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SWITCHING A couple of questions were sent to me asking for a
definition as to whether or not a dog has switched.
According to the AKC Rule Book, the definition of a switch is when “a
dog that goes to the area of a fall, hunts, fails to find and then leaves the
area to hunt for another fall, or that drops a bird he is retrieving and goes
for another, shall be considered to have switched.
Unless in the opinion of the Judges there exist valid mitigating
circumstances, this fault constitutes sufficient justification for elimination
from this stake.” Many persons confuse a switch with hunting an old fall. The AKC definition of hunting the old fall is “a dog that returns to and systemically hunts the area of a marked fall previously retrieved should be eliminated from the stake, provided, that where the area of a subsequently retrieved fall, no elimination penalty, should be incurred for hunting the area of the overlap.” A switch is when there is a bird on the ground, the dog puts up a hunt, then gives up that hunt to go to the area of another bird and hunts the new area. When there is no bird on the ground, and the dog returns to that area to hunt, that is considered hunting the area of an old fall. A classic example of a switch is the following. A triple is set up with the longest bird being the first bird shot. It is a dead bird, thrown from right to left. The second bird shot is another dead bird, it is shorter in distance and is thrown from left to right. The gunner for bird number two retires. The last bird down is a flyer shot to the left and is not close to either of the memory birds. The dog is sent for the flyer which it picks up without a problem. The handler then decides to pick up the short retired bird second. The dog goes into the area of the bird and makes a cursory hunt. After a few loops through the area, he looks up and sees the visible long gun, and goes there and picks up that bird. The dog has given up his hunt in the area of the second bird and then goes into the area of the long bird and retrieves that bird. If the dog had run through the area of the second bird, had not stopped or indicated a hunt of any kind, and went straight to the area of the long mark, this would not be considered a switch. Also, if the dog had set up a hunt but not in the area of the second (shorter) bird but midway between the two marks, and then worked his way back to the long mark, this would not normally be considered a switch as he did not hunt in the area of the fall---he had mismarked the birds. It would certainly not look good on paper, but he did not switch. If we used the same scenario of the above test being run by a different dog and handler, and the dog picked up the flyer, and then instead of going to a memory bird the dog returned to the area of the flyer, he has returned to the area of an old fall. This is not a switch. If the dog went into the area of the fall of one of the memory birds, put up a hunt and then went back to the flyer, it is technically not a switch since there is not another bird in the area of the flyer, but the dog did switch from the area where there is a bird in order to hunt another area. The penalty for both is the same, elimination from the stake. If your dog puts up a hunt in the area of a bird, appears to be giving up that hunt and going to either a previous fall or switching to another bird, put a quick whistle on your dog, and put your dog back on the bird he was leaving. You may still be dropped for the handle, leave that decision to the judges; you definitely will be dropped if your dog switches or returns to an old fall and hunts. A switch can come into play during a hunt test in which a bulldog is shot as the dog is returning with a retrieve. If the dog drops the bird it is carrying to pick up the bulldog bird instead, it has switched. This is a good reason to keep your eye on your dog as it is returning and be prepared to get on your whistle to call him to you if he indicates he is going to drop the one bird and try and retrieve the other. Persons will often stand and watch their dog hunt a bird, the area of the dog’s hunt increases and all of a sudden, the dog boogies on out of there to go to another bird. Learn your dog’s hunting pattern and how the dog indicates that it is ready to blow out of the area. You will have a handle marked against you, but if the dog does switch, you will automatically be dropped. Some persons will let their dog get almost to the area of the other bird before they attempt to handle. The closer the dog is to that other bird, the less chance you will have of handling him away from it. Even though the rules are very straight forward as to what is a switch and what is a return to an old fall, it can become complicated by instances of overlapping areas such as very tight falls, a wipeout bird that lands close to a fall, a “a flowerpot” where two different throws are done from the same gun station, or a flyer shot into the test and it goes exceedingly long and is very close to another fall. Then it becomes a determination by the Judges as to whether or not your dog actually did switch. If your dog is sent for one mark, but winds a bird from another mark on the way to the one to which he was sent, this is not a switch as he did not set up a hunt in one area and then leave it for another. It may make it very hard to pick up the bird to which he was originally sent as in the dog’s mind, he may feel he has already gotten that first bird. In this case, you need to work very hard on line to convince your dog that there still is a bird where he was originally sent. Whatever you do, let the judges decide whether or not your dog has switched. Sometimes a contestant will turn to the judges and ask if the judges had thought the dog had switched----maybe it had not even entered their minds until you said something about it. If they were half-hearted about considering it a switch, your indicating that you thought it could have possibly been one may be all they need to consider it so. |
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