I’d like to start this months Judges Corner by telling you about the judging seminar held recently at our 1996 HRC National meeting in Memphis.  A couple of years ago the field reps first began presenting the Judges/Handlers Seminar in  their respective regions.  Each year they now meet on Friday of the national meeting to attend an “abbreviated” seminar.  The emphasis in this meeting is on how to teach the seminar, giving an effective presentation, subject areas that need emphasis or clarification, using the meeting as a forum to exchange ideas, and to form a consensus opinion on judging topics.  Those field reps who had not year taught the seminar were certified to do so at this meeting.   Several handlers and HRC judges who arrived early to the national meeting were able to sit in on the seminar and earned a judging credit.  President Pete asked that I again conduct this training seminar.   

I’d like to report to you that I believe we now have the finest group of field reps teaching the Judges/Handlers Seminar that we ever have had.  Each field rep attending the meeting contributed not only their time, but their knowledge and ideas about how to make the seminar better.  Their efforts should lead to more consistent presentations of the seminar material.  I’d like to thank Bill Rath, field rep from Region 3, and Ed Thibodeaux, field rep from Region 4 for each teaching a portion of the seminar at the meeting.  They both did an outstanding job with their material. One other HRC member attended the seminar meeting whom I’d like to tell you about.  Before the seminar started, Omar Driskill, HRC’s founding father, and our first president, caught me in the hallway and said he’d like to attend the meeting/seminar to see what was new, and besides, he needed the judging credit!  I told Omar that we’d be honored to have him in the meeting, and we reminisced briefly about HRC’s first ever judging seminar, the one Omar conducted in conjunction with our first national meeting in Ruston, LA,. many years ago.  I was privileged to attend that seminar and told Omar how much I learned from it.  We had no formal seminar back then, and no field reps to teach it.  The seminar was a collection of information Omar put together that he felt every judge should know, and he taught it in his own inimitable style.  Throughout the 1996 meeting, Omar gave us his advice and wise counsel, and his attendance was much appreciated.  

 Several topics  we covered elicited some lively, informative discussion, including an area of judging I mentioned we’d be focusing on in this issue of the Judges Corner - judging the blind retrieve. It was agreed by the field reps that there appears to be a lot of inconsistencies among judges when it comes to evaluating the retriever’s performance on blinds. It was agreed to try to spend a little more seminar time on this topic to give our HRC judges some help in this area.  Let’s go to our first scenario:  

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Situation:  

At the Seasoned land test, the Seasoned retriever is cast toward the blind and immediately veers off course.  The handler attempts to stop the dog, but the whistle is ignored repeatedly.  The dog runs out far enough to find the bird on its own.  The judges fail the retriever. 

Question:  

 Did the judges make the correct decision?   

Answer:  

First, let’s assume the judges correctly set up the blind so there was no interference or distractions for the dog to overcome  (the blind was set up well away from the marks, was not run near the walk-up or diversion areas, and there was no problem with the dog winding bird boys or crates of birds).  Having done this, the judges must concern themselves with several questions in their efforts to evaluate the dog’s ability to successfully run the blind:  How much of an initial line must a seasoned dog take?  How much control should the Seasoned retriever exhibit?  And how much effect should terrain and blind placement have on the dog’s performance?   

We discussed several of these concepts in detail in the field reps seminar meeting.  Recognizing that the dog first runs a blind retrieve at the Seasoned level, our founders gave the judges some Guidelines for judging the seasoned blind in our HRC Rulebook, page 18.  Briefly, while the standards of control on blinds for Seasoned dogs is less than Finished or the Grand, and sitting on the whistle is not required, the Seasoned dog should demonstrate the capability to respond to directional control.  The rulebook further states that “lining the blind is not required”.  The rulebook lets our judges make the decision as to whether the retriever was under sufficient control for the circumstances of the test.  While no mention is made of the term “initial line”, the fact that the rulebook requires  the dog to be under control, and remembering the definition of blind retrieve is ” the being controlled to a bird the dog did not see fall”, its fair to assume the Seasoned retriever should at the very least begin to go where the handler directs.  In our example, the dog veered off course immediately, then was under no control to the bird.  Our founding fathers also recognized the effects of terrain and bird placement on the blind retrieve since the rulebook required the Seasoned blind to be through easy cover and relatively open water.  Clearly, the judges were correct in failing the retriever in this particular situation.   

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Situation:  

The handlers assembled at the Finished water test to hear an explanation of the test and watch the test dog run.  The judges advised the handlers at that time that in addition to the marked retrieves,  they would be required to run two blind retrieves during the test.  Their hunting partner had knocked two birds down.   One fell about  30 yards, and the other glided out to about 90 yards and he didn’t have a dog.  

Question:  

Is this a legal test at the Finished level?  

Answer:

The short answer to the above question is yes, this is a legal test.  The question however, begs for an extended answer.  We discussed this in great detail at the field reps seminar meeting.  As we all know, sometimes what might be a legal test, is not always good testing.  I’ll explain. A few of you rulebook scholars will realize that our HRC rulebook gives our judges no rules and guidelines for judging the Finished blind retrieve save for the Test Description which states there will be a land blind, and a water blind, and the Test Distances, which will not exceed 100 yards for the blind.  The Finished judge must use his/her discretion, knowledge, and experience in setting up a blind retrieve that enables them to properly test the retrievers abilities. A judge must ask themselves “is a double blind necessary in this test”?  The consensus opinion of the field reps was that in most circumstances it is not necessary. The only place double blinds are mentioned in the HRC Rulebook are at the Grand level, where the rulebook states it is permissible to run a double blind test.  The judge must remember that while some handlers think that getting an extra bird to retrieve means “more bang for their buck”, many (most?) will think the judges are giving them another opportunity to fail the test!  Given the lack of rules or guidelines concerning the blind retrieves at the Finished and Grand levels, our handlers need to feel the judges understand blind test set-up and evaluation well enough to fairly and accurately test their retrievers abilities.  

 As the Judges/Handlers Seminar is presented in your region in the coming months, I’ll think you’ll find the field reps will be spending some more time in answering your questions and discussing blind retrieves. I look forward to answering  more of your questions on this subject in the Judges Corner.   

In closing, I’d like you to consider something Omar said in the seminar meeting.  He asked the field reps, “how many standards are there in HRC”?  There was some discussion about the dogs running setting the standard for the test on a given day, or the judge setting the standard, or variable standards for given conditions, but the answer, as Omar explained  is:  There are four “standards” in HRC that we test the dogs at: Started, Seasoned, Finished, and Grand standards.  What Omar was telling us is we must keep the test within the standards for each class established in our HRC Rulebook.  Be good judges and use good judgment!  

It’s our hope that the Judges Corner will both entertain and inform you.

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