Kishu Ken at Barn Hunt
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I keep forgetting. I'm not as active on the forum as I used to be, but I figure any information I post here will be here for a while, so it's good to post and share my experiences!
I took Nami and Fionna to barn hunt in St. Helens, Oregon on Saturday, April 11th to meet @lindsayt, her Shibas and some other forum-goers (whose names on the forum I am not certain on)...
It was the first time I'd ever been to barn hunt and the first time taking the Kishu Ken. It was also the first time the Kishu Ken has ever been entered IN a Barn Hunt Association event, so that's exciting, too!
We were registered for their instinct test and their trial run. I'll do each dog and my observations indvidiually...
Nami:
Nami was first for her instinct test. I chose to put her first because I figured of the two dogs, she'd have a more overt "RAT!" signal - or at least, one I would interpret more easily... and she might be more forgiving of any mistakes I made than Fionna would be (she's more patient than Fionna, for the most part).
The instinct test is set up as a small arena with a pile of hay bales in the middle that you will have to walk around after entering the ring and getting your dog naked. Every dog runs naked - which was something I was worried about with the Kishu, but it turned into a non-issue. Nami followed me around the hay bales and to the line of rat-tubes that was set up on the opposite side. This was the goal - to get her to sniff out the rat-tube that was actually filled WITH a rat.
Nami's instinct trial was completed in something like 45 seconds and it would have been a lot shorter, but I messed up. She became obsessed with the first rat-tube and wouldn't leave it - and I was just as obsessed with getting her OFF the first rat-tube to see her reaction to the OTHER rat tubes... but after a while, she wouldn't stop licking the tube and wouldn't stop "muttering", so I called it - that was the rat. She was right. She didn't need to know what was in the OTHER tubes because she knew what was in THAT one.
When it came time for her novice run, though, it was a little discouraging - I'll admit. She ran around for a bit, having fun in the hay, then she popped a squat and popped behind a bale. We got something like a NQ for eliminating in the ring.
Nami also had some kind of allergic reaction that affected her for the following day. I suspect it was the hay, at this point.
If not for her allergic reaction, I would be more into the idea of giving her another go at the game. I think I'll try giving her some allergy medicine before our next event to stave off any post-event reaction... because I do think she'll have fun doing it again, even if she didn't quite understand what we were doing when we were there for the novice run. She probably needs more exposure to be successful.
Fionna:
Fionna did just about as well as Nami, but I didn't mess up as badly in Fionna's instinct test. She got to the second tube after getting around the hay bales and decided THAT ONE needed to come home with us. She whined a bit and tried to paw at the tube and pinch it between her teeth to drag it out. I called the rat, we got a pass on the instinct.
When Fionna was in the ring for her novice run, I felt like she did more of actual searching for something than Nami did. Nami was just running around like a crazy lady, too distracted to find anything. Fionna was on a mission. She didn't know what kind of something she was looking for, I don't think, but she wanted to find ANYTHING. She timed out on her run, so it didn't qualify, but she found the rat at the very end with the help from the ringside people and it was easy to see something "CLICKED" with her - she whined and put up a fit when we left, after she saw the rat-tube with the rat in it.
Overall, I think that the Kishu Ken is pretty suited for the game. They have the instincts to be successful, but I know I'll have to expose Nami and Fionna more to it to be able to be successful at it. Either way, it was a fun experience for me and for the dogs.
It was also a lot of fun to meet up with NKFers and watch their dogs, when I could! I brought all three of mine (TK came along for the ride), so I spent a lot of time managing my dogs instead of watching others, but what I saw of everyone was awesome! It's a fun adventure for the NK to have with their people.
As an interesting fact - 5 out of the 6 Japanese breeds were in attendance! There were at least 3 Akitas - 2 of them looked like AAs or probably Tweenies or some kind (a white and a pale red), but one looked like a JA from afar (a brindle one I saw before I left - anyone else see this dog??).
I took Nami and Fionna to barn hunt in St. Helens, Oregon on Saturday, April 11th to meet @lindsayt, her Shibas and some other forum-goers (whose names on the forum I am not certain on)...
It was the first time I'd ever been to barn hunt and the first time taking the Kishu Ken. It was also the first time the Kishu Ken has ever been entered IN a Barn Hunt Association event, so that's exciting, too!
We were registered for their instinct test and their trial run. I'll do each dog and my observations indvidiually...
