# Barn Hunt



## Laurelin

Doing a barn hunt workshop with Mia. Has anyone done them? She loooves mice and bunnies and is constantly looking for them/digging up my dryer vent for them but has never seen a rat. I think she'll be very excited when she gets the idea down.

I'm hoping they'll start doing trials if the workshops take off around here. It's like nosework with rats- that is perfect for Mia!


----------



## elrohwen

I've said from day 1 of nosework that the only thing that could make it better for Watson is if they hid chipmunks in the boxes. lol

I can't wait to hear your experience. I found a place to do it, but it's 1.5 hours away. I going to see if I can talk my obedience instructor into hosting a seminar at her facility or somewhere else nearby.


----------



## CptJack

I want to do this so bad, for obvious reasons, but there is really NOTHING anywhere near me. Let me know how it goes! The boys can live vicariously.


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim

I think a couple of my dogs would do well in this but there is just not really anything in VA. There is one trial this month in Chesapeake (next week) but I am all booked up this month lol.

Yeah please let us know how it goes.


----------



## Abbylynn

Ooooh! That is what I wanted to get Leeo into if he were still here. Please post pis and or videos if possible!  I have watched videos on this on you tube ... looks like fun!


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest

I found a tri-state area group that has events fairly close to us, so we're gonna give it a go. I think Jonas will REALLY like it. I'm gonna give it a try with at least him, possibly Smalls or Jack.


----------



## dagwall

I'm pretty much decided I'll be taking the 2 hour trip to do a barn hunt in December.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

I really liked the seminar we went to a few weeks ago. It was interesting to see how subtle Bubbles was with her alert - I expected her to bark point the tube, but instead she just ran up to it right away, squeaked at it, and walked away like, "yeah, I did it." So I have to get used to reading that and seeing if that alert will evolve at all once she "gets" the game. The soonest we get to try again is a trial in March, as there is a trial only 20 mins away. I have so much that I travel far for already - not sure if I want to add this in to the mix unless we become more serious about it 

Oh and I only tried Bubbles with it since she has shown the most hunting instinct out of all of my guys. I think in March I may try Kimma with it, too.


----------



## Willowy

Wow, that is something Penny would love. She has a Thing for rodents . Alas, the closest event is in Wisconsin .

It says for dogs of (almost) any breed/size/etc. I couldn't find what they meant by almost. Anyone know?


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest

I believe the size is in regards to the course. They have to be able to fit through an 18'' wide by 22'' tall tunnel.


----------



## dagwall

I'll be doing my first barn hunt on Sunday in Red Lion, PA. They still haven't sent me my registration confirmation email like they said they would but they did cash my check. I'll take that as a confirmation. 

Excited for this. Not likely to get any pictures or video of Jubel as I'll be alone unless they have someone there taking pictures not charging crazy high prices. I'm pretty sure Jubel will love it. He's a mouser with a handful of kills, gets all worked up over the scent of chipmunks, rats shouldn't be much different on a level of interest scale. 

We'll be doing an instinct test and two novice course runs. I'll update Sunday night/early Monday with how it went.


----------



## BernerMax

Yeah my schnauzer would love it, the other 2 notso much, they have the prey drive bred outa of them.... Def keep us updated...
she does get her own occasional rat or mouse in the back field, and on walks though...


----------



## dagwall

CptJack and Chaos you two many be interested in the Barn Hunt coming up in Danville, VA on Jan 26th. Not sure where in southwest VA you are CptJack but I'm pretty sure Danville would only be a few hours away which isn't too bad if you really want to get your boys into this. Was looking for new event listings for myself and thought of you two when I saw something in VA.


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim

dagwall said:


> CptJack and Chaos you two many be interested in the Barn Hunt coming up in Danville, VA on Jan 26th. Not sure where in southwest VA you are CptJack but I'm pretty sure Danville would only be a few hours away which isn't too bad if you really want to get your boys into this. Was looking for new event listings for myself and thought of you two when I saw something in VA.


Danville is an hour and a half drive for me. So not too bad.


----------



## dagwall

ChaosIsAWeim said:


> Danville is an hour and a half drive for me. So not too bad.


Yeah I was pretty sure for you the distance wouldn't be much of an issue. More a matter of if you were available to go that weekend or not. It's about 4-4.5 hours for me so I'm not likely to go myself.


