# Hunt Test Question



## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

So it's time to get back to birds & training. I initially thought I would have Pumpkin (13m) earn her JH this fall; however, I am having 2nd thoughts, and I may just shoot for the longer term goal of MH. 2 opinions I hear from V club folks, as it relates specifically to me, are: (1) JH is good experience if even just for the atmosphere exposure. 2) JH test requirements come easy to P & would be a waste of time; in addition, brace mates may introduce undesireable behaviors such as diving in on birds and not honoring. I see both persepctives, but I am tending to opinion 2. Pumpkin's trainer has open sessions on Saturday mornings. Often there are as many as 10-12 dogs. Each dog getting about 15-20m of time on birds. This is a no pay/open session experience that does offer P the opportunity to be exposed to the "chain gang" etc. That eliminates some of the appeal to the atmosphere exposure part. I have not had a chance to ask Maurice about it. When I talk to open session folks (many of them are field trialers), they see the JH as a title more for breeders who may not be hunters but want to show their breeding prospect has hunting drive & are also hitting the confirmation circut etc. One of them said the title is meaningless to a hunter or someone interested in titles as a sport/hobby/trainer. Anyway, for those of you hunters &/or involved in hunt tests, what are your thoughts? We are training P as a personal hunting companion, but I also think it would be fun and rewarding to see her earn titles. We are not breeding her. Thanks!


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

I'd try senior first. I tried 5 attempts with Bailey in Master without any success. We are going to step back one and get his Senior. We bypassed Junior but did alot of field trials in Puppy and Derby. Not something I would repeat again.

Try tonight to give you some of our experiences with Derby in field trials.

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/08/master-hunt-test-tough.html

RBD


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## Crazy Kian (Aug 10, 2009)

Not sure why you would not want to go through Junior first.
It gets your dog ready for future trials and it gives you an idea as to where you need to practice with your dog?
Plus it's jut fun.

Maybe the rules are different in the US than up here.


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## Macaroni (Jan 19, 2011)

Keep in mind these are just thoughts from a VERY novice Vizsla owner and someone w/ minimal exposure to field training (4 weeks worth)! Input is based on discussion/information from others.

We take Mac out to a trainer for field training. We were hoping to attain his Junior title last weekend, but weren't able to make the date work. I've been told it's good to get a pup (9 months in our case) out to a junior event, even if you don't attain the title, as it provides good experience to an impressionable young dog - gets them used to the volume of dogs, people, etc. Our trainer thinks Mac would have no problem attaining and then moving straight to Excellent - (It's a little different in Canada, as the CKC has Field Dog Junior, Field Dog, and Field Dog Excellent) - as this is where it will help to prevent the picking up of the bad habits you mentioned. I think some feel it depends on the age of the dog. Younger dogs (2 ands under) benefit for the experience of the junior, whereas an older dog beginning field training is more likely to develop and attach to the skills learned in junior trials and have more difficulty adapting/relearning from there. 

Regards


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

My mistake, Rod. Senior is correct, and we are no where close to that


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Me again...
Crazy Kian & Macaroni: I thought going through JH was the logical thing to do. I've just had a number of V hunting folks & clubbers tell me they wouldn't put P in the JH tests. They think it has the potential to cause more training problems down the road then training benefits in the short term. If she is completing the "tasks" at home in the field on birds, why put her in with brace mates that may introduce bad habits? IDK, I'm all new to this which is why I was asking for y'alls input. I will have to read up on puppy derby/stakes. My VERY limited exposure to field trialers leaves me with the impression that they are quite different than the folks doing hunt tests. I don't mean the actual field experience for the dog, because I know field trials themselves are very different, but it seems the humans who do them are too ;D I do not mean that as a negative, but some of the folks I have met are strung a little too tight for me. Not trying to generalize. That is why I drive way too far and too infrequent to a trainer that has lots of V experience & trains pointers for trials, companion, and hunt tests. We have a lot of retriever/strictly trial trainers, but hardly any that focus on the pointing breeds & train first to produce the best hunting partner. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Thanks for the input!


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## Crazy Kian (Aug 10, 2009)

Kelly, 
What I do with Kian is a hunt test, not a trial. So maybe that is the difference.

In a trial would your dog be 'hunting' with another dog? You mentioned brace mate so I assume, yes.

CKC field tests in short.

FDJ (Field Dog Junior)
the dog goes out on it's own with a handler (me) and a judge. Two birds are planted, dog points birds, holds for 10 seconds, handler flushes bird, dog gives chase, handler fires starter pistol, call dog back.

FD (Field Dog) - Same thing, except now the dog points, handler acknowledges point, handler flushes bird, bird flies and one of two gunners shoot bird. Dog retrieves bird to handler.

FDX (Field Dog Excellent) - Similar but with an honour. And then a water retrieve as well.

I am not sure if these are the same rules as in the US. There are also NAVHDA trials up here but I will never get involved with them. Not enough time to train Kian and really, we will never hunt so I don't see the point.
I would like to have Kian earn his FD, doubt he will ever get to the point of FDX, again because it requires a lot of training on my part and seeing as how we live in a city it's tough to get the training he would need.

My whole take on these tests is that I will only enter my dog if I feel he is ready and has had training. I don't ever want to set my dog up for failure, not fair in my opinion. I have had one of his trainers tell me to enter him in an FD test but at that time he had never even been under a shotgun, so I had no clue if he would bolt or not.
Earlier this month he was away at a trainers for 9 days, while we were on vacation. She trained him to retrieve killed birds which he did well but not to hand unfortunately. 
Next year we will enter him in a few FD tests to see how he does. He needs more exposure and practice though.

Good luck.


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Crazy Kian-Yes, I'm talking about hunt tests too. The tests sound alike, but in the states, you have a bracemate. If I decide to bypass the JH, it would be a while (certainly not until at least next fall) before even attempting the SH. I would not want Pumpkin in over her head, and I most definitely would be ;D Thanks for the input. I hope you don't mind a pm in the future, because I know you & Kian are more experienced and further along in training.


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## Crazy Kian (Aug 10, 2009)

No problem.

Tried sending you a pm but it wouldn't go through.


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