Are You Ready to Run a Huntertest?

Are You Ready To Run A HunterTest?

Hunter builds on the skills you and your dog mastered in Started. Unique to the NAHRA program (AKC has no equivalent), Hunter bridges the gap between Started (JH) and Intermediate (SH). If you’ve built a solid foundation in Started and your dog has good line manners, marks well, and is happy and confident then it’s time to get ready to run a Hunter test. Hunter is a fun stake to train for and run.

The skills you and your dog need for Hunter are:

• Mark a double land retrieve at a distance not to exceed 75 yards.
• Mark a double water at a distance not to exceed 50 yards.
• Follow a 30 – 50 yard trail
• Come to the point of origin nicely on leash or off (handler’s choice)
• Sit nicely at the point of origin off-leash (this is called ‘steady’) and wait quietly until you send him.
• Leave promptly when sent and return promptly with the bird to the point of origin.
• Refrain from eating, plucking or mauling the bird.
• Your dog is required to deliver the birds to hand
• You may be required to handle a gun (judge’s discretion)

There are five new skills here: the double retrieves, steady at the point of originoff leash, following a trail, delivery to hand (which shouldn’t really be new because you should have taught this skill when getting ready for Started) and handling a gun.

Teaching Doubles:Just as you taught singles you will teach doubles in a cut field. Ask three different people how they teach doubles and you’ll get three different answers. And remember, each dog is different – what works for one may not work for another so you need to educate yourself. There are several techniques out there for teaching this skill. Most folks however, follow pro trainer Mike Lardy’s method. The Purina Pro Club website has an excellent “how-to” article written by Mike. You can find it using this link:

Before you begin however, take an honest look at how well or not (be honest!) your dog marked in Started. If you dog got into the habit of having long hunts for singles he/she is telling you that you need to go back and do some marking drills from Carol Cassity’s book.

While you can start teaching doubles on your own, you will need some type of equipment such as a remote controlled winger or dummy launcher. Whenever possible, try to have at least one training buddy with you to throw.

Steady Off-Lead: Tests can be very scary if you’re not reasonably certain that your dog will sit nicely at the point of origin while the marks go down and wait for you to send him/her. All dogs – ALL dogs – will decide at some point in their career that they cannot sit still any longer and they will break. However, a dog who begins breaking early on in his/her career develops a habit that will haunt you throughout his/her career. Science tells us that dogs do what works for them. A dog who breaks is a dog who wants that bird BAD. So they break and are rewarded by getting the bird. Breaking now works for them and becomes a habit.

A platform is an excellent training tool to teach a dog to be steady. If you didn’t use one for teaching good line manners before, now is the time to make one and use it. A platform shows the dog exactly where he/she needs to sit and the higher the platform, the less likely it is that your dog will move off of it. If you did, then keep using it.

Teaching a dog to be steady off leash begins in your kitchen or family room in a distraction free environment. Sit should mean ‘sit there until I tell you to get up’. However, that is not always the case so you might want to reinforce sit with stay. Whether you’re teaching sit to mean ‘don’t get up until I tell you to’ or teaching stay as an additional command to reinforce the sit, there are three D’s involved: duration, distance, distractions.

• Duration: Gradually build up to at least a one minute sit; three minutes is preferable. Do this incrementally: five seconds, ten seconds, etc etc. Reinforce the right behavior by calmly praising. Right now your praise is the glue that holds the behavior together.
• Distance: after building duration, put some distance between you and your dog. Take two steps away then go back and release; then three steps, four steps, etc. Walk a circle around your dog. Walk around the room. These are all incremental steps so if your dog consistently breaks the sit, then go back to the step he/she was successful at and simplify moving on to the next step (more distance).
• Distractions: When you begin to add distractions, you will need to decrease duration and decrease distance. Keep the distractions simple; remember, you are teaching. Drop a piece of paper or tissue out in front of your dog (not too close). He/she should remain on the platform while you go and pick it up. Toss a piece of food. Again, he/she should remain on the platform while you go and pick it up. Stand next to the platform and bounce a tennis ball, tap the ground, clap your hands. Once your dog is steady with all these distractions, toss a bumper. Go out and pick it up, walk back and toss another. If your dog remains sitting, release him/her to go and get it.

Following a trail:Your dog already knows how to follow a trail; a good hunting retriever is born with a good nose and the ability to use it. The challenge in teaching your dog to follow a trail is in teaching the mechanics or structure of doing so according to test rules.

You will need birds to teach the trail and your birds will obviously be dead; at a test a live bird will be bled and dragged. Dead birds do not leave the same scent as a test bird but the scent is similar. You can and should start in your yard.

Take three birds, dip them in water and place them on the ground in a straight line about 5 ft apart like rungs on a ladder. Be careful not to walk on the imaginary line. Go inside and have a cup of coffee or a beer and come back fifteen minutes later. Pick up the first bird and the second bird – leave the third bird out at the end of the line. Tie a string around one bird, dip it in some water and drag it along the ground on your imaginary line. Go back to your starting point and pluck a few feathers from a bird and place them on the ground. Put those extra birds away and go inside and get your dog. Bring your dog out ON LEASH (yes, even if it’s your yard, keep your dog leashed). Walk to the pile of feathers, get down to your dog’s level, point to the feathers (if necessary pick a few up and let him sniff them and then bring his nose to the ground), let your dog sniff them, unhook the leash, cue him/her to get to work and stand still and let your dog go.

