Andiamo with his RATI title ribbon, from his first Barn Hunt. He duplicated this at his second Barn Hunt Trial on April 9, 2017. We do not have the pictures from this latest trial. Both Pirate and Journey were entered in the two trials offered on Sunday the 9th of April. It was their first trial. Both Pirate and Journey titled in the Instinct class in each trial. So all together, each of my three dogs has a total of two RATI Instinct titles. What a team!
All three were entered in the Novice class. No one Q'd but all were very close. Best of all, to me, they all did both exercises that they needed to do to qualify. They needed to climb on top of at least one hay bale, and they needed to crawl through a hay bale tunnel. They needed to find one rat and I needed to "call it" when my dog alerted for it. Andiamo and Journey both did the tunnel at least twice. Pirate climbed the hay bale stack and he kept going to the top of the second layer of hay bales. He looked like he thought he was king of the mountain. He only needed to climb one bale. What a guy! I could not be more proud of them. They really enjoyed it, We did not manage to coordinate their finding a rat, with me properly "calling the find". Maybe next time. Having all three dogs complete the tunnel and the climb was a big step forward.
Some of our good friends came to see what barn hunting was all about. We had fun, in spite of some very grumpy people that we tried to ignore. There is not much I won't do to provide my dogs with fun adventures. If this was not the case, and if I was just visiting, as a spectator, I am afraid I could not refer people to a Barn Hunt event, at least if they had the same three or four officials that this one had. (I think they were officials).
If you were driving by the fairgrounds and saw the sign about Barn Hunt. You might think it would be something fun to watch. It is open to the public and though you might never have seen their website; it does welcome spectators to the relatively new sport of Barn Hunt. It lists a few rules, which you would not see, since you were just driving around and thought it might be fun to spectate. In the barn, there are no rules posted for spectators, nor could I locate any flyers that a spectator could refer to for information. A couple people with name tags might be helpful, but in lieu of some basic information near the entry or on the registration table, there was no way to find out anything helpful. There were some nice people around, but most of them were busy with their dogs and the unfriendly people were much louder, actually yelling across the barn at embarrassed people who were just trying to understand the event. They were so rude to so many people, it made us cringe for them. I am not a member of the club and I had only been to one previous barn hunt. My friends and I found ourselves apologizing to a couple people for the way they were treated. It was awful for them. It would seem that if the club did not want spectators, they should post the event as not open to the public. It would save a lot of peoples feelings. Our experience was that it did not seem that many of the people we saw, much cared about anyones feelings. It made us very uncomfortable even though only one of us got yelled at, and that was before she found us. She was walking into the barn and stopped to ask a question to a person sitting in a chair. As we explained when she found us, the person she found was sitting in an area called "the blind" and no one is supposed to talk to them. There are no signs posted and there is no way she could have known she was committing such an error.
I am more familiar with agility trials and they also have a few notoriously grumpy people in a couple of the clubs. Other people in the clubs try to make up for the rude ones. I just find it hard to understand why people would think it appropriate to be so rude to nice visitors whose only crime seemed to be wanting to see what goes on at a Barn Hunt. This was not a case of someone letting their kids run wild and unsupervised; nor were the people we saw doing anything except trying to figure out where they should stand or sit, to see the activities. To top it off, one woman was yelled at so severely she was crying as she left the barn. There was no way the spectators could have known what not to do at the barn hunt, without someone telling them. But they did not need to be told by someone humiliating them and screaming across the barn at them.
Because my dogs having fun activities is important to me, I will most likely continue taking them to Barn Hunt events. Other than friends who have already been there with me, I doubt if I will ever suggest that other friends visit unless they are feeling tough enough to be treated in the manner we witnessed. It could really ruin your day. I only speak for myself and this was only the second time I went to a barn hunt event, so I don't know all the rules. I am trying to learn. However, I spent one entire day of the first event, asking questions of various friends of mine who were entered in the event. They were, of course, helpful and polite. You can't expect a spectator to spend hours asking questions just to enter a public place, to enjoy an event on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps some flyers on the table near the entry; or a board with some suggestions would help. A sign or two designating the areas that are forbidden (the blinds), would at least give them a chance.
The two Judges I met were very nice, friendly and helpful. Most of the ring crews (in the three rings) seemed to be helpful and polite. I certainly do not want to leave you with the opinion that all the people running this event were mean and unfriendly. Except for the incidents I described above, there were some very nice people working on the ring crews and working their dogs in the rings. It is fun to watch and sad that a few rude people overshadowed some of the fun, of watching the events.
Andiamo met a sweet little female Corgi that he attempted to wow with his most cuddlesome invitation to play.
Looks like love ...
Pretty little Charlie watching my boys learning to hunt rats.
I think Charlie wants to try this.
I'm sorry Charlie I really love you best, I just have never played with a Corgi before and I wanted to meet her.
So here is to many happy barn hunts, with many wonderful dogs and friendly dog-loving people that might take the time to make people feel comfortable, as they familiarize themselves with a new activity. They might enjoy themselves and want to enter their own dogs in the future.