----------



## Kayota

i REALLY want to do an instinct test with roxie, you're lucky! good luck


----------



## DJEtzel

I'm really excited to be offering barn hunt seminars and classes starting in 2014! 

Sir is going to be IN LOVE. He loves our "get the kitty" and "get the squirrel" games. XD


----------



## spotted nikes

DJEtzel said:


> I'm really excited to be offering barn hunt seminars and classes starting in 2014!
> 
> Sir is going to be IN LOVE. He loves our "get the kitty" and "get the squirrel" games. XD


As someone who takes care of the barn cats, I'd be raising holy hell if you had an off leash dog that you are encouraging to "Get the kitty". The barn is our barn cats HOME. Taking your dog there and encouraging him to go after the cats is really rude, and sadistic.


----------



## DJEtzel

spotted nikes said:


> As someone who takes care of the barn cats, I'd be raising holy hell if you had an off leash dog that you are encouraging to "Get the kitty". The barn is our barn cats HOME. Taking your dog there and encouraging him to go after the cats is really rude, and sadistic.


Sir "gets the kitty" in our home with our cats. He LOVES snuggling with them but isn't allowed to overwhelm them all the time. So "get the kitty" is his favorite reward to get to go find them and sniff and snuffle on them. And they love it. Just not when he's slobbering on them for 10 minutes straight.

And he's never allowed off leash... I'm really not sure where you got that.

Thanks for your assumptions!


----------



## Kayota

spotted nikes said:


> As someone who takes care of the barn cats, I'd be raising holy hell if you had an off leash dog that you are encouraging to "Get the kitty". The barn is our barn cats HOME. Taking your dog there and encouraging him to go after the cats is really rude, and sadistic.


I tell Roxie to get the kitty when they're in my yard... They get in my trash. And seeing as how she's a Chihuahua mix she's very much harmless to them and the two times she's actually gotten in a fight she came away injured while the cat got off unscathed. I wouldn't just take her to a barn and tell her to chase cats deliberately.


----------



## spotted nikes

DJEtzel said:


> Sir "gets the kitty" in our home with our cats. He LOVES snuggling with them but isn't allowed to overwhelm them all the time. So "get the kitty" is his favorite reward to get to go find them and sniff and snuffle on them. And they love it. Just not when he's slobbering on them for 10 minutes straight.
> 
> And he's never allowed off leash... I'm really not sure where you got that.
> 
> Thanks for your assumptions!


So how are you playing "get the kitty" at the barn? What you posted just doesn't make sense. Is it your own barn, and your own cats?

The idea of off leash is from the off leash thread where you said you frequently take your dogs off leash. Not that big of an assumption...can't exactly chase a cat if he's on leash..


----------



## DJEtzel

spotted nikes said:


> So how are you playing "get the kitty" at the barn? What you posted just doesn't make sense. Is it your own barn, and your own cats?
> 
> The idea of off leash is from the off leash thread where you said you frequently take your dogs off leash. Not that big of an assumption...can't exactly chase a cat if he's on leash..


I never said I played get the kitty at the barn. I said I'm looking forward to barn hunt because Sir already loves the games we play based on prey drive. Maybe you should read what someone writes before attacking them over it. 

They are my roommate's cats. In our house. The flirt pole is outside in our yard. I'm not sure what you're not understanding? 

I specifically said that this dog is never allowed off leash in that thread... Again, maybe you should be reading what I'm typing?


----------



## spotted nikes

DJEtzel said:


> I never said I played get the kitty at the barn. I said I'm looking forward to barn hunt because Sir already loves the games we play based on prey drive. Maybe you should read what someone writes before attacking them over it.
> 
> They are my roommate's cats. In our house. The flirt pole is outside in our yard. I'm not sure what you're not understanding?
> 
> I specifically said that this dog is never allowed off leash in that thread... Again, maybe you should be reading what I'm typing?


this is your post-"I'm really excited to be offering barn hunt seminars and classes starting in 2014! 

Sir is going to be IN LOVE. He loves our "get the kitty" and "get the squirrel" games. XD "

That implies that you are going to be playing "Get the kitty" in a barn hunt atmosphere. There really is no other way to interpret that.


----------



## Kayota

I did not see it at all and have been watching this thread wondering where on earth you got that. I really don't see how you could interpret it that way.


