FT in England

[mojo]

Hi all !!

I'm wondering about trialing in England.

Could someone tell me about these FT ??

Thanks

Chris

[chiendog]

There are many different kinds of trials and tests and working certificates etc. in the UK. I am sure someone with experience in the various formats will post a reply here. In the meantime, here is a link to something written by Derry Argue, a breeder of Pointers and Setters in the UK. The article is very critical of the UK field trial system and the Kennel Club in general. While the article may be a bit TOO critical for many, I do believe that Mr. Argue raises some very valid points.

adviegundogs.co.uk/adviegundogs.co.uk/field.htm

Aug 12, 2008 21:57:34 GMT 1 mojo said:

Hi all !!

I'm wondering about trialing in England.

Could someone tell me about these FT ??

Thanks

Chris

[tasha]

oh dear that is an appauling article. I really hope that FT is not as bad as that in the UK.

It is difficult to find training and it is difficult to find grounds and to get entries to trials especially for the HPRs but the clubs do run them and you can go and watch them if you want to. Usually there is a lottery as to who is allowed to run on the day. Field Trials resemble rough shooting with a working gun on grounds with game.

With Working Tests its alot friendlier and you can have more entries dependant upon the level that you are at there are several classes:

Special Beginners - This is a training class and introduction to Working Tests a lovely class for beginners to come and have a go.
Puppy - puppy usually consists of a dummy retrieve one seen and one blind, water test (swim and retrieve of a dummy), hunt - to be honest I think the hunt is a waste of time space and energy as the dog is expected to do a zigzag pattern not taking into account the wind, the fact that all the dogs will have gone over the same ground and there is nothing there in the first place! Very disappointing. Game is rarely used either dead or alive and more often than not the grounds used do not and have never held game.
Novice - you go from puppy to Novice when you reach a certain age, very similar to the puppy class although some of the tests are made more difficult for an example sending a dog over distance to jump over a sheep pen to retrieve a dummy after a shot is fired.
Open - you win out of Novice to go into open the tests are alot harder and sometimes cold and warm game is used.

There are now certificates that you can get from tke KC via The Gundog Club but to be honest some of these tests are really not up to much certainly not as stringent as the tests on the continent.

If you want to get involved best thing is to join some of the clubs you can do that via the HPRFTinfo website (http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/HPRFTINFO/index.jhtml not working at moment ) where there is a list of all the clubs or you can ask the KC for a copy of their register. Membership is not normally that expensive a few pounds at best and with membership you can enter the competitions, some have a preference to members over non members.

[mojo]

WAOW !!!!!!

This guy is not afraid !!!!

Thank you Craig.

Chris