Freighter was entered in two Senior Hunter level tests last month.  He earned his title the first day.  You can read about his Title Run here.  After he earned his title, we elected to run him again the second day rather than pull him because we figured he could use the experience.  Yesterday I wrote about the Land series from Day 2.  Today I will talk a little about the Water series from Day 2.

Senior Tests have basic required elements.  The land series is a set of double marks and a land blind.  The water series is a set of water marks and a water blind.  Dogs watch marks fall in the field or the pond, but for a blind the dog does not see where that has been placed in the field or pond.  To retrieve a blind, the dog must be directed to the bird by their handler using whistles and arm signals.

In addition to the requirements in each series, there are other requirements which can be done during either the land or water series as the Judges decide.  These requirements are a walk-up, where the dog walks at heel next to his handler and the mark is thrown as a surprise; a diversion shot; and an honor, where the dog must honor another working dog by watching the marks fall while remaining steady.

The Day 2 water series was a water double, a water blind and an honor.  The water double was pretty straight forward with both birds falling into the water.  The “Go” bird, or last bird thrown fell where it was visible with a giant splash.  A temptation for a dog like Freighter who can break (or leave before being sent to retrieve).

Freighter did fine on this and was steady for both marks.  His line manners were decent although he could always use more work on this.  Freighter retrieved the “Go” bird with no issue.

The “Memory” bird (the first bird Freighter watched fall) was more of a challenge.  This bird fell in the water but in some clumps of plants.  This mark threw off many dogs.  If they did not go to the correct clump, then they tended to get out of the pond and off into the field behind the pond and that was usually a disaster.  It was very difficult for the handler to get the dog back into the water if they got out of the pond.  Other dogs had issues if they got too far left of the mark and the scent from the blind sucked them over.  It was hard for the handlers to get them back to the area where the bird actually fell.

Hubby told me after the test that Freighter trained a series of down the shore marks in this pond a couple of weeks earlier.  Freighter did not do very well on them and kept getting out of the pond.  I guess he learned from that training because on test day he stayed in the pond.  He did get a bit far left of the mark over toward the blind while he was hunting, but hubby was patient and let him hunt and after a short time, he turned back to where he saw the mark fall and retrieved it.

The blind was an angle entry to where the bird was placed across the pond at the edge.  Angle entries offer temptation for a dog to run around the bank on land.  The Judges made it clear that this was not acceptable and there were a couple of dogs that had an issue with this.  Other dogs had issues on this blind if their handlers waited too long to handle and the dog got up on land in heavy cover.  It was hard to handle them back to the blind once they got into that cover.

Freighter did an excellent job on this blind.  He took a very nice line into the pond and followed it all the way across.

Freighter was just a bit off line at the end so rather than chance losing the blind, hubby stopped Freighter and redirected him to the bird.

The last element was the honor.  I was not able to get a photo, but Freighter did fine and was steady and earned a pass for the day.

Freighter passed 5 Senior Hunter tests in a row without any real issues.  He has been training Master level work for some time so now it is time to move him up to that level.  He is entered in a couple of Master tests later this month.  We are not sure how he will do (Master tests are hard), but the experience can only help both Freighter and his handler.

I hope to have a post or two next week about what is required at the Master Hunter level.