thx a lot all, also here I value you support and congratulations greatly.
Hereby the link explaining a bit more about these test.
www.akc.org/pdfs/events/hunting_tests/pointing_breeds/brochure.pdfWhat I've learned myself from it with Homer..............and horses and a bracingmate:
Judges in hunttest are allowed to walk or ride horses and you allways have to run in braces. Before you don't know who your bracemate will be. So another male or a bitch. Both have their uo and downsides. Males usually seem to respect a bitch more to back her point than they woul with another male. Some males however won't respect a bitch either.
I was happy to have to brace with a girl. Luckely I've been out with Fred and Tessa a few times and I know Homer does back her up.....but she's his little girlfriend
.
Anyway I was more concerned about the horses, he also finds them extremely interesting and knowing he also points frogs. I was getting nervous that he'd make us look like idiots out there, pointing horses. Luckely he found the bitch more interesting, for a millisecond that was, because he realised that we we're in the fields and started to go out to get him some birds.
Because of the enormous high gras and very bad weather, he couldn't see where he was going, this resulted him bumping up to that nice bitch. I feld so sorry for her, luckely she was okay.
It took them quite a time to reach the birdfield. The birdfield is where they release the birds and where you immediately see the birds flying and jumping out ;)of the bird field. The birds are released a long time before you get there, is the place between the orange flags.
In the pre field (from the moment you release them to when you get into the birdfield, so a huge field), they judge the dogs their will and style of hunting, usage of their noose and persistence to want to fidn birds. If they find and point birds in the pre field they can also make their point. The birds in this test used were chukars, but in this area their was very very small chance that there also would be wild quails or even pheasant. If they work them to point this would also count ofcourse. But they'll set out some birds, becuase this area like a lot of areas in the US are completely out of wild pheasant, chukars, quails etc..
Because of the distances and in this case the high grass the judges can see better sitting from horses. Staying out of your way and not disturbing you.
When Homer was going around he wasn't bothered by the horses, but when he was passing them in his run nearby I could tell, he wanted to challenge them to run with him. I called him of that immidiately and he than he continued to hunt for himself again.
With all the reading, explanations and my very first experience this is how I understood it. But I'll probably go back in October with Homer and do some more hunttests. I hope the weather and ground will be much better for me to be able to film more. And hopefully than I can tell you if I understood everything okay this time
.
I hoe than to see also what they in the US call fieldtrials. Howber their were a lot of people visting who also do and did fieldtrails and their expalnation about their fieldtrails. That those are more competive, meaning the most import thing there is they fastes, wide running dog wins, that's why handlers can ride in the fields as well. How harder your dog runs, the more chance he wins. If your dog would use his noise and hunting ability to find a bird at the beginnign of the field, that's something which is in that competition not (let me put it mildly) highly appreciated. Again this is how I understood this being explained to me by people who have been in europe and seen our fieldtrails and have experience in both fieldtrails and hunttest in the US. They tell me the hunttest are more comparable to our fieldtrails. But I hope in October to see and film for myself, so I can share this with you all again.
To be continued....
