THE ELITE SQUAD OF BARN HUNT CHAMPIONS.
Laurel Stone's Jake pictured here is one of the top barn hunt dogs, even with limited appearances this year. But there is a growing number of these super hunters pushing the envelope for a sub-one-minute master run. Has there been a sub-one-minute master run anywhere yet? Here is Laurel's report on Jake and other top Master performances in Sheboygan WI last weekend.
"Thank you Jake for another rockin' weekend at the SDTC Barn Hunt trial!! Jake won 3 High in Class ribbons with scores of 1 min. 33 sec., 1 min. 35 sec. and a new personal best for a master run of 1 min. 19 sec.!! He took 2 second place ribbons with scores of 2 min. 7 sec. (congrats to Blu and Cheryl who beat us by 4 seconds) and 1 min. 34 seconds (congrats to Nitro and Carl who had a mach speed of 1 min. 17 sec. to take the win!) As you can see, there was competition! What fun! I'm so proud of Jake! This was our 4th Barn Hunt weekend in 2015 and he has consistently decreased his time!! Oh WAIT! He always WAS fast! I just started believing him!!! What a guy!!"
You, Jeanette Showalter Rausch, Kim Nygard, Nancy Yeoman and 29 others like this.
Jackie Wood Big congrats, big guy!!!!!
Shelly Gordon Stemm Congratulations you are closing in on that sub minute run!! Nice dog!!
Ellen Hizer Junior once cleared a ring of 5 rats in 1:29. Would love to try Crazy 8s with him.
Willy Demis Does Jake have a finished cue? How do you know so quickly that the rats have been found? The best my boy has done is 1:39.66 on five rats. It's easy though when you have five since you know you're done.
Laurel Stone Willy Demis - I will often ask Jake "Are we done" and he will usually do one of 2 things... (1) bounce over to the gate as I promise him sardines or (2) immediately run to get the rat he has been saving. As I'm getting the leash after I've called it ...See More
Willy Demis That's a really good point! Very often I feel like I know when he's found them all, but I check and check and check again to be sure. What about tunneling? Do you save that for last?
Laurel Stone While Jake is hunting I don't ask him to tunnel but when I think he's done I do. If he ignores me I watch carefully because there is probably another rat out there. If he doesn't zoom in on one I ask him to tunnel again. If he ignores me again, I then start "telling" him to tunnel. We went through a period of time where he didn't want to leave the course because the fun was over which is the reason for the sardines in his crate in the van. (I open the can and put then in a dish before the run.)
Willy Demis Laurel Stone I love your style! I've also found that immediate reward (I use play/tug) as quickly as possible at the car is imperative to a fast performance. I discovered this a couple years ago in agility. My dog performed twice as fast when I started playing immediately after the run. This seems to hold true in barn hunt as well.
Willy Demis I mean- that seems completely obvious to read, but as you know with your sardines- it *actually* makes a huge difference in reality. Not just a theoretical difference.
Laurel Stone Willy Demis If I was physically able to play/tug with him I'd be doing it for sure but when you reach a certain age and need new knees, you use sardines!! lol Jake would MUCH prefer the playing!
Nancy Foster Amazing job!
Nancy Kois Henley recently recorded his personal best in Master with 4 rats at 1:37 !!
Matt Meiring If you video the runs I love to watch one
Willy Demis I was thinking the same!
Laurel Stone http://www.lstonephotography.com/.../Jakes-Barn-Hunt-Videos/
Jake's Barn Hunt Videos - Laurel Stone LSTONEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Laurel Stone I try to videotape as many as I can and then watch them over and over to study his body language. Jake has had quite a few sub one minute runs but I have extended them "just to be sure" and doubled his official time!!
Matt Meiring Jake hunts a lot like my dog Ski. I like the challenge of truly clearing a ring in under a minute. Not just a quick call.
Laurel Stone Matt Meiring until this thread I hadn't thought much about a run under a minute. My 2015 goal was to average runs under 2 minutes which we did ending up this last weekend with runs about a minute and a half. The 2016 season starts for us in April and a worthwhile goal to shoot for would be to decrease Jake's time to under a minute! smile emoticon
Cheryl Bracht Thanks, Laurel. Congratulations to both you and Jake. Good luck to you in the upcoming months....
Kari Olson He is very amazing.
Matt Meiring By the way Jake is a great hunter.I look forward to hunting with you someday we can shoot for the elusive sub minute score .. I'll post video if I ever get lucky and all the stars are aligned.