- Scalloping isn't a cast refusal. If they take the cast for a few steps then get sucked back on their bad line, you just need to tell them again. A cast refusal is literally turning the wrong way or refusing to sit.
- You can receive a mark back into the holding blind so the bird boy can plant a bird.
- If you've received the bird in the holding blind and they're planting a bird AND you have a very wired dog, leave the bird in her mouth. She's not going to be thinking about going out and getting another duck when she has one in her mouth.
- You cannot repeat verbal casts; you can only give a verbal cast once. In training, learn to break this habit.
- The judges don't judge the return from the mark.
- Don't point out mistakes with your dog. Devon took a huge looping return on a mark and did a fly by of the blind planter. I didn't expect this and still don't know why she did it. I whistled her several times, then gave her big voice "HERE!" commands. Someone in the gallery who is a judge said I was pointing out a weakness where the judges could mark me down in trainability. I should have just continued to whistle her and not call so much attention to it.
- You can only send the dog once on a blind. If the dog no-gos, you can step back and handle the dog from there.
And the biggest lesson: hunt test folks are generally really great people. I didn't travel with anyone this weekend and only knew a few folks at the test mostly in other stakes. I had a great time chatting with the other handlers during the test and made some really good friends. We were all rooting for each other, and it was really nice to get smiles and cheers from the gallery.
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