A Fun Day at Barn Hunt

As some of you may know, this past Saturday a few of us forum members attended a Barn Hunt Fun Match in Connecticut. For those of you who do not know what Barn Hunt is, it's a fairly new dog sport where the dog and handler work as a team to locate a rat (kept safely in a pvc tube) within an allotted time amongst a small maze of hay bales. While searching for the rat the dog must also go through a tunnel, climb over a bale, and not eliminate in the area. There's also an empty tube and one that's filled with old bedding.

I only signed up Tetsu as he had the most interest in rats, Tikaani was so-so and Miyu didn't like the tube contraption, and I didn't want to take up any spots that could go to someone else new to the sport. Being that it was my first time doing this, I wanted to start off simple and easy, and figured that if anything I could sign them up at the event should there be any open slots left (which there weren't). I did bring the other pups along to not only show them off, but to get them more experience at these kinds of events.

After the 2.5hr drive, I signed in and met up with Chrystal ( @WrylyBrindle ), her lovely daughter Raye, and Cindy (slave of Lucy Rose). Between runs, we all hung out together and ogled each others pups. Chrystal can attest to my failed attempts at bringing Matsu home with me. I will basically be sharing my experience with Tetsu in this event, only sharing a few blurbs of Chrystal's dogs so that she can share her own experience if she chooses to.

After sign ins were complete, everyone was gathered together to be introduced to the judge and briefed on the procedures of the Instinct Test run. The judge was an experienced earthdog judge and had a great personality, often adding in some lighthearted jokes to help make the briefing more interesting. Once the briefing was done, the staging areas were set and taking in dogs for their runs. Being that almost all of the dogs attending have never even seen or smelled a rat before, all dogs were given a minute or two being introduced to a rat before doing their run. The rat was in a small cage that one of the ladies held, with an x-pen around both of them for further protection. The lady would take the cage and move it around to "tease" the dogs and encourage their interest in the rat, while the rat just sat there looking obviously bored.

When I brought Tetsu up to the rat cage I was half expecting him to show the same amount of fervent desire he had shown in the past during the multitudes of rodent "interactions" he's had. Instead, he was a bit blah about it and unsure as to what the rat was. The lady teased Tetsu with the rat, which did excite him enough to paw at it. After his little intro session, we waited for our turn to run, Tetsu keeping watch of the rat intro area in hopes of seeing the rat some more. While waiting, I got news that both Juno and Lucy Rose had peed during their runs thus giving them an NQ score.

It was Tetsu's turn to run. The ring was small fenced area set within a fenced in field, the hay bales set to basically lead the dogs right to the rat tubes. In the Instinct Test, all 3 tubes are laid out next to each other so the dogs can easily differentiate between them. 2 orange traffic cones marked the starting spot for the run, to which I held Tetsu while stripping him of his leash and collar (dogs run naked for safety reasons). After given the okay from the judge, I released Tetsu. He was cautious at first, not knowing what he was expected to do but with a little encouragement he when through the tunnel and climbed the hay bale to reach the tubes. The first tube he went to did contain the rat, he gave a quick sniff and decided to check out the other two tubes. He lingered on the tube that I think contained the old bedding, but then went back to the first tube and smacked it firmly with his paws. I called it and the judge stated that the everything was done perfectly. He managed to get into 6th place of his size group at a time of 29.25 seconds.

After Matsu's run, which it looked like he had more fun climbing the bales than finding any rats, we all got something to eat since there was plenty of time before our runs in the Novice class. After eating and hanging out some more, we all shuffled ourselves to the staging area. We found that many people who had signed up had felt that everything was going too slowly, so they decided to leave. This made the wait time drop significantly. Juno was up first:





After Juno's run, I was up again with Tetsu. This time around the maze was more complicated and the tubes were hidden within the hay. 4 traffic cones marked the starting box, once you or the dog exits the box the time begins. This time around I was able to get his run on video, so you guys can just watch it instead of me explaining it.





Unfortunately, Tetsu's marking of the rat was subtle and I missed it a few times. I did have an inkling of what tube the rat was in, but felt nervous about calling the wrong one so had opted to wait and see. Later on, the judge gave me some nice pointers on working with Tetsu to bring out a more noticeable mark. Lucy Rose followed Tetsu and opted to pee during her run as well. Matsu ran last:





Matsu won first of his size group at 33 seconds and won a nice little bag of treats. After the awards were given, I gave my thanks to the judge and the lovely lady running the event, for a first time doing an official Barn Hunt Fun Run they did a really great job. I definitely hope to attend more Barn Hunt fun runs here in the future, and hopefully next time I can sign up the other two pups as well.

Comments

  • Thanks for posting that, I've never heard of a barn hunt before. It looks like a great activity for NK, testing their scent and I'm sure they love the challenge of the search.
    Is there a way to prep or practice for this type of event? Do you just show up and hope for the best?
  • Is there a way to prep or practice for this type of event? Do you just show up and hope for the best?
    If you have access to a rat and power tools, you can build a tube out of pvc and do backyard barn hunt practice. The judge said that one way to practice is to get some toys and other items the dog loves, go to the park, and practice having the dog find the hidden toys. Doing similar exercises as you would in Nosework would probably also help.
  • Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
  • Awesome. Sounds like a lot of fun. And probably something that Nola would really enjoy. :) I already talked about getting some hay bales for the pups to play on... I guess I will need to follow through with that!
  • edited April 2013
    That sounds and looks like a lot of fun!

    We tried it with Leo. He was not that interested at first, and then he did find the rat scent, but it took awhile (he wanted to pee on the bales instead). It may be that I didn't read his signals well, but he also doesn't actually seem that prey driven. He was more interested in the earth dog thing when he saw the rats in the tunnels, but that was partially because he was intrigued by how excited the terriers were.

    He loved the lure coursing though, which they had at the same event.

    I honestly have some mixed feelings about the earth dog/barn hunt thing. I'm fine with dogs hunting, and I let my dogs catch and kill rodents/etc. But the fact that there was old rat in a little cage, who was then dragged through the tunnels chased by terriers kind of bothered me. I don't really like the idea of the animal being in constant stress/fear for the sport. I know in barn hunt at least they don't have the rat there--rather they have its scent--so that seems more tolerable for me.
  • @shibamistress - There are actual rats in the barn hunt course and they are protected in a pvc tube. The rats becomes desensitized over time to stimulated dogs. For example, when the lady was showing the rat to the dogs, the rat gave no reaction to the pawing and barking. Tetsu's nose was less than an inch away from the rat, and all it did was sit there and munch on a snack. My chickens have become the same way, they literally run right up to the dog run and sit close enough for Miyu to smack them with her paws. She's literally flipping out with her barking, running, and charging while the chickens peck at the ground and ignore her.

    Though, a rat that is desensitized to dogs makes them somewhat boring. Many of the dogs rely on movement to entice their prey drive, and these rats didn't really move much.
  • That makes me feel better about, Beth. It did kind of bother me.
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