Field Trial, Hunt Tests and Hunting with IRWS

[Wendy Bockman]

Please post your dogs' accomplishments in Field Trials, Hunt Tests or just out in the Hunting field so we can all enjoy!

[Wendy Bockman]

I'll start: Our girl Rylee (Truly Devine) earned her Junior Hunter title in AKC this spring going 4 for 4 at her tests. She is now training for her Senior Tests, and will hopefully be ready by this fall.

[gerardmirck]

Hello Wendy ,
From wich line is your R/W ? and is your dog AKC registrated ?
please give me an answer on my e -mail address [e-mail]

[Christina Phillips]

Wendy,
are you training or have a pro trainer, will you run in SH ?
I'n trying to get my German import ready for field trials, he has so much talent, got so many nice complements from FT judges, so will see. He honors and retrieves natural, just need to be stready to wing and shot....Hope I get luck and may find some non retrieving stakes??? :-))
I never ran anyone in a FT, but promised if we to do this, it will be him and me:-)))
Christina

[Wendy Bockman]

Christina, We belong to a club at which there is a pro-trainer. He is retired from competing himself so now he trains owners and their dogs so they can compete. We had sent both Rylee and Toir to him for a month at a time to learn basics but with Emerald I am doing almost all the training myself with his advice and the help of my husband and some of the other club members. Rylee is our furthest trained for SH, she just needs to learn the honoring better and a bit steadier to wing first. Emerald even though the oldest and newest to us is our best FT prospect, she is simply put, fast as a rocket, and birdy as heck. She's still working on being steady to wing but we've only had her since the end of May so it will come. I will do horse back trials with her, if we trial Rylee and Toir we'll probably start with walking trials.

[Christina Phillips]

I'm trying to join a hunt club, but long waiting list:-(( For now we have to make do with what we can do at home. I'm surrounded by a few hundred acres of orchard, which really is no place to train bird dogs. I'm hoping to have my hunting license by end of summer so I can take the dogs to State land, which requires to hold a hunting license for you and training license for dog if you are going to train. It's really a pain out here.
Christina

[Silvia Lindner-Rae]

I am back from the computerless days - my Sashi has 'Anlagenprüfung' which is a junior field trial with maximum points - 108pt, and she finished Working trial of English pointing dogs with very good - that exam she had to take with a stranger because I wrecked my knee. If you care to read the story I wrote about it, it is on our website www.reddeersetters.com under misc/ or if you go in the German site under Infos - it is in both English and German.

[Fiorella Mathis]

My IRWS United Spots O'Healy...needs only one more CACIT to became international Working Champion and only one CAC to became Italian Working Champion....No test, no junior or senior hunter...just FCI field trials...really don't know how much they differ.
Fiorella Mathis
Rome Italy

[Wendy Bockman]

Can you explain what a CAC and CACIT are and how a dog earns them?

In the US we have both Hunt Tests which are judged individually and the dogs either pass or don't. They have to earn a certain number of passing scores at each level to get their title for that level. Field Trials are different in that the dogs are competing against each other (and often other breeds) and the top dogs only earn points. They have to earn a certain number of points in different field trial divisions in order to earn a Field Championship.

[Fiorella Mathis]

Gerard would be much more "a pro "in explaning this. Anyway...there are working trials, and different ones. Now I don't know the name in english, but there are trials in "selvaggina naturale" and are run in grounds that look more like real hunting places, then there is "caccia a starne" (gray partridge...I think)) and here the dog has to have some beautiful and wide lacets and really run without loosing stamina for 10 minutes, then there is also Grande Cerca (where few selected pointers and ES can run) and also Classica a Quaglie...which is almost if not even more difficult for big open spaces and for speed required from dogs than Classica a Quaglie. All these are trials recognized by the FCI (Federation Cinologique International) that is in Brussels and has almost all European countries that belong to this organization. It runs trials and shows and every other working trials (for sheepdogs, or utility dogs and even agility trials). Anyway to be a working champion you compete against other breeds. Setters with english pointing breeds and let's say bretons with continental breeds. The best pointers and setters (gordon, english, irish and IRWS) compete in couples against each other.in trials(in France they can also run "solo" which means not in couple).who finds, who sets, who is steady, who runs fast and in style, gets the points and at the end of the day the best of each battery gets the CAC if it is a national working trial and a CACIT if it is an International Working trials. CAC are given one per battery (were there can be 22 or 24 dogs in 11 or 12 couples) but the CACIT is only one at the end of the day and it will be given to the best dog of the day.
To get the working title you also need to pass a retrieving trial (one) and have at least "very good" in an International Show that will be helding a specialty for your breed or a very good in a setter club show of your country.
Not easy. And this is only for the working part.

[Silvia Lindner-Rae]

Are you asking about our hunting tests or the American ones, Fiorella? I can send you the scoring sheet of the junior hunter if you like - with translation, the other one I stell do not have, but you may have Samba's. She was in the test with my Sashi.

[Christina Phillips]

Silvia,
maybe you can post a copy of the scoring sheet, be fun to see what is used around the world...
Thanks,
Christina

[Christina Phillips]

Hi Gerard,
I see you asked about AKC, looking at the USA members on this list, I would say all have AKC IRWS, will have AKC IRWS come Jan 1, 2009, right now we are recorded in AKC FSS.
Christina