Spoon River NAVHDA Chapter

One thing I have figured out real quick is that it is one thing to train a dog, and it is a whole new thing to know how to properly HANDLE a dog in a NAVHDA test. How does one know when they should give a command, and when they should jusy be quiet? How is the judge scoring your dog? What is all of that nose, cooperation, desire, etc. stuff all about? when has a track gone bad and what is not acceptable? Many questions can come to mind and without a good education in it, well.... It can become confusing. One thing that can help is attending a handlers clinic. But sometimes they are scheduled few and far between, pricey, and most consume a Saturday and Sunday to complete.

I am proposing that our Chapter, with the help of Dr. Bob Hauser and any other interested helpers, put on a small version of a handlers clinic. I invision  this being a smaller, not so official, just enough money to cover birds kind of thing to educate our Chapter members. This would take about 15 people to make it worth while, and maybe $20 range to cover bird costs. If enough people are interested, I am willing to head this effort and make it happen. Please respond with any questions or comments.

john sondag at May 23, 2010 at 11:50 PM

One thing I have figured out real quick is that it is one thing to train a dog, and it is a whole new thing to know how to properly HANDLE a dog in a NAVHDA test. How does one know when they should give a command, and when they should jusy be quiet? How is the judge scoring your dog? What is all of that nose, cooperation, desire, etc. stuff all about? when has a track gone bad and what is not acceptable? Many questions can come to mind and without a good education in it, well.... It can become confusing. One thing that can help is attending a handlers clinic. But sometimes they are scheduled few and far between, pricey, and most consume a Saturday and Sunday to complete.

 

I am proposing that our Chapter, with the help of Dr. Bob Hauser and any other interested helpers, put on a small version of a handlers clinic. I invision  this being a smaller, not so official, just enough money to cover birds kind of thing to educate our Chapter members. This would take about 15 people to make it worth while, and maybe $20 range to cover bird costs. If enough people are interested, I am willing to head this effort and make it happen. Please respond with any questions or comments.

John I will put in $200.00 and would love to attend. Shae was telling me that Bobby was having one at there place in July. I maybe gone that weekend, but would love to be there. I will tell you that being there today was a cleansing for me and I am proud to be a part of this chapter. The work that you and Terry and your wife, Adam, Randy, Bob, Barry , Pat have put fourth to make this chapter a success is amazing. It is actually mind blowing. You guys have set the foundation for all of us to build on and I am proud to be apart of. Just let us know what we need to do and I will would love to help to make it happen.

Clint

John-

I would love to assist/ attend with this type of training event. Let me know what you need etc

Victor

Great idea--I support it fully and will help as I can.  

On a separate note--Western IL NAVHDA is having a Training Clinic the second weekend of July geared toward more advanced training (UT).  Keep your calendars open and let me know via this forum if you'd be interested.  I'll post more information as it comes available.

Thanks,

I have talked to Bob and he accepted the role of leader. Like I said it will not be "official". Just a laid back way of our chapter getting some of the important info. we need. and asI mentioned cheaper, closer and one long day instead of 2.

We will need enough interested people tp put this on. If this forum gets 60 veiws and only 3 replies- I probably wont act on the motion. Bob wants to see a group of around 15 people.

Dont let this deter anyone from Westerns. In fact, If anyone goes and is satisfied with what they learned, perhaps they could come and help run this portion. It might need a couple workers just like a test would, but much smaller scale. And I personaly just really like any advice Bob Hauser is willing to give. He is a top notch guy!

Clint that is generous offer and kind words. I wish Shae took after you! However, I feel if we keep this at $25 to $30 fee range it should be affordable to eveyone. Hope your busy schedule allows you to be there. Just the enthusiasm of you guys is what keeps the rest of us wanting to improve.

Sounds like a great plan to me, and I'll be there.  With plans to try and test either UPT or UT this fall, anything I can get on what Judges will be looking for, how I can avoid costing my dog points, and just to get a better feel for the whole process will be greatly appreciated.

John-I'll send out some information on this via e-mail. We picked up some new members at the test and I will be adding them to our e-mail list in the next day or two, and there are some people who don't regularly use this forum. 

I would be willing to support this too.

