No doubt about it: Field trial titles and hunt test designations help breeders sell puppies. But what if you're Norman Normal, a foot-hunter just looking for a good dog? What do all those titles on the sire and damn's pedigree actually mean? A number of well-know breeders and trainers will tell you not a whole lot claiming that modern-day field trails, especially, replicate real hunting about as much as a weekend stockcar resembles the Indy 500.

A Different World
Whether you camp with the retriever or pointing dog crowd, the debate is often bickered about round the fires of both camps. Sixty years ago, retriever trials were originated under a set of guidelines stating that tests should simulate the conditions of a normal day afield; likewise for pointing dog trials, although begun some years before, circa 1870. But it wasn't long before the dogs and their handlers reached such a high level of proficiency that determining a winner forced judges to increase various difficulties to a point where testing no longer resembled anything hunters might experience in a normal day.

Land/water quads, triple or quadruple marks with memory birds, 300-yard blinds with poison birds and retired guns: Now the jargon spoken by retriever trial enthusiasts sounds like some foreign language. In pointing dog circles, big-running dogs are expected to endure grueling three-hour heats pursued by a gallery riding on horseback at the National Field Trial Championship held annually at Ames Plantation, Grand Junction, Tennessee. Both worlds are far removed from the duck pond where a double on mallards, two easy marks floating belly-up in the decoys, might be the only work asked of a hunting retriever in a typical day. Same for the average upland hunter, out for a semi-regular stroll through the grouse and woodcock covers, where a hunter's legs offer the only practical forward momentum on steep mountain slopes and boggy river bottoms.

The Forest Through The Trees
So trials nowadays epitomize the extreme. But does this make field trial bloodlines irrelevant or even detrimental to the interest of gun dog enthusiasts?

"I contend the opposite is true," says Mike Lardy owner of Handjem Retrievers and a handler holding a record six National Championships. "While field trail tests are indeed extreme, the qualities required for a dog to compete are the same qualities you look for in a great gun dog-concentration, desire, courage, a discriminating nose, trainability, and perseverance. And more than anything else [field trials] take intelligence."

In an interview, Lardy once briefly explained it to me like this: "What we are searching for in field trail dogs is sensitivity, desire, and intelligence. The complicated tests we run demand these qualities, but especially intelligence. For example, doing a water quad with two retired guns takes, on average, about 20 minutes to run. In that time a dog has to make an incredible number of decisions on its own, sometimes at nearly 300 yards from the handler. They have to be thinking to a very high degree. Some people say that field trial dogs are all bred and trained to operate like robots. But saying that equates to not understanding what is going on out there at all."

Finding Middle Ground
The middle ground between ultra competitive field trails and the everyday world of the hunter is the hunt test. In a hunt test dogs are pitted, not against each other, but rather against a standard. Originally conceived as an anti-field trial movement, hunt testers today seek to simulate realistic hunting scenarios in a less competitive environment.

Hunt tests can be more likened to games that are open to all levels of trainers and any age dog. There exist in hunt tests, instead of championship titles, a spectrum of designated yardsticks that measures the experience and hunting skills of a gun dog throughout its life.

Trainers who participate in these events tend to be hunters first, dog handlers second. So, the actual business of dog training is said to be accomplished more "on the job" as opposed to the day-to-day, exacting training regimen necessary for trail competition.

The Perfect Blend
There has been a long-standing accusation that American field trials have produced dogs unsuited in temperament and trainability for the amateur trainer and hunter.

In the minds of many, a whelping box full of hyper, hard to control, so called "hard dogs" are more often than not the end result of couplings of field trial tested sires and damns. But this is simply a case of old myths dying hard. Good hunting dogs can still be had from untitled parents. And it should not be forgotten that the ultimate proving ground for a dog's birdiness, natural ability, desire, and intelligence remain the forests, fields, and backwaters. But when looking for a new puppy, consider that all those titles and hunt test designations mean is that the pup you will choose comes from a strong and capable line. The rest is up to you.

One need only compare the quality of gun dogs we have today with those of yesteryear, to see that trails and hunt tests have upped the ante for today's gun dog breeders. Hunters nowadays expect more from canine counterparts than simply the pointing and retrieving of game and, in the end, we have organized competitions to thank for raising the bar.

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