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Many hunters are
attracted to the Deutsch Drahthaar due to the proven track record of
performance. This performance does not just occur because someone hunted the
parents. The Deutsche Drahthaar was, since inception, designed to be
thoroughly evaluated, through the performance testing process, prior to
being certified for breeding. The performance standards of individual
hunters vary greatly. What I mean to say is that one person may be satisfied
with a dog that occasionally retrieves the game, while the next person
demands that all game be brought to hand. To take a person's unknown set of
values for a versatile dog and use that for a breeding selection would soon
bring a program to its knees - as many breeds in the U.S. are today.
VDD breeding
regulations and testing are a known set of values - or a STANDARD.
I am often befuddled when someone takes home a new pup and even after
prompting and offers of training assistance fails to train and test their
pup. One of the excuses that I often hear is "I don't have time to train him
I am just going to hunt him"! What I want to know is: How do you hunt with
an untrained dog???? Taking the time to properly train your Deutsch
Drahthaar for the performance/hunting test accomplishes two things:
1)
It gives you a goal with a specified timeline to complete your training
- which in turn gives you a competent hunting companion.
2) It gives back valuable information to the breeder and the
organization as to how that breeding compared to the known/established
standard.
It is a no lose
situation. By training for and completing the breed testing (VJP and HZP)
you will have a hunting companion that is better trained and much more
enjoyable to hunt with than the vast majority of your hunting buddies. By
testing through the VGP - Utility test - you will have a hunting dog to a
level that fewer than 2% of the hunting dog community will ever attain.
Not that I know
everything now but when I obtained my first Deutsch Drahthaar I had NO idea
of how to train a versatile hunting dog. I was lucky as most in VDD-GNA were
- I had a mentor - someone that was willing to take his time to teach me
what training and hunting with a TRULY versatile dog was all about.
All that this person asked of me was to take the time to pass it on and help
someone else. Each year the training opportunities grow throughout the
United States and Canada and they are there for you to take advantage. If
you are serious about your hunting, you owe it to the dog to properly train
her to the best of your ability.
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