First Junior Hunter Pass

[TuMicks]

How many more passes do you need to title? I hope you're able to go forward into Senior. It would seem that the fundamentals are all there. He would have to be steady, and honor (sit stay... or down stay). He can obviously mark. He does some "lining" in the OB ring, I think. You would have to stretch him out, obviously, and introduce the whistle sit and handling. It could be fun, and he obviously likes the work.

[IRISHWISTLER]

How many more passes do you need to title? I hope you're able to go forward into Senior. It would seem that the fundamentals are all there. He would have to be steady, and honor (sit stay... or down stay). He can obviously mark. He does some "lining" in the OB ring, I think. You would have to stretch him out, obviously, and introduce the whistle sit and handling. It could be fun, and he obviously likes the work.

TuMicks,
There is a total of four qualifying legs required to title at the AKC JH level. The jump to AKC SH requires multiple marked retrieves at distances beyond those required for JH on both land and water, blind retrieves on land and water, a "walk up", a diversion without switching, and honor of a working dog whilst remaining steady. Line manners at a higher level arr expected and steadyness at the line without any physical restraint of the dog and a clean delivery to hand of a bird deemed fit for the table (not hardmouthed) by the retriever as determined by the judges. It is quite a significant jump in overall skill levels required for the retriever / handler team, but well worth the effort and time spent in strenthening the bond with ye retriever.

Cheers,
Irishwhistler

[Anna Scott]

You only need 3 junior passes for a JH with the CKC. I got the third pass on my sister's young dog today. It was a fairly "meaty" tests but she did well.

[Labradorks]

It was our first try and first leg. Three more to go. I will probably try to finish it up this summer. But, it just depends on my schedule. There are more tests starting in the spring. Regarding seniors, we'll see. Other than the yard work, I don't have space for training, so nearly all training is when I am with my trainer. I don't see him as often as I'd like to as I work during the week and he's a two hour drive. Weekends it is, and with schedules, we don't always align. Steady to/on the line, honoring, etc. is the easy part (for us). It's the stuff involving space that we need the most work on. I think we can get there, it'll just take more time. I also prioritize obedience, so I often choose matches, training opportunities and obedience lessons over field work or lessons. I'd like to train it just for the experience, even if we never compete/test.

[Anna Scott]

Scheduling and prioritizing always come into play. We were able to run the HT this past weekend because I had made a mistake in our judging assignment dates. It was fortuitous because we got the pass on Huggie and now thanks to some creative judge hiring we will be able to run her and M in the SH test in Sept.. I would also like to get Huggie's WC before then so we can run the WCI and X as well in Sept. Too often Eden and I are judging so our dogs don't get to run.
We are the opposite to you, Labradork, as obedience is our second choice. Perhaps once the HT and FT seasons are over we will get back into doing some obedience and rally over the winter.