I drove 90 minutes each way for two days in a row to get to our trial...usually I'm a night owl, but you get used to getting up at 5a for dog events. 
Barn hunt
- Thread starter Laurelin
- Start date
Yeah, 1-2 hours each way is pretty standard for the shows I've been to. After traveling for work for a couple years, my desire to sleep in my own bed outweighs my desire to sleep in, so I'm ok with leaving super early.
I drove 90 minutes each way for two days in a row to get to our trial...usually I'm a night owl, but you get used to getting up at 5a for dog events.
Anyone else in the northeast thinking about going to the barn hunt in Red Lion, PA in December? Be cool to meet up on the Saturday before. Could drive up earlier on Saturday instead of later afternoon to just spend the night in the motel.
Maybe. Would mostly depend on the dogs meeting and getting along before hand. Don't want two strange dogs stuck in a car together for that long who decided they aren't happy with each other for some reason.
Edit:
Oh and from what I've read on the BHA website they rats aren't harmed at all and are said to enjoy the attention. I'm just going by what the site says though.
Edit:
Oh and from what I've read on the BHA website they rats aren't harmed at all and are said to enjoy the attention. I'm just going by what the site says though.
The rats are perfectly happy. The rules are really specific on how they are to be treated. Rats are intelligent and social animals, they know they aren't in danger, and get a kick out of the goings on. The reason that the rules specify use of rats rather than another rodent is that rats don't stress about handling like most other rodents do.
Denis and I help rat wrangle at every event. Sarah (flynsbt) and Denis and I have been to events for a year now starting with experimental, to fun matches, to finally real trials. The rats are extremely well cared for and happy, it actually borders on leaning towards an obedience exercise over an instinct exercise with the hyper vigilance on not allowing the dogs to abuse the rats. We have to work with Sloan on this a lot, I am sure Sarah would as well if her dogs were bigger. Allowing the dogs to lift, shake, grind on, and over stimulate on the rat tubes is frowned upon and up to the judges call as DQable "rat abuse". Most judges at this point realize these dogs are hunting and aren't too hard on them, most are grandfathered from earth dogs where they are encouraged to "work" the rat by biting bars, barking, digging, and are often trained this behavior by real pest control.
Rats [here] always enter the tube without force and we rotate them with each class and sometimes sooner if they've been worked by vigorous hunters.
Shamoo is a great but passive hunter. She bothers the rat lightly with pawing and nosing. She's easy on the rats and wranglers like her style.
Also, many dogs that are activated and crazed by moving prey have trouble with the inactive hunt, relying on the nose. This is why workshops and training are encouraged, to help association for the dogs and help them distinguish between bedding and the rat.
Sloan over stimulates and likes to carry bedding tubes while she hunts or sometimes just plays with them. The challenge is her alert between play and a rat find are not distinguishable. The trick that we have found to work is regular re-association with rats in earth dog boxes helps remind her she's hunting, not playing.
Both girls are 1leg from entering RATS(senior), I'll try for some videos when I get to a computer.
Rats [here] always enter the tube without force and we rotate them with each class and sometimes sooner if they've been worked by vigorous hunters.
Shamoo is a great but passive hunter. She bothers the rat lightly with pawing and nosing. She's easy on the rats and wranglers like her style.
Also, many dogs that are activated and crazed by moving prey have trouble with the inactive hunt, relying on the nose. This is why workshops and training are encouraged, to help association for the dogs and help them distinguish between bedding and the rat.
Sloan over stimulates and likes to carry bedding tubes while she hunts or sometimes just plays with them. The challenge is her alert between play and a rat find are not distinguishable. The trick that we have found to work is regular re-association with rats in earth dog boxes helps remind her she's hunting, not playing.
Both girls are 1leg from entering RATS(senior), I'll try for some videos when I get to a computer.
Interesting!
Well we've had a few mice show up this last day. Mia gets way overstimulated by the sight of any small fuzzy thing moving but at the same time my livetraps are not 100% see through-able and I actually rely on Mia to let me know if there is a mouse hiding under the entrance ramp (they love doing that). So she is used to searching them out by nose but if she sees one the nose tends to turn off and she goes nuts.
