Judge’s Corner        December 2007 - January 2008 

 

In the last issue we discussed a situation where two handlers ran the same dog.  One ran it in the morning series, and a different handler ran the dog in the afternoon test. I didn’t think of it at the time, but I suppose we could have called this a “switch” in that the dog dropped one handler and picked up another!  All joking aside, at the end of the discussion I brought up something else I said I’d seen on more than one occasion; two handlers bringing a dog to the line at the same time.  I’ll admit this happens so rarely that most judges have probably never seen it.  However, if you do see this, or some variation of it while judging, the following discussion might help you respond appropriately.  It also gives me the opportunity to bring up a couple more points I’ve wanted to talk about regarding bringing dogs to the retrieving line, especially at the Started level. To refresh your memory, here was the basic scenario.

Scenario: 

At the Started test, two people came out of the holding blind with the dog.  One person brought the dog to the line on lead, and then handed the lead to the other person who was actually going to run the dog.   

Question: 

The question I asked you to consider was, is this acceptable?    

Answer: 

The short answer to the question posed is no.  Our rulebook makes no provisions for two handlers working a dog in a test.  Under Handlers on page 34, the rulebook states; “The Handler must keep the hunting retriever on lead to and from the retrieving line”.  It’s pretty clear the dog must be brought to the line by the handler who will be running it.  Of course the exception is a handler who has a physical handicap that makes it impossible to walk to the line with their dog.  We discussed what our rulebook says about accommodating handlers with physical handicaps in a recent column so I won’t re-cover that ground here.  When I have seen the above scenario occur, it is usually a case of a younger handler running a dog who would not walk properly on lead to the line.  Dad or another adult are bringing the dog to the line for one of these two reasons; 1) either the handler lacked the size, weight, or strength, none of which by the way qualify as a physical handicap, to control the unruly dog or more often, 2) they wanted the dog to get the message that it could not get away with pulling the handler in the hope that it would help the dog behave during the remainder of the test. I have also seen two people walking a dog to the line at both a Seasoned and Finished test.  One was obviously the handler and the other was there in my opinion to remind the dog to behave.  As a judge, if I saw this at any level, my response would be to immediately stop the procession, inquire who is handling the dog, and require the real handler to take over the task of bringing the dog to the line on their own.  Let me add that adults should have the good judgment to never put a young handler in a situation where a powerful, unruly dog could pull them down and drag them toward the retrieving line.  I have seen that happen more than once and it is not a pretty sight.  This brings me to a new phase in this discussion.   

I recently had the pleasure of running my young retriever in his first two Started tests.  I had run over 40 HRC tests in all the other categories since running my last Started test.  It was rather daunting to go to the Started retrieving line after a long absence, especially with a dog with zero points. We did just fine and I’m now the proud owner of a dog with 10 championship points!  The judges were highly experienced and gave excellent test briefings.  Gun safety, and mechanics and objectives of the marking test and control issues such as holding the dog at the line and delivery were carefully explained.  As respects coming to the retrieving line, not much was said other than the dogs must be brought to the line on lead.  In fairness to the judges, our Started Test Briefing document does not list an objective for coming to the line.  So what do we expect from a Started dog walking to the line on lead?  Very little actually.  In my flight, which I’d say was typical of an average group of young dogs, we had some that walked beside their handlers on a slack lead, but we probably had more that came to the line pulling on a taut lead.  One walked on its back feet only, if you understand what I mean, choking and coughing all the way.  The ugly truth is we simply don’t judge Started dogs until they get to the retrieving line.  When was the last time you heard of a Started dog failing for not coming to the line under control? When they fail, it’s usually for not going for or not getting to a marked fall, or for not delivering it.  I think we should be doing a better job in a couple of areas.  Before you get excited, I’m not advocating getting tougher on judging Started dogs.  I think the standard is where it needs to be.  But I do want to suggest a couple of things.  First, judges should pay attention to how well the Started dog comes to the line and note the performance on their score sheets, which I think I can safely say is rarely done now.  And we should encourage Started handlers, even if they pass and especially if they are new to HRC, to speak with their judges at the conclusion of the hunt.  It’s the judges’ job to offer an unbiased opinion on their dog’s performance in all areas to be judged, including control issues and handlers should take advantage of the judges experience and evaluation skills. Secondly, perhaps in part because of the way we judge (or don’t judge) a Started dog coming to the line, we have left many new handlers with the misconception that control in this area is not all that important.  That is doing them a disservice which I will try to explain.   