----------



## momtolabs

Don't know if its the same but, Bentley is trained on my uncles farm that when he say "search" in the barn he looks for varmits. When he finds a hole,or them he sits or barks. He is kept on leash in case its a ****. We trap and release the animals far away. 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## DJEtzel

spotted nikes said:


> this is your post-"I'm really excited to be offering barn hunt seminars and classes starting in 2014!
> 
> Sir is going to be IN LOVE. He loves our "get the kitty" and "get the squirrel" games. XD "
> 
> That implies that you are going to be playing "Get the kitty" in a barn hunt atmosphere. There really is no other way to interpret that.


That didn't imply it at all... No one else had a problem with it. Please get off your high horse and learn all the details before attacking someone.


----------



## dagwall

Did our first barn hunt on Sunday and it was great. Jubel did fantastic and now has two Qs towards his novice title. They called for snow in the afternoon, snow started around 9:30am so we trialled in the snow. Froze my butt off, lots of time in the car with the heat running.

I missed the start of the results for the instinct/novice trial while staying warm in my car. Came down to see the progress of the second trial's start just in time to hear them calling out Jubel's name for coming in fourth place in large dog novice(1 min 1 second). I think there where 21 dogs in his class so I was very happy with that. On his second run he made a B-line to the rat from the start box and was on it in seconds. Took me about 40 seconds to get his focus off the rat and complete the tunnel and climb afterwards. One of the other people told me Jubel had the fastest instinct time but I didn't hear that from a judge so not positive on that.

We left straight after our second run which was faster so I don't know where we ranked. Had to drive home from York, PA to the DC metro area and hoped to make it before it got dark and icy. Took almost three hours to get home.

Very proud of my boy and excited for future barn hunts. Jubel is a natural as I expected he'd be.


----------



## Laurelin

Mia ended up having NO interest in the rats, which was bizarre. We introduced them in cages where she could see them. 

This is her at home, so I was expecting some excitement. Instead she was meh.






I still don't get it. My best guess is she was overwhelmed/stressed with the other worked up dogs and people all around. She's kind of finicky.


----------



## elrohwen

I would guess she was probably overstimulated by the chaos and not sure what she was supposed to do. I would definitely go again. Based on her love of nosework and behavior around the mice at home, I bet she'll catch on pretty quickly.


----------



## dagwall

Did a barn hunt fun run today. Jubel did pretty well. Wasn't as 'on' as he was at the trial last month but still did well.

He busted out of the ring on his first run and had to be grabbed by someone and half carried back in by me. The one and only dog of the entire day to even try and bust out. He had alerted to the rat but I didn't really see it from the other side of the hay bale and it wasn't as obvious as he was last month. His next two runs went better, still not as obvious on his finds but I was ready to call on less after his first run. So run one was a NQ, run two took 1 min 16 sec, run three took 53 sec.

I still need to decide if I'm going to make the weekend long trip down to Chesapeake for the trial in February, open for entries in a few days. Two trials on Sat and two on Sun, if I do go I'll go for both days. About a 3.5 hour drive for me. Jubel,would get his novice title and maybe an open title if he got all Qs.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

We had another seminar today. I took Kimma and Bubbles. Well, Bubby is totally not in to it LOL. All she wanted to do was be pet by people haha. So I'm thinking that this may not be the sport for her - I will just continue training her for therapy work 

Now Kimma was amazing. I totally didn't expect her to really care all that much (she wasn't overly interested in the rat in the cage), but when I released her, she checked all the tubes (it was set up like the instinct test portion) and went back to the correct one and started to get more vocal and worked up about it. So we tried a higher hide in a bale and she found it almost immediately and was bark pointing. It was awesome. Not that I needed anything else to trial Kimma in, but oh well. She really got in to it. I will be taking her to the trial in March for sure. There might be another fun day like this in a few weeks, and maybe I will think about getting one of the boys involved.


----------



## RabbleFox

Michiganders!

http://barnhunt-michigan.weebly.com

Classes are now offered out in Novi.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

So I think I'm going to enter Kimma in a trial in March. I know it's 4 trials in a weekend, 2 trials a day.

What exactly do I enter? Instinct and Novice on both days? Can she do Novice at all if she doesn't get her Instinct (I mean, would it count)? I guess "ideally" she could do Instinct, Novice then next day Novice, Novice. But can I really plan for that? 

Help?


