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Test Set Up... In this scenario from the December 2001 - January
2003 Judges Corner article, the wingers are exposed which creates some problems.
While appearing to be minor, I believe it reflects
the lack of effort (leading to other realism issues), and lackadaisical manner
in which a few judges/clubs have been conducting their tests lately. Scenario:
The Seasoned
land test had no winger hides up whatsoever.
While the wingers were not visible from the retrieving line (behind
natural bushes), both marks were thrown such that the dog had to run past each
winger to pick up the birds. When
the dog did this, the wingers, and bird boys sitting on their buckets were
completely exposed to the dog. Questions:
First, I
must ask the same questions as our first scenario.
Is it okay for judges to do
something like this, and is it good testing?
Also, could this possibly be an illegal test?
Answer:
To the first couple of questions,
same answer – of course not. A
couple of handlers apparently questioned the judges about the visibility of the
wingers at the beginning of the test. One
handler asked the site marshal if hides were available and was told there were
plenty in the club trailer, but the judges said they didn’t need them!
Hogwash! If you have hides,
use them, or start cutting brush if you don’t.
I suppose to be fair I should give the judges credit for putting the
wingers behind bushes, but they could have easily gone one step further in the
right direction. They seem to have
forgotten they were not setting up an evening training session where the goal
might be to simply get some marks on the ground and a blind planted so they
could get repetitions in for the dogs. Judges
owe a club and the handlers their best effort at setting up a quality test,
which includes their best effort at hiding the wingers and bird throwers so as
not to create any “distractions” visible to the dog at any time during the
test. It’s that simple. As to the legality issue, I would offer the following. The rulebook specifically states in the Seasoned guidelines, page 32 – item VIII: “Gunners and Bird Boys should be inconspicuous, in keeping with the hunting situation. It is the intent of these regulations to provide the dog with adequate opportunity to focus its attention on the area of the fall”. You tell me if a dog proceeding to the area of the fall that runs past a visible winger/bird thrower might lose its focus on the area of the fall? I think it’s quite possible. I believe the hunt committee should have insisted the wingers be hidden better, regardless of what the judges thought. Folks, this is basic stuff that HRC is working hard to correct in our testing. Get these judges to a seminar, quickly!
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The Judges Corner - copyright
2006 All Rights Reserved Last modified: February 18, 2008 |