Field trials vs Hunt test

[zeus3925]

HT should be no problem for a FT dog except for the one's that "live on the edge" on the line. Steadiness is a big part of the HT game.

[Jerry Beil]

I didn't see where the OP said anything about an FC, just a field trial dog. There's quite a range there.

[Jeff Huntington]

FC AFC downtown dusty brown titled MH and HRCH. I believe he passed a couple of master nationals as well as UKC Grands.

Dusty never passed a grand I believe. HRCH yes!

[DEDEYE]

"Howard -

FC/AFC Oakdale Whitewater Devil Dog MH
FC/AFC Whitewater Plourdes Ms MH

Neither ever failed a hunting test regards"

It's only because of the drills we did with the little black diversion dog.

[DEDEYE]

HT should be no problem for a FT dog except for the one's that "live on the edge" on the line. Steadiness is a big part of the HT game.

Ok.. I will try to be serious now... My Princess Darla started in hunt tests. I got sucked into FT because of my silly friend Howard.. She has won an open and has a couple of other AA points. Her puppy child Spanky, has a tendency to creep and break, (this of course is due to my fine training as well as her mother passing on the awesome creeping gene). I wouldn't put Spanky in a hunt test because she is high enough, and I am trying for AA titles... She also doesn't love short birds and would probably over run some.. But alas, I miss hunt tests because they are so festive for the dogs..

It is much easer to train for hunt test than FT in my opinion...

[walt8@cox.net]

HT should be no problem for a FT dog except for the one's that "live on the edge" on the line. Steadiness is a big part of the HT game.

You're not kidding. I don't think I'll ever get my dog steady enough to get through a hunt test. Those in your face flyers will kill us every time.
Walt

[Cut em Shelby]

Are yall saying that FT dogs are nor expected to be as steady as HT dogs? Sorry, I am not well read on the differences in the two types.

[Keith Stroyan]

...My Princess Darla started in hunt tests. I got sucked into FT because of my silly friend Howard.. She has won an open and has a couple of other AA points.

I didn't know that. FANTASTIC! congratulations.

I miss hunt tests because they are so festive for the dogs..

Well said! I guess they'd both be better if you could eliminate the people

It is much easer to train for hunt test than FT in my opinion...

No argument there. It's a question of what greases your crank.

[FOM]

I've run my AA dog in HTs - he has 3 passes so far on limited entries. I pretty much have to whisper his name when I send him other wise he will do his billy goat impression and go long and we did nothing special to convert to HTs other than practice a walk up or two and introduce a duck call - we have only run my club's HT since I end up working it, he's 9 now so we are going to knock out the last few passes he needs this May just for fun, he so loves duck calls! But know he is still training for AA work and the HTs we are gonna run this Spring are sandwiched in between FT weekends.

I think converting from FTs to HTs is super easy if you have a dog who is not on the edge and has good OB.

[John Robinson]

Are yall saying that FT dogs are nor expected to be as steady as HT dogs? Sorry, I am not well read on the differences in the two types.

The dog in my avatar ran only field trials until he was four or five. He was QAA but was having a hard time stepping up to the all age stakes. He never broke once in years of running field trials, but he broke six times in a row when we switched to hunt test. The set up between hunt test and field trials is very different, at least it was back then. In field trials you calmly heel your dog out of the holding blind and walk up to the "line" or mat, where you have all the time in the world (usually), to sit your dog and point out all the guns (in white coats and usually out there a fair bit), before signally yo the judge that you are ready. That's the way we train, day after day, set-up after set-up, so the dog is used to the cadence of the whole thing.

When I just put him in Master with very little training, Cody about jumped out of his skin on our first walk up. Picture his reation when all of a sudden hidden guys at very close distance started blowing duck calls, throwing and shooting. Cody broke out there and would have caught that first bird in the air if the next guy across the field a bit hadn't blown his duck call, thrown a duck and shot his gun, whereby Cody broke across the field for that one, but before he got there the hidden flyer station went off so he broke on that one, his eyes were spinning like pin wheels, I yelled SIT!!!, which he did. The judges told me controlled breaks weren't allowed in Master, so please pick up your dog. I thanked him for calling that a controlled break as it was the most out of control thing I had ever seen.

Mark Henry solved Cody's breaking problem and he went on to pass six straight Masters without a break or a creep. So yes FT dogs are expected to be as steady as hunt test dogs, it's just that FTs are much more orderly and some hunt test set ups can be pretty wild and much closer to the line.

John