----------



## dagwall

The way they are usually set up is you can do instinct and novice run the first trial of the day and novice again the second trial of the day. Check the premium about instinct runs on the second day, sometimes they have them again on the first trial of the day and sometimes not. The premium usually says. If you want in all four trials just sign up for all novice and instincts as available. If you pass your first three novice runs you can move up to open if they allow move ups (usually do) or stick with another novice run if you want. Any future trials you'd have to run open though, can only stay at a titled level that day. 

Instinct is optional and you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It remains an option available to you until you get your novice title. 

Just printed out the premiums for trials in April and June for me and Jubes! Excited to complete them and finish our novice title and start on open. Jubel has to novice Qs, one more for his title.


----------



## Jacksons Mom

We're so excited to meet you and Jubel at the next one! The place where they hold the trial is awesome. 3 large covered barns, awesome property too, so places to go walk and explore while you wait, etc.

I'm debating on whether to sign Jackson up for Instinct again or not. I guess there is no point, right? He got first place in his category in the Instinct test but they don't do official placements for that, really. He didn't act very 'excited' but he walked right in there and seemed to know what to do, smelled one tube intently, then briefly looked at another, but I called it, I could tell he had already smelled it lol.

I'm actually going to the practice they're having in March, so I'm thinking doing an instinct test again is pointless at the trial, so when I send the premium in, I guess I'll just sign him up for RATN twice on Saturday (??) in trial 1 and trial 2. Then on Sunday, sign him up for RATO - can I do that? haha... I still have some learning to do.

Edit - oh you said they need to Q their novice three times? So I guess I could do RATN twice on Sat and then once on Sunday and 'hope' to get him Q'ed in all 3 in one day. I guess we shall see!


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest

RabbleFox said:


> Michiganders!
> 
> http://barnhunt-michigan.weebly.com
> 
> Classes are now offered out in Novi.


OHHHHH. I have to go. Jonas would love it.


----------



## dagwall

Jacksons Mom said:


> We're so excited to meet you and Jubel at the next one! The place where they hold the trial is awesome. 3 large covered barns, awesome property too, so places to go walk and explore while you wait, etc.
> 
> I'm debating on whether to sign Jackson up for Instinct again or not. I guess there is no point, right? He got first place in his category in the Instinct test but they don't do official placements for that, really. He didn't act very 'excited' but he walked right in there and seemed to know what to do, smelled one tube intently, then briefly looked at another, but I called it, I could tell he had already smelled it lol.
> 
> I'm actually going to the practice they're having in March, so I'm thinking doing an instinct test again is pointless at the trial, so when I send the premium in, I guess I'll just sign him up for RATN twice on Saturday (??) in trial 1 and trial 2. Then on Sunday, sign him up for RATO - can I do that? haha... I still have some learning to do.
> 
> Edit - oh you said they need to Q their novice three times? So I guess I could do RATN twice on Sat and then once on Sunday and 'hope' to get him Q'ed in all 3 in one day. I guess we shall see!


It's completely up to you if you want to do an instinct test again. Some like to do it just to help get their dog in a 'barn hunt' frame of mind. It's only about $5-10 more to do instinct and novice at the first trial so really whatever you feel like. If you are interested in running all four trials since you don't have your novice title you would sign up for novice for all four. If you title on the third run you can move up to open on the fourth run. I have 2 Qs and will have to sign up for all four as novice even though odds are high we will title on the first trial. Then I just have to talk to the secretary (I think) to move up to open for the other three trials.

Excited to meet you and Jackson as well. Plus Jubel getting a title and possibly two titles that weekend. The difference between novice and open is pretty much finding two rats which shouldn't be much more of a challenge for Jubes. I'm hopefully optimistic of our chances.


----------



## RabbleFox

ThoseWordsAtBest said:


> OHHHHH. I have to go. Jonas would love it.


You should gooooo!

I'm already signed up for intro to rat and novice classes on March 9th. I am wayyyyy excited. It's all offered at a really fair price too! Since we aren't in a structured class yet (just weekly drop-in conformation handling classes) it will be fun to see Merlin learn something new.


----------



## Laurelin

We've got round 2 in March.

I'm hoping it goes better now that Mia has actual rodent kills under her belt. Seriously she busted open my traps and killed the mice out of them but showed zero interest at the actual hunt. Jerk.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

It seems like we could do Instinct then Novice day one, and Novice then Novice day 2. I think that's what we're going to do. Hopefully just doing one Instinct will be enough to get her in the right frame of mind


----------



## Laurelin

We did a mock trial yesterday (trying to get our club able to host real trials) and Mia passed her RATI in 22 seconds. Her RATN, I botched. Totally my fault. She found the rat and I didn't call it and didn't call it and then said 'find it' (nosework word) and she went working and searching for the birch. She did get her tunnel and climb though.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

Yay! First Novice leg with a 4th place!










