As July 2013 Labradors and Goldens will be allow to test for title in the Spaniel hunt test program.
I agree....The idea of using a launcher or cage for evaluating a hunting dog ludicrous .
I would have a real problem w/ judges who made a decision after watching any dog run for “less than a minute”.I once ran a test in Virginia with Gumbo where he was done with 2 flushes and 2 retrieves in less than a minute, but that is certainly not the norm.
I've seen this done on rare occasions but the quality of the gunners is usually high enough for it to be uncommon. The exception might be tests put on by bench clubs for specialty events. The quality of these tests tend to be quite poor.If you have a dog that is good at trapping birds, you can be in the field a while, as the judges want to see 2 flushes (usually) and at least 1 retrieve. Often, if the gunners are poor and no bird is killed, the judges will throw a dead bird for your dog.
I have never seen anything like this. The shortest course I've seen was at least a quarter mile long & normally twice that.Sometimes, the field is short, less than 100 yards
Ditto and true dat. You can do both and makes for a far more versatile dog. I rarely run a true blind hunting - it is what it is. Dogs learn the difference. Handle to AOF and release to hunt or run them to the stick - either way it's all good.Unlike most spaniel trainers, I do teach my dogs to run true blind retrieves but I teach a “find it” command/whistle that I can use after sending my dog to the indicated area.