This was the start of the Novice class. A friend was kind enough to climb to the balcony in the barn, to take a video. However, my phone did not have enough space for another video, so she was unable to get it. Oh well, we will be doing this again soon, and as you will find out if you read more, I goofed up this hunt even though Andi was really good in it.
We went to the United Kennel Club conformation show in Longview, Washington last Friday (November 25, 2016). I was hoping there might be other White Shepherds entered, but no luck. Andiamo got his champion title when he was 9 months old, but we have not been able to work on his Grand Championship because he has not had any competition. Since there were no other White Shepherds, as usual, we watched a Barn Hunt event in another part of the barn. It was fun and Andiamo was very interested in what the dogs were hunting.
We saw many friends there and I asked a lot of questions and determined we might enjoy this sport. I was able to enter us in the River Rat Barn Hunt Association online. Then when we got to the barn on Saturday I entered Andi in both the Instinct Test and in Novice Rat Hunt. When our event was called, we went to "the blind" which is a booth that is blinded to the direction of the ring. We were directed to stay there until our name was called. We were not to talk to anyone outside the blind until after our event, and we were not to talk to anyone else in the blind after we were in the ring competing.
Inside the ring we were positioned inside four yellow markers. The Judge told us to hand our leash & collar to the "Rat Wrangler" before leaving the marked area, and then she said we could start when we were ready. Almost directly in front of us was a tunnel, formed by hay bales. I called it a tunnel, hoping that Andi would see the similarity between that tunnel and the agility tunnels which he was used to doing. He apparently did not see the resemblance, and he did not do it. I think this will take a little practice. It is a very small rectangle hole between hay bales. Andi would need to crawl through it, so it was understandable that he did not equate it with the round fabric tunnels in agility. We need to get some hay bales!
Andi moved quickly around the ring. There were many bales stacked in different positions. In the back of the ring was a rack with three metal tubes in it. The tubes were strong, with small holes in them. They are approximately a foot long, and 4.5 inches in diameter. They are firmly secured at each end. One tube is empty; another has rat litter in it; and one has a live rat inside. Andi was supposed to smell each tube and tell me which one held the rat. He was not allowed to smell the tubes ahead of time and I worried about him knowing what he was looking for. When he got to the rack he skipped smelling one tube (that was the empty one). He went to the second tube and smelled it all over. My job was to watch closely and read the signs as he identified the tube that contained the rat. I had no idea if the tube he was smelling contained the rat. I needed to decide if he was telling me the rat was in that tube and if it was, I needed to "call it" by telling the Judge "RAT". I worried that I would not be able to read his body language. At this point I really was puzzled as to what to do. He smelled something in that second tube, but was it the rat? I waited a little longer, then you will see that he moved away and I redirected him back to the rack. This time he want to the third tube. His ears went forward and he jerked his head toward the tube. As I watched, he lifted one front paw, pointing, and gently touched that tube. I called it, "RAT" without a doubt in my mind. Everyone applauded. He was feeling very proud of himself, whether or not he knew exactly why. He knew that finding the rat was what he was supposed to do. He did it in less than a minute. The Judge told us she was impressed with him. He got his Instinct Title this very first time he tried it.
I was so happy with him. I knew he had good prey drive, but as far as i know he had never seen a rat and I had no idea how he would do in this. We went and sat down, so we could watch some more events. We watched an event called Crazy Eights. Our friend Angela and her Border Collie Tashi did a wonderful job in that event. It was very exciting to watch a pro like Tashi. We watched Brenda with her two Alaskan Eskimo dogs. One of them, "Riot" is a buddy of Andi's, from the conformation trial we were in together. We really enjoyed it all. The barn was cold, but I was dressed for it and Andi had a fluffy comforter to lay on.
The video is the Instinct test I described above. Everyone made a fuss over Andiamo and I think we are hooked on it.
Andi did so well on the next event, but I failed miserably. This was the Novice event. He needed to actually find the hidden rat tube, not just one in a rack. It was hidden somewhere in the ring, behind, under or between hay bales. The litter tube and the empty tube were also hidden somewhere. For this event we had two minutes. Andi went directly to the back of the ring and found the rat tube on top of a bale, between that bale and another one. He had to uncover it as it was covered by hay. He was so excited and stayed there sniffing all over the tube. I felt I should call it, but it just all seemed too quick and too easy. I elected to wait a little longer as he finally left that tube and continued hunting. He pointed out the other tubes, casually, but did not show any particular interest. Then the time was up and I had not called the rat. He had found it in less than 15 seconds. Bad mom! The Judge come over to us and told me to take him back to the rat tube and praise him a lot. She said he was amazing for his first real hunt. She scolded me a little for not trusting my dog. He knew what he was doing. The rat wrangler pulled out the tube and let Andi smell it very well while I pet and praised him. The Judge said he even lifted his front foot and pointed to it, as he had done in the Instinct class. I had missed seeing him do that, I was not watching close enough. So now I know a little better what I should do and what to expect from him. It is so much fun to work as a team and build the bond between us, even stronger than it already is. Love this boy! I still feel bad for messing up his wonderful hunt. However, to Qualify in Novice he would have needed to climb a hay bale and go through the tunnel also. So I was not totally to blame for him not qualifying. That is why we need at least three hay bales to practice with. I can get him to climb one in no time and the tunnel may take a little longer, but he is really doing well following directions in agility and I think this will be easy for him.
A friends beautiful Shepherds who were spectating at the moment.
I am waiting for our title certificate, which we should get soon.