A lot of new HRC members are encouraged to sign up for Started by folks who tell them all the dog has to do is go get the birds and bring them back.  They’re told they’ll be able to bring the dog to the line on lead and hold it when the birds are thrown.  What we’re not telling them, and I’ll include myself until I learned better, is how important it is to establish good control early in a dog’s hunt test career.  The first step to that end is making sure the dog will walk reasonably well on a lead.  Please note I didn’t say perfect.  How many pro trainers, or gifted amateurs have you seen let a dog pull them up to the line at Started or Seasoned?  I’ll wager very few.  They understand not to run a dog until it’s under adequate control. They know better than to get themselves in a situation where they can’t correct a dog for poor control, which they of course can’t do at a hunt test.  In a nutshell, there is a big difference between being able to pass a Started test, and really being ready to run one.  Tell me I’m wrong, but I’ve observed that the Started dog that drags it’s handler to the line on a tight lead and is rewarded with the retrieves will be the same dog that will be having control issues such as poor heeling, creeping and breaking when it gets to the next levels.  I hope this gives you something to consider the next time a new handler asks if you think their dog is ready to run HRC tests.  Encourage them to participate in club training days and picnic hunts where a hunt test can be simulated and problems worked on to help them fully prepare their dog to succeed and progress.  I want to use one more short scenario to make a final point about judging dogs coming to the retrieving line then I promise we’ll move on to something that involves a dog actually making a retrieve!   

Scenario: 

The Finished handler was told to come out of the last holding blind and proceed to the retrieving line.  The dog was walking several feet in front of the handler and not responding to repeated verbal commands to “heel, heel”.  The dog never actually broke away to run to the line, but the team did not walk together as instructed by the judges.  The lead judge told the handler to “go back to the holding blind and try that again”.   

Question: 

Was this the proper instruction to give to the handler? 

Answer: 

It’s probably fair to say Finished is the most likely place you might hear those words. There is no lead to help control the dog as there is at Seasoned, and many Finished dogs don’t exhibit the level of control expected of a Grand dog.  And as I explained in our first scenario, we rarely judge a Started dog coming to the line.  Before I answer the question above, let me applaud the judges for actually watching the dog as it came to the line.  We’re still trying to get some to do that.  And for being concerned about the lack of adequate Finished level control coming to the line.  We’re working on that with a bunch of judges as well.  And the judges correctly told the handlers that their dogs should walk with them off lead and under control.  Notice again, I did not say heel perfectly.  The judges did a lot of things right, but asking the handler to go back to the holding blind and try again was not one of those things.   

I’m not sure where or how this got started but I can guess.  Some judge without the backbone to call the work marginal or even failing decided that they’d just give the handler a second opportunity to walk the dog to the line.  The problem with that is there is nothing in the rulebook that even remotely supports allowing a handler two chances to bring a dog to the retrieving line.  Judges cannot just create a rule to arbitrarily decide to offer a dog a re-run on a portion of the test, which essentially is what they are doing by letting them come to the line twice.  While re-runs are allowed in the event of a problem with the test, interference, or when a test is changed, they are not given simply because the judges decide a dog could do better.    Why not start letting dogs have two chances at the blind or walk-up?  Where do we draw the line?  Even where the rulebook allows a second chance such as the re-cast option in Started and Seasoned, the dog is still judged on the first attempt.  In fact, we advise judges to remind handlers of the opportunity to re-cast before the dog gets out of control, which can fail it on the first attempt.  It is a basic tenant of judging that unless a test is halted, a dog is being scored the entire time it is in the field.   

