Training

If you want to practice hunting with your furry partner, you have the opportunity to choose the path that is most acceptable to you. For beginning hunting cynologists I present at least some basic information that will hopefully help you decide and choose the most suitable solution.

There are two clubs for owners and breeders of retrievers in the Czech Republic. Membership in one club does not exclude membership in the other. Membership in both clubs is recommended, given the benefits that accrue. Both clubs hold events for which they offer significant discounts on participation fees for their members. So, if you are counting on entering competitions and shows, you have the opportunity to save considerable money in this way. Membership of these clubs is not a requirement if you are just a dog owner. And if you are thinking of keeping it, you must become a member of at least one of the clubs.

The Retriever Club, which was founded in 1992 as an association, brings together all six breeds of retrievers in the Czech Republic. It is mainly concerned with the organization of purebred retriever breeding in the Czech Republic in accordance with international FCI regulations. This association provides its members with adequate breeding service and organizes breeding events and exhibitions with the possibility of international participation. One of the activities is the organization of hunting dog shows and hunting competitions according to the valid competition rules agreed by both clubs with the approval of the CMKJ.

The second club with a huge tradition, founded in 1924, is the Hunting Stalkers Breeders Club, which is currently divided into 16 sections and offers membership to owners and breeders of retrievers since 1970. The mission of this club is the controlled breeding of hunting sniffers, retrievers and water dogs, which are members of the KCHLS sections, in accordance with current FCI standards, including the preservation of the natural qualities of each breed. The membership base of this club is much broader, precisely because it brings together owners and breeders of hunting sniffers and retrievers. We recommend this club especially to all those who are thinking of taking up hunting cynology more intensively.

If you are only interested in hunting cynology, I recommend becoming a member of the locally competent District Hunting Association (OMS), or follow the OMS website in the region in the cynology section. Among other things, OMSs are very involved in hunting practice and hold hunting trials that are also for "other breeds", which includes retrievers. Membership in one of the clubs is not a requirement.

The hunting dog tests are organized according to the Test Regulations for hunting aptitude tests and are organized primarily to give the dog hunting aptitude, the emphasis is on meeting all the requirements listed in the test regulations of the CMMJ. The test regulations, according to which the events organized by the OMS are judged, are very different from the competition club regulations. By obtaining hunting fitness, a dog becomes a full-fledged hunting dog that can participate in hunting practice, for example hunts organised by hunting clubs or fee hunts in pheasant hunting grounds. In the following links I will analyse the club's competition test regulations, including the judges' requirements for the performance of individual disciplines and the necessary analysis of the most common mistakes made not only by dogs, but especially by inexperienced handlers.