"Good show dogs should also be good field dogs."  Now there's an interesting thought, one that might even be considered heretical in some circles.  After all, why should a dog have to prove that it can perform in the field.  Isn't it good enough that it looks nice in the ring?

To a growing number of people, the answer to that question is "No."  They believe their champions should hunt, go to ground, herd livestock, course game, pull weight, rescue distressed swimmers, guard sheep - in general, perform the tasks for which the breed was developed.

This fine Irish Setter, Ch. Windwood's Autumn Tradition, CD, JH a best-in show winner with an additional group win and group II, is proof that dogs from 100 percent show breeding not only can but should excel in the field.  Hunter is owned by Pam Seipkes and Cathy Twistol.  Cathy is his handler in the field and Mike DeMars does the work in the show ring.  Once he concludes his career as a "special" at the end of 2000, he will return to the field for his senior and master hunter titles.

According to a high official club in the American Kennel Club, the number of people with show dogs who have started participating in field events has grown each year he has occupied his office.  He went on to say, "I'm not going to kid you and say that a lot of the show-bred dogs are stellar performers in the field because that is not the case."

But that may change as more and more breeders and owners start to ask themselves and others these hard questions:  Does it matter how many bests of breed or group wins or bests-in-show that a dog has in its resume, if it cannot prove it can do what it was bred to do?  It it cannot do what it was bred to do, is it an asset to the breed?

This series, designed to spotlight breed champions at work, will first present an overview of performance testing currently available for the various breeds.  Then it will begin to highlight really outstanding individuals-those with four paws and those with only two.  It begins with the hunt test program.

The idea of noncompetitive testing of hunting dogs actually began with the formation of the North American Hunting Retriever Association (NAHRA) by Ned Spear and the late Richard Wolters.  Disillusioned with the kinds of tests they were seeing in traditional field trials, tests they believed bore no resemblance to what one would actually encounter in the field when hunting and which did not, in their opinion, test the dogs for the attributes valued by hunters, Spear and Wolters hit upon the concept of field tests where dogs would not compete against each other but against a standard set by judges who were hunters themselves and would evaluate the dog's performance in terms of its skill as a hunting dog.

For years, Spear, Wolters and a significant number of others had been badgering the American Kennel Club to devise some sort of field-testing program in which the average hunter and his or her dog could participate.  For an equal number of years, their pleas had fallen on deaf ears until, according to A. Hamilton Rowan, the director of the AKC's hunting test and field trial division at the time the hunting tests began, NAHRA was formed and it suddenly loomed as a possible threat to the AKC's dominance of sporting dog field events.  "Here, clearly, was an idea whose time had come but the truth is that those of us who were with the AKC at the time needed a fairly strong wake-up call to see that," said Rowan.

For a while, NAHRA and the AKC attempted to cooperate but when the NAHRA folks insisted on operational control of the retriever hunting tests, the AKC filed divorce papers.  "What we had at that point are what divorce lawyers call 'irreconcilable differences', Rowan said.  "So, in about 1985, Mike Diesu (a field representative for the AKC who had worked extensively with the NAHRA folks and who later occupied the same office as Rowan) and I sat down at the kitchen table and wrote the first set of regulations for the AKC's retriever hunting test program.  NAHRA went its own way with a competing program and a few years later, another group which formed the Hunting Retriever Club, affiliated with the United Kennel Club, split from NAHRA.  I don't think any of us, NAHRA, AKC, or HRC, had a clue this idea was going to take off like it has.  The fledgling efforts of Ned, Richard, Mike and I have spawned quite a revolution.  Not only are there hunting test for retrievers, pointing breeds and spaniels within the AKC but there are also a whole host of other testing programs within AKC as well as other organizations having no ties to the AKC that are dedicated to performance testing.  We ran the first licensed hunting test for retrievers at the Jayhawk Retriever Club in Wichita, KS in the fall of 1985.  The rest, as they say, is history."

