Polish Hunting Spaniels accepted by Dutch hunting organisation Orweja
The Polish Hunting Spaniel is now also recognized by the Orweja as a hunting dog - from now on you can also participate in working trials with the breed.
Working test for the breed in Poland
If you are interested in the hunting examinations for this breed in its home country, you can find a translation of the categories below and a full document on the right as a PDF.
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Polish Hunting Association (in English)
Polish Hunting Association test regulation page (in English with Google Translate)
1. Wind
Wind, i.e. the sensitivity of the sense of smell to the wind of the game, is assessed on the basis of observation of the dog's work, e.g. when looking for game birds, smelling a hare in a valley or following its trail. When evaluating wind competition, breed-specific characteristics should be taken into account, e.g. Spaniels and Hunting Spitz tend to work upwind, while some German Flushes, Dachshunds and Hounds work downwind.
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Errors and assessment: criteria A mark of "4" can be given to a dog that clearly marks the presence of game from a distance of at least 5 meters in a favorable wind, does not avoid the animal without marking it, picks up the trail quickly and keeps it as long as possible. A dog that, with a favorable wind, misses the game several times without marking it, detects the game from a distance of less than 3 meters, loses the track on a distance shorter than 50 meters and does not find it on its own, cannot receive a score higher than "2" in this competition.
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2. Passion
Passion manifests itself in the desire to persistently seek or track game. It also manifests itself in the way of preaching the game or its trail. Here, too, the characteristic properties of a given breed should be taken into account, e.g. hunting Spitz do not announce the escaping, but only bark cornered game, terriers and dachshunds, in turn, bark passionately at the trail of unseen game.
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3. Retrieving and marking game
Marking the presence of game is expressed by a dog with a significant slowdown in gait pace and lively action of the tail.
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4. Flushing
The area of flushing should be covered with thickets or trees with dense undergrowth (mid-field firehouses, copses or thickets). A dog launched against the wind into dry thickets should be prone to searching them and flushing game from them. During this time, the guide remains at the edge of the thicket.
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It should not be considered a fault if the dog, after a brief search of the undergrowth, comes to the edge of the undergrowth and, unprompted or encouraged, continues to search. Mistakes, however, are: leaving the bushes after a short stay in them and not wanting to start work again, and chasing the game, despite the handler's recalling the dog.
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5. Willingness to obey and cooperate with handler
Unconditional obedience is not required from a young dog, only a clear willingness to carry out received orders and to maintain contact with the handler while searching the area. If, on the judge's command, the handler fails to recall the dog within 10 minutes, the dog cannot receive a score higher than "0" in this competition.
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6. Willingness to work in water
When working a dog in water, no coercion should be used. Instead, you can encourage him to go into the water by throwing pebbles into it so that the dog can see it. The more willingly and deeper the dog goes into the water after receiving an order without additional incentives (throwing pebbles), the higher the score it receives. The handler is allowed to throw pebbles three times, but each time the dog's grade is lowered by "1" grade.
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A "4" rating can be given to a dog that willingly enters the water and swims freely for a distance of at least 5 meters. A dog that does not enter the water within 10 minutes despite being encouraged receives a score of "0".
This site is run by volunteers
We do our best to keep all of the information up to date and respond to contact requests as quickly as possible. If you do not hear back from us within a week, please send us another message as a reminder! We are also adding more information about the breed to the site whenever possible - if you cannot find the information you are looking for, please ask - it is highly likely it has not yet been translated into English or simply has not yet been added to the site.