily mean pinning the bird (going directly to the bird), as a dog that puts up an intelligent hunt in the area of the bird, sticks in there and works it out has indicated it is a good marker. On the other hand, some persons tend to feel their dogs have done a good job of marking if after spending an inordinate amount of time hunting around, the dog accidentally comes upon the bird. If this happens on every single mark, it is going to be a judgment call as to whether or not the dog has a great deal of marking ability. It may get a good score in perseverance if it stays out there for fifteen minutes looking for one bird, but its marking score will be low. Judges tend to mark “SOB” on the judging sheets for this---stumbled on bird! From a hunting point of view, if the dog is out there for a long time it is disturbing area and game. The longer the dog is out there, the more tired it becomes. Other birds may be coming in and leaving while the dog is still hunting for the first bird shot. Some newcomers (as well as some old timers) may be unrealistic in what they feel is a good job done by their dogs.
Remember, good sportsmanship is a large component of this game.
Always thank the judges, no matter what you might feel about the tests they set up. They have given up their time (and sometimes it has cost them money) to be there so you could run the tests. Thank the members of the Club who have worked so hard to put on the test. If on that particular day you did not do well, an old obedience adage is “Train, don’t complain”. Make note of your problems and determine what you need to train on to improve your dog’s performance the next time out. If you do feel things could have been improved re the judging or the conducting of the hunt test, get involved with the Club and contribute to the betterment of the next test.
Senior and Master
One of the biggest problems in advancing from Junior to Senior is that most persons are not aware of just how big that jump is. Besides having multiple marks, diversions and blinds are now required and control is essential. The first change in Senior is that you cannot go to the line with a leash or collar on your dog. You can wait in the holding blind with your leash on, but when called to the line, it must either be left behind at the blind or put in your pocket out of sight.
At some point, your dog will be asked to honor another dog’s work. Here, again, control is stressed because if your dog breaks and interferes with another dog, your dog is out. In Senior, you are allowed a controlled break—an example, if your dog tries to leave the line and you can get him back to your side under control without interfering with the running dog, your score will be lower but you should not be dropped. In Master, you may be asked to honor throughout another dog’s work, or possibly two or more dogs may have to work at the same time, with only one dog being sent to retrieve at a time. In both Senior and Master you will have walk-ups with the dog walking under control at your side while birds are being shot. Usually, as the first bird is shot, you may quietly give your dog a sit command and/or whistle command. The judges will tell all the handlers in advance at what point they may give a sit command or whistle command.
Some handlers may have misconceptions as to how a blind is judged. They assume that if their dog gets out there and eventually stumbles on a bird, it has run a good blind. Of first importance in a blind is the initial line the dog takes. This does not mean that the dog has to line the blind, it means that if you give your dog a line, it should take that line for a reasonable distance and not peel off to return to an old mark, go to another area, or join the gallery for lunch. If the dog does start towards a previous mark or towards something which offers suction, such as decoys, blow your whistle and handle. Often, persons do not handle quickly enough. They let their dog get completely off the initial line before they blow their whistle. Sometimes they dig themselves a deep hole in which it will take innumerable whistles and casts to correct the dog, whereas a quick whistle might have gotten the dog back on track immediately. Judges generally do not judge by the number of whistles blown. They judge as to how the dog is maintaining the initial line, how far the dog varies from this line, whether it challenges the blind by taking cover, ditches, and other obstacles on the way to the blind, and just how many whistle and cast refusals there are. Does the dog sit? Is it attentive? Does it take the cast and make progress in the direction of the blind? Judges want to see if the dog is trying to work with the handler or is it just romping around having a good time, totally out of control. Hunting dogs can be told to “hunt it up” at the end of a blind, and if you do this, make sure your dog is in a downwind position so it can wind the bird. The cleanest blind is one where you put your dog right on the bird. The number of whistle and cast refusals allowed becomes very stringent when you reach the Master level.
In Senior, it is not uncommon to see handlers sending their dog on a blind without lining the dog up correctly. Many times the dogs are not even looking in the direction of the blind. The dog should be brought to the line and given its cue for a blind (something such as “dead bird”), and the dog’s spine should be lined up in the direction of the blind. After the spine, the eyes should be lined up. Do not send your dog until it is focused on the correct line. With training and the use of drills, dogs learn to ignore old marks and diversions. Handling is challenging and interesting as you learn to work with and read your dog. You develop a much closer bond to one another as your handling skills improve and advance.
A lot of line work can be done using what could be referred to as “bits and pieces”. If you do not have good grounds or water at home, use whatever you can find. You can work on obstacles such as bushes, logs, ditches, etc. in small increments, teaching your dog the concept of taking a straight line. You can utilize agility jumps in your yard while running a dog to a pile of bumpers. After a good heavy rain, look for lovely puddles! With time and practice, your dog will realize when it is pointed at something such as cover, a small piece of water, or a log, the idea is to go through it or over it, and not around it. You can start up close to these obstacles and gradually move back as the light bulb goes on!
Casting can be improved by watching yourself in a mirror. Observe yourself, are you doing something that might be confusing to your dog. Is your right hand and arm moving at the same time you are trying to cast your dog to the left? When training with a friend or friends, have others watch you from the field and see if you are giving clear, informative casts. When training, use the least exaggerated cast possible. If your dog is only used to big casts, you will have nothing to fall back on in a test situation. When using verbal casts, it tends to drive the dog back in the direction it was going or wants to go. Verbal is good if your dog is losing momentum, silent casts are good for changing direction. Save the big, walking casts for when you are in a test and are desperate! A comment---often you can not even be watching a dog and you can tell the handler is in trouble by the tone of his/her voice. Try to keep any panic from your voice when casting.