She actually FAILED the Instinct test. But when I let her go in the Novice ring she was awesome. Like freaking out and barking at the tube awesome. She actually did a full perimeter search of the ring, then narrowed it to the specific bale configuration, then nailed the exact spot. It was super cool to watch. And I did nothing. Just stood there. So I dunno. Maybe since I've been doing nosework with her she thinks that she needs to find only hidden things?


----------



## dagwall

Congrats! I'm all excited for my next barn hunt in a few weeks. Barring disaster Jubel will get his novice title and start working towards his open title. Plus we will get to meet Jackson and maybe he'll get his novice title too.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

Thanks!!! Good luck to you and Jubel and Jackson 

We got our second leg. Stupid handler for what could have been her title run LOL. Oh well - better luck next time


----------



## Finkie_Mom

FINALLY got her Novice title! And as a bonus, she finally got her Instinct, too LOL. She's getting super subtle about her indications because she has associated her finding the rat with my picking her up and us leaving the ring. So we are going to take some time "off" and I'm going to start working more Nosework hides all in the same room and hopefully get to some Barn Hunt practices so that she can just be used to finding one then finding the other, and possibly a third. Which she has to do soon anyway for the higher titles anyways. 

Happy girl!









At the venue with judge Marian Shaw - she is awesome, as are all the judges/spectators I've met in this sport


----------



## dagwall

Hey that's the same judge I got Jubel's novice title under. The trial was on her farm, very nice property. Grats on your title. I sympathize with super subtle alerts, Jubel is also getting more and more subtle. We got our novice title in three runs, we've done four open runs with no Qs yet. He did well on most of them just not enough for a Q. 

We'll be up in Lewisberry, PA in two week for another two day barn hunt trial. Excited and hope Jubel is 'on' that weekend, he wasn't really into it at the last trial we did. I'm thankful for our nosework experience which really helps me being able to read him. Not being so subtle would be nice though haha.

ETA:
Our picture with the judge for our novice title, along with a 4th place ribbon for his last novice Q. He took 4th place for his first Q back in December as well, don't know if he placed on his second Q as we left right after our run as it was snowing all morning. Our 2nd Q time was faster than our first but that doesn't promise a placement of course.


----------



## dagwall

Well it seems to be official, Jubel is on strike for dog sports right now. He has completely lost interest in both barn hunt and nosework for now it seems. Spent the weekend up in PA and ran in four open trials. He peed in the ring on two of his runs, didn't alert on anything in one trial, and gave a small alert in one trial but based on his recent behavior I didn't call it. He is listening to me in the ring, getting the tunnel and climb is easy but he doesn't care about finding the rats at all. When we show him the rat tube he doesn't react at all. 

Already on a nosework break, only do barn hunt at trials since there aren't training options around here. Kinda sad that there are two barn hunt trials close to me in July but there isn't a point in signing up when my dog doesn't want to play the game anymore. A bit annoying to get our novice title so easy, three runs for three Qs, and run eight open runs now with Jubel only searching in two or three of those runs. No Qs in open yet. 

While I don't like the actual idea I'm hoping it has something to do with the heat and he just doesn't want to play in the summer. Sucks as that is a long time to go without him wanting to play, but at least I'd have a reason. He knows the game for barn hunt and nosework, he just doesn't want to play right now.


----------



## elrohwen

Aww, I'm so sorry Jubel has gone on strike! I totally know how that feels and how frustrating it is. So far I've found taking a break works well, so hopefully it helps Jubel too.


----------



## CptJack

I think summer is really flattening dogs all around. Kylie actually just flat out REFUSED to do agility ANYTHING this weekend. She worked for 10 minutes and just left. I've never seen her do that with anything before, but she was just finished. I'm hoping she picks up a little in class (she usually does in formal settings) but she's just not into this right now.


----------



## dagwall

Yeah, he was fine with nosework last summer so not sure why it would be an issue now but who knows. Need to find something he wants to play at though. He still needs some outlet or he'll be barking and annoying me a lot more than usual.