She will bite the trap though and try to drag it off and will bark nonstop whenever she has cornered a mouse or found the area it has gone into (like my vent).
It should be interesting. She loves using her nose in nosework too.
Well we've had a few mice show up this last day. Mia gets way overstimulated by the sight of any small fuzzy thing moving but at the same time my livetraps are not 100% see through-able and I actually rely on Mia to let me know if there is a mouse hiding under the entrance ramp (they love doing that). So she is used to searching them out by nose but if she sees one the nose tends to turn off and she goes nuts.
She will bite the trap though and try to drag it off and will bark nonstop whenever she has cornered a mouse or found the area it has gone into (like my vent).
It should be interesting. She loves using her nose in nosework too.
Well the barn hunt went.... totally unexpectedly.
Mia had very little interest in the caged rats. WTF? She walked up to the cage and sniffed them then just sniffed then walked away. Then in the tube- same thing.
I have no clue. We waited in lines and then they showed the dogs the rats and all the other dogs/people were crowded around waiting and the dogs were all getting agitated, which made Mia a little spooky.
When it came time to search she did okay but our first search of the tubes out in the open she sniffed all three about equally and I called wrong. Second time she did the same thing. Third time she was excited to go and was really searching. She did narrow down the right hay bale but no digging or scratching like at home. ? She was noticeably happier on the last search though.
So afterwards we went to the park where she proceeded to sniff out a vole to chase as well as a rabbit and once they were gone she sniffed all over. THEN we got home where she proceeded to try to search out the mouse that has been trying to steal dog food and has been sniffing and digging at the base of my shelves... WTF Dog?! What is so exciting about voles and bunnies and mice but not the rats at the barn hunt? And my chinchilla at home was super exciting. But rats are apparently not? I really think she must've just been so worried about the other dogs being riled up so close to her.
Soooo they're doing another and I have half a mind to sign her up and see if she's worked out what the game is. She got progressively more into it as the night went on but never was really alerting the rats. She was searching well (though I'm not convinced she wasn't searching for birch). Or the other option is bring along Summer who has shown 0 prey drive ever and see what she does. She would probably like to jump on hay bales at least, LOL.
Mia had very little interest in the caged rats. WTF? She walked up to the cage and sniffed them then just sniffed then walked away. Then in the tube- same thing.
I have no clue. We waited in lines and then they showed the dogs the rats and all the other dogs/people were crowded around waiting and the dogs were all getting agitated, which made Mia a little spooky.
When it came time to search she did okay but our first search of the tubes out in the open she sniffed all three about equally and I called wrong. Second time she did the same thing. Third time she was excited to go and was really searching. She did narrow down the right hay bale but no digging or scratching like at home. ? She was noticeably happier on the last search though.
So afterwards we went to the park where she proceeded to sniff out a vole to chase as well as a rabbit and once they were gone she sniffed all over. THEN we got home where she proceeded to try to search out the mouse that has been trying to steal dog food and has been sniffing and digging at the base of my shelves... WTF Dog?! What is so exciting about voles and bunnies and mice but not the rats at the barn hunt? And my chinchilla at home was super exciting. But rats are apparently not? I really think she must've just been so worried about the other dogs being riled up so close to her.
Soooo they're doing another and I have half a mind to sign her up and see if she's worked out what the game is. She got progressively more into it as the night went on but never was really alerting the rats. She was searching well (though I'm not convinced she wasn't searching for birch). Or the other option is bring along Summer who has shown 0 prey drive ever and see what she does. She would probably like to jump on hay bales at least, LOL.
The thing I don't get is that at home Mia has seen several kinds of live traps with mice and gone NUTS. I would have thought that would transfer over very easily? She's always been a big chase fan but if I have a mouse in a trap she is digging at it and biting it and trying to get that darn thing out.
I was surprised that Jackson wasn't as excited as I thought he would be. I mean, he definitely did well in altering, and led me right to the rat, but he wasn't super excited, more cautious/curious than anything. I kind of thought he would be like how I see him in the backyard with a bunny, he stalks and barks and runs full speed to catch it lol. But I guess the being locked in a tube thing kind of ruins that for him.