Thread: Crossing show lines

Originally Posted by el borracho

Mediocre dogs do plenty wrong and don't often get through due to manners . Part of a "finished" dogs make up should be their good manners both in trial and field especially when you hunt with other dogs --backing - obeying whistle commands consistently -retrieving game - utilizing the ground to best effect - finding finding finding ,hopefully holding

One could be critical of the type of ranging a dog does in the trials compared to the reality of cover we actually have on a whole in NZ but I haven't been to the live game trials for years and haven't seen the current crop of dogs work that cover -Ryan has .


I haven't been around the current trial people long enough at all to know if they hunt their dogs or not but from my past years we were all hard out upland game hunters and for some with continentals both duck and upland game hunters .

My thoughts and experiences come from 10 years ago

It makes absolute sense and has been a problem with our pigeon trial negative judging system for a long time... Pigeon trials rewardthe training more than the dog. A dynamic with great pace style and finding ability can be penalised on a minor handling issue where as a mediocre dog, of less natural ability but with either better training, or by virtue of its mediocrity doesn;t put a foot wrong and wins... this is fine, but it does nothing for the future of the breeds.

Originally Posted by Ruff

It makes absolute sense and has been a problem with our pigeon trial negative judging system for a long time... Pigeon trials rewardthe training more than the dog. A dynamic with great pace style and finding ability can be penalized on a minor handling issue where as a mediocre dog, of less natural ability but with either better training, or by virtue of its mediocrity doesnt put a foot wrong and wins... this is fine, but it does nothing for the future of the breeds.

what your failing to recognize here is consistency of dog !!

Mediocre may have a win but the better dogs will win consistently .
What do you term as a minor handling issue ?

One thing one notes about dogs is they also have their off days ,they screw up and dont do the best job on any given day so consistency over time and trials must be recognized rather than a one win .

A negative judging system doesn't appeal to all but is based on your dog going about its work with the least amount of handling possible -a dog that knows whats it there to do gets on with the task at hand.A dog that consistently screws up may in fact be being handled poorly and the handler may need to revisit their training .I feel people make excuses for their lack of in put into training their dogs -if you feel you have lost consistently or seen this it might be you that needs to change their view on whose dog is better than another's --I fail to have a problem with it personally --what would you all suggest is better given our poor game areas and numbers and ability to run live game trials ???