Originally Posted by
CraigMac
Hi Tracker
Thanks. An interesting point on trials. I did a puppy trial simply because it was a pre-requisite for listing my dog with HPR's breeding list. I would have done the natural ability anyway for my own sake. My opinion of trials ( remember that this is coming from a novice one-dog owner, so hardly an informed opinion) is that they are made up of a large number of people who do not actually hunt with their dogs and who are more interested in conforming to the breed standard as opposed to a talented dog who performs well in the field.
I like some clubs approach which appears to be more on dog field performance than breed standard and with a focus on maintaining high levels of hunting ability.
Again I may be incorrect but I have heard that a number of hunting breeds like the weimaraner have slowly lost the field skills as they are bred for judging and not working.
Just a personal opinion...
Cheers