Should I trial my hunting dog? updated

[Johng918]

I have a 2 year old female GSP she has only been hunted on wild birds and is steady to wing and shot and hunts along side my EP's bye know means can she run with them but she still manages to find as many birds without letting them run her over and her bird manners are second to none. I have never run any kind of FT have always been a hunter and around pointers but for some reason have gotten very curious about the FT side of things, My question is would she be a dog that could compete even if she is not able to run with my EP's but can find and handle being on birds just as good? If I do try her out with this what should I put her in to start? I would appreciate if this did not turn into a hunting dog vs trial dog post also. thanks

[Mountaineer]

Any dog can compete..not all have the sufficient nicities required to win.
I would guess there is some manner of competition that you could enter with your dog.
Finding a level of enjoyment, balanced with satisfaction and costs would not appear at all out of the question.
What might be a better consideration, is your personality one that fits into trialing?
Mine would not be.
But I am so glad that trialers exist and help develop the dogs I prefer.

[Cajun Casey]

How is her retrieving? I would suggest you check out NSTRA, which is by far the least expensive route to go if there are trials nearby.

[brad27]

I'd say go for it. You never know how she'll do unless you run her. You'd probably want to run her in Amatuer gun dog. There is a trial near you in Oct.
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=37256

I'm sure some of the Florida members here would be more then happy to help you along in the process. If you didn't want to run her in that one I would at least go check it out to see what field trials are all about.

P.S. I trial my hunting dog.

[orbirdhunter]

I say if your curious either go watch one or go enter one....AKC walking field trial would be another good one to try. If your dog handles/listens well, hunts hard and has great manners on birds then you could probably make it around clean. And if you can do that you always have a shot....or at the very least you can try it and see how you like it. They aren't that expensive.
I went to my first HB trail and ran.....and it looks like it may have been a big mistake...it was a 30 minute adrenaline rush for me

[3Britts]

I am with the rest. Enter her in a trial, gundog, and enjoy.

[DonF]

Enter several. It's gonna be new to you and the dog. has your dog hunted around horse's. A horse can shut down a dog not used to them. What about a gallery on horse's? That can be intimidating for the dog. If it goes badly the first couple time's, try a couple more and talk to people there to fined out what you might do different. Of course, if your dog does not get out and run, forget it. There's no range set is stone for the range of any dog. But if it doesn't go, you won't place. Give it a try, ya might like it and, try NSTRA too. NSTRA is a lot of fun, very competitive and much more lenient rules.

[Brittguy]

I would suggest entering her in gun dog stakes. Some trials are at grounds that only have walking gun dog stakes even if not mentioned on premium. Sometimes dogs are confused if not use to you being on a horse , but you have the option of walking in a horseback stake. You just might have to walk a little faster than you are use to.

[DougSmitty]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

[brad27]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

[ACooper]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

Have you run any trials?

To the OP sure why not, there several walking trials in FL that may not be too far. Go give it a shot, dog does not have to be the biggest running at a trial to win.

[DougSmitty]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

Have you run any trials?

To the OP sure why not, there several walking trials in FL that may not be too far. Go give it a shot, dog does not have to be the biggest running at a trial to win.

To be fair to the OP, if its like 90% of other Trials, its on Planted birds (Same as Nstra) so perhaps I shouldnt be negative.
Enter dog.
Horseback all the way.

[Elkhunter]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

This hound of mine is about as "true" a hunting dog I have ever seen....


Sometimes they can do both!


Dont put yourself and your dog in a box! Go hunting as much as possible and trial as much as possible!

[DougSmitty]

This hound of mine is about as "true" a hunting dog I have ever seen....

Right on, and what titles exactly do you have on that dog?

Dont put yourself and your dog in a box! Go hunting as much as possible and trial as much as possible

Agreedlife is too short and money doesnt matter

[vols fan]

My trial dog was my hunting dog for two years then i started doing walking trials with him.Going to SD in two weeks then back home to trial the following week. Go for it, there are a few clubs around you to go to.

[Elkhunter]

This hound of mine is about as "true" a hunting dog I have ever seen....

Right on, and what titles exactly do you have on that dog?

Dont put yourself and your dog in a box! Go hunting as much as possible and trial as much as possible

Agreedlife is too short and money doesnt matter

Won a handful of Derbies and just got him back from summer camp and ready run broke dog stakes for the first time. A hunting dog and a trial dog are one in the same to me.

[RayGubernat]

I have a 2 year old female GSP she has only been hunted on wild birds and is steady to wing and shot and hunts along side my EP's bye know means can she run with them but she still manages to find as many birds without letting them run her over and her bird manners are second to none. I have never run any kind of FT have always been a hunter and around pointers but for some reason have gotten very curious about the FT side of things, My question is would she be a dog that could compete even if she is not able to run with my EP's but can find and handle being on birds just as good? If I do try her out with this what should I put her in to start? I would appreciate if this did not turn into a hunting dog vs trial dog post also. thanks

First off, that sounds like a darn nice dog. Second, if the dog is steady to wing and shot it can compete.

