Resources for CKC Hunt Test Judges and Participants
On this page, you will find resources that will aid in the understanding and consistent judging of CKC Hunt Tests. First, you will find a series of PowerPoint presentations that lay out CKC Hunt Test rules and regulations and suggest questions and topics for discussion for CKC Hunt Test seminars and information sessions at all levels.
Following this, you will find a link to an excellent chart that lays out judging fundamentals and a checklist for retriever field trials that is also applicable to Hunt Tests. This has been put together collaboratively by Dennis Voigt with others. We have been given permission to post this chart and we strongly recommend that anyone who judges or who aspires to judge retriever field trials or Hunt Tests take a close look at it. We have also provided a current copy of the regulations, and an official CKC entry form in PDF format.
CKC HUNT TEST POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS
The value of having discussions about CKC hunt test rules and regulations as well as practical field sessions has been recognized by the Hunt Test community. Several regions have held successful sessions to this end over the last number of years. Not only do these discussions and practical sessions promote consistency in judging, they also serve to encourage Hunt Test participants to become better versed in CKC Hunt Test rules and regulations.
PowerPoint presentations have been developed to help with these sessions or to be used for general information purposes. You will need PowerPoint or an appropriate reader to download and use them. They can be used as pre-seminar hand-outs for participants or as part of the sessions themselves. They can be used for a more seasoned hunt test audience as a starting point for discussion on rules and regulations and judging, or they can be used for more general information sessions for an audience that wants to improve their knowledge about CKC Hunt Tests.
There are seven presentations. A General Overview presents a general overview of CKC Hunt Test rules and regulations without specifically dealing with any particular level to any depth. For each of the three test levels (Junior, Senior and Master) there are two versions. The longer version, as well as delving into the specifics of a particular test level, also includes the information that is presented in the General Overview and can therefore be used as a standalone presentation. The shorter version for each test level assumes that the audience has been taken through the General Overview and therefore delves in greater detail into a particular test level but leaves out some of the information that pertains to all levels such as Performance Standards and Fault Classification.
A guiding principle for the development of these presentations was that they must contain the specific rules and terminology used in the CKC Hunt Test Rules and Regulations to ensure consistency. Occasionally a word or phrase has been changed to improve clarity.
Finally, discussion topics and questions are suggested in the notes below the slides. These can be used to promote discussion amongst session participants. They should be looked at closely, particularly if the audience is made up of more seasoned Hunt Test participants and judges, as they try to focus on topics that may need a clearer and more consistent understanding, particularly for judging purposes. The notes for the first slide of each presentation also contain a list of sources for good information on judging, field work and setting up good tests.
We see these presentations as evolving over time and we encourage suggestions for changes on slides as well as additional or different discussion topics and questions in the notes.
Click on the links/images below to access each presentation.
For questions or troubleshooting with these files, contact Shelly Blom at sterregoldens@icloud.com
RETRIEVER FIELD TRIAL JUDGING FUNDAMENTALS AND CHECKLIST
Introduction by Dennis R. Voigt, Retrievers ONLINE
Judging retriever field trials has always been challenging. Most judges take their assignments seriously and do the best they can under the circumstances. Entry size, competition, weather, changing conditions, grounds, mechanics, time, test design and evaluation are factors which affect the success of all judging assignments. Given all these factors and the resultant variation in judging trials, there has always been much discussion about how to improve judging. A variety of solutions have been offered but it is clear the issues are complex and there is no simple solution.
Retriever News and Retrievers ONLINE have routinely discussed judging in their articles. A few years ago, both magazines surveyed professionals and amateurs active in the game with a series of questions on how to improve judging. Subsequent articles discussed many of the things that could be done to improve judging. Despite the diversity of opinions and variability across the country, a relatively short list of fundamentals, important for judging a sound field trial, emerged.
As part of the continuing dialogue and articles, those fundamentals were discussed by a diverse group of experienced field trialers from both the USA and Canada. That group involved judges with collectively thousands of assignments, as well as much experience running trials. Through a series of e-mails, personal discussions and blogging, a checklist of considerations for the fundamentals was developed. The idea was to provide every field trial judge with a copy for their consideration during each assignment. The checklist, based on the key fundamentals, was designed as a concise reminder that could be carried with a judging book during setup and testing. Although it is designed for retriever field trials, it has considerable applicability to Hunt Test also.
The checklist was published in issues of Retrievers News and Retrievers ONLINE, as well as distributed to trial giving clubs and at National events on both sides of the border. The checklist is a one page (two-sided) checklist. This page can be copied or torn out. It is designed for both large and small judge’s books.
You can view and download the checklist here
