Working Trials

[anita96]

I have been reading bits about working trials and wondering if anyone had any experience of it and is it suitable for cockers, I have a working cocker and thought he would enjoy the scenting section.

[sportsmonki]

I have very little personal experience of working trials, and so I dont have much to base my answer on, sorry.  My cocker has only done a small amount of working trials training, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Because of their size a cocker will never be able to progress past UD, as after UD there is no reduction in the size of the jumps and scale for smaller dogs, so they will never become a champion and if you have aspirations to work the higher stakes other breeds would be more suitable, e.g. border collie.  However, in my opinion there is no reason why cockers can not do well in the two lower stakes.  I have heard that there are a few cockers in working trials, but I dont have their details to hand, sorry.  I also know of some staffies and a jack russel that have qualified CDX.

The only trainer I know of round where I live (and he has a wealth of experience in the sport) said that he wouldnt bother with a cocker.  He said they just get a scent/put a bird up and that's it, they are gone.  He also mentioned their short attention span works against them, and so in his opinion people are wasting their time trying to train a cocker for working trials.  

I think it depends a little on who you speak to whether they believe a cocker is a suitable breed or not.  In my opinion it is much more about the individual characteristics of each dog, and the abilities of the trainer/handler.  I believe my cocker has more talent for working trials than my collie, which goes to show that there are always exceptions    

[flozac]

 Please ignore this  unless you are interested in feild trials I misread the original post

As far as I am aware working cocker  trials are becoming much more popular and there are a lot going on up and down the country. i have posted this link before but it is an excellent working cocker site and will give you a lot of info on working cockers
felstead

Also the couple who run this site are heavily involved in cocker trials and were very helpful to me when i expressed an interest.Whauply Gundogs

Hope you find these sites useful

[Jane S]

A puppy we bred (now 12 months old) is starting training for Working Trials this year - apparently her trainer (who has Border Collies) thinks she has a lot of potential and should do very well, though like Sportsmonki says, there will be a limit to how far she can go due to her size

Jane

PS Working Trials aren't the same as Field Trials - they're a combination of obedience, agility & tracking progressing up to man work (protection work) at the highest level (definitely not for Cockers )

[Top Barks]

PS Working Trials aren't the same as Field Trials - they're a combination of obedience, agility & tracking progressing up to man work (protection work) at the highest level (definitely not for Cockers )

[snapback]174586[/snapback]

not unless they want to be loved into submission    

[crazyspaniels]

unless you can find a good club there is alot of lonely training as you need to really work at tracking.
I took mine for working trials training day, they enjoyed it but springers are a funny size and would struggle so I decided against it.
Here's Willow learning the scale

[anita96]

I took Mocha to a working trials introduction session at the weekend.  It was great he loved the nose work and was very keen to impress!  He will not be able to progress to the highest level due to his size but he will be able to compete.  I have started setting out scent boxes in the garden and house and he loves to find different things in there.  It has really helped with his recall and leave, as he is so excited to show me that he has found a piece of carpet or old wire!  The only problem now is when we are out for walks he brings everything he finds to me!!!

[sportsmonki]

Great, glad it went well.  Good Luck with the training.

sportsmonki

[Black Angel's]

my dogs only did field trials.. They're show type.

[workingcockers]

have started with my Lucy training for WT. As was said above, because of their size you can only do CD and UD. However, I still reckon its a lot of fun and the people are so nice. The guy I did my first session with took Lucy from me and she did everything and more for him. He reckoned that she should easily get up to UD,  Back in my hands, well.....the handler is going to let the dog down!!
That said, I take pups to my local obed class - not for the training but for the socialisation and often I would take the old boy  for a night out. they had a fun competition of heel work and sits and the last dog to respond was out . There must have been 50 dogs - all collies except for Jaf and a springer. Well - he got through to the final run off between him and a BC. I thought it was hilarious, made even sweeter as the class is very pro Border Collies. A good day for cockers I thought!!

meant to say - there is a WT site except I cant find it in my favourites!!

here we are http://www.workingtrials.co.uk/

If any of the Scottish COLers are int, there should be an introductory day coming up - Central belt - probably falkirk or nr Crieff and will be posted up on web site in due course

[sportsmonki]

Yeay...go Jaf!  Nice to hear of a cocker kicking some "bozzoz" butt  

Good Luck with Lucy's training.

Slightly off topic...but...there is a working cocker representing the Northern Ireland team at novice level in obedience on the Thursday of Crufts...what a star!

sportsmonki