Wednesday 28 August 2013

basic skills test for Barbet dogs

Martha has the retrieving ability

Hope looking very well behaved compared to the others. 

A bit of fun, will they all retrieve a bird? the answer was 'yes'
Well all the dogs passed the basic skills test, otherwise known in France as the TAN. We had a good morning, the dogs were able to have a quick run before they had to do their retrieve and once Mick who was the examiner had seen the dogs and ticked the pass box we were able to do a bit of training with birds. Having just spent 3 days at the Game Fair with Claude, Hope, Hallie and Martha and seeing how sociable they were, and how they had no reaction to the any of the gunfire, and how as a group they plunged into the water I was quietly confident that the 4 dogs would pass. This will be the 3rd Tan taken in the UK offered by the Barbet Club and so far we have had only 2 fails, one Barbet would not swim and the other Barbet swam like an otter but would not retrieve!!!.
 I can recommend Mick as a gundog trainer, he is someone who listens and accepts readily that the Barbet is not going to do things like a spaniel or a lab, so if you have any problems with your Barbet he is certainly a good contact and is very approachable, http://www.corunnagundogs.com/
The Tan is a test that can be taken from the age of 6 months old, we are of course very grateful that the French Breed Club has allowed this test to be performed in the UK, the other working tests are only available in France.