Coopers First Hunt Test

It was a last minute decision to run Cooper at the Quilcene Hunt Test on June 9th, but we wanted to see how he was going to do; unfortunately 3:30am was not exactly what I had in mind for a Saturday morning wake up, but thats what we had to do to get to the ferry terminal on time!!

The tests are run in 2 sections, Land & Water with 2 retrieves per section. You have to pass both sections to get an official PASS on the Hunt Test. Cooper was entered in the "Started" Division and will have to get 4 seperate Passes total, to earn his Started Title and then move up to the next level. You can only run your dog one time per test and there is only 1 test per day. We had paid just to run Cooper at the Saturday test and had not planned to run him on Sunday.

On Saturday, As the first duck was thrown for the Land Session, Cooper's attention was all in when the bird hit the ground. Upon release, Cooper ran straight to the bird, picked it up and started to come back to Derek..... BUT.... Then he stopped! The small crowd of spectators took a gasp of breath and said things like "oh no" "common Cooper" (under their breaths of course as to not interfere with the test). He was very reluctant to pick up the bird again, he is now plucking feathers out with his mouth, he starts to gag, he is shaking the bird, he then pukes on (or right next to) the bird... about 7 minutes into this, Cooper FINALLY brings the bird back to Derek!! Good boy!

As the second bird is thrown, Cooper again watches very intently and runs straight to the bird when released... He picks it up right away (YES, I am thinking in my mind) but then he veers off course and heads over to the area he had the first bird, he drops it and proceeds to start the same shinanigans all over again... At this point, Derek realizes he's not gonna get Cooper back in a timely manner and has to walk out and get the duck, therefore disqualifying his dog from the test.

What a bummer! We were pretty dissappointed but our new Boykin friends assured us that it was OK and that you cant expect perfection with the first test. Derek decided to go ahead and run Cooper in the 2nd section anyways, Water.. we had already paid our fees for the day and it was good practice at this point. Cooper did AWESOME in the water! He swam to both birds and brought them straight back to Derek. It was encouraging to see since the morning land session was so terrible. Many encouraged us to come back the next day and enter him into the Sunday Test, so we did.

Sunday was a new Day! We left our stress and worries back in Saturday and decided there was no pressure or outside influences to frazzle up the day and we were just going to have some fun. Cooper was eager to get going that morning, he wanted to go!! On our ferry ride and as we drove over a huge bridge, Cooper was antsy in the back seat as he stared out at the water, he wanted to swim!

Sunday's test was in a new location and this time they did the water session first. Cooper retrieved his first water duck perfectly; however the second duck was not thrown well and the bird got sucked back up against the shore, making it difficult for Cooper to see the bird once he started swimming.. so he lost the bird and swam in circles for quite some time. Derek started to instruct Cooper on where the bird was located, therefore again disqualifying himself. Because we are new, we didnt realize the manner inwhich he instructed Cooper was not good enough to pass their standards and although Cooper did find the bird and bring it back, it was too late. In our minds, Cooper passed and we felt it was an unfair scenario that Cooper was put it, but oh well.. Derek decided to run the Land session with Cooper and he did that okay, retrieving both birds with only minimal issues.

So it was a frustrating and dissappointing weekend, but Cooper learned a lot and got his first tests under his paw and we learned a lot as well on where we need to focus our training with him. We met a lot of new people and grew more excited about future tests with our dog.

A week later our Hunt Club had a practice day (they are held in Monroe, which is REALLY great!!). He did OK on land retrieves, he was still very reluctant to pick up the birds, and needed Derek to walk out to encourage him to pick them up. I ran Cooper for the water retrieves because Derek was helping to throw birds. It was a little exciting for me to get to run him.. Cooper did really good in the water! Amazing because the trainer that had him for 3 months told us that Cooper did not like water and he never was able to get him to retrieve a bird in water.. 8 months later his best retrieves are in water! :) Anyways, thats a big huge kudos to Derek & I, we have worked very hard to get Cooper to where he is at and will continue to use patience and understanding as our training guides and not force.

Cooper's drive is growing every time we get him out, his instinct is all coming back to him and sooner than later, we wont have these problems. Cooper did seem to respond better to my voice than to Dereks so at this point we have ordered me some camo clothes as I might be running him in future tests.. After another week of training, we'll evaluate who he seems to respond better to and go from there. We have taken away all his toy balls and are no longer practicing with plastic training bumpers. He ONLY gets to retrieve ducks at this point until he KNOWS and LOVES to pick up birds!! :) We have some frozen birds in our freezer and although they are more difficult to pick up, he is learning that if he wants to retrieve, he better get that bird!! Ideally the birds should not be frozen but sometimes it is easier than trying to defrost them every other day.

We have a good thing going with Cooper and are very optimistic that his next hunt test will be more successful and we might get a pass or two for him! :)