average pass fail rate to achieve MH

[fishduck]

if MH is just something you want to do for fun and you're willing to take your time, no reason to ever fail with a capable dog

I disagree with this statement. There are just too many variables to ensure a capable dog does not fail. One of my dogs failed a weekend test both before and after passing the Master National. She is and was very capable. One failure was a direct result of my training. Annie was bringing me ducks out of an orange bucket while airing. Told her "No, leave it" and went on. Next time her head went in the bucket she received a low burn along with a "No". Next test they used an orange bucket to mark the blind. The lesson was well learned and Annie wouldn't go within 10 feet of the bucket.

All dogs have weaknesses and many amatuer dogs have holes in their training. These are often exposed at a test. Master tests are hard for a reason.

[Hunt'EmUp]

There's a thread somewhere in the past where someone posted up the statistics, I think for a amateur it was something like 10-12 MH tests for a title. I think it even had the statistic in different areas of the country, let's you know where you should and shouldn't be running to have better odds

I think this was the one
http://www.retrievertraining.net/for...ight=greenwood
or
http://www.retrievertraining.net/for...ight=greenwood

[Oncini]

I would agree with Suepuff, I have not run any masters yet, my first will come in May but of the JH/SH tests I ran, the ones I failed (2 SH) were because of my bonehead mistakes. Mostly not taking my time with casting etc. This dog is ready for master and as long as I can keep my wits about me I think she will do fine. I would be happy getting a MH within 6 or 7 tests. I hope I am not kidding myself.
Oncini

[DonBrou]

I'm letting my pro get mine through the hunt test titles. That way when I start doing it it'll be a lot less stressful and more fun, because I'll be able to look back at how I screwed up and how the dog bailed the fat boy out again.

[Thomas D]

I'm letting my pro get mine through the hunt test titles. That way when I start doing it it'll be a lot less stressful and more fun, because I'll be able to look back at how I screwed up and how the dog bailed the fat boy out again.

Oh, but then you'll need to get the dog qual for the MN. More pressure. It's a conspiracy.

[Kevinismybrother]

My yellow dog and I passed 5 of 8 to get his title (had his SH). I know more of those "fails" were on me than him. That is better than the average MH test pass rate of 42% in this area.
We have passed 8 of the last 9 thanks to a lot of help training the handler.

My black dog is 1 for 2. While he has more talent, he is a head case by the third series, and I hope it takes less than 10 tries to get his 5 passes for a title. 50% would still be better than the average though.

[Troopers Mom]

Too many variables is correct. We had a dog pass 6 for 6 without a handle on any mark and then we have had two dogs that have passed 3 and 2 consecutively out of about 15 to 20 tries. Both of these were trainer induced problems and we are still trying to perform damage control. Know your trainers and their methods and know your dog and what your dog can take in training. Also a lot of circumstances in the personal lives of trainers can sometimes interfere with a pass/fail rate.

Arleen

[Mike Peters-labguy23]

It takes 6 passes to title MH if the dog is not a SH, I would say the average has to be closer to 8-12. It took me 11 with my 2 year old QAA dog last summer but I know I failed 1 for sure myself and he had 2 bad weekends in a row where he failed 3 tests but then went on and passed the next 3 straight to title. In his defense he does not have the best handler and had never seen a HT set up and never been hunted until 1 month before his first hunt test.

[Scott Parker]

The dog I have now I told myself I wouldn't run him unless I knew he was ready I didn't run JH with him so I needed 5 passes for his SH and he went 5 for 5. He was running well so I double staked him the last test and ran MH also he went 5 for 5 in MH and got his title just after he turned 3. I got really busy with work and didn't run him anymore or train very much for the next 6 months I decided to run him in a double MH test even though I hadn't been training much at all he passed both but I could see he was getting a little loose on me so I knew I needed to do a lot of training before the next test which was about 5 weeks away. Well work got in the way again and I only got out and trained a couple times before I had to go to the next test I wasn't going to run him but a friend talked me into it. We make it to the last series and only had one more bird to pick up to pass but failed to get it. I think if you want to have a good pass rate you need to only run when your sure your dog is ready and there are still no guarantees you'll pass but the odds are more in your favor.

[Rick Vaughan]

This is my record with my Yellow girl:
Junior Ran 5 tests to get 4 passes and title
Senior Ran 15 tests to get 4 passes and title
Master Ran 6 tests to get 5 passes and title

Needless to say, Senior was a real ball buster and after 11 senior test failures, the girl went to a trainer for 4 months, came home and ran 4 for 4 and right into Master. There were some long drives home after a weekend of running Senior when I wondered what the heck I was doing, but I was having such a good time and made so many new friends that I stuck with it! Mercy was my first Lab that I introduced into this sport, and a very very forgiving dog...Like Sue Puff said, I was all over the map with my dog and when I finally learned how to handle, we as a team started bringing a ribbon or two home. I really love this sport and the people I've met who share my enthusiasm!