Barn Hunt Trial | What to Expect 

Thanks so much for tuning in, we're glad you enjoyed it! Those are great tips, thank you! I can totally see where talking too much can distract the dog as we need to trust their instincts. I think we just need more training and we will teach Dansby to paw at the tube, I think that's a wonderful idea and he's a very smart fella, so I think it will work. We so enjoyed meeting you and Justice and look forward to seeing you at another trial as well!

Aww, I love this! Tucky is such a cute name, and I bet there aren't a lot of other dogs with that name. Thanks for watching and sharing!

So, we go to a trainer's house who has rats, so we get to train with actual live rats. Since the trial includes a tube that does have scent, but no rat, I would think training with just scent would be detrimental since the dog needs to indicate which tube has the live rat. I think with some dogs it just takes time and maturity to get that hunting instinct working. In fact, when Finlay was young and went to his first Earthdog trial, he didn't really get it. We didn't do any training with him, but the next year, he was a different dog. I recall being told that his instinct would come with age, and boy did it ever! Granted, he also got a couple of bird kills in our back yard (much to my chagrin, but he was just doing what terriers do) and that may have reinforced his hunting instinct. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Dansby!