Your dog may put his/her nose to the ground and follow the trail to the bird or your dog may have his/her nose in the air and follow the trail (this is called air scenting). When your dog gets to the bird, tell him/her to pick it up while you quickly move to the side of the trail and towards your dog. You don’t want your dog to return to you on the path of the trail. You want to be able to call your dog off and away from the trail once the bird has been picked up.

Gradually add distance and make your trail longer and space the birds out more.

Another method is to simply take a dead bird, dip it in a bucket of water and drag a short trail, placing the bird at the end of it.

Placing the birds on the ground first and then picking them up and dragging one creates a much ‘hotter’ scent and that is one of the lessons you want your dog to learn. There’s science behind this as I discovered when taking a few tracking lessons. The longer the bacteria on the bird interacts with the bacteria on the ground, the hotter the scent. The scent permeates the grass, leaves, ground instead of just laying on top of it. This is why tracks are laid the night before a tracking test; to allow it to ‘age’ and develop a hot scent.

Taking It All On The Road

After you have taught doubles on a cut field and you’re confident your dog has developed a good memory, it’s time to follow the same sequence on the road that you did with singles when you were getting ready to run a Started test:

Change of cover: make sure your ‘go’ bird is in a relatively open area and easy for your dog to get to. The longer a dog has to hunt for the ‘go’ bird the likelier it is that he/she may forget where the memory bird is. The memory bird can be through a change of cover. With time both birds can require your dog to navigate change of cover.

Obstacles: after your dog is reliably marking doubles in change of cover you can introduce easy obstacles just like you did in Started. Make sure you set your dog up to be successful.

Gun stations: oftentimes dogs need a little help when starting doubles on the road. Make sure that whoever is throwing for you has a radio in one hand and an extra bumper in the other so that if it appears that your dog is going to break down on the way to the memory bird (usually because he/she is not sure where it is), your gunner can help. Ask your gunner to silently toss another bumper if it looks like your dog is slowing down or confused. That will help the dog continue to drive to the mark. If your dog gets to the area of the fall, takes a quick look and starts to hunt out of the area of the fall, ask your gunner to give a ‘hey hey hey’ and toss another bumper.

Water marks: because water is unpredictable and marks may drift from where they originally land, you want to be sure that you take your time and build confidence. Early on your marks should be short and clearly visible in the water. Pay particular attention to the sun, reflections on the water, whether the water is running water (much easier) or swimming water, how windy it might be. Once your dog is confident in the water you can add distance to the marks. This is where ladder drills are a great teaching tool. Keep your dog honest and don’t throw anything that will cause your dog to cheat and run on or along the shore. Your dog knows it’s harder and slower to get to a mark in the water and since their natural inclination is to save energy, they will want to cheat and stay on land as long as they can. Resist the temptation to get too creative too quickly.

Steady: Continue to use your platform on the road. While it’s one more piece of equipment to carry around, it’s very important. At this stage a higher platform really reinforces sitting and staying since it takes a lot of energy to get down off a platform to break. Continue to reinforce the good habit of sitting and staying while the marks come down. Have a plan for the day when your dog decides to break (they all do!). If your dog breaks and gets to that bird, he/she will have received a jackpot reward. And it will be remembered – trust me. So either let your dog drag a long line, or be ready to run out after him/her. If you’re going to run, your dog will clearly get to the bird before you – that’s ok because you’re going to take the bird and not let him/her complete the retrieve (trust me, this works).

Training Alone: If you have to train alone, you will need to invest in more equipment such as a winger, bumper boy or launcher. Internationally known trainer and handler Dennis Voigt is famous for primarily training alone. In addition to his columns and articles, he has a series of DVDs - for details go to YBS Media at

If you didn’t invest $20.00 in Carol Cassity’s Training A Retriever Drills & More, do it now.

After your dog has shown you that he/she can perform all the stage 1 skills with the stage 2 distractions on the road, it’s time to enter a test. But ONLY if you can honestly say you have read and understand the rules and regulations and know exactly what YOU need to do, can do / can’t do on test day. Regardless of the sport, handlers have an obligation (and when you send in your entry you’re signing off on this) to know and understand the rules. I can tell you as a judge that the one thing that makes all judges crazy is when an exhibitor makes a fatal error and then says “oh I didn’t know that’ when it’s brought to their attention.

Hunter is fun to train for and run. Your dog is beginning to learn advanced skills, work independently of you and solve some challenging problems. Don’t rush through Hunter. We’re very fortunate that the NAHRA program has a Hunter stake. Started is the foundation; think of it as building a house and Started is the basement, Hunter is the first floor and you have plans to build up. Do your homework and do well in Hunter and the transition to Intermediate (in AKC, SH) will be easy.

By:

Linda Sperco

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