I will attend, support and participate .    (IF my schedule will allow)
I think if anyone is intrested in NA, UT, UPT or just wanting to improve on the ability of their hunting companion you need to take advantage of this day.  This day will also help you see what the judges are looking at when other dogs are in the field.  

Randy Ashman 

John great idea count me in. Just a thought ,maybe we want to make this one of our monthly meetings.

John Great Idea, I will attend and assist in any way I can unless it is the weekend of 6-19-10. I will be out of town that weekend.

     FM

Maybe we should pick 3 different dates and take vote on which works best for group so that most can attend. With my schedule it is hard for me sometimes and I would really like to be there.

Clint

Glad to see some interest. Our chapter is well due for a training session like this.

Give me all the ideas and feed back that you would like. Would like to accomadate everyone. And please pass the word to any friends who do not check in to the website. I am so busy that this is my main means of access to all of the chapter friends. And usually later at night.

Is there any special equipment needed for the clinic like launchers, ect?

Clint

I would be interested.   What do you think the agenda would be?   Would we be able to bring our dogs and get some tips on areas to work on? 

This would probably be a training day- and a long one at that. Whatever date works for the most people, but we are at Bobs mercy as far as dates go.

As per your dogs- Yes we will need handlers to actualy run thier dog in a simulated test. First we start in the "classroom" and have the rules and test standards explained. You ask questions and learn what to expect from your judges view on topics such as- desire, cooperation, tracking- basically the whole test- how its scored, why its scored that way and what you can do to prevent screwing up your chances at a higher score. For example, some times you will find it is better to give a command if you know your dog may be ready to break a rule, intead of just letting it break the rule. At some portions you can talk to the dog and give praise. At other portios you must remain silent.

Then we will hit the test fields. Some people will "work" the test for a while, some will run thier dogs, and the rest will actually have a score card and judge the dogs to the standards they just learned in the classroom. Then the instructor will review the cards and discuss how they scored it and why. So we will need dogs in different levels of training. Actualy dogs that will have not been thouroughly finished would be better, as they willhave some issues for scoring discussion. (so any of mine would work :lol:) Then we should be able to trade off with some of the workers and let them participate. Unless we have full time workers that want to just designate the day to working the test. That would be ideal if anyone has already done a handlers clinic and could just work this one.

John do we have any dates planned for the clinic?

Clint

Clint Joesting at June 6, 2010 at 6:24 PM

John do we have any dates planned for the clinic?

Clint

Here are a few dates that Bob would be open to.  I guess we should see which one of these dates would work for the most people. Look them over and post back , or drop me a p.m..

July 10 or 11

July 24 or 25

Aug 14 or 15

Aug 21 or 22

I suggest July 24 and run it as a training day.

July 24th has been suggested by a few members to hold this clinic. We checked with Yerglers Hunting preserve and he said he would be available to host it there on that date, as it is available. He has a climate controlled (air conditioned) club house with full kitchen to accomadate us.

The 24th is a scheduled training day, so we could swap it out for this. The price would be around $50 to cover costs. Remember this is a bargain! most chapters charge close to $100 or more. And the clinic is stretched out for 2 days. Therefore you must travel to get to it, pay a hotel room and still have a long drive back home. We are doing a 10 hour day, probably 8-6. Start inside for the classroom portion, then head out to put our knowledge to work.  Dr. Bob Hauser is an excellent dog trainer with alot of knowledge, and has judged hundreds of dogs. I HIGHLY advise everyone to participate and be a part of this!!

We need at least 15 people to sign up and participate in the clinic. Among these we will need 5-6 of these members to volunteer to run thier dogs in the mock test to be evaluated. Anyone that has already taken a clinic and does not feel as though they need it again, PLEASE feel welcome to come and work the "test" operations in the afternoon.

I need everyone that is interested to reply back. This will take some coordinating to accomplish, so the sooner I know enough will attend this date, the better off we will be. Tell your training buddies, mark your calendars and plan to attend!!! Just reply back here, or drop me a p.m.

P.S. This does not mean that we cannot organize another training day to make up for the 24th. In fact Shae and I are in the works of putting together "training clinics" to start hosting for any interested members geared in areas of steadiness, Tracking, heeling, steady at blind, beginners duck search, advanced duck search, etc.  More on this later, but we plan to gear our Chapter in a shared training program. We want everyone to feel like they are learning training programs that will work for them.

Sign me up! Where do I send the check?