Let’s look at this from another angle.  I was told one handler, when asked to go back and try again, asked the judges to explain why he would want to do that.  The judges were puzzled until he laid out his logic.  He figured he was not failed yet, because surely they would not let him come back and re-run from a failing performance.  But he figured the dog didn’t exactly do passing work or they would not have asked him to try again.  That left him figuring they had scored the dog as marginal.  Unlike a re-cast attempt where the second effort is to pick up a bird not gotten with the first effort, he figured he completed the task the first time because they made it to the line.  Unless the judges wanted to simply forget about the first effort, which he understood they were not supposed to do, he’d stick with his marginal.  He figured if he tried again, there was a real possibility the dog might perform worse.  He said the dog was so smart he might figure he didn’t get up there fast enough the first time and missed all the throws!  No sir, he’d stick with his marginal, thank you.  What he thought these judges were doing was putting him in double-jeopardy by giving him a second chance to fail.  Speaking of double-jeopardy, I want to remind judges that in the event of a re-run, a handler should not be judged on any portion of a test they had already successfully completed.  For example, the dog does fine coming to the line and a winger fails on the first bird thrown.  When the dog is re-run, judges should allow the handler to come straight to the bucket on lead should the handler wish.  The dog has already been judged on control to the line. The judges in this scenario should have simply followed the advice offered in our Judges-Handlers Seminar.  Don’t send them back, but if necessary, advise a handler to get their dog under control as they are walking to the line before a point is reached where the dog is failed for being totally out of control.  In the last issue, I promised you a unique marking scenario.  This supposedly happened at a recent hunt.   

Scenario: 

The judges at the Finished water test vowed to give the handlers a realistic duck hunting scenario.  The first duck was thrown from the left, and then the second and third ducks came from down the right shoreline. They were thrown at the same time and essentially in line with one another.  One duck hit in front of a small levee that jutted out from the shoreline and the other hit behind it.  The judges explained that this happens all the time when hunting.  Hunters kill multiple birds out of a flock. 

Question: 

Is this a good marking scenario? 

Answer: 

I’ll be brief.  No. I spoke with a couple of handlers who ran this test.   One said his very experienced dog did fine, but admitted that his falls were not as in line as some of the others he witnessed.  He indicated that some of the dogs had problems.  The other handler said a majority of the dogs were confused, with many not realizing they were being asked to pick up a triple.  If ducks two and three were lined up just right, the dog would see them as one bird.  As you can expect, many dogs did not want to cast back to the area where they thought they’d already picked up a bird.  While I applaud judges’ efforts at realism, what might happen in a hunting situation does not necessarily make for a good testing scenario.  Anything can happen in a hunting situation, and we don’t care if a dog marks a bird, or is handled to a bird, or how it handles.  The object is to simply pick up the birds efficiently.  There is no pass or fail when hunting and the dog is not competing for championship points and titles under a rigorous testing procedure with rules and guidelines to follow.   

Judges at our events are charged with testing specific skills such as in our example, marking. Tests must be designed to give the dog the best opportunity to mark the birds so the judges have the opportunity for a proper evaluation.  I’ve lost track of the number of times in this column I’ve said when a dog can’t see a mark you can’t test its marking ability.  Now I’ll have to add, when dogs are confused about how many birds are thrown, you can’t judge marking ability. I really can’t say a lot more than that.  If I’m missing something in my assessment of this type of test, somebody let me know.  I wanted to get to a scenario about judging marginal dogs in this issue, but I’ve run my allotment of ink dry.  It will have to wait until the next issue.  I hope everyone is having good hunting and a happy holiday season.  Thanks for reading the Judges Corner and for your support.

 

We hope the “Judge’s Corner” will both entertain and inform you.  Please send your questions and scenarios to Tim at:

 

judgescorner@huntingretrieverclub.org