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