----------



## Foresthund

Going to bump this thread because I want to talk about it some more. Thought I would try it out and Raggy did his first 30 minute class and is now moving to novice class because of how rat crazy he was.
He still needs some work on sniffing out completely hidden rats and jumps around too much. Also does anyone else dog like to latch onto the rat tube and try to carry it away? It's not something I can have him do in an actual trial. He's working pretty much purely on prey drive and has no scent training so would take any advice.


----------



## Finkie_Mom

Woo! Got our first Open leg last weekend! The first trial that day (our first time in Open), I called not-a-rat because I was worried about time LOL. She hadn't even checked one of the piles yet, but I got nervous LOL. Found the first rat and gave a good alert before that though! The second trial she was slow but thorough, and gave bark point alerts!!! I was so excited. People came up to us afterwards and were complimenting her alert. She really loves this game, and so do I


----------



## CptJack

Congratulations!


----------



## ForTheLoveOfDogs

Finkie_Mom said:


> Woo! Got our first Open leg last weekend! The first trial that day (our first time in Open), I called not-a-rat because I was worried about time LOL. She hadn't even checked one of the piles yet, but I got nervous LOL. Found the first rat and gave a good alert before that though! The second trial she was slow but thorough, and gave bark point alerts!!! I was so excited. People came up to us afterwards and were complimenting her alert. She really loves this game, and so do I


Congrats! She looks so proud. 

I really want to try Barn Hunt at some point!


----------



## Finkie_Mom

CptJack said:


> Congratulations!


Thank you 



ForTheLoveOfDogs said:


> Congrats! She looks so proud.
> 
> I really want to try Barn Hunt at some point!


She was so excited to be there. I'm glad that at least if the agility thing doesn't work out, she has something to do that she loves. 

You totally should - we always have a blast!


----------



## elrohwen

Congrats to both of you!

I also really want to try barn hunt. I'm on a FB group for the closest place I know of, but it's still about 2 hours away. It was too much for when I worked out of town, but now that I'm home again I really want to go one weekend. I think Watson would *love* it.


----------



## ForTheLoveOfDogs

Oh I will try it eventually for sure! We have a place that is about 15 minutes from me that does it. I'm just a big chicken about new places and need to save some money first!


----------



## theyogachick

I was lucky enough to find a place that does instinct tests at a reasonable rate and offers training. It's an hour from me, but I took Gracie a few weeks ago. She LOVED it and we are going back this week. I am hoping to get her into some trials in the next few months.


----------



## Remaru

So I have a sort of silly question but I have never really watched barn hunt and obviously have no experience with training a dog in it. I'm trying to decide what classes to enroll Magic in as fall hits (derby season ends in fall so we have a bit more time to actually do things and hopefully more money to do them with). I was originally thinking agility, fly ball or weight pull (would need to find a club locally for weight pull, I know of a nice local training facility for the others) but when talking with one of the trainers barn hunt was suggested because Magic has a high prey drive. My son is also feeling a little less interested in agility at the moment. Barn hunt sounds like fun for both of them, like it would have a pretty high payout in terms of feeling like they have accomplished something as a team even if they only do it for a little while. I was wondering, for those who have dogs who compete/train in barn hunt, what is your experience as far as your dog's prey drive. Has it increased? Magic is pretty intense, like pull me down, drag me down the street just to get at the bird in the tree in the neighbor's yard, intense. I don't want to increase that. Now if it would help with her self control I am all for it. She does need to live safely with my cat, she is interested in Hallow but generally they have a peace going (they are kept separated by a door when we are not home) and I don't want to disturb that either. Any experience here? I am sure I am way over thinking this. My son thinks fly ball sounds fun but he isn't entirely sold and Magic can be iffy with strange dogs. That much activity going on around her may just be too much and I don't want their first sport experience to be one of managing reactivity.


----------



## dagwall

I think it really depends on the dog. Jubel has moderate prey drive. Very interested in critters outside but mostly in the context that he thinks he CAN catch them. If a squirrel is far enough away he knows he isn't going to catch it so he doesn't react, if it runs by near us he wants to chase it. Smells chipmunks, rabbits, fox and he's nose down tracking the scent trying to find them. 

When we first started barn hunt he was very excited about the rats and did well. As time went on he realized he wouldn't catch the rats as they are safe inside their PVC tubes he's lost interest. For now we've pretty much stopped barn hunt because getting to classes that will allow me to train with food is just too far a drive. There is currently talk of classes being offered about an hour away (don't know exact location yet just the city) that I might check out. For Jubel I'll need to train it more like a nosework game with rats being the new scent he finds vs. the prey finding game. 

