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Casting a dog - from the February - March 1998 Judges Corner article... by Tim Gibson The dog in the scenario below left before being sent. How should the judges look at this? Scenario:
The Finished retriever picked up the marks and was being lined up to be
sent on the blind. The handler
placed their hand over the dogs head, said the words “dead bird”, and before
the handler could say “back” (or dogs name), the dog left.
The dog took two or three steps and realized it should not have left.
The dog spun around and started back to heel. My oh my!
What to do!!! Question:
What
is happening here and how should this situation be judged? Answer:
You’ve
all seen this happen, often on the blind, and sometimes when a handler is
attempting to line a dog to a designated mark.
The dog is confused, or realizes it should not have left yet and per
its training, will come back around to heel to be properly cast.
Is this a controlled break? If the dog comes to heel and is re-sent, will
this be considered a re-cast, automatically failing the finished level dog?
Let’s try to sort some of this out if we can.
I’ve
written in a previous issue of the Judge’s Corner about the dog who doesn’t
go when cast. We determined that
since the dog never left, a second command to move could not be considered a
re-cast. I stated that if the judge
felt it necessary to fault the dog at all, call this a cast refusal, if
anything. We might apply a similar
logic to the dog that moves before being properly sent and
jumps back to heel. Sending
the dog after this has occurred is not a “re-cast” because the handler
never cast the dog the first time. The
judge must however be alert and recognize when a dog has made a jump out,
misstep, or is temporarily confused. This
is different than the dog heading out into the water and turning back, starting
down the bank, or out into the field with their nose down and deciding to come
back to the handler (see page 10 of the HRC rule book, Hunting Desire).
A good judge will recognize the difference.
We could not consider a dog making a false start on their own a
controlled break. We define a
“break” as the dog moving forward on its own when a bird is thrown.
Handlers have a real tough decision to make when this happens. It’s quite possible they risk being failed by some judges for a re-cast by saying “no, heel”, and calling the dog back. It’s also very tough to stop a dog a couple of steps in front of you who is attempting to return and give a “back” command and proceed with the retrieve from a very unfavorable position. I’ve talked with some of the field reps about this scenario. Most seemed to agree there is a problem with many judges recognizing and knowing how to judge what I’ll call the “canine self-cast”, for lack of a better term. It seemed the consensus opinion was in favor seeing the dog properly cast. This is the only way the judge can truly evaluate the retrievers performance. I’ve probably said it a hundred times, but it all comes back to being fair, using good judgment, and giving the benefit of the doubt to the dog. Your field reps will be happy to talk with you more on this subject. |
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2006 All Rights Reserved Last modified: February 18, 2008 |