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The "walk-off"

17K views 73 replies 42 participants last post by  i_willie12 
#1 ·
Any judges here ever have a handler come up, watch the marks go down and then leash up their pooch and walk-off without picking up a bird (out of protest)?
 
#45 ·
This is crazy. Does this stuff really happen? It all seems pretty petty to me, what's the point? To make the judges feel bad? I have seen a lot of crazy test, extreme breaking test, over-under's, flower pots, tricky unfair test, etc, but unless I see some unsafe aspect to the test, I'll keep my mouth shut and give it a shot. If you see something that you believe is unsafe, the time to deal with it is when we are all up there getting ready to watch the test dog. Believe me, Judges don't want to hurt a dog and if they missed something that could, they will happily deal with it.

I don't know about hunt test, but in AKC field trials there are rules dealing with misconduct, a lot of what has been written here could easily be considered misconduct.

John
 
#50 ·
I don't know about hunt test, but in AKC field trials there are rules dealing with misconduct, a lot of what has been written here could easily be considered misconduct.

John
It could, but you would never prove it. Handler would just say he scratched his dog.

As far as dropping the person for speaking after the handler called for the birds, could have been the nicest, most helpful judges in the world but their hands were tied. Similar to a no go on a blind. I have seen many cases where it was obvious that the dog was confused about whether it was sent on a blind, but the rules don't allow for judges to call it confusion, so dog is out. I have seen a lot of judges be douches and drop people for minor things that few would ever drop a person for, but this is cut and dried.
 
#46 ·
I just hope that if the pro made a protest at the expense of my dog that he'd at least find the decency to not charge me for a handlers fee AND to take my entry fee for the dog off my next months training bill......you feel like you have to protest go for it...but it'd better not be at the expense of my dog.

And if you gained respect for him for trying to say that the judges should have ignored a rule that's been known about since the dawn of time....that's on you.
 
#47 ·
Ditto about 500x.
 
#56 ·
AKC MH test.
 
#59 ·
Using duck calls to start the test is not that uncommon around here, and should not come as a surprise to anyone running at the Master level.

Getting back to the original situation in this thread, the handler was guilty of a serious handler fault, that per the AKC regulations was grounds for a DQ. The rulebook is very clear on this if you look at the Classification of Faults section at the back of the book:

Serious Handler Faults: Serious faults listed cover all those instances where the Standard describes conduct of the handler which in and of itself justifies elimination from the stake.
1. Lining a dog in marking situations – in the direction of any fall or any gun station before all the falls are down.
2. Talking to the working dog – the handler must remain silent from the time the handler signals for the first bird to be thrown until the judges release the dog.​

In this case, the judges had no choice but to DQ the handler, regardless of the quality work the dog had been doing. The second handler needs to read the rule book -- there was no justification for his action.
 
#63 ·
Thank you John that is why I am going to concentrate on the Junior, get the dog and me through that so I have a chance. I do understand and LOT OF GOOD POINTS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP. As I move forward with my dog I am sure I will experience a lot of situations that cause a lot of conversations. I understand that if a rookie football player steps out of bounds he is out of bounds. I also understand when you are testing Master dog the word Master means you and your dog are being tested at the highest stakes.
 
#67 ·
If I thought a test was unsafe, I would file a protest with FTC, and await a ruling. If they did not change the test, I would scratch.
If I thought a test was stupid, I might run it - and I might scratch. But, I wouldn't go to the line and scratch. To me, that is making a unnecessary display
 
#70 ·
I remember one time it was Saturday I had ran the land marks in the open 6 dogs left from friday, the land blind, and the water blind, and they were taking 8 dogs to the last series and it was 92 degrees. I was to run the am and it was in the bowl at the canal I walked to the line and told the judges what I was doing and the reason I needed all the dog I could have for the last series in the open. Glad I did think we got 2nd that weekend. The judges understood the reason while I watched the marks said no bird to my dog and walked off line. When its hot do whatever you have to do to preserve your dog no shame in trying to do the right thing for your dog's health. I had a dog go over the hill this past weekend on the last mark of a quad he might have been just out of sight I counted to 10 and picked up after the dog had 3 almost perfect marks. It was hot and not worth taking a chance on my dog's health.
 
#71 ·
I have had handlers tell me before the test that they plan to pick the dog up after the marks before sending him (to correct creeping, vocalization, etc.). I don't have a problem with this if there is no honor dog involved. However, an honor dog needs to see multiple marks and a dog sent before being released, so I will ask the handler to wait until there is not an honor.
 
#72 ·
Up until the recent past, If you were on the grounds, you had to run your dog , unless there was a plausible mitigating reason for not doing so (The safety and/or health of your dog was one of these reasons ). ......

Under the rules in place at that time you could not, not run one test, then simply run either that test with another dog, or another test with either that or a different dog.

It was in that context that the handler would ASK the judge for permission to "pick up "the dog , and when told by the Judges that they may do so, would leave the line with the dog.

IMHO Protests such as those described herein were then and still are in violation, and at the very least, would, depending on the judge, open the handler up to problematic outcomes.

john
 
#73 ·
This is crazy. Does this stuff really happen? It all seems pretty petty to me, what's the point? To make the judges feel bad?
Exactly! Maybe these dog games don't matter that much to me...Certainly not enough for me to make a giant spectacle out of myself....What a waste of everyones time...Including your own.

If you're going to walk off for a "training" purpose, thats cool...But for some passive aggresssive type of protest???BOOOO You stink....Whats next hand cuffing yourself to the holding blind? Lighting yourself on fire???
 
#74 ·
If it was the for the fact that it was the Fall Grand i would have pulled my dog from the water set up in the mud! "mudzilla"!!!! Was actually affraid that my dog was going to hurt himself in that crap!!! Couple dogs were hurt that week in that stuff!! There would have been a lot of scratches from that test if it was a weekend test!
 
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