Hunt tests evaluate a dog’s marking and memory. In lay terms: a dog’s ability to see, remember and retrieve multiple birds (or bumpers) that they have watched being thrown and falling in the field. Young or inexperienced dogs start by watching one bird (or bumper) and as their training progresses we add bumpers.
A couple of weeks ago Storm ran a quad in training (4 marks).
The bumpers were thrown in the order they are numbered, but could be retrieved in any order. The first bumper was thrown toward the dog which also tests steadiness. Marks #3 and #4 were thrown so they landed almost in a line which adds difficulty. The challenge for the dog is to sit still to watch all of the bumpers thrown and then to remember where they fell and retrieve them.
This kind of set-up is a good physical and mental work-out. It was definitely a good work-out or Storm who is used to doing triple marks but struggled with the last mark of this quad.
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Thanks to SlimDoggy, MyGBGV Life, and To Dog with Love for the FitDog Friday Blog Hop!
Awesome action shots 🙂
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
A man and his dog….love that first shot. Super action shots. Great job sweet Storm. She was moving right along wasn’t she? Hugs and nose kisses all around from us!
That would be great physical and mental exercise – to remember four marks. Good job Storm!
Well done Storm! 😀
Way to go and well done Storm. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
A quad! I’m tired just looking at it. Storm is definitely a fit girl.
It’s just so fun to see how happy dogs are doing their jobs. Mom is always amazed at how happy we are with scent work, just like you guys and your hunting sports. Good for dog and human.
Wow go Storm! Happy Fit Dog Friday pals.
great job storm, great pictures. Congrats on your award on slimdoggy.
Well done Storm. You are such a good hunter. And well done on your FitDog award. Much deserved. You always have such excellent posts on Fridays about fitness.
sumskersandearlskers13.blogspot.com
I was surprised, I don’t remember you ever sharing about a quad. I bet the more she does it, the better she gets at it. Is it used frequently in tests or is there another reason you are trying it with her?
That does look like quite the mental workout for the dogs!
If I can’t keep track with a nice simple explanation I can’t imagine how your dogs do it lol. It’s awesome. I’ve always wondered about bumpers – do they use those in police training as well? It seems like I’ve seen them being tossed about in K9 academy but maybe it’s just something similar. And congrats on your FitDog Friday award 🙂
I am not sure. Here is an explanation about them.
http://www.gundogsupply.com/dog-training-bumpers.html
Great job, Storm! I think that is really something if they can remember where all four went…I’m not sure I could….so needing a little help on that last one doesn’t seem so bad! What a great workout, both mental and physical….nothing better.
Yay, Storm! We are always fascinated to see your beautiful dogs, and the training they do!
I have not seen anything like this! How impressive they are to watch patiently and remember where they landed. Honestly, I think I would struggle with four too! This is awesome; thank you for sharing. Dogs are so smart and amazing. Storm is so pretty too 🙂
Great photos! When your dogs forget a mark or become confused, do you recall them and send them out again or do you try casting them to the mark?
Depending on what we wanted we could handle them, normally that would be if they tried to go to an old fall. We do not like to handle too much when training marks. The better way would be to have a gunner in the field to help the dog by faking a throw or throwing another bumper.
You did a terrific job storm I think I would have trouble remembering 3 😉