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Deciding whether to Test / Trial on consecutive weekends?

5K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  DEDEYE 
#1 ·
Having fun looking at the trial and test schedule for 2014 and planning my calendar. There are several tests and trials Feb thru April. A person could almost go every weekend for 3 months. Obviously I won't do that, but there will be a couple of times that I'd be going to a hunt test one weekend and trial the next weekend, then one weekend off and going again the following weekend.

How do you judge whether this is going to make the wheels fall off? I know pros go to consecutive trials week after week. Do they run the same dogs or give them time off. Is it just a matter of each individual dog? And finding out by getting your feet burned?
 
#2 ·
With a young dog, I have entered 2 in a row and was ready to pick up the dog or scratch the second one if something bad showed up.

After the first week you still have time to enter the third week, if you're feeling good. If you wait til the second week to decide, you just take a week off.

If at any time you see something bad, you should deal with it right away (handle, pick up, scratch the test or the next test, etc)
 
#3 ·
in just about every region of the country you have no choice but to run field trials on consecutive weeks, because its like a traveling carnival of gypsies going from location to location....except in places like Niland Ca. where you might have 4 trials in six weeks all on the same grounds but hosted by 3 different clubs...same goes for Salt Lake City where the trials are back to back but hosted by two different clubs
 
#5 ·

I disagree. Just because trials are being held, does not mean that you need to attend.

I would gauge which trials to run by:
1) My dog
2) The judges

I have had some dogs that I would not run three in a row. I had one dog that I ran 7 trials in a row.

 
#8 ·
"How do you judge whether this is going to make the wheels fall off?"

Jennifer,

Like many other things in life it's hard to describe BUT,,,,you know it when you see it...


More times than not a wheel does not just fall off. Sure sometimes an axle will shear and the wheel flies off.

What usually happens is the operator (handler in this case) will notice a snap or click when starting to move the vehicle. Then maybe a slight vibration or shimmy at certain speeds.

Maybe a dull rumble or humming noise....

If left unchecked it turns into violent shaking and rumbling followed by the "Wheel falling off" !!!

This almost always can be avoided by using high grade components and qualified technicians to install said wheels......

Bottom line is....

If you are paying attention to your vehicle (dog) you WILL know when the wheels START to fall off....

Enter your dog,,,,pay attention,,,have fun...

If you notice any deviations from the norm..........Scratch.... Fix... Try again.

Randy



 
#9 ·
I guess I am answering my own question in advance, but I have often wondered how the pros hit the circuit with a truck full of dogs and compete week after week. Of course the answer is, they are pros, LOL. But I still wonder.
 
#10 ·
I have often wondered how the pros hit the circuit with a truck full of dogs and compete week after week.
1. That is how they make their living.
2. Not all dogs on the truck are created equally, some win alot some almost never.
3. At any given time some will be running very well, some will be running poorly, and some are somewhere in between.
4. That is how they make their living.
 
#12 ·
Given your particular training style Jen I don't think it would be a huge problem for you to run back to back. I think, and I could be wrong that the wheels often come off because a lot of what the dog is responding to is the use of pressure in training. After a few birds, they realize the pressure potential isn't really there and go back to their desired behaviors, somewhat anyway. Keeping in mind that everything we train a retriever to do (except retrieve) is pretty much counter instinct, things start getting dicey fast with certain dogs.

In an environment where training is pure teaching and long term habitualization of behavior, I think you stand a better chance of avoiding this phenomena.

It's all theoretical, so who knows. One long time competitor on here once said something to the effect of "bring on the dogs that aren't ready that's just less competition for my team".
 
#16 ·
I think, and I could be wrong that the wheels often come off because a lot of what the dog is responding to is the use of pressure in training. .
​I disagree with this.
 
