| By
Jur Deckers, Holland
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In Germany, the country of origin
of the Weimaraner breed, the German Weimaraner Club organizes
different kinds of field trials compared to the USA. For instance,
in the USA for breeds like the Weimaraner, field trials are held
where the dogs must show their ability to point and you enter
the dog for as many trials as you want. The situation in countries
like Germany and Austria is different. You must enter the dog
in his Verbands-Jugendprufung VJP or Youth Test in the spring.
In the autumn of the same year, the dog must enter the Herbst
Zucht Prufung HZP testing his hunting ability. In Germany you
are allowed to breed the dog only if the Weimaraner passes his
HZP. 
In the USA and some of the European countries
like England, France and Holland, the hunting breeds all have
their special tasks. A pointing bird dog for work 'before the
game shot'. The dog has to search the field and when he finds
game, he must come to a point. When the game is flushed, the dog
has to be ‘steady to the shot’. After the game is shot, it has
to be retrieved; we use retrievers for the task. If hunting in
the woods with dense cover, a spaniel is needed to drive out the
game. For the retrieving of water game, we have special water
dogs with a coat that makes them suitable for this type of work.
When a deer is shot but not killed, bloodhounds' (in German Schweißhund)
are used to follow the bloodtrack of the deer. Dogs other than
the traditional foxhounds are also useful in hunting fox. When
hunting on your own, but not on horseback, a small dog like a
dachshund or a Jack Russell terrier are good for entering the
foxhole and driving him out into the open for the hunter to shoot.
The Weimaraner belongs to the HPR-breeds, a
gun dog that hunts, points and retrieves. The Weimaraner and the
hunter have to do almost all of the tasks mentioned above (except
driving the fox out of his hole, because a Weimaraner is too big
for that, of course). In the countries mentioned above, the field
trials are specialized for specialized breeds, so it is hardly
possible to test the versatility of the HPR. On a field trial
for pointing dogs, the main work before the shot is tested and
the results must be a very high standard. Those field trials are
excellent for pointers and setters. Field trials for retrievers
are meant for breeds that retrieve game. The same thing goes for
spaniel trials. But where does our HPR or the all round gundog
fit in? That is the problem we have in these countries where only
specialized trials are held. 
In countries like Germany and Austria, they also have field trials
and tests. But these are specialized for the HPR-breeds and those
breeds, like the Weimaraner, have to do all of the subjects well.
A young Weimaraner, born in the year before or the last three
months of the year before that, will first do the Verbands-Jugendprufung
(VJP) in the spring. This is a Youth Test and the dog will have
to search, point, work out the track of a hare, and show they
are not afraid of the shot. In the autumn of the same year, the
Herbst Zucht Prufung HZP is done. In this test, the dog must show
his hunting ability. The HZP contains searching and pointing but
also retrieving of game (pheasant) and tracking of a dragged pheasant.
Water work, such as a lost retrieve of a duck, retrieving a duck
out of the water and searching the reeds, is tested.
The VGP, Vollgebrauchsprüfung in Austria and Verbands-gebrauchsprüfung
in Germany, is the highest test for experienced, well trained
HPR's, hunting, pointing and retrieving breeds. The test takes
two days and demands hard work from both dog and handler. The
German VGP contains at least 28 subjects that are judged separately.
In the German states, where the work on a living duck (stöbern
hinter die Ente) is allowed, this 29th subject is added. If at
a VGP, this subject is not tested nor has been tested before,
you can always see it listed on the score sheet. After the prize
and points they add "o.l.e." which means ohne (without), lebende
(living), ente (duck). In Austria, the VGP always includes work
on the living duck. There are also more subjects: 35 of them!
The test is divided into five groups: The Waldarbeit or forest
work containing the blood track, where the dog and his handler
have to find a roedeer, track of the fox, track of the hare, searching
the woods for game for 10 minutes (stöbern), doing field work
(like a spaniel) in dense cover in the woods (buschieren) and
so on. The water work is the retrieve of a dead duck out of the
water. Just before the dog reaches the duck, a shot is fired on
the water over the head of the dog. Also, he must search the reeds
for 10 minutes, a lost retrieve of a duck and if allowed, searching
for a living duck. The dog must follow the swim trail and drive
the duck out of the reeds to open water. The duck is then shot
and retrieved by the dog.
