Hunting awards

So here are some photos from Luna’s first hunt test season.

 

First hunt test.. no ribbons.. lots to learn

 

Yay! we qualified!

 

Thurmont brought double ribbons! one more to go!

 

Midland test brought the title home..

 

 

 

 

We started her hunt tests around 9 months as that’s just what age she happened to be when the season rolled in. Training was done at the breeder’s (http://dynatavizslas.com/) house, she coached me through things but I was the handler in all hunt tests. It took 6 hunts tests but we managed to get her AKC Junior Hunter title in her first season.

I want to share a little about the last test.. I couldn’t have ended on a better note in my opinion. I went into this last test wanting to just let her do her thing. I went in with a goal of not talking to her, and just letting her go.  It was a decent day, sunny, not overly cold, and I liked the judges.  Luna found a bird early along the treeline that flanked the field we released them into. She held a real nice point, I produced the bird and capped off and we carried on. We started into the “woods” and she started finding birds left and right. We got into a pattern of, point, flush, cap, move on. There was a point early on where a bird had flushed over a barb wire fence and the judges kept fussing at me to get her away from there, so I finally broke down and verbally called her away. One of the reasons they were on my case so much was because a dog had just come out of the field with a bloodied tail (though they didn’t know from what). Anyway, I think I capped off about 5 times, and she found more birds than that. And the whole time (outside of the fence issue) I didn’t talk to her, just kept up with her and let her do her thing. There came a point where the judges told me to try and keep her away from the other dog to give that dog a chance.. It didn’t help that the dog was seriously gun shy and didn’t want to leave its owners side. Luna was a bird finding machine, I was so proud of her, and even slightly proud of myself for being able to keep my mouth shut and just watch what she can do.  We qualified with very high scores that day, all 9’s and 10’s.. a very good day.

Anyway, that’s the hunt test info in a nutshell.. Now time to make both our beds and get some sleep.