Walking Trials and Horseback Trials

[AspenBud]

My story above said, that's field trialing. Dogs have bad days and sometimes dogs that should win won't because of the actions of a brace mate. Anyone who can't handle that possibility shouldn't play the game. It can be a dog today, a porcupine tomorrow, or a snake the next.

[jetjockey]

One thing that hasn't  been said about new people trying the sport for the first time, is you have to understand everyone putting on these trials are volunteers, that often need help.  It's not uncommon for someone to show up to a trial for the first time with a dog they think is a super star, with a chip in their shoulder.  Then when they don't place, or their dog screws up, they get mad and cant stand the constructive criticism they get.  One way to get your foot in the door is to tell the trial secretary your a newbie who is interested in getting into the sport, and offer to help.  There's never enough help at trials.  While a newby won't be able to scout for someone, or be a bird planter,  martial, or even run the dog wagon, you can always help out....  One thing my wife and I did was offer to cook the meals for one trial.  Talk about a GREAT way to get on everyone's good graces and make new friends.  Heck, since then I've been told I'm not invited to a trial unless I plan on cooking my Low Country Boil for everyone.  I have people I swear I've never met thank me and my wife for stepping up and helping out.  Cooking is easy, and anyone can do it.   If you enter your dog in a brace, introduce yourself to the judges and tell them it's your first time and your just there to learn.  They will typically bend over BACKWARDS to help you out.  At one trial, my Pro forced me to run my dog in a 1hr Open All Age trial.  I literally got off the plane, drove to the trial, changed clothes, and found out I was running my dog.  I told the judges what was happening, and that I was relatively inexperienced, especially in 1hr trials.  30 minutes in I almost pulled the plug because my dog was out of judgement for almost 10 minutes.  The judge just told me to keep riding and trust my scout (my Pro) and not to blow what was a great race up till that point.  2 or 3 minutes later my dog showed to the front and proceeded to hang on every ridge 500-600 yards to the front, finishing with 3 beautiful limb finds.  At the end of the brace, the judge road up and simply said "that was pretty"!   Turns out that was my first 1hr win, and I almost blew my chances...   Trials are a lot of fun but they aren't necessarily easy to get your foot into the door.  Show up with a good attitude, offer to help, and ALWAYS bring beer, and you will help yourself out immensely.

[JayBird02]

One thing that hasn't  been said about new people trying the sport for the first time, is you have to understand everyone putting on these trials are volunteers, that often need help.  It's not uncommon for someone to show up to a trial for the first time with a dog they think is a super star, with a chip in their shoulder.  Then when they don't place, or their dog screws up, they get mad and cant stand the constructive criticism they get.  One way to get your foot in the door is to tell the trial secretary your a newbie who is interested in getting into the sport, and offer to help.  There's never enough help at trials.  While a newby won't be able to scout for someone, or be a bird planter,  martial, or even run the dog wagon, you can always help out....  One thing my wife and I did was offer to cook the meals for one trial.  Talk about a GREAT way to get on everyone's good graces and make new friends.  Heck, since then I've been told I'm not invited to a trial unless I plan on cooking my Low Country Boil for everyone.  I have people I swear I've never met thank me and my wife for stepping up and helping out.  Cooking is easy, and anyone can do it.   If you enter your dog in a brace, introduce yourself to the judges and tell them it's your first time and your just there to learn.  They will typically bend over BACKWARDS to help you out.  At one trial, my Pro forced me to run my dog in a 1hr Open All Age trial.  I literally got off the plane, drove to the trial, changed clothes, and found out I was running my dog.  I told the judges what was happening, and that I was relatively inexperienced, especially in 1hr trials.  30 minutes in I almost pulled the plug because my dog was out of judgement for almost 10 minutes.  The judge just told me to keep riding and trust my scout (my Pro) and not to blow what was a great race up till that point.  2 or 3 minutes later my dog showed to the front and proceeded to hang on every ridge 500-600 yards to the front, finishing with 3 beautiful limb finds.  At the end of the brace, the judge road up and simply said "that was pretty"!   Turns out that was my first 1hr win, and I almost blew my chances...   Trials are a lot of fun but they aren't necessarily easy to get your foot into the door.  Show up with a good attitude, offer to help, and ALWAYS bring beer, and you will help yourself out immensely.

I will say at the Hunt Test events I've been at the judges have always been great. The first Hunt Test I ever ran in my dog had 5 finds. The dog he was braced with had 0 and members of the club that had put on the event cornered me and began to yell at me for not picking up my dog so that the other dog could have a chance to find some birds. I know HT's aren't a supposed to be a competition between the dogs but I was proud of my dog and how he ran. I left confused and pretty pissed. If it wasn't for RJ Marquart I probably would have never ran my dog again. I ended up talking to him for probably close to an hour after the event just talking hunting and dogs. The next day I ran again and I was braced with Doug Burnett from Cooke Canyon and he was helpful the entire time giving me pointers on how to handle my dogs. My experiences haven't always been bad and for the most part people have been helpful. But I do feel that in Eastern Washington you're limited to HT's if you don't have a horse I guess my best option would be to get involved with a club and try to get more walking trials around here.