Answers to "What makes a good field trial?"

Here are a few great answers to the question of:

  "What would make a great field trial that attracts new field-trialers in a tough economy?"

"Rod, you asked me several days ago what I thought made a good field trial to bring in new people and get them engaged.

 Off and on since then I’ve started to type up a lot of different ideas and then you asked me a subsequent question that really got to the heart of it for me.

 You asked me, if I could remember my first field trial? I’m not sure honestly of which was the first, but what I can remember is snippets from early trials. I couldn’t tell you whether the grounds were good or bad. I couldn’t tell you if the judges were the best in the world or the worst. I don’t remember if the gunning was good, the food was great, the birds flew well or not at all. I know I didn’t win. I know I didn’t place – I didn’t even get an atta boy for trying ribbon.

So what was it I wondered, that brought me to trialing, made me enjoy it, and brought me back for more?
The answer - I had a mentor in the person who bred my dog. He encouraged me to enjoy the dog and supported me in my first several runs with him. We had fun, and people were accepting of me and my newbie dog and all that we were and all that we weren’t.


So that’s my answer in a nutshell, and that’s what we try to offer in return.

 Down the road, it’s those who spent their time with you at the field trial that makes it a good trial for newbies.

 That personal involvement, in my opinion, is the singularly most important aspect in what brings people into the sport." - KK
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"When I think of a good field trial, it is one held on good, safe grounds with wild game with low enough cover to offer objectives of 50-yards and up. A few treelines, harvested crops, edge country. It's a swell day if the skies are not pouring or blowing. The trial is administrated by competent individuals who do not cross the sporting lines of misconduct ethically or by deed.

Competent, honest judge with no conflicts of interest, capable handlers & scouts and competitive entries with sporting conduct. A good trial goes a lot farther than the actual event.
 I am happy with a good field trial. Will let those who think they know more than me determine if it is a high-class field trial or not.
There is the FT camaraderie, whose power should never be underestimated. It must be present in the parking lot, course, campfire & clubhouses. It's a sure sign that this group is having field trial fun when as a FT visitor to a club where the membership is involved in some sort of old joke.

People who are smiling are not jacking their jaws or twittering their facebooks. Then you can further judge that club if you are a visitor by watching how people act if someone has broken down on their dog, their vehicle. I've seen better field trials afterwards just watching people get pulled out of muck.
Next thing you know, you got a great story to tell and are all involved telling it." (shortened response) - DB
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"Its all about bang for your buck, especially for those that aren't wealthy.
Here in the midwest, clubs are getting together and doubling up on a weekend...Thurs-Fri and Sat-Sun trials...or Fri-Sat and Sun-Mon trials. That way you can run twice as much for one trip's expense. I put on a two day walking trial for the Vizsla Club of MI on Memorial Day weekend. We follow the local GWP club's one day walking trial on sunday. In three days, you can run in 3 open gun dog stakes, 3 amateur gun dog stakes, 3 puppy stakes (2 open, 1 am) and 3 derby stakes (2 open, 1 am). That seems to really encourage participation, though it makes for a long weekend.


I'm fortunate because I live an hour from one of the premier grounds in the midwest, if not the country (Ionia, MI)...so I can trial there almost exclusively. I find myself going to all-breed trials there rather than driving 300+ miles to a Vizsla club trial elsewhere. I don't see that changing because of the rising fuel costs.
Field trialing is going to become more localized for Amateurs. I think walking trials will become more popular, too, since the expense is considerably less if you don't have to drive a big truck pulling a horse trailer. I can rent a car for the weekend, with unlimited miles, for $44. Tack on $100 in fuel and a couple entries and I can go to a trial 500 miles away for under $500. That same trial would cost me $400+ in fuel alone if I pull my rig with horses. I'm not a huge fan of walking with my dogs, but if that's what I have to do...then I will.

Glad to see you are getting involved in the sport. We can always use more trialers."  - JP
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"For me, a good trial, for experienced and novice trialers alike, is well-organized, efficient, and employs judges (in the Amateur stakes especially) who understand that this is supposed to be friendly competition and that the future of the sport lies in encouraging folk to participate by explaining rules, offering advice, and letting dogs run their thirty minutes (even if they're not going to get used). If you don't have those things, then folks don't want to hang out in a clubhouse or round a grill; if you do have those things, then being able to sit down, chow down, and either ask questions or shoot the breeze is pretty awesome."

".... So, for example, I think our CVVC Spring trial especially is known as a historically good trial because we do several things:
We bring at least one judge from 'away,' someone whose reputation we know, but who doesn't know the dogs in our region;
We aggressively raise money to support that expense through sponsorships and raffles -- and in fact, we've turned a profit on our last three trials because of those things;
Our spring trial is horseback; our December trial is all walking -- at both trials, we have one Amateur stake which is vizslas-only;
We also have a vizslas-only Hunting Dog Championship (with two different stakes) in early June;
We could always use more, but we have a solid core of volunteers from within the club who marshal, bird-plant, sort paperwork, cook, and clean (and half those people don't even trial);
We belong to an active Grounds Association that is continuously maintaining and upgrading our facilities, so we do actually have a proper bathroom with warm water, a proper kitchen, and a warm dining room;
We eat really well! And have a great grill."
(shortened response) - AC

Green broke dog with a green handler

This is the green I like 

Being a green handler with a green broke dog.

green 

–adjective

1. not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged: This peach is still green.


