Visting a hunt trial, first timer

[SuzyBauerxo]

I have been interested in getting my pup into Hunt training, but honesty have no clue where to start! I want to go watch a couple trials first, get a sense of what everything is like, my pups mom and full sister from a previous litter have their WC and I would like to get hers.she has shown potential, For my first trial would you guys recommend watching the JH/ SH, or the MH tests? i live an hour away and they are on different days so I would just chose one day to go to.
I will also be going to a WC trial but the hunt ones are coming up first.

Also I am having trouble finding info about Retreiver clubs, there is one near me but the website doesn't have a ton of information. (the club hosting is the one I would join if i end up joining one) Do they have trainers you can train with on a regular basis when you become a member I honestly have no idea how they work and can't find a ton of information on them. If someone would possibly lead me to a good site that has great info for complete beginners or could sum it up for me I would really appreciate it

[JenC]

You should be able to train for a WC on your own without much difficulty. If you want to go further, you'll probably need the help of someone who knows what they are doing or a club.

I imagine its the same in the US as Canada. If you can get a dead duck to train with the better. But the land is a reasonable distance (don't have # in front of me). You can train that by having a friend toss a bumper for you, while you keep your dog sitting at your side (you can hold collar for WC) and send them to get the bumper when you are ready. The water portion is 2 bumpers, 2 separate retrieves. As long as the pup will swim and will get the bumper, and do this repetitively, you should be fine. But it will be done with dead ducks.

I would plan on watching the JH...the rest is pretty advanced and while interesting, it could be a LONG day or multiple days and for your immediate goal, JH is the closest.

I would check in with the Hunt secretary, tell them you are interested in the club, in membership, in WC's and find out what they have to say about that.

I would imagine YouTube would have some videos on people running WC's. There are some little training things for YOU like learning to signals the folks tossing the ducks for the retrieve when you and your dog are ready, learning to send your dog on their name or a chosen word...

The clubs I am affiliated with for labs, have practices but nothing regular and you need to be in the loop to get the notifications. My club for my griffon (a pointer), they are a bit more organized and they are training towards their version of the WC called a NA...for versatile hunting dogs.

[SuzyBauerxo]

Yes I have watched some WC tests on youtube and I did believe that it seems easy enough to do, especially since it is meant to be natural ability over formal training. I will definetly talk to people there and the organizers, I might even send a email to the club to get some more as well.
I would totally need to learn all the proper signals and learning when to send the dog and all that before even attempting it, I will probably go watch a WC before attempting as well. If I go to watch a WC, is it generally acceptable to bring my pup for her to experience the trial atmosphere before attempting or would that be downed upon?

I have done where my sister is throwing the bumper and i have my girl with me, we have been doing mostly OB so we need more practice and somehow get a dead bird or at least feathers to practice with so she doesn't spit them out lol.

Thanks for the insite for clubs, I am more familiar with the way schuzhund clubs work which is the formal training with a trainer weekly (if you can make it) type training so I was confused when not getting any information off the website for the retriever club I was looking at.

[Anna Scott]

Where are you in Ontario? If you let me know I may be able to give you some information on clubs. I belong to the York club but the train on my property which is north of Barrie. There are several clubs in the Puchlinch area, there is an HRC club over near Peterborough, The North Bay/Sudbury area os trying to revitalize there retriever section, Long Point runs a hunt test, there are clubs over towards Kingston, Brighton and Ottawa. We are a big province. There are even retriever clubs up at Thunder Bay. Would be very glad to give you some info.
We just hosted a fun hunt on Sunday that had puppies from 1o weeks old up. There are people out there will to get you started.
Are you referring to the Mill Creek HT? If so I would recommend that you watch the jr/sr , master would confuse you more as those dogs have a whole lot of training under their belts. I will be there at the jh/sr.