The only retriever breed currently producing dual champions, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers have also found a home in hunting tests.  The breed has produced more than 20 Champion/Master Hunters, more than 35 Champion/Senior Hunters and more than a hundred Champion/Junior Hunters.  This big fellow, Am/Can Ch. Sprucegrove's Due Process, CCD, CD, JH, CWCI, while clearly the happiest when his work involves birds (he is a serious hunting dog and also has completed four qualifying scores in senior) has also done very well in the show ring.  He is a group winner in both the U.S. and Canada.  For all but one of his group placements in the U.S., he was handled by Stan or Jane Flowers. (Field photo by Chris Halvorson)

In 1998, there were 414 AKC licensed and member hunting tests for pointing breeds, 260 for retrievers, 82 for spaniels.  More than 13,000 dogs ran in pointing tests, 26,498 in retriever tests and 1,652 in spaniel tests that were AKC licensed or member events.

While there has been some tinkering with the regulations through the years, the basic requirements have remained roughly the same.  The junior test is the minimum standard for that particular type of dog.  For retrievers, this means four single marked retrieves-two from the land and two from the water - that must be brought to hand.  For pointing breeds, junior is something of a natural ability test in that the dog is required to find a bird, establish point, hold point until handler is within reasonable gun range and be under some semblance of control.  Junior spaniels must find, flush and have the opportunity to retrieve two birds from the land and retrieve a bird from the water.  In all cases, the dog must earn four qualifying scores to achieve junior hunter status.

All retriever breeds, Irish Water Spaniels and since September of 1998, Standard Poodles are eligible to enter the retriever tests.  All pointing breeds may run in the pointing tests and all flushing spaniels except American Water Spaniels are eligible for the spaniel tests. American Water Spaniels are excluded not because of any bias against brown, curly hair but because the parent club for the breed has declined to declare whether the breed is a retriever or spaniel.

When the dogs earn a senior or master title, some serious bragging rights come into play.  The jump between junior and senior, like the gap between novice and open in obedience, is enormous.  Senior retrievers are required to retrieve a double mark from the land and one from the water.  In addition they must complete a blind retrieve on land and one from the water.  Senior retrievers must be steady but controlled breaks are permitted.  They also must also honor another dog's retrieve and show that they can be controlled on what is called a "walk-up" which means the dog and the handler are moving as the bird is shot.

Senior pointing breeds have to find and point birds but unlike the junior dogs, they cannot "scoop" birds.  They must be steady to wing but they do not have to be steady to the shot.  Senior dogs must back (honor) their bracemate's point, although they can be "whoaed" into that back and they must demonstrate that they will retrieve.

Senior spaniels must find, flush and retrieve two birds to hand on land.   They also have to retrieve one bird from the water and they must be steady on the line for the water retrieve.  They do not need to be steady to wing and shot on land but they are not permitted uncontrolled chasing or missed birds.  In other words, handlers have to be able to call dogs off a missed bird.  They must also exhibit the ability to "hunt dead" on a land blind.  A dog that earns a senior title must have received four qualifying scores at that level if it has a junior title.  Otherwise, the dog must earn five qualifying scores in order to be a senior hunter.

Master dogs are truly finished hunting dogs.  In all tests, they must be absolutely steady to wing and shot.  Master retrievers are required to do multiple (two or more) marks on land, water and a land/water combination.  At least one of these multiples must have at least three marks.  Master retrievers are required to do a land blind and a water blind but one of the two should be a double blind.  They are also required to honor another dog's retrieve and demonstrate that they can do a walk-up.

Master pointing dogs must find a bird, point it and be steady through the flush and the shot.  Master pointing dogs must retrieve to hand and they must back (honor) their bracemate's find through the flush, shot and retrieve.  They must demonstrate they will establish their back without command.  They must be under control at all times.  If a bird flushes wildly, they must demonstrate that they will stop without a command from their handler.

Master spaniels must find, flush and retrieve two birds to hand on land.  They must retrieve one bird from the water.  On all tests, they must be absolutely steady to wing and shot.  They must not be sent to retrieve on land until their steadiness has been established.  They are required to do a water blind that is a "cold" blind in that no shot is fired to cue the dog that there is a bird somewhere on the water.  They also have to be willing to "hunt dead" on a land blind.  At the master level, a dog must earn five qualifying scores if they possess a senior title.  If not, they must earn six qualifying scores before they are master hunters.

