# Picnic Trials



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Has anyone ever been to one of these? What are they like? If you were a newbie would you run in Open, Qualifying, or Derby? 

There's a local club near me that is more field trial focused that is starting up their training days this weekend with a picnic trial. They say they will modify the test for hunt testers and that you can either run competitively or run it as a training set-up. I am not sure I will be able to make this one (still working on car, ugh), but maybe another one in the future.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Jax RC just held one a few weeks ago, a lot of fun. What they did was use one set up for derby & qual and another for open. The open setup was BIG. Fisher totally flopped.
The qual/derby was very do-able and the qual setup on land was roughly a big master test, the water was much easier for a MH level dog. (More like a senior test.) Anyways, a lot of fun! Good training opportunity. At ours you could run with a collar and get help or modify the test as needed.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Contact the club and find out what they plan to do. A picnic trial does not have to be like a regular field trial. Our own club is resurrecting the Gundog Stakes. My understanding is that we may be having one a month.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

K9-Design said:


> Jax RC just held one a few weeks ago, a lot of fun. What they did was use one set up for derby & qual and another for open. The open setup was BIG. Fisher totally flopped.
> The qual/derby was very do-able and the qual setup on land was roughly a big master test, the water was much easier for a MH level dog. (More like a senior test.) Anyways, a lot of fun! Good training opportunity. At ours you could run with a collar and get help or modify the test as needed.


I agree---a great training opportunity for handlers and judges. These used to be common back when I first started but hard to find recently.


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## Tatnall (May 20, 2008)

We ran one a few weeks ago. They had classes for puppies, novice dogs (not yet a SH), gun dogs (not yet a MH), open gun dogs (no FT placements or JAMs) and Amateur age. My wife ran the golden and won the gun dog stake. She was very proud and got a blue ribbon and a big trophy for a year. I only got a JAM in the AA stake with the black critter, so the wife and fluffie are talking smack.

They are a great way to work on handling your dog in a trial/test atmosphere with very little pressure on the handler, which is why my wife was willing to step up and run.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Clubs in my area have picnic trials/tests all winter. They can be an excellent training opportunity as you will have holding blinds, an audience, "judges", and all of that stuff that is hard to replicate in a training group. In my area there is generally a HT setup and a FT setup for dual clubs, and the hunt-only or FT-only clubs may split it up based on level. HT stakes are run non-competitively most of the time, but often at the last one of the season we will get actual judges and they will grade the dog work so you know where you stand as to being test-ready. In the FT stakes, if you run with the collar on you are not running under judgement--no collar and they judge you for placements at the end of the day.


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