I haven't heard of any dog getting into barn hunt and their prey drive going crazy and causing they to have issues with cats in the home. I suppose it could happen but I don't think it's likely to. If you have classes offered in your area I'd say it couldn't hurt to try. I really enjoyed it while Jubel was into it. All the people at my local trials are so nice and the atmosphere at trials was really relaxed overall.


----------



## Remaru

That is good to hear. It really does sound like it would be fun for them. The training facility is super close to us and having something that they can do together that isn't high pressure would be nice. Not that junior roller derby is super high pressure but it is high impact and pretty tough on his little body, I think he puts a lot of pressure on himself too. Having something that is just fun, not too serious, would be nice. I've also considered lure coursing but I'm not sure if there is anywhere offering it locally. I would love if it could help with her control but so long as it isn't increasing her prey drive I'm fine with it.


----------



## Alla

Does anyone have any feedback on doing barn hunt while having pet rats in the home that the dog is expected to live peacefully with?

It's taken us a long time to get to a more or less peaceful stage. I'd love to try her in barn hunt since she obviously has the desire, but I don't want to hurt the peace we've developed with our pet rats...


----------



## parus

Yesterday I took my two to barnhunt practice for the first time, and the results kind of surprised me. Queenie used to be an actual ratter, and she gave zero craps about the ratty in the tube. She eventually found it both times, but was like, meh, lol. Either it's because she's old (about 14), or her predatory instinct is triggered by the motion rather than by the smell. She did really like climbing all over the straw and crawling through the tunnel, though. And it's nice for a dog her age to get out and play a new game.

I guess Cassius really is a Schnauzer, because he was on that rat like white on rice as soon as I let him out of the "box", and wanted so badly to crack open the PVC and get at it, lol. He did the tunnel and climb easily off commands from agility (once he figured out that the straw tunnel counted as a tunnel). 

Definitely going to go again. Both dogs had fun, it's cheap ($5 for evening) and Cas seems to legit have an instinct for it.


----------



## Miss Bugs

So I signed up for a Barn Hunt 101 thing.. Not for a while yet as the first date filled up in like an hour while I was at work, so a second was added. Its an intro spiel, introduction to rats and hay bales and a mock test. I signed up Gyp and Pais!


----------



## Finkie_Mom

Yay! Got our Open title


----------



## dagwall

Finkie_Mom said:


> Yay! Got our Open title


Congrats! 

(Too short some how)


----------



## Alla

I've been trying to find something at all going on in Ontario... Seems it's too new of a sport up here! I've been able to find two competing organizations - one canadian one that doesn't have any recognition yet (but does host events every few months or so... annoyingly the most recent one was yesterday, and I looked them up today -.-... the one before yesterday's was in June! Nothing so far in the future), and sometimes the US one does stuff in Canada too. There's only one thing scheduled for them though - weekend of Oct 17th - but it's only an intro and a fun test. Trying to sign up for it anyways. Nothing else in the future yet either.

Porsche would be killer in it, I bet. Now if only I can just find an event lol.


----------



## Alla

Just heard back from the organizers of the oct 17th event - of course they're entirely booked with a waiting list. 

Looks like the sport is popular!


----------



## Alla

Found another October 17th event from the Canadian organization - signed us up for a funday and the Rat Instinct Test (RIT)!


----------



## ForTheLoveOfDogs

So we took Ember to a fun intro puppy Barn Hunt. For some reason she was a nervous wreck in an unfamiliar place at first, but slowly did build up confidence. She liked to climb the straw bales. By the end of the thing she was just finally going up to the rat and sniffing. It looks like I've got some work cut out for me taking her to some new unfamiliar places. I'm not sure if my husband plans to take her back or not. I think he was a bit confused by her lack of confidence and unsure if he wants to force her to do it. 

I AM signing Kairi up to try in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how well she is going to do, but she is generally not nervous in new places at least. We'll see how it goes!


----------



## DogTheGreat

ForTheLoveOfDogs said:


> I AM signing Kairi up to try in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how well she is going to do, but she is generally not nervous in new places at least. We'll see how it goes!


Post back on how it goes! I've been thinking about taking Shae for instincts.