Why is it important for champions to have field titles?  Pam Seipkes, owner of Ch. BIS Windwood's Autumn Tradition, CD, JH, said, "It is extremely important to a breed like mine, Irish Setters, to have dogs that have a best-in-show also have a field title.  For one thing, it helps disprove the notion that show Irish Setters can't hunt - that they were just bred for coat and flashy action in the ring.  Unlike Brittany's, German Shorthairs, Chesapeake's and Flat-Coats where dogs that have both conformation and field titles are fairly common, when I started in the hunting test program nine years ago, there were very few show Irish Setters running in field events.  Now there are lots of them with a championship and a field title.  We even have a couple of champion/master hunters and recently and Irish Setter bitch completed her dual championship.

Ch. Hillcrest Namtn Kocr Colours, CD, MH  the first English Springer Spaniel <show champion> in the history of the breed to achieve Master Hunter Status, is critically important for this breed which has not had a dual champion since the 1930's in the U.S.  Generally considered one of the "poster breeds" illustrating the wide gulf between show dogs and field dogs, English Springer Spaniel breeders who want to preserve the standard but also have dogs that can hunt can look to dogs like Colours for help.  Colours is owned by Henriette Schmidt, Daisymae Mayer, and Marah Bolden.  In his show photo, he was handled by Karen Miller. <since this story was first published, he has added CDX, NA, and TD to his titles><Field photo by Joanne Peck>

Henriette Schmidt, the owner of Ch. Hillcrest Namtn Kocr Colours, CD, MH, the first English Springer Spaniel champion of record to earn a master hunter title, noted that when the spaniel hunting tests began, it was widely accepted within the breed that no show ESS would be able to work at the master level.  "I refused to accept that negative attitude.  I knew that for decades, I had been breeding Springers that were valued field dogs as well as family and show dogs.  I was convinced that if they had been given the opportunity for that level of training, they could have accomplished the master title in a respectable manner.  I personally believe that it is very important to have talent, structure and biddability in the same package but I am also absolutely certain that there are many on either end of the ESS spectrum who do not believe it is important at all.  What makes Colours so special to me, aside from his obvious accomplishments, is that he is 100 percent show breeding.  Even more importantly, he is reproducing his talents.  From his first litter, he has a daughter who earned her SH and is now ready to run in master {she now has 1 master leg}.  He also has a son from his second litter that is a champion, CD, NA, NAJ, SH.  Both of these dogs are trained and handled by their owners."

The immediate suspicion among the naysayers who believe show dogs cannot hunt would be the dogs like Hunter, the Irish Setter, and Colours probably had extensive stays with professional trainers skilled in the use of the electronic collar.  In fact, the exact opposite is true.  Neither have been professionally trained and neither has required the use of an electronic collar.

Seipkes said, "We were really lucky with Hunter in that he was more or less of a 'natural' in the field because he was trained by a breeder and owner who did not hunt and had no field experience.  We did a little 'whoa' work in the yard, took him out in the field, put birds down and let him do his thing.  He's bird crazy so he is a joy to hunt.  We hunt ruffed grouse and pheasants with him.  Because of him, I took my first jun safety course at the age of 39.  I couldn't stand to not be able to actually hunt with this dog.  Hunter is a true mover, coming and going, and he is not overangulated in any way.  As a result, the 20 minute braces he ran as a junior and the 30 minute braces he will run in senior and master are effortless for him.  Good setters seem to float around the show ring and they should do the same in the field.  While he is quite special in the show ring, where he really shows his best is in the field."

Schmidt added that Colours was successful despite her ineptitude as a train and handler.  "I belong to a couple of clubs that get together once a week to train.  Virtually all of Colours' training came on those 'training nights.'  Fortunately, he is a very patient, biddable fellow with an intense desire to hunt who was willing to forgive my mistakes.  I start all my pups on birds as babies to see how much 'bird' they have.  This guy impressed me as a pup and he is still impressing me even after he finished his MH."

Schmidt noted that there are many breeds developed for many purposed.  "It would seem that those who choose a sporting breed have an obligation to maintain the breed's integrity as a hunting dog.  Just as it take constant work to keep these breeds looking like what the standard describes, it also takes constant effort to maintain the character and talents the standard describes.  The standards are not just to set parameters for the way the dog should look.  In virtually all cases, they also define what the dog should be able to do.  It might be an old-fashioned notion but I think that breeders and owners have a duty to try and preserve all aspects of the standard."

Many thanks to M.J. Nelson for allowing me to put her article on my web site.  The color photos of Colours are from my personal files.  The original pictures in Dog World were produced in black and white.  Bracketed words <> are words that I've added to the original article.