Puppy test

This past weekend Josh and I drove the dogs to Colorado for their puppy breed test.  And yes....I realize just how crazy that sounds.  This particular breed comes with an understanding that you will run your dogs through the testing program.  It's kind of the polite thing to do for your breeder, and it also helps get your dog trained up for hunting!  It's kind of a win-win.  So, way back when Anna decided she really wanted Hilde, I knew that the day would eventually come when I would have to run her through her puppy test.  When I described this to some people at work they were under the impression that we would drop the dogs off and they would somehow be run through a series of tests by other people....I wish.  Talk about being stressed out.  The thought of having to perform with my dog in front of people made me want to throw up a little...

The puppy test (the first of three tests) for drathaars is actually supposed to be a test of their natural abilities, so in all honesty, just showing up with a halfway obedient dog is all you really need to do, but there was actually a lot more preparation that went into it for me because I was so scared Hilde would end up chasing a rabbit to the next county before she ever looked back.  For a while now I've been walking Hilde around the property letting her sniff out any game we might have (I've actually seen rabbits and quail on our place!).  She's supposed to point at birds and track rabbits.  What she tended to do was chase birds and happen upon rabbits and chase them too.  "/   With a few visits to the trainer, she started improving.  

As for the test, she didn't do too bad.  She didn't embarrass me!  That was half the battle.  Just about everyone struggled to call their dogs back when they were chasing something, but we all managed to leave Colorado with our dogs.  :)

I don't have their final scores yet, but I think Hoss might have beaten Hilde by a few points, which isn't really fair because I've been working with her way more than Josh has been working with Hoss, but it's a natural abilities test, and Hoss is a better tracker than Hilde.  "/  

Here's Josh taking Hoss out for his bird pointing evaluation.

So, I didn't get nearly as many pics as I'd of liked to.  I didn't pull my camera out until I was done with Hilde's test.  I was so stressed out and nervous.  Fortunately, she finished up a little before Hoss, so I got some pics of Josh working with him.

This was right after he finished his bird pointing.  He was still pretty excited.  :)

This is our trainer, Tammy, and her dog Diesel (Hoss and Hilde's brother)

This is Dori.  Our breeder's dog from the same litter.  Can't you see the resemblance to Hilde.  ;)

Hoss's pointing test.

For me the craziest thing about the weekend wasn't the fact that we drove our dogs all the way to northern Colorado...

It's the fact that we actually took our dogs into our hotel rooms with us!  I've never done that before.  There's something a little weird about walking through a really nice lobby with these two hunting dogs.  Haha!

So....fortunately for me Hilde was born with an under-bite.  Runs in our family.  ;)  Anyway, we went ahead and got her spayed (one of them had to be since we got litter-mates), so at this point, there's really no reason for me to continue on with her to the second test.  They become breeding qualifications.  So, the pressure is off.  She can just be easily trained into a honed pointer and bird retriever for us now, and we'll be perfectly happy with that.  

The test judges did a quick phenotypic evaluation of the dogs and confirmed her under-bite.  They, understandably looked at me in a very concerned manner, but I assured them it was no news flash.  :)  She may not be perfect, but she's the best family dog we've had in a while.  She so good with the kids, and for a puppy, she's very good around the house.  Wouldn't trade her for the world.