In another post on the forum someone suggested that I at least do NA testing with Blitz even though I have never hunted.  I looked up a chapter of NAVHDA and found the Illinois chapter.  I guess it is $25 for the year of membership.  Then I guess it is $15 to register your dog.  On the testing form it says there is a testing fee, but it doesn't say how much.  Does all this sound right so far?

Now for questions...

How old should the dog be for NA testing?

What does the dog have to know for the testing, do I teach it anything special, this is natural ability so I am not sure if I teach anything?

What do I do for the testing?

Thanx for the info...

What is the actual test...Do you just walk into a field with the dog and hope it gets a bird? Do you have to do any shooting for the test? I am sorry if I sound dumb, but like I said I have never hunted, but my pup does come from some hunting dogs and it would just be interesting to see if any thing comes natural...

We do have a back pasture that is semi swampy (very wet) and he loves going back there in the tall grass, I would say these don't have birds in them as they fly away long before we get there. So far I have seen him sniff the ground and air, but not point at anything. He likes to "hunt" and "kill" weeds. The first day we owned him he saw our cockatiel out of his cage and was very interested so we decided the bird only comes out when Blitz is in his kennel or outside. As far as guns my husband does cowboy mounted shooting so one of these days we are gonna easy into him hearing the gun. Then onto fields with birds in them, there is a pheasant hunting place (not sure of correct term) that friends of ours have gone to and have hunted at. I guess you buy the birds and they then release them into the field for you to hunt.  As for the water he has seen large muddy puddles and wasn't too sure of them and he has swam in the pool, but we set him in he didn't jump cuz we don't have a deck.  I do plan on getting him in more water cuz I would like to try dock dog jumping and retrieving.

I am new to all of this too. I got Tessa right as the local NAVHDA training days came to an end for the winter, so I just did puppy conditioning with her. In March I went to the first training day where she had her first exposure to quail, a pheasant, gunshots and some real swimming. It was clear she had a desire to hunt but she needed more experience. Still, the folks said she looks ready for the NA which was the following weekend! It was booked, and I scrambled to get my paperwork in order, just in case, and sure enough, we got in on a cancellation and came out of it with a Prize II.

Paperwork: You need the AKC registration and pedigree to register the dog with NAVHDA. You don't have to join NAVHDA at this point - in fact, I still have not joined (only the local chapter), but Tessa is registered.

Fee: is usually around $ 100. Our test fee was $ 125. This covers all the birds.

Test: Here is the link to the rules:

www.navhda.org/testrule.pdf

Make sure you tell them that you are new to this. My judges and all the NAVHDA members there were super nice and very helpful. In the field, they want you to know what the dog is doing, where the dog is, and mainly, to shut up. Just as if you were hunting with your dog, you walk on, they will tell you which direction and follow you. The dog most likely - preferably - will be ahead of you. I said "hunt 'em up" every so often but other than that, it was silent walking. At one point she chased the bird and went out of sight - judges said, let her go. After a while they instructed me to call her back. I whistled and she came, which was good. Then they suggested I grab her collar and lead her away from where the bird had been and flown off to, to a different area, but when I finally had to release her, she ran back to the old spot, and then we had some issues with the recall, which cost us that one point I am sure (3 out of 4 for cooperation). So I would not ask the dog to do anything unless you are sure it will obey, or unless instructed by the judges.

The tracking portion went kinda wrong, make sure that the dog 100% is on the track before releasing it, I think I let Tessa go to early, and once you release, you must stand there without speaking or moving or giving any cues to the dog. We were close to failing at that point. She had done an excellent track the week before but not on that day. Tracking is tricky, aside from experience there's also weather, wind, etc that will have an impact on the dog's performance.

Water was easy, but she was always crazy about water even in the winter. I did watch a couple of dogs struggle with it, but believe me, the judges do anything to get the dog in the water. One had 15 bumpers float in the pond. Followed by a dead bird. Lots of coaxing. If the dog does not enter the water, it will fail the entire test. If it goes in for a dead bird only, that's a big deduction but at least he/she passes the water portion.

Tessa was 9 months old.

Good luck and let us know how you're doing!

I didn't need to ask why the lower score was given. When I compared the score card to how Tessa worked that day, it all matched up for me. But she did well "enough" in the important areas to get her Prize II which given both of our inexperience I didn't really expect (much less a Prize I). In the end though, the NA is more an evalutation than a test.