----------



## Laurelin

Hank and I have done some fun tests and he is a nut for it! He is one of the dogs that screams and bites the tube. We need to do the real deal. Should be ok for his RATI and RATN I think.


----------



## ForTheLoveOfDogs

DogTheGreat said:


> Post back on how it goes! I've been thinking about taking Shae for instincts.


I'm sure Shae would have fun! I go late this week if it all works out to try. 

No idea how Kairi is really going to do. She has ridiculous prey drive for critters she sees (oddly enough leaves birds though) and barks like mad. She sniffs all over for them in the yard all day. I have no idea how that will translate to a "pet" rat that isn't moving much. She had to tell me about the bunnies in the pet store today though.


----------



## ForTheLoveOfDogs

Barn Hunt with Kairi was an interesting experience. She was nervous at first (I don't know what it is about this place, but the straw freaks my dogs out or something), but definitely very interested in the rat. She flinched a little when it moved, but kept coming back to it. Apparently lots of dogs are nervous at first. We are going to try again for a few weeks seeing if she builds up confidence. The instructor thinks she has it in her.


----------



## gray

Bringing my beagle to a barn hunt at the end of the month! Very excited, she's caught mice before and is absolutely obsessed with squirrels, so I think she'll enjoy it. Unfortunately there's no practices, workshops, etc. before that so we're jumping right into a trial. On the bright side, the place is only 40min away, so if she likes it as much as I think she will we should be able to stick with it and maybe work up to some titles!


----------



## gray

Update on the previous post:

Found a practice and got to try a few runs before the trial on the 29th. Reina had no interest when they showed her the rat in the cage, but when we gave the mock instinct a try she was all over the rat tube! Made me confident for the trial.

And then... we NQed both instinct and novice. Instinct was totally my fault - she ran right to the tubes, stared at the first one for a solid three seconds, and then spent the rest of the time darting around the ring. I didn't call it because her alert was so much less subtle during practice, and since she hadn't checked the other tubes I figured she just wasn't interested. So we went over time, and the judge explained that she was right when she told me it was the first one. I decided to be quicker about it during our novice run, but of course I didn't trust her/myself and we NQed again. Within the first 15 seconds she was up on a bale (climb, check!) and nosing through hay, but I doubted her and didn't call it. She moved on to check all the other piles and I ended up calling the wrong tube right when our time was about to be out. 

It was a fun experience anyway and I think she can definitely pull off some titles if I learn her signal better! We're also working through some leash reactivity and she was fantastic despite having so many dogs around her, so that alone was a benefit. I'll definitely be taking her (and the puppy) to another practice. 

Anyone else have a super subtle dog? Tips are appreciated.


----------



## Laurelin

Hank and I went 2/2 on novice Qs today but failed instinct. He looked the game and I think instinct confused him. He just grabbed the closest tube and was all 'TUBE!!!'

But he rocked novice. 

I have to say that might've been my best trial experience ever too! It was a BLAST. He had so much fun and it was so laid back.


----------



## dagwall

Laurelin said:


> Hank and I went 2/2 on novice Qs today but failed instinct. He looked the game and I think instinct confused him. He just grabbed the closest tube and was all 'TUBE!!!'
> 
> But he rocked novice.
> 
> I have to say that might've been my best trial experience ever too! It was a BLAST. He had so much fun and it was so laid back.


I really enjoyed the experience at all the barn hunts I've to, great environment. If Jubel hadn't decided telling me where rats are for no reward wasn't worth it I'd totally keep doing barn hunts. We got our novice title easy, by open he was kinda over it. The people were all really cool though.

Glad Hank loves it and hope he keeps his enthusiasm for it.


----------



## Laurelin

I should update! We got his RATI and RATN! On to open!


----------



## SnarkHunter66

Laurelin said:


> I should update! We got his RATI and RATN! On to open!


Congrats! Any updates? 

I started Michaela in barn hunt lessons last May (found a lady in the local terrier club who holds advanced practices and intro lessons). Michaela earned her Senior title in February in 3 straight tests, so we're in Masters class now. I moved her up to Masters at the Feb. trial and she had no problem with the Masters tunnel (yay!) but I missed her indication of a tube and called the course clear while there was still a rat on course. My fault, I was nervous about being in Masters for the first time. Our practices are getting better, though. Michaela actually stopped and looked at me like, 'now what?' after she found all the rat tubes. I kinda wish she was like one Master dog who goes to the gate when all the rats are found but that would be too easy, eh?


----------