2. unseasoned; not dried or cured: green lumber.


3. immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced: a green worker.


4. simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled.  (Well, maybe I don't like this one, but it could apply.)


5. fresh, recent, or new: an insult still green in his mind.


Two "green" handlers with their "green broke" dogs starting a Gun Dog brace

 6. full of life and vigor; young: a man ripe in years but green in heart.

E-mail to Randy Berry (Bailey and my trainer this summer) after the weekend:

"Randy,

Looks like you had some good runs.  We did too even though we didn't get around in any of the three braces.

Just got back from the South Coast Vizsla field trial last night. 1,089 miles Friday morning to Monday night.

Bailey ran in ALGD, OGD and AGD.

He had a great point on the first bird in OGD but took steps on the shot towards the downed bird.  I couldn't woop him as I had to duck or get shot by Ellis. The bird ran before it flew and then went right over my head and then Bailey's. Bailey did stop and looked back at me when I yelled.  He knew he had blown it.  I put him back in place and held him there while I went and picked up the bird and put it in my vest pocket. Then we walked back to camp.

He had a great honor on the first bird in ALGD. The judge though he was on his own bird but looking at Bailey's eyes I knew he was honoring the other dog.  This was from 35 feet away.  He held great through the flush.  A chucker was running down the road a few minutes later and crossed Bailey's path.  He was running it down according to the judge.  I didn't see it.  We were done and walked back to camp.

Sunday in AGD Bailey held point beautifully through two shots.  Ellis didn't get to shoot the first bird because it flew right over the judge's head, but got the second bird we came across about 5 minutes later.  Right to hand  Bailey came with the bird from 50 yards away.  Bailey was running big for the judge who had stated he wanted to see "some big running."  The judge, D'Alasandro, was following me after the gunners and other judge followed our birdless bracemate.   The three of us crossed some wide open space to the far ridge at about 20 minutes out.  Bailey went behind a huge rock and the judge said Bailey pushed up a bird.  Bailey had run around the rock so fast he must have just spooked it up, according to the judge, but he did chase.  I didn't see that one either.

D'Alasandro let me finish the round even though we were out. The other handler was far to the rear with the gunners and other judge with his GSP.   Bailey pointed one more bird with great style and I blanked it off.

The judge told me without the bump Bailey, in his opinion, would have won AGD.  He was the best looking dog he had seen over the weekend and he liked how he was "put together."

The things you worked with me and Bailey on are slowly coming together.  We are still green but we are getting better each time out."

Posted by the senior member of "The Green Team."

Into the field trial

When you follow along behind during a field trial run, you are in the "gallery".

The rules to be in the gallery are simple. Stay out of the way and always stay behind the judges on horseback. Do not talk to the judges unless they ask you a question or ask you to do something.

With Bailey having run the first brace of the day, we were done by 9 am. So I had several hours to enjoy watching the other dogs run.

My goal for this field trial was two fold.

First was not to fall off of the horse.

Second was for Bailey to know where I was while I was up on the horse.

Mission Accomplished.

As far as Bailey finding any of the quail, that had been planted throughout the course (about 10 birds), was something else.

Not a bird found by Bailey in the twenty-five minute trial.

His brace mate, a smart little Brittney, had two nice bird points and was given forth place out of the ten dogs that ran in Open Derby.

Rules of a field trial allow handlers to walk and horseback is not required.

BUT, what a difference.

When Bailey and I went out in our brace, both the other handler and I were on horseback and our dogs ran hard and far. In twenty-five minutes we might have covered more than four miles of treeline.

When I went out and watched another brace that had one of the handlers on foot, they might have covered a mile and a half in that same time period and the dog has to slow down its search.

So this rookie keeps learning. We are off to the fields around Sonora, Califorinia (Sierra foothills) in a couple weeks for another trial. This is the German Wirehaired Pointer club of Northern California.

Hope to get Bailey "into a lot of birds" between now and then to sharpen his nose and tracking skills.

It was a great morning in the fields.

April to October - change in six months?

The top picture show one of my first experiences working my "new hunting dog" at the NAVHDA Natural Abilities Test in April of this year. The bottom picture is from Saturday morning's preparing to run in the first brace of Open Derby at the Gordon Setter field trials at the end of October.

A lot can change in six months in both dog and man.

Pet or sporting dog?

Where is the line between "just a pet" and a sporting dog? I found myself asking myself that during a walk in the hills above my house yesterday afternoon.

Our life with our two Vizslas is a wonderful experience in any form.

Many of the sporting dog enthusiasts, that I have had the pleasure to meet this year,would define a "pet " as a dog who is not challenged to reach any potential.
Agility, obediance, field trials, hunt tests all require the dogs to aquire skills that take hours, days, weeks, months and years to hone.

We as sporting dog enthusiasts are willing to spend thousands of dollars to help our dogs aquire these talents. I guess I wonder sometimes why. Is it for them or our egos that we do this? Are the dogs happier than "pets" when they are performing these man-made skill sets?

I found doing field trials with my young male Vizsla that to compete against the professional handlers, we can't just train once a week for half an hour with a trainer. This will be a minimum 4 days a week committment for at least an hour a day. Then I think we can get close to the level of the professionals.

We have made committments like this before with children but never dogs. The joy of working with the dogs so far has been reward enough.