Okay, back to Venom. So, for those of you who may not know how a field trial works, I will try to explain it. Dachshunds are run in braces of two dogs. Dogs run with dogs, bitches run with bitches and field champions (dogs who have already completed the requirements to be field champions) run against other field champions, so that class is mixed with dogs and bitches. The dogs are randomly drawn into braces of two. Each "stake" (or class" is run separately. So, the class running first, we'll say dogs, head out to the field. There is a person designated to be "field marshal". That person runs the "gallery" which is the group of people walking. They also call out judges decisions. The gallery is lined up in a line and begin to walk slowly in a line through the field. It is important that the gallery listens to the field marshal and stays close together and moves slowly or we will walk over and past rabbits. Eventually, you will "pop" a rabbit. This means a rabbit will jump up and run. The judges watch where the rabbit went as best they can. Then, the judges bring up the brace that is up to run to the "start". The start is where the rabbit was first spotted. They then bring the two dogs up on "release lines". Release lines a long (about 12') piece of rope looped through the dogs collar ring allowing for the handler to hold each side of the line. The hounds are brought up to the start line together and the handlers start them where the judge pointed out and then begin to walk along the line the rabbit took. As soon as a handler thinks their dog is on it, meaning that they are scenting the line they can let go of one end of the line and release their dog. The dogs are judged on how well they follow the line and how they are hunting it. As a judge, I am personally not interested in the "style" that a dog hunts, I just want to see that the dog is working the line correctly. Dogs work the line differently. Some dogs are very slow and methodical, others move faster and air scent with their heads up picking up scent and some use a combination. I am looking at whether or not the dog is making progress and how well he is working the line. It is not a race. Faster does not mean better so just because a dog may blast out of there doesn't mean he won. I will always watch the other dog work too.
Handlers can and do affect how a dog runs. Some handlers can be quite rough on their dogs. This weekend I watched some handlers do some really nice, thoughtful handling and I watched others do some pretty ugly stuff like shoving their dogs into thick star thistle. One handler was even lifting their dog by the lead which meant the dog was being lift by his neck to move him over thistle. This is not kind or respectful to the dog at all and it won't help a dog to be a better hunter. Treatment and well being of our dogs in the field should be our number one priority, not such a desire to win that the dog as a living being is overlooked.
After being rushed in the vet parking lot by an off leash dog Venom has developed some issues around other dogs while on leash. He can be reactive and barky so I wasn't sure how he would do. When we got him out of the truck, he was great! He walked beautifully in the gallery with the other boy dogs and was relaxed and confident and happy. He occasionally greeted other dogs and did just fine. That made me so happy and I was able to really relax and have a good time.
On the first day the conditions were really tough. It was extremely windy which means of course that scent is blowing everywhere. It was very difficult for any of the dogs to run, especially the less experienced class dogs. Venom's first rabbit was released in some really thick star thistle and he just didn't know what to do with that, so he didn't work too well. That's okay, it was his very first experience and we were just fine with that. I was especially proud to see Rick handle him carefully without any pressure.
That evening, after the trial had ended, a longtime trialer, judge and very knowledgeable hound guy who is a friend of ours offered to work Venom on a dead frozen rabbit that he had. I know, it sounds gross, but many people will keep a dead rabbit when they come across one and freeze it then use it for training. He drug the frozen bunny and allowed Venom to track it and then chase it. Rick felt it really got Venom fired up which is good.
On the second day the conditions were much better and it was quite nice field trial weather. If I had been allowed to discuss it with Mother Nature prior to the trial, I would have requested it rain a little bit the night before for wet ground, but I wasn't give that option. It was chilly in the morning and warmed up. Even though the weather was nice the game was fairly hard to find. Some local people had come and allowed their dogs to run off leash (illegal at this park, we are allowed to do it because we rent the park and pay and have permission to run two dogs at a time off leash) so they probably pushed the rabbits all over the place. Rick and I had judge the girls in the Open All Age Bitch stake. We saw some really beautiful runs and were happy with our first through NBQ (next best qualifier) picks.
The boys were run after girls, so they didn't head out until about 10am. There were only 3 braces which means that there were just 6 dogs entered. Venom was in the second brace. We saw a rabbit pretty quickly so the first brace was run on that rabbit. After they ran, the handlers walked down the hill and asked the next brace to be ready. After a few more minutes Venom's brace was called up. This means that they had decided to use the second half of the line that had already been used. So, by the time Venom's brace got up to the start line, the scent line was over 10 minutes old. That is okay, but it can make it harder for young dogs. Venom was released along with his brace mate. His brace mate was licking Venom and sniffing him and the judges called interference and had the handler of the other dog pick up their dog while Venom continued to work alone. Venom did so great! I don't have pictures of this run, but I was able to watch it. He followed the line, with his nose down for probably 40-50 feet! We were over the top with pride at how great he did. When you run a dog, especially a young dog for the first time you just never know how they will do. Sometimes they run off and start playing with their brace mate. Sometimes they just run crazy. Sometimes they just sit at their owners feet. Sometimes they run to the gallery to look for their other human. Venom didn't do any of those things. He was just really good and we couldn't have been happier. I do know that I will need to do more practice with him working in brush and bushes so he learns to push through and ignore it.
After the "first series" or the first time each brace is run the judges look at their scores and call back the dogs for second series. In small stakes like this where you only have 6 or 8 dogs, most judges will only call back 4 dogs. So, 4 dogs were called back, but Venom wasn't one of them. Frankly, we were disappointed as I thought his run was really good. Not the best, but I did think it was quality and worthy of a call back. But, the great thing is that regardless of placements or what the judges saw and thought, WE KNOW what we saw and how we felt. We treated Venom (as always) as if he HAD won because no matter what he does, we are happy and proud of him, but when he does really good, recognized or not, that is still really important to us, so we were thrilled.
After the dogs stake we stayed back while they ran champions. I walked Venom down by the water and got a few good pictures of him.
Then we went into our friend Sharon's RV and hung out waiting for the field champions to finish.
All in all, we had a good time. So proud of our boy and more excited than ever to head down South with him at the end of the month! Here is Venom with his first Rosette!
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