16 Saber Tails Spring 2016
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
Barn Hunting
Learning to Work As a Team with Your PBGV Will Help You Win the Rat Race
by Bev Childs
T
he first time I heard about a “Barn Hunt” was when my
friend Jane Fink (dog trainer and Westie owner-breed-
er) mentioned it in passing. Thinking it was just an activ-
ity for terriers, I didn’t give it much thought until pictures
from a recent hunt came across my Facebook news feed.
My next thought was “There’s no way I am letting the
Stone House Hounds (ZZTuX, Flirt, and Rowdy) off lead
in an open barn!” Out of curiosity, I went to the Barn Hunt
Website (www.barnhunt.com) and discovered the “Barn
Hunt” name is a little misleading – it easily could be called
a “rat hunt” and is open to every breed of dog including
American dogs (mixed breeds registered with the AKC).
Barn Hunt is a relatively new sport based on the tradi-
tional roles of working and hunting traits in dogs. Most
hunts are usually not held in actual barns but in secure
dog training facilities with a barn-like setting. The courses
are built with straw bales and the rats being hunted are
contained in special aerated PVC tubes. There are various
levels of difficulty which lead to titles and championships
that are recognized by both the American Kennel Club
(AKC) and United Kennel Club (UKC.) It is an independent
sport and as with AKC hunting titles, Barn Hunt titles can
be added to your PBGVs name for a fee.
O
nce Tony and I decided to give this sport a try with
the Stone House Hounds we familiarized ourselves
with all the rules on the Barn Hunt Website. We then reg-
istered our PBGVs to get their necessary Barn Hunt num-
bers. There is a one-time fee to obtain these registration
numbers.
T
hen the fun began...it seemed so easy – or so we
thought. In Novice your dog finds one rat, goes
through one tunnel that is 18” wide and as tall as a bale
of straw and has to climb up on top of one bale of straw.
All four paws have to be on the bale of straw to count. You
can point and use voice commands but you cannot touch
your dog to maneuver him in any way and you cannot
touch or step over a bale of hay. Oh...and did I say the
run is timed and you have two whole minutes to do these
three things.
W
hat all this really means is this: Each run is timed
and is designed to test your dog’s searching or hunt-
ing ability to find the rat. Climbing and tunneling skills are
tested with the biggest test being your ability to work as
a team with your dog and recognize your dog’s signal
when it finds the rat.
H
idden in the “barn” are the aerated PVC tubes – the
number of tubes depends on the level in which you
are competing. In Novice, one tube has a rat, one has rat
litter and the third tube is empty. The handler must signal
when the dog has found the desired PVC rat tube and
state “RAT” (not as a question but as a statement.)
Z
ZTuX has caught on quicker than Rowdy and in two
Barn Hunt trials has Q’ed (qualified) twice with a
Fourth Place and a Second Place. Tony seems to read ZZ-
TuX’s “this is the RAT” signal better than he reads Rowdy’s.
Rowdy gives every indication that he thinks he is way too
cool for finding rats but I enter him anyway in the hopes
that he will get more interested. Flirt’s rat hunting lasted
only one day. Imagine our surprise when we got back to
the hotel and Flirt jumped up on the bed and rolled over
to show us the big red welts on her stomach and legs.
That ended her
Barn Hunt fun as we discovered she is
allergic to the straw.
A
nother thing to watch for is your dog “marking
his territory” on the bales. You are required to
pay a fine per bale of ‘defiled’ straw if that happens.
The first trial Tony and I attended we found out the