First Hunt Test

Well I entered my first HT today. It isn't till 10/22 and it's only Started but I still feel nervous...haha

I know I'm jinxing myself but I honestly think its going to be very underwhelming for her. I don't plan on getting the SHR title but I think the experience will be good and the 10 points we can get will go toward the HR title.

Maybe I'll see some of yall there.

Texoma HRC 10/22

Wish us luck!

Keep up the good work, good luck!

I am glad you entered and expect you both to do great. Have fun!

Good luck. Keep us posted.

you want to think your dog will be underwhelmed at a test! train a level above the test youre running. good luck, hunt tests are addicting!

I thought the same thing and for the most part I was right. Bull was ready, more so than I ever imagined. He never missed a bird if he could see the fall. I went to a hunt test and parked. Me being who I am saw everyone backed up to the woods with the front of their trucks facing the test. Well I pride myself in not being a sheeple and parked nose into the woods. Bull was #19 to run. We had a big splash bird in the pond and a land bird up the hill to our right. The bird on the hill was first bird to go. Off goes the shot and I send Bull. HE turns 90 degrees and heads for the water, not land. I gave him a psdddddt and he stopped. I sent him to the land bird. He came back and the splash bird was next.

What happened is he was in the kennel in the back of the truck watching 18 splash birds 50 yards away. All those people pulled in to keep their dogs from seeing the test. That slight bullheaded arrogance nearly cost Bull his first ribbon. The judge told me had he hit the water he would have failed.

Thanks for the tip. I threw her 4 marks this morning in medium cover ranging 75-100 yards with an orange bumper and she dang near front footed every one.....Angle-backs, angle-ins and flat throws.

I threw her a few ducks from my winger the other day in 4 foot tall weeds at about 50 yards and she didn't miss one. She's delivering to hand and steady. I'm still nervous she'll act differently at the test....lose focus and look off and not see a mark or something with the added distractions.

Enjoy the experience. Y'all will do great!!!

Good luck. I never ran Molly in an official hunt, did a couple of the HRC fun hunts. What do they have to do on s JH? Double mark, land and water?

JH or Junior Hunter is an AKC test. 2 singles on land, 2 singles on water. Dog must deliver bird to hand. Dog can be steadied at the line by holding the collar prior to sending. Only difference between AKC JH and HRC SHR (Started Hunting Retriever) is in HRC Started you do not have to deliver to hand. Just a general area within the handler, typically 2 steps.

Tess could easily pass either of those on any given day. If the presence of the other dogs didn't throw her off. She handles so well on her own. Bring in another dog and she becomes a dumb blonde.

Kimber is around our other lab and has done some training with another friend of mines dog but if there is a new dog that she hasn't been around she really wants to go play. I'm thinking about taking her to a dog park....not to run around and okay but just keep her outside the fence and go through her obedience work in the presence of other dogs.

Brady, you may have mentioned this already, but what are you feeding Kimber? Her coat looks fantastic. I'm feeding the highest protein Outlaw makes and my dogs coats don't look near as good as Kimber's does. Don't mean to get off topic... just curious.

Good luck on your started, I'm sure Kimber will do fine. The more exposure to dogs and people, the better they will react around dogs and people under new situations. My wife walks a popular trail every afternoon, so she started taking Buck a few months back and that has helped him calm down tremendously around other dogs.

Good fun, good folks and addicting!
Good luck I bet you both do great!

Here's our first Started ribbons, think I held my breath for just about every bird lol. Its a great journey!

Wow. Y'all are tempting me real bad.

I'm feeding Dr. Tim's Pursuit. I order off Chewy.com. I've been very happy with it.

So do they use real birds for these tests or bumpers?

