I slid into a huge cowpie
trying to catch a bird from Phoebe's mouth
before it hit the ground. Phoebe did not know
the command hold. I held the
bird up and smiled at the judge hoping for a
positive sign. He smiled back
at me and made the baseball safe sign.
We all laughed hard and long, and I
spent the entire day covered in cow manure. A
dead bird must be delivered
to hand to qualify although the handler may request
that the dog pick it up
and hand it to him. If you have to ask
the dog too many times, the dog fails.
It is not fun to beg a dog to pick up a bird
especially when the test is going
well and you know you will not qualify if your
dog does not respond quickly.
The AKC Junior Hunting
test is fun for dogs and handlers. Our
Labrador Lady just qualified for her second leg
out of the four she needs.
She is five years old and has had one litter.
She now needs two more
qualifying scores. We plan on taking our
time, allowing at least 4 more
tries before we panic. We have done all
of her training ourselves. We had
her mother trained by a professional trainer.
Her mother Katie has her
Junior Hunting Title. My husband and I
had so much pleasure from running
our Katie in the AKC and NAHRA hunting tests
that we wanted another dog
to run. We
did not think we had the knowledge to teach a puppy ourselves so
several years went by before we tried.
We have all of our dogs retrieve
everyday during good weather. The last
litter that Katie had, the puppies
were retrieving wings before they went home.
Our Lady came from that
litter. She will retrieve a 3-year-old frozen
bird with the same zest as if
it were a fresh kill. She will gently hold that
crummy old thing and always
release. I have an old duck in the freezer, and
once in a while I take it out to
use for training. I have kept track of
five puppies from Lady's litter; all have
hunting titles: Jet, number one dog in owner's
hunting club; Piper, SR-NAHRA,
WC, JH; KDK, SR-NAHRA, 1 leg JH; Lady, WC 2 legs
JH; Brady WC. My
husband and I do not hunt our dogs. We
enjoy seeing them work and watching
other great dogs in action. We have made
many handler errors in the past that
I would like to warn beginners about. It is almost
criminal in hunting tests to
make them. The first test Katie flunked,
and I believe that was the only one. I
waited for the gunners to tell me she
had the bird before blowing the whistle
just as we had done in practice.
The test consists of 2 land retrieves plus 2 water retrieves, and all
retrieves must be delivered to hand. The dog may pick up the
birds several
times.
1. Do not release the dog until the
judge says "dog." Every judge takes a
different amount of time.
2. Do not help the dog. Wait,
Wait and Wait some more. They will ask if
you want the dog helped. The help is an automatic fail.
3. Don't touch the dog before you
take the bird. He must get it to your
hand. Just grab it as soon as possible. He will not lose
by not coming to
heal. You can talk to the dog, or back away from the dog while encouraging
his to complete the delivery.
4. Make sure the dog has been walked
before he is called to the line. It
is OK for you dog to urinate on the way back once he has the bird.
It is
not OK for him to urinate on the way out.
5. Practice with someone else throwing
so he comes to you and not the
thrower.
6. Always stay for callbacks.
You may think he is out of contention when
he is actually still in the hunt.
Watch carefully while the other dogs are running.
You can learn a lot
from just watching. Don't lose patience; the test is supposed
to be a fun
day for you and your dog. Labradors can do this job for many years,
and you
may run them for fun even after they finish the title.
Most dogs need to be taught to pick up anything on
command. This is
called force fetching. Our Katie is force fetched. We wanted
to do Lady
without the forcing. She passed her first test at 2 years old without
training. The qualification was a stroke of pure luck and raw
talent.
The next test she dropped the bird at the line. She had gotten
pecked from
a live bird at the second test and was not going to let that happen
again.
We decided to try and get some help from Jane
Borders. She worked
with my husband two one-hour sessions with the HOLD command.
Lady
seemed to understand what Jane and Victor wanted. We were excited
because Lady's response was so positive to the program.
The next test
Lady did the first bird beautifully, but she missed the fall on the
second. We
were excited at the results because she had delivered so beautifully
the first
bird. The next test Lady got all the birds but delivered one with much
too much
begging which caused her to fail. Last test she passed with good
style and
much praise from her owners. My husband still keeps Jane's instructions
in
his wallet. Jane's process should not be rushed; it should take
at least 10 days.
Notes from Jane Borders, (kept in Victor's wallet):
1. Command: Fetch-Hold
3 times and quit (hold for 3 seconds)
2. Hold-move around dog in front
3. Hold-move all the way around
4. Hold-touch bumper- Tap bumper
5. Hold and pull dog forward & Sit dog
(Say come!)
6. Hold & come with leash
Hold, sit. Keep Head elevated
7. Hold with loose leash-come
Take few steps back.
8. Hold-heal-hurry Come-sit.
9. No Leash-Hold-Stay-leave dog-
Say come-sit- (off leash recall.)
The hold is critical to the test. We do most of our training in
the house
during the winter. We teach the hold with a Bumper and never
during the
time a puppy is teething. Try to have a relaxing time.
Be consistent and
cheerful. Develop a program of rewards for your dog.
P. S. Lady finished her Junior Hunting Title after 17 tries at 7.
