Nashville HT folks

[stumpjumper]

billy, I'm trying to figure out what kind of "favors" you performed for a certain judgette?? heck, I didn't have but 2 handles... oh, and tell your trainer he can't handle in masters anymore. you did a much better job.

I will take some luck any day of the week I think I can handle AKC but Steve will still have the controls at the Grand.
PM me your number my phone went out and I had to get another and lost all my contacts.

[Duck Chaser]

will do.
man you know its not luck.., you should be proud of the Abby dawg. what a spring!

swamprooter, man congrats on the SH and first master ribbon!

Well said!

GC, I agree.

some may not get my drift.. cold honors, delays, PB, and any (identifiable) concept.., I couldn't care less. you train for it, so what good is having it if you don't use it?

I was in, uh, relax/BS mode writing that other reply, and figured it was obvious... meant no disrespect. for the love of all thats good an pure, I hope ALAN BRUHIN knows more about bird placement and testing masta dogs than I do! even so, that doesn't mean I have to drink anybody's unique kool-aid.. that said, the test wasn't difficult, and had potential to be jam-up good, imo.

as for the goofy, like others, I don't care for the misdirection type shots, especially when they take the gun away from you. ldh covered it! in our case, a simple "here" and send, is all that was needed to get past it. my dog saw the bird, but looked and went towards the shot, because he does hunt.

the only part of the bird placement I didn't get, was the pile-em-up. imo that deal doesn't qualify as "in-line". maybe "i.d. the pile" or "return to old fall" concept.. anybody care to explain what in-line marks are suppose to create or test? maybe non-overlapping, individually identifiable, short/long, driving through old falls/checking down etc., have nothing to do with it.....

imo, JUST because a dog doesn't like to go there, doesn't make it a good mark. I believe it CAN be a PART of the best marks tho. best as in challenging, and revealing of a dog's talent and training. man, I don't know if I want that or not..

completely agree that Alan and Michelle judged it "fairly". heck, half the dogs got ribbons.. where you'd usually see a handle (of a dog that didn't even make the aof) together with another handle or gorilla hunt not carry...., some of that surely did.

is that good? I guess it is if you make the cut.

I'm NOT looking for cheese, or some standard mechanics, but I don't like stuff clouding up the dog work. I'd rather us hammer the test, clearly survive it, or the test hammer us. not stand around wondering how sharp the pencils are, because the test didn't provide clear answers.

and on a not so serious note...

"Master dog should be able to handle any mark/blind or concept anywhere anytime under any conditions, if he can't he's not a Master Hunter".

well, here is an akc participant's famous saying..
"if my dog gets one more orange ribbon, and the next test he eats a bird, pisses on the judge, and humps the entire gallery... he will STILL be a Master Hunter."



marty, please don't hurt me

[Marty N.]

Not going to hammer anyone, I did not like the test either and that in my mind was not a good set of marks. I really did not like the flyer, what a waste of a bird. That field had great potential to put out a good set of marks and one or two blinds to use it like that was to say the least weak. However you get what you get and have to deal with it the best you can.
Those marks do represent alot of situations in hunting when two birds are dropped one after the other on a passing shot a few yards apart. The shot thing and the handler not shooting is just a AKC thing if you are going to run it it is just part of the game.
If your dog humps someone and he enjoys it then I really, really hope he passes cause if I'm there I am goning to be the guy rolling around on the ground laughing my @ss off. I will buy the beer the day I see that.

Hope you get your last pass and that title cause couple it with an HRCH then you have both games covered and truly a nice dog.

Marty

[goosebruce]

I just read this stuff. all i can say is ldh for president! Anytime you throw a bird, well placed or not, but do something to get a dog NOT to look at it, welp, thats punk. Dogs that head swing, lock on a fall, or creep and don't see a bird, welp, they pay their own penalty. But building a test, ANY TEST ANY VENUE, where dogs look the wrong way because of how your mechanics are, sucks.

Ya may like em tight, overlapping, inline, or cheese, but no matter how you like marks, ya gotta want dogs to see them. Whats the point of throwing them if dogs don't see them? Why bother throwing them at all if your going to make an effort for dogs to do nothing wrong, and not see the birds. shots from opposite gun stations & from behind a dog, to me, are an effort to see which dogs will not see them.

I'll buy the 'it happens hunting arguement' first test that starts 30 minutes before sunrise. travis

[gator]

LDH and travis said it better than i could hope to.

if it's a marking test, let the dog mark.....at some point, folks need to draw a line in the sand and say that type crap has no place when judging dogs.

gator

[BamaK9]

I'm waiting on that 'trick test' where there is a camo cake in the field and the "winger" is a big-chested blond that pops out of it and throws 2 birds in any dayum direction she wants

[stumpjumper]

I'm waiting on that 'trick test' where there is a camo cake in the field and the "winger" is a big-chested blond that pops out of it and throws 2 birds in any dayum direction she wants

I agree and who cares if you pass or not at that point

[cdwyer]

Talk about tricks or whatever you call it two years ago Southwest MO and this was a UKC test. You had a hale bale blind. working dog handler at one end, honor dog handler at the other. The working dog was outside the blind(remote sit) honor dog inside the blind sitting with his head through a hole inbetween the two handlers. You sat down and passed a box of doughnuts back and forth then called the ducks. A breaking bird was thrown inbetween the two dogs. Working dog had to run a poision bird blind from the remote sit. Dog comes back two more marks are thrown, pick up all three birds.

The land test was in a corn field with 100 or so decoys out, ran from layout blind with a bubba gunner on the other side of your dog, calling and shooting.

This was a UKC test. Stupid happens everywhere!

[goosebruce]

stupid is as stupid does... where it happens makes no difference. One of the funniest things I ever hear is about aksea hunt test being mini field trials. While not a field trial expert, Ive never been to one that you couldn't see the birds... I can't say that about a bunch of the master tests, therefore I think that statement is totally wrong. And purposeal confusion, or dorked up mechanics, or even worst, purposely throwing birds fast in an effort to see what happens, makes no sense to me from people who agreed to test marking. And no venue is immune, thats true.

Let me say, Im all for fun and games. Im all for stuff thats 'different', and makes a handler pucker a lil bit. But i wouldnt sacrific a marking test for it. Im all for as much hunting as you can stand in a test. But I wouldnt sacrfic a marking test for it.

I hate posion bird blinds. In reality, 80% of the dogs take so long lining up, the supposed cripple would get away. Ought to put a stop watch on them! A bird tossed off line (hrc style) and no'd off of, is almost NO suction to a dog prepared to run a real blind. If a dog has problems with it, odds are he'd had a problem with the blind anyway. Thats just me tho. travis

[skuna]

Just my 2 cents..... but in a hunting situation especially timber.....shots could be fired behind, to the side and in front of a dog. I handle my dog routinely from a remote stand because I may be behind another tree......I personally welcome the different scenerios the Hunt Test provides. It's Hunting. A group of 3-4 duck hunters are constantly downing ducks that cross each other's fall.

the thing is here that in a real hunting situation you can handle a dog if needed. Test are for testing concepts and skills. They resemble hunting situations but it's not really hunting. Marks are supposed to test marking.....not whether or not your dog can lock on a winger hide and not pull around to look for what in a dogs mind sounds like another mark. Then on top of that they have the 2 birds in two series with almost overlapping area of the falls that are just about perfectly in line. It's hard to know what judges are testing for when they set somthing up like that.

[Trykon]

Just make sure you run under Bear Strickland and you'll never run into this.