#14 ·
My newbie eyes have not noticed dogs falling apart at tests or trials due to release of pressure---I think this is what Darrin described in which dogs realize that they don't have the collar on and behave badly, such as thinking the rules don't apply. I am not disputing that it happens, it is just not something I've noticed. What I have noticed are a lot of dogs entered in events that were simply not ready. Many of these dogs were simply not prepared for all the excitement or had no clue what a whistle blast meant on a blind, for example.

I have been watching the pros. Here's my take. The high end pros do not enter dogs that are not ready. These pros have the experience to know which dogs are ready and what they can take. They also know which dogs they can double stake. Sure, sometimes the dog are having a bad hair day and don't do well, don't handle that day etc., but the dogs look prepared even when things go south. Sometimes the pro pulls the dog from the line, or has his client running the Am do so. (I'm not sure I would have the wherewithal to pull my dog after driving all that way and paying all that money...)

I have seen a lot of dogs do poorly because the handlers are new and make a lot of mistakes. So it is a balancing act for me---I can learn something by entering a trial/test because I get experience and learn more about dog training. Or I verify that my dog has progressed on some concept. So for me decisions have been based on my perceived cost-benefit. I do the wait-and-see approach, like one of the other posters mentioned. I enter an event, see how it goes, then decide if I dare sign up for more.

Had I waited to enter events (especially FTs) until I felt totally prepared, I would probably have never entered any!

Disclaimer: I have not run many events. I have probably observed more than I've entered, trying to get the lay of the land.
 
#17 ·
When working a young dog onto the circuit is not hard, run one trial/ hunt test a weekend.

In my experience, what is harder to do for the handler is having the confidence in their preparation. all dogs elevate at an event. ( It is not the collar ) The reason why most pro's seem to do better is One, they have more dogs and Two, they follow a vary formal routine. It's not the same for every dog and each dog has a weakness. The handler must know how to read this weakness early and have the tools to handle it, when the dog elevates.

Keith
 
#19 ·
Look at it this way, if you can keep it together for both days at the hunt test, the next weekend the FTers won't notice if your dog is out of control ;)
 
#26 ·
Once upon a time in a far away land, there was a festive girl named Darla. She loved to train, loved hunting, loved tug-o-war, tearing up forests, diving for sticks, chasing balls. She loved doing marks, million mile blinds, drills, coming out of holding blinds.. She never broke on honor.. She was also the master of creeping, and could creep out 4 feet in front of you without even lifting a paw..

Because she loved all these things, her awesome handler/owner would enter her in EVERYTHING (translates into 5 trials a year, and 5 double header hunt tests in Alaska) Soon, poor Darla could not contain herself. She was beating her handler to the line, creeping, bouncing and then finally the honor break.

I say enter everything and see what you get! Mammal Vertebrate Dog Canidae Dog breed
 
#27 ·
Once upon a time in a far away land, there was a festive girl named Darla. She loved to train, loved hunting, loved tug-o-war, tearing up forests, diving for sticks, chasing balls. She loved doing marks, million mile blinds, drills, coming out of holding blinds.. She never broke on honor.. She was also the master of creeping, and could creep out 4 feet in front of you without even lifting a paw..

Because she loved all these things, her awesome handler/owner would enter her in EVERYTHING (translates into 5 trials a year, and 5 double header hunt tests in Alaska) Soon, poor Darla could not contain herself. She was beating her handler to the line, creeping, bouncing and then finally the honor break.

I say enter everything and see what you get! View attachment 16300
Hard to argue with a dog that's having that much fun!

I once ran 4 MH tests and a Q in 5 weeks with a very stead, very controllable dog named Ozzy, out of FC Devil. In the last test my boy broke on the honor. I blew the sit whistle one time and just started laughing. I had been watching him go higher and higher, looser and looser and I knew it was my fault, but DAMN! he was having fun, and that's what it was all about for us.
 
#31 ·
I love snow angels, running hunt tests while wearing wrestling Tshirts, reading silly posts on RTF, training YELLOW dogs, field trials..

I don't love praying my dog's not gonna break..
 
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