Yep. Two different events. Two different days. Two separate ribbons.

 

Awesome. Thank you for the response

 

Good luck and remember to have fun and breathe..

 

good luck! I ran my first hrc test a few weeks back and my first akc junior last weekend. talk about nervous. I had a great time though. every one was super friendly and the judges were awesome. I let the judges know right off the get go I was new to the test and they really helped me out. I could barley talk and really didn't know up from down. they talked me through it and really made it a great time. remember your prob going to be more nervous than the dog, he just wants to get the bird! again good luck

 

Hi,

On behalf of CMRC, welcome. We will have a lot of fun. Be sure to look me up, I will be mostly in club house selling raffle tickets. If you have any questions PM me.

See you there!
Steve Thornton

 

Read the AKC rules and regulations. There is a wealth of information and answers to some questions that you may already have. You can download them from the AKC website.
Ask the judge questions if you are not clear on anything, they are there to help not trick you.
Watch the test dog and handler - again very helpful.
Walk to the Line confident that you and your dog are going to be successful.
Line your dog to the area of the fall, not the gunner station.
It's okay to be nervous - watching your dog doing the job that he/she is bred and trained to do and you get to go along for the ride - it's awesome!

 

Have fun at your test. Look around at the Ams that are running Junior dogs with you. These are the people you will be seeing at Waffle Houses, Mexican Restaurants and burger joints at odd hours in the middle of nowhere for the next several years as you keep running your dog. Good times!

 

Have fun. You will meet a lot of nice like minded people.

 

Thanks for kind words everyone.

Steve, I plan on coming to watch the Masters test on Friday, to look at the grounds and to see what other guys do while they wait for their turn to run their dog.

 

...and to see what other guys do while they wait for their turn to run their dog.

In Master it is a lot of pros (at least in TX). So they are normally quite busy with several dogs. The people with one dog on the other hand... they normally sit around and watch dogs, volunteer to help out with the test to pass the time (if they need it but not necessary), stand around, twiddle their thumbs, eat, sleep, visit with others, watch the pros run and learn from them, read a book. Lot's of options. You'll have plenty of time for all of that probably.

 

How do tests usually decide the order of who goes first, second, etc.?

 

Your comment about what to do while waiting to run your dog brings back fond memories of one of the first hunting tests that Mary and I ran in Mid iowa many years ago. We had taken our camper down and was able to camp on the grounds with a bunch of other contestants. The first evening sitting around the campfire bragging about our dogs and enjoying copius amounts of beer, someone brought out a pack of hot dogs.
Everyone that played had to put $5.00 in the hat, and then we drew numbers to see who went first. They laid a hotdog on the ground 30' away or so, you sent your dog on a blind retrieve. The first dog to return with the hot dog would win the money in the hat. A Golden Retriever brought it back to within 3' of his owner and then swallowed it. No one else came close. I think we ended up donating the money to the club.

 

That is hilarious. Good stuff.

 

Entry express creates a running order after the entries close. So, each dog is given a specific number. They normally try and run in that order but it's not always possible because a pro can't run back to back because their dog has to honor the next dog (in MH). So, there is someone designated as a Marshall and she/he works with the handlers and manipulates the running order to make it all work smoothly. However, if you have more than one dog entered, for instance a pro might have 7 dogs entered, I think it is a "rule" that the pro needs to run those dogs in the order provided by Entry Express. So, if a pro had 7 dogs running and his/her dog #'s were 5,9,15,28,30, 38, 41....they would need to run them in that order. So, in other words, they couldn't run 28...then 5...then 30...etc. I am not a rule expert (far from actually) so I could be wrong, but it came up last weekend and the judges made the pro run his 7 dogs in order per the "rules." Maybe some judges are less concerned about a handler running their dogs in the order given. But, in your case, it's a bit simpler, you will have one dog in a JH test and your dog will have a number. The marshall will probably try and run in the order of the catalog if possible but sometimes it's just not possible. So, just check in with the marshall when you get there and they will let you know when you will be running.

 

I'll be seeing you there also. In fact, I'll be right up there at the line with you . As others have said, try to relax and have a good time. Don't be afraid to ask questions if there is anything about the test you don't understand.