Nami:
Nami was first for her instinct test. I chose to put her first because I figured of the two dogs, she'd have a more overt "RAT!" signal - or at least, one I would interpret more easily... and she might be more forgiving of any mistakes I made than Fionna would be (she's more patient than Fionna, for the most part).
The instinct test is set up as a small arena with a pile of hay bales in the middle that you will have to walk around after entering the ring and getting your dog naked. Every dog runs naked - which was something I was worried about with the Kishu, but it turned into a non-issue. Nami followed me around the hay bales and to the line of rat-tubes that was set up on the opposite side. This was the goal - to get her to sniff out the rat-tube that was actually filled WITH a rat.
Nami's instinct trial was completed in something like 45 seconds and it would have been a lot shorter, but I messed up. She became obsessed with the first rat-tube and wouldn't leave it - and I was just as obsessed with getting her OFF the first rat-tube to see her reaction to the OTHER rat tubes... but after a while, she wouldn't stop licking the tube and wouldn't stop "muttering", so I called it - that was the rat. She was right. She didn't need to know what was in the OTHER tubes because she knew what was in THAT one.
When it came time for her novice run, though, it was a little discouraging - I'll admit. She ran around for a bit, having fun in the hay, then she popped a squat and popped behind a bale. We got something like a NQ for eliminating in the ring.
Nami also had some kind of allergic reaction that affected her for the following day. I suspect it was the hay, at this point.
If not for her allergic reaction, I would be more into the idea of giving her another go at the game. I think I'll try giving her some allergy medicine before our next event to stave off any post-event reaction... because I do think she'll have fun doing it again, even if she didn't quite understand what we were doing when we were there for the novice run. She probably needs more exposure to be successful.
Fionna:
Fionna did just about as well as Nami, but I didn't mess up as badly in Fionna's instinct test. She got to the second tube after getting around the hay bales and decided THAT ONE needed to come home with us. She whined a bit and tried to paw at the tube and pinch it between her teeth to drag it out. I called the rat, we got a pass on the instinct.
When Fionna was in the ring for her novice run, I felt like she did more of actual searching for something than Nami did. Nami was just running around like a crazy lady, too distracted to find anything. Fionna was on a mission. She didn't know what kind of something she was looking for, I don't think, but she wanted to find ANYTHING. She timed out on her run, so it didn't qualify, but she found the rat at the very end with the help from the ringside people and it was easy to see something "CLICKED" with her - she whined and put up a fit when we left, after she saw the rat-tube with the rat in it.
Overall, I think that the Kishu Ken is pretty suited for the game. They have the instincts to be successful, but I know I'll have to expose Nami and Fionna more to it to be able to be successful at it. Either way, it was a fun experience for me and for the dogs.
It was also a lot of fun to meet up with NKFers and watch their dogs, when I could! I brought all three of mine (TK came along for the ride), so I spent a lot of time managing my dogs instead of watching others, but what I saw of everyone was awesome! It's a fun adventure for the NK to have with their people.
As an interesting fact - 5 out of the 6 Japanese breeds were in attendance! There were at least 3 Akitas - 2 of them looked like AAs or probably Tweenies or some kind (a white and a pale red), but one looked like a JA from afar (a brindle one I saw before I left - anyone else see this dog??).
Comments
It was very nice meeting your Shikoku and Kishu, btw. Fiona has a great little personality and is pleasantly outgoing. I know the Shibas would love to play with her off leash sometime.
Fionna absolutely loves Shibas. I think it's from hanging around Bonnie's dogs as a puppy, lol. She goes bonkers for Shibas. I dunno. It doesn't matter how rude they are. If they're intact, it's better.
till next time!
Fionna (and me!)
"Lemme goooo! Lemme go!"
Nami's Epic Poop.
...and some Shiba action!
We need a name for a group of Nihon Ken.
After-party for some of the pups...
Hmn...what would be good for a group of NK? We just need to stick random words in front of 'Nihon Ken', right? Like how you can have a piteousness of doves, a murder of crows, or a convocation of eagles?
A Flaunt of Nihon Ken? A Syndicate of Nihon Ken? A Majesty of Nihon Ken? A Detachment of Nihon Ken? A Commonality of Nihon Ken? A Proletariat of Nihon Ken?
After describing Meitou's reaction to some dogs as "going Hulk" I kind of like thinking of a group of Hokkaido as being a Hulk of Hokkaido....