Yes, real dead birds, usually killed the day of the test.

real birds. used over. and over. and over. make sure you dog will pickup a "training" bird. Big difference for some young dogs between a freshly killed bird shot while hunting, and a bird thats been in several different dogs mouths over the course of a test that starts to look kind of nasty by the end of the day. usually do a land series 1st, then the water series last. I usually like to run the land series towards the middle of the running order to let some scent get on the ground in the area of the fall, then like to run the water series near the top of the order, especially if the birds are landing in the water. otherwise, towards the end of the test, you might get some birds not floating very well. just my preference.

When training for retriever hunt tests, it is a good idea to include some nasty birds during training to get your dog used to them. Don't know if it is a normal thing, but my Vizsla can tell and reacts differently with birds that have been euthanized by gas. If your a member of a club, you can usually take some leftover/used birds home after one of your club's tests to take home and freeze for later training.

Bradybuck,
I really enjoy the hunt tests. Unfortunately I am caught up taking care of elderly family members or I would there entered with y'all. The Texoma HRC puts on a good one. If it is at the SEA Ranch again, it is a beautiful place too.



They do sometimes react differently at the tests. Some random tips from my short experience as a newcomer to these events.

Make the distances random. Don't test at one distance too much or it will become an expected routine for the dog and could cause some confusion when it is a different distance at the test.

Make the training locations random, same reason. I was surprised how some young dogs got confused from something as simple as a 1 ft drop at the bank threw them off from entering the water next to the handler. It was obvious they had only been trained on a nice beach bank.

Include a setup training where there are tall trees and no skyline behind the bird when thrown. This really threw some dogs off the first time I saw it at a hunt test. They did not see the bird to mark it or were expecting the bird to be skylighted. This is were that training at only one distance before the test gave my dog trouble. My bad.

At the holding blinds you might try turning your dog around and facing away from the blind if the wait gets long and she get's fidgety. Where I am using a more hyper versatile dog it helped keep him settled by not having his face into the wall of the blind unable to see anything.

If you get a situation on the water setup where it looks too easy for your dog to be enticed to cheat the bank going out. Know you can request the gunner to stand on your other side from normal. I have used the gunner placement to block my dog from cheating the bank when I saw dog after dog cheating the bank before my dog's run. Not something you would normally do, but that day the bird was being thrown close to the bank only 90 degrees around the bank to my left on a very small pond. Will not be a problem at the Texoma test.

Looking forward to your hunt test report. Beware. It is addicting.

SHR Vermilion Dash Rip Rock JHA NAVHDA Prize 1

Thanks Sniper!

My pup has been introduced to a lot of water marks going into water on all types of banks with and without tall cover on the shoreline. She does cheat if she can (like most young dogs) and of course we aren't handling yet so I try my best to make every mark non-cheating.

I've been using three ducks now for a few training sessions in a row and this morning they were really starting to get soggy.

My biggest worry is just that she'll be to distracted by the other dogs and people so we've been going to park and running through some obedience with people and strange dogs around.

I do have a question though.

What are the rules about talking to your dog? Can I give commands like "hold" as she exits the water or "sit" while the bird is being thrown?

Brady, you may talk to your dog on the line while birds on going down in HRC Started. In started, you may also hold your dog by the collar with one hand to help steady the dog. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS. Seen too many Started handlers fail a test because "their dog never breaks".

As far as when they return, yes you can say hold as she exits the water, or on the return from a retrieve. Just like you can say "fetch" if she drops the bird. Even on the Finished level, without excessive use of the words, you can do these things.

Yeah that's pretty nasty. Guess I need to find some birds to train with.

Passthru, if you need some ducks, try your local flea market. That's where I got mine and made friends with the guy. I now have an unlimited supply of training ducks. cost me $6 bucks apiece for live adults. I like using the live ones for steadiness/blinds and then after a few retrieves I'll dispatch them and throw them on marks. You can freeze them and get a few good days worth out of each one, especially if your dog has a soft mouth.

This morning she got a few water singles with a couple ducks I've used a few times and are getting pretty soggy...with no problems.

This evening we started teaching the line for double T.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we will do fine.

Thanx for the tip.