It is completely acceptable to handle on a mark in a hunting test. A quick handle is often preferable to a long hunt. Once you begin to handle, you should continue to handle until the dog gets the bird. Some persons let their dog hunt and hunt until it is completely out of the area, give it a cast, and let it hunt again. Once you start to handle, get the dog to the bird as quickly as possible. In a test, if you notice that most of the dogs that have run before you have blown through a mark, going out of the area of the fall, be prepared to give a quick whistle if it looks as though your dog might do the same thing. You will have a much cleaner job, and sometimes if you let a dog get too far out of an area, you cannot get them back. Although it is acceptable to handle on a mark, obviously, if you handle on every mark or a high percentage of the marks, it becomes apparent that your dog is not marking well and can be dropped. There are different types of handling on a mark. If the dog goes to the area of the fall, indicates it knows a bird is there but can’t come up with it, then at least your dog knew a mark was there before you handled. Whereas, if your dog hasn’t a clue as to where the mark is and indicates this by going in a totally different direction, even though you handle your dog to the mark, the judges will take this into consideration. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, it just means depending on your other work, that it could lower your score enough to not pass on that day.
Water marks deserve special attention at all levels of hunt tests. A hunting dog can cheat the water, but there are marks that if a dog does not take a line through the water, he will not be able to come up with the bird. Avoiding the water can indicate lack of perseverance on the part of the dog, though many times this is due to insufficient training. There are some cases while hunting where it is unsafe for a dog to go by land rather than water such as broken glass or harmful surfaces, barbed wire fences, etc. This is why your dog should be trained to go by water even if running around the pond looks more inviting. You should be able to handle your dog into water on both marks and blinds. If a dog repeatedly will not handle into the water, it indicates your dog is not only refusing your cast, but also is not working with you as a partner. His respect level for you is not high enough to do what you are asking of him. When you are hunting, the dog must be your partner!
Persons tend to criticize long marks, but there are some cases where a bird was winged and flew a great distance before going down. Another situation that could create a longer mark is hunting with friends and they shoot a bird that is a distance from you. Hunting test distances should stay within the limits set by the rules. If a mark is 125 yards rather than 100 yards, it does not necessarily make the test invalid or illegal. There are some tests where the marks are extremely long for a hunting dog and are not justifiable as a hunting test under the most generous assessment. When training, you do need to work your dog on both marks and blinds that are longer than the distances given in the rule book. With marks, you want to vary the distances so your dog will not always assume they are a certain length. With blinds, if you can have good control on a 200 yard blind, think how much better your control will be on a 100 yard blind.
Flushing tests using live birds are not as satisfactory or effective as they could be. One reason is that sometimes the guns get a little trigger happy and accidents have been narrowly averted. The same thing can be achieved in other ways that are safer. Quartering tests with dead birds planted in the field are often used. Sometimes flags are put out and the dog has to cover the area between the flags and show that it knows how to quarter and work within gun range under control. As the dog is working, a bird can be thrown and shot. This works well as a “steady to wing and shot” test and is more controlled and safer for both dog and handler. Quartering and trailing tests can be practiced alone. Find a big field, take out dead birds, mark their locations with surveyor’s tape so you will know where they are, and then work on quartering. One thing a pointing dog trainer taught was that before you begin your dog quartering, have the dog face you as in the front position in obedience. Then give the dog a command to hunt and signal either towards your right or your left to start the dog. This helps the dog to differentiate between running a blind and quartering.
For trailing tests, tie a bird to a long line, tie this to the end of a long stick so that it is not dragged on top of your tracks, then drag it and hide it in high cover. Then get the dog out and encourage it to “find the bird”. Dogs catch on quickly as to what is wanted. Seed the beginning of the trail with feathers and heavy bird scent. A duck is a good bird to start this with as its scent is so much stronger than a pheasant or a chukar.
In walk-ups, the important thing is to have your dog under control while walking so that the minute those birds go up you can say “sit” and have your dog in a good position to mark the falls and not break. You do not want your dog looking behind you when the marks are going off in front of you.
The less new things you and your dog have to confront while running a test, the more confident you both will feel. Another thing to practice for Senior and Master is to have your dog sit in front of a blind or sit in front of you while you are behind the dog sitting on a bucket. It is amazing how many dogs who are very well trained become disconcerted when they have to be somewhere other than beside their handler. Getting in and out of a boat or running from a boat is something else you should practice.
One of the best things about hunt tests is their non-competitive atmosphere. Everyone should be in there supporting one another and hoping each dog does the best it is capable of doing. If you don’t do well in a test, after the tests are completed, talk to the judges and see what they feel your problems were (if you haven’t already figured it out!) and discuss what you can do to overcome these problems. If you do not like the way some of the tests are being handled, the best answer is to get involved and try to see that changes are made to make the tests more valid in your estimation. You can set up clinics, work with potential judges, get on committees. A lot of clubs are looking for persons who will help, work, and chair these tests. Don’t just complain. Constructive criticism is one thing, whining is another.
When a dog has earned the title of Junior Hunter, Senior Hunter, and especially Master Hunter, the owner should be filled with pride. Whenever a dog has not passed a test, the handler is frustrated and upset, not eager to blame himself or lack of training. But if you, the handler, stop and think realistically about your dog’s performance, would you want the performance of your dog on that particular day to be the standard, or would you rather do more work and have your dog improve his performance. The titles should have meaning, and this only will occur when everyone involved is educated as to what constitutes a good test and when performances are judged according to the standard. Our goal should be work that surpasses the standard, rather than a performance that just earns a passing score.
Send a message to learn more
