Indeed, most UK and Irish trials today are only about handling, steadyness and retrieving. I might exagerate a bit, but not a lot. Due to to much game, the dogs are no longer tuly tested on their game finding ability. A lot of unexperienced judges who hardly ever shoot over a dog, do not know what are the important qualities in a true shooting dog. A dog you take out were game is scarce , the ground is hard and that has to fill the bag. These judges judge the wrong qualities/faults in a dog. Handling is so important and they realy like a robotized dog. If a dog makes a step or two after a find is easy to see, but it's a lot harder to see if the dog realy hunts and not just runs to please you.
I frequently speak with some of those men and they realy love it. They think we ( the others ) are wrong, but they loose the true "hunting dog" .
In continental trials to much handling is a minus, what puts your marks down or even out.
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