Important is the field work where the nose is judged as well
as the dog’s ability to find game. Searching: Does the dog search
the field well planned and entirely? Does he hold his head (nose)
high? Does he quarter enough ground? Is the dog able to find game,
approach it, come to a point and hold the game at that place?.
Included is the tracking of a dragged pheasant. In Germany the
dog must show his steadiness when he flushes game and a shot is
fired. If at the German VGP, the dog makes his point on pheasant
and no other game is found, the steadiness on hare does not have
to be tested. Of course it will, when the dog flushes a hare.
At the Austrian VGP, both steadiness on feathered game and on
hare (or rabbit) are tested.
The fourth group is obedience. During the entire VGP, the judges
evaluate how well the dog responds to commands of his handler.
The dog must follow both on and off lead. The unleashed dog must
stay in place with the handler out of sight while the handler
fires two shots. The Weimaraner must sit or lie down beside his
handler during a simulated driven shoot in the forest. The handler
fires two shots as the beaters are near to him in the forest.
The last group contains retrieving. All retrieves during the
VGP are judged. My experience is that the Austrian VGP on this
point is more difficult than the German VGP. If for example, the
dog retrieves game standing, but retrieves the game at hand, in
most cases you will get 4 points for the retrieve in Germany.
They do not seem to mind whether the dog is standing or sitting
while presenting the game to the handler. In Austria, not only
at the VGP but also at the field and water test (HZP), a deduction
of one point is taken when the dog is not sitting down when handing
you the game.
Evaluated separately is the way the dog and the handler work
together (form a team), the endurance of the dog, the way the
dog hunts and his willingness to please. As mentioned, the VGP
is one of the most demanding tests an HPR can do. Every dog has
strong and weak points. The demands on both dog and handler over
the two days is extremely difficult, as so many different tests
are combined. You can not have an ‘off-day" or even an insufficient
on one of the subjects, if for this subject a sufficient is required
for passing the VGP! At the VJP (Natural Ability Examination)
and the HZP (autumn test) the judge will take into account that
the handler might be inexperienced. But at the VGP they expect
a full trained, well experienced dog that shows endurance. And,
they expect both dog and handler arrive at the VGP very well prepared.
A new rule in Germany is the allowance for more than one VGP.
If you fail the first VGP, you may do another one, but not more
than one! This rule prevents people making a sport of the VGP
by entering their dog for five or six VGP's just to get the highest
results in points and
Lucas next to a deer. Howwwwwl! |
prizes. In Germany and Austria, only hunters can enter their
dogs for the test. This is another difference with the field trials
we have in Holland, Belgium, France, England where people who
do not hunt their dogs themselves enter their dogs. Because only
hunters participate in the VGP, this insures the test is and will
stay a good test for working dogs that are actually used for hunting.
The points and prizes are difficult to understand. For each subject
at the VGP the maximum score is a ‘Very Good’ which stands for
4 points. A ‘Good’ stands for 3 points, a ‘Sufficient’ for 2 points,
a ‘Moderate’ for 1 point and 0 means insufficient. An extremely
good performance can be awarded with a 4h, where the 'h' stands
for ‘Excellent’ (Hervoragend). This will not give the dog more
points as the rating is ‘4h’. Judges do not give a ‘4h’ very easily
This happened to me once at a VGP with Joy for the bloodtrack.
The judges have to explain on the score sheet what made the performance
good enough a ‘4h’ was given. There are great number of subjects,
but not all subjects are equally important, therefore, the result
for each subject is multiplied. The multiplier is high (5 or 6)
with subjects that are very important and low (2 or even 1) with
less important subjects. The bloodtrack is very important and
the result is therefore multiplied with 5. Walking at heel on
the other hand is only multiplied with two and lead work is not
multiplied at all.
The final results are when all points are multiplied and the
points are counted to a total. The points with which a VGP in
Germany are awarded vary from a