Central Highlands Working Gundog Club

What is a Retrieving Trial?

Trialling, like many other canine events, is all about teamwork with your canine companion. There is a great degree of skill, timing and judgement required to perform well with your dog at the top levels of the sport, along with hours and hours of training that begins when you bring your puppy home. Trialling combines the natural hunting ability of a gundog with aspects of obedience. The great thing about it, in contrast to other canine sports, is that triallers get to visit some absolutely fantastic properties, and quite often are able to camp on site. These properties are usually private, and would otherwise be inaccessible. For those that love dogs and the great outdoors - this is the ultimate sport!

A retrieving trial, according to the the Australian National Kennel Council's rules, is:

"...an event at which competitors for the working of registered Gundogs are conducted, both on land and in or through water, to determine their relative merits in the field under conditions which emulate as closely as possible those which would be found whilst shooting..."

Essentially, a dog is judged according to its hunting and working abilities via a series of 'runs', usually three, although championship stakes can require up to eight. A run is essentially a retrieve, where the handler shoots at an item of game (blanks only!), and the dog is asked to retrieve that game and deliver it to the handler. A trial is generally conducted on private farmland, where the dogs are tested over a variety of terrains, on land and in water. There is a maximum of 55 points available per run, which the judge may award according to the various areas of the scoresheet, such as steadiness, obedience and walking to heel, style eagerness and action, and the actual retrieve itself. Points can also be deducted for a number of things, such as breaking to shot, hard mouth, dropping game.

Novice

A Novice Stake consists of three single retrieves, known as 'marks'. The game is cast, or thrown, and the handler must shoot at the apex of the cast. The dog must remain steady at the handler's side, and mark the fall of the game. To mark simply means that the dog must judge the distance accurately in order to obtain high points for the retrieve. The handler then sends the dog for the game by command, and the dog has to navigate the terrain and remember the area of the fall of the game, pick it up and bring it back to the handler. During the course of the three runs, the dogs must be tested over land, in water and over water. If a dog fails to retrieve any game in any of the three runs, it receives a score of zero and is out of the trial. To be eligible for a Novice Stake, a dog cannot have won a Novice Title, which is obtained by winning two Novice Stakes. The dog also cannot have won a Restricted State, which is the next level up.

Restricted

A Retricted Stake again consists of three runs, however, each runs can include more than one retrieve. In addition to a mark, the dog may be tested on a 'blind', which is an item of game that has been placed without the dog seeing where it is. In order to retrieve the blind, the dog has to be directed by the handler to the game. Quite often a run will be a combination of a mark and a blind, and sometimes the judge requires that the dog retrieves the blind first. This can be a little tricky, because the dog will naturally want to retrieve the game it has seen. Handlers use a variety of commands to achieve this, using voice commands, whistles and hand signals to direct the dog to the area. Obviously this is taught in training over a long period of time. Restricted runs can present a number of combinations of marks and blinds. Sometimes there are two marks and the judge sets the order of pick up, or a mark is thrown while the dog is on its way back from retrieving the first item of game. Restricted is basically the middle level stake, and sets up the types of retrieves, without the complexity, that can be expected at All Age and Championship levels. Once again, if a dog fails to retrieve any of the items of game, it is scored zero and is out of the trial. To be eligible for a Restricted Stake, the dog cannot have won three Restricted Stakes, thus attaining its Restricted Title, and it cannot have won an All Age or won or placed second in a Championship Stake.

All Age

An All Age Stake is the top level of competition in this sport. A dog cannot enter this stake without first winning a Novice Stake or placing first, second or third in a Restricted Stake. The stake again consists of three runs, with each run requiring up to three items of game to be retrieved. As with Restricted, there are a range of different combinations of marks and blinds within each run that can be put on. There are certain run combinations that are not allowed in Restricted, but are allowed in All Age. A 'double fall' is a mark that the dog is sent for, and on the way out another mark is thrown. The dog has to mark the second item of game, and proceed to the initial mark that it was sent for, then return and remember where the second item of game is. Another is the 'decoy', where an item of game is cast or placed, and the dog is not allowed to retrieve it at all. It is usually placed within the vicinity of another item of game so that the dog is aware of it by its scent. If a dog 'switches game' by picking up an item of game out of order, it is put out of the trial, and once again, failing to find an item of game means a score of zero and being put out of the trial. An All Age win gives a dog six points toward a championship title, so by winning two All Ages a dog achieves a Retrieving Trial Champion Title, abbreviated as Rt Ch in front of its kennel name.

Championships

A State Championship and National Championship Stake is confined to a dog that has won a Retricted Stake, or has placed first, second or third in an All Age Stake. State Championships consists of a minimum of four runs and 9 items of game, and are usually conducted over two days. National Championships consist of a minimum of seven retrieves and fifteen items of game, and are usually conducted over three days. Both events award 12 championship points for first place and six for second place. Winning a National Retrieving Trial Championship gives a dog the title of National Retrieving Trial Champion, abbreviated as Nat Rt Ch in front of their kennel name. Each state (except for Northern Territory) holds a State Championship every year, and the National Championship is rotated between the states from year to year. These events typically attract the best competitors from around the country, the best of the best. The Championship level stakes are for the elite competitors of the sport, the retrieves can be tougher, longer and more complicated than an an All Age, and absolutey spectacular to watch. This years' National is being held in the beautiful Ballarat area of Victoria, and is being judged by two of the CHWGC's committee members, Mark Davis and Noel Eltringham. You can read more about the judges on our Commiteee page.