If you read my post on Wednesday (Merrick Backcountry Dog Food Review), then you know that this weekend we are heading down to Ohio for a Backcountry Adventure as part of Merrick’s #Wild4Backcountry campaign.  The dogs would have loved their backcountry adventure to be a hunting adventure, but since it is not hunting season, a hunt test will have to suffice.  Actually a couple of Senior Hunt tests for Freighter who is working toward his Senior Hunter title.  If you are curious about what a Senior Hunter test entails check out these two posts I wrote way back in 2011: AKC Senior Test Part 1 and AKC Senior Test Part 2. (Note-The standards/rules in these posts were as of 2011, they may have changed some since then.)

Aside from having an adventure, why pack up and head out of state for a test?

There are many reasons.

When we first started retriever testing, there were 5 weekend tests in Michigan.  Most offered double Junior and double Senior stakes.  That meant on a test weekend the dogs could run 2 tests in those stakes working toward their 4 passes.  These clubs also offered at least one Master stake, (which requires three series and takes two days to complete).  There was ample opportunity to work toward a title without ever traveling out of state.

Over the years, some clubs have stopped holding tests or greatly reduced the number of stakes held (maybe only holding one Junior and one Senior stake a season).  This happens for a number of reasons: loss of member support, loss of testing grounds, decrease in entries.  It is certain that we will have to travel out of state for Master tests so this is a good opportunity to check out the drive, grounds and area.

Beyond finding tests within a reasonable distance (4 hours is reasonable to us), there is also a training benefit to the dog.  Tests are to see where a dog is in their training.  If we only train and test in one spot then we cannot be sure that our dogs’ training will hold in a different environment.  Hubby likes to hunt with the dogs in all kinds of situations from grouse in early Fall when it is blazing hot, to waterfowl in the late Fall when it can be freezing cold, to pheasant in Winter when it can be either seasonably warm or cold.  Taking a dog out of its comfort zone (or normal training/testing grounds) will allow us to see just where Freighter is in his training.

My regular readers know that Freighter has his issues with steadiness.  We have been concentrating on this and he has been doing well in training, (he had a flyer in training last night and I am told he was steady).  Unfortunately at the tests this weekend he will not see any live birds (only dead birds) because they are not used on these grounds.  In some states, clubs are not allowed to shoot live birds due to local regulations (maybe it is not safe to shoot live rounds in a park), or there could be state conservation regulations.

It will be interesting to see how Freighter handles himself in a different environment where I am sure there will be interesting smells and distractions.  Hopefully he will keep his mind on his work.  I will be post a few live updates on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so stayed tuned.

Have a nice weekend!