# Barn hunt



## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Just came back from barn hunt training. Zoe has been away from it for four months, but she had not forgotten anything. She found the rat, did the climb, and, a bit reluctantly, did the tunnel. The tunnel was an L shape - that was new to her.


We will be going to Barn Hunt practice regularly now so she will be ready to get her novice title in April. This is such fun for the dogs!


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

Welcome back, Zoe! There aren't many poodles involved in this sport and they are naturals.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Good to hear you and Zoe back to barn hunting - let us know how things progress.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

scooterscout99 said:


> There aren't many poodles involved in this sport and they are naturals.


Well, neither of mine are naturals like your guy. Maizie is on the long road to the RATNX :lol: We may abandon that goal, as it is becoming an expensive venture. And Frosty can't get past peeing on the straw bales. :lol: But, it is a fun sport for the dogs who enjoy it!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Johanna have tons of fun with your girl! It sounds like she will do great in this sport.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Wow, Zoe is doing wonderful in barn hunt. What a fun activity. How do you handle the hay in her coat? Does it make a mess or is that a non-issue?


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Skylar said:


> Wow, Zoe is doing wonderful in barn hunt. What a fun activity. How do you handle the hay in her coat? Does it make a mess or is that a non-issue?


She just shakes and the straw falls off. 

Now that it is much warmer (40 degrees today), my big problem is that when she plays in the snow she gets wet - it does not shake off like it does in 20 degree weather!

Barn hunt is really entertaining for the dogs. I'm glad we have a club here.

Zoeysmom, our club charges $8 if a dog pees on a bale . . . people are, therefore, really good about exercising their dogs before going in! (The $8 is the going rate for a straw bale since that bale has to be replaced.)


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Johanna said:


> Zoeysmom, our club charges $8 if a dog pees on a bale . . . people are, therefore, really good about exercising their dogs before going in! (The $8 is the going rate for a straw bale since that bale has to be replaced.)


Well if our trials replaced the bales, Frosty wouldn't pee on them (he's just marking over other dogs' pee). I like your club's idea!


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> Well, neither of mine are naturals like your guy. Maizie is on the long road to the RATNX :lol: We may abandon that goal, as it is becoming an expensive venture. And Frosty can't get past peeing on the straw bales. :lol: But, it is a fun sport for the dogs who enjoy it!


My dog did pee at his first trial, in Instinct and in the first Novice trial that day, so I pulled him from the second Novice trial out of consideration for the other participants. The very kind judge suggested that I train him with a belly band until he understood the no pee rule. He has lifted his leg once since then, our instructor was in the ring as a rat wrangler and looked truly perplexed, as he indicated on a rat tube and then tried to ‘mark’ it. I think at this point the rats are more attractive so he doesn’t think to pee, even though other dogs always do (and usually the handlers say, “my dog has never done this before” so it’s not uncommon).

He also lifted his leg the first time I trained him in exterior NW, so that had to be trained, and reinforced regularly (see my post about last weekend’s NW trial, novice exteriors was a challenge for many dogs).

Back to barn hunt, my scaredy beagle-X girl has one leg of senior and I don’t plan on trying for that title. Her happy place is Crazy 8s. She has 2 minutes to do what she pleases, hunt or roll in the straw, which she does routinely. She’s not eliminated if I call false rat. The funny part is that after 2 minutes she doesn’t want to leave the ring because there are so many rats left to find. She never acted this way in Senior after finding 3 of 4 rats. I have to decide what is most important, and how much money to spend on it.

Johanna, take a look at the number of titles on the BHA site to see how many poodles are participating. It falls under the Events pull down menu, Breed Stats is the last selection. The number 2 spoo in the country is from N. IL and we’ve seen each other at trials over the last year and a half.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

scooterscout99 said:


> My dog did pee at his first trial, in Instinct and in the first Novice trial that day, so I pulled him from the second Novice trial out of consideration for the other participants.


Yep, that was the point I pulled Frosty as well. He has absolutely no interest in the rats or anything else in barn hunt, so his barn hunt career ended there. 

Crazy 8's sounds really fun. Most people at barn hunts say that is their and their dog's favorite class.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

What is Crazy Eights? I am too new to Barn Hunt to know.


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

In Crazy 8s there are 8 tubes with rats, and 4 litter tubes. The dog has 2 minutes on course. He earns 10 points for every rat found and 10 points each for finishing the climb and tunnel. There is a penalty for not climbing or going through the tunnel, and also for the handler calling ‘rat’ on an empty tube. So the dog has his 2 minutes Unless the handler makes 2 mistaken calls, unlike the other levels where 1 false call ends the run. Titles are based on accrued points. Bronze is 500 points.

From the BHA rule book:

Penalties (in addition to all general Barn hunt penalties) are:
6. Failure to Tunnel -20 points.
7. Failure to climb -20 points.
8. First incorrect rat call (litter or no tube) -20 points.
9. No rats found or Second incorrect rat call (litter or no tube) NQ score (dog shown a rat before exit).
10. Any dog which finds at least one rat and has a cumulative score above zero when time is called gets a Qualifying score. Zero and negative scores are not used.

I haven’t run my spoo in Crazy 8s for a while. He is so excited about the number of rats that he doesn’t indicate the same as when there are fewer rats, and I hesitate to call it. He’s literally finished with 0 points, and then the judge told me that he’d found a lot of rats. Oh, well. We are doing well in Master class.

It’s a popular event and fills up quickly at the trials we attend.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Wow, 8 rats - that's quite a challenge.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Wow, that really sounds like fun! I wish we had it here


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## West U (Jul 30, 2014)

I took Lola to a Barn Hunt about a year and a half ago. The only thing she was interested in "hunting" was attention from the folks looking on.


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