I don't know how far away Babcock-Webb is from you but if you go over to the American Field website and click on the clanedar you will see some entries for training days. if you click on one of them, a listing of training days and trials at that WMA comes up.

In any case, I suggest you find a field trial, sanctioned by American Field, AKC, NBHA, US complete or whomever and go check it out. Honestly, there is a wide range of types of trials, and each of them is looking for a little something different in a dog. It is probably best to see what it is all about first.

Oh and don't listen to that Bullsh!t about dogs can't do this if they do that. They most certainly can multitask.

I mostly trial my dogs these days, but I hunt them too...on foot at preserves and on WMA properties, mostly on stocked birds, but some natives occasionally.

As far as trialing, I have run the same dog in Horseback All age stakes, Horseback shooting dog stakes, Horseback AKC Gundog stakes and Walking shooting dog stakes. I place occasionally, but the dogs are usually competitive and rarely embarrass me, regardless of where I put them down.

It can be a great deal of fun. I encourage you to go see for yourself.

RayG

[ultracarry]

I was in the same boat. Entered my dog in Derby for the first time and won and I was hooked. 6 months later I had my Field champion.

[Francois P vd Walt]

Just do it I can see you want to ......

just remember does not matter how good your dog is it can not always win, remember to enjoy, you also do need a little luck in trialing ......

good luck !

[DonF]

The hunting dog and the trial dog can be the same. Train for trials and maintain that training while hunting. Where the problem come's in is if you allow the dog to call all the shot's while hunting and then you break it out again after hunting so you can trial.

[JKP]

If dogs can learn the difference between...

running in front of a horse or walking on foot
pressuring and pinning pheasant or standing off sharpies
laying quietly in a blind or beating feet to find birds
a training field and a wild bird field
etc, etc, etc....

they can learn whatever game you want to play if you give it enough exposure time. The dog isn't the limiting factor..we are...as owners.

[orbirdhunter]

JKP i think just said it pretty well.....If your interested give it a shot.

[Francois P vd Walt]

If dogs can learn the difference between...

running in front of a horse or walking on foot
pressuring and pinning pheasant or standing off sharpies
laying quietly in a blind or beating feet to find birds
a training field and a wild bird field
etc, etc, etc....

they can learn whatever game you want to play if you give it enough exposure time. The dog isn't the limiting factor..we are...as owners.

+1 it has never been the dogs fault they only do as they trained to do !

[CowboyBirdDogs]

Your dog sounds like she'd make a great NSTRA dog. Check out your local region. The only thing I like better than NSTRA competitions are NSTRA people. I'm still pretty new in it and have really enjoyed it do far. Can't wait for our first trial in a couple of weeks.

[pointshootretrieve]

Enter several. It's gonna be new to you and the dog. has your dog hunted around horse's. A horse can shut down a dog not used to them. What about a gallery on horse's? That can be intimidating for the dog. If it goes badly the first couple time's, try a couple more and talk to people there to fined out what you might do different. Of course, if your dog does not get out and run, forget it. There's no range set is stone for the range of any dog. But if it doesn't go, you won't place. Give it a try, ya might like it and, try NSTRA too. NSTRA is a lot of fun, very competitive and much more lenient rules.

Good points! I ran a NSTRA trial with my Pointer and the judges were riding around on ATV's and it shut my dog down. Don't know why they were using them in the first place as the course was so small regardless it certainly affected her enough to where she looked like a flushing dog.

[Ruffshooter]

I dont think a true hunting dog would do well in a trial, if at all.

Relocating on birds, while often necessary with wild birds, wont win over any judges.

NSTRA is probably your best bet.

That is just silly. don't listen to above.

With a little brush up you can keep that dog from relocating on its own. Believe it or not will fall back to your normal hunting manner.

Go enjoy. Nstra is fun Gun dog stakes are fun, Hunt test are fun NAVHDA is fun. What kind of range you talking about.
Just because the Pointers are faster does not mean they will beat your dog.

Edit: I had alway maintained my test training during hunting. It is a good Idea to get the dog used to running with horses and four wheelers.


The reason for four wheelers is because the judge needs to see the whole hunt and many of the dogs cover more ground than a person of foot can see and keep up with. Imagine a me or a 70 year old trying to keep up with a 16 braces fo hard charging dogs.

[Johng918]

Found some hunt test close bye and decided to start with that so we entered the JH test and scored 10-10-10-10 today for our first try judge told me that I could easily move her up to SH or MH when I got comfortable with everything.