Does your dog love to retrieve? Does he love water, getting dirty and wants to please you? This is the sport for you!!!

All registered gun dogs are eligible to compete in Retrieving trials where they are judged on their ability to hunt game in a simulated shooting situation. As well as the dogs being registered the owner must be a current financial member of the Canine Association of WA.

Your dog will learn to prove his ability to seek & retrieve fallen game and eventually obey whistle commands to stop and change direction in order to complete the exercise.

All this takes time therefore your dog starts in the Novice class and works his way up through the classes until he becomes a Retrieving Trial Champion. All of this information is available at the CAWA office in the form of a Retrieving Trial Rule Book for a few dollars.

The Retrieving Club runs beginner classes through out the year and will be only too pleased to assist in any way.

Gundog Trials

The ability and intelligence of well bred and well trained Gundogs is remarkable.

The CAWA and various affiliated clubs conduct competitive trials in the field for registered Gundogs. These events are designed to test the various breeds in the type of work for which they were developed over hundreds and even thousands of years.They provide breeders with the opportunity to test the natural working instincts of their dogs and therefore the chance to select breeding stock on the basis of appropriate temperament and for preservation of their invaluable working instincts. These trials provide the opportunity for owners to experience the pleasure of working closely with their dogs in a fascinating range of competitive field sports. Championship titles and minor titles are available based on performance.These events are conducted in the field under natural conditions but with simulated game and while a shotgun is fired there is no shooting of game.There are two types of trials conducted in WA:

• Retrieving trials where any registered Gundog is required to retrieve articles of fallen game with varying degrees of difficulty according to the level attained from beginner through to national Championship.

• Field Trials for Pointers & Setters and also for Utility Gundogs where dogs are assessed on their ability to find and point game and retrieve in the case of Utility Gundogs. Here again are varying degrees of difficulty according to the level attained.

For further information, contact Dogs West. Acknowledgment is made to the Victorian Canine Association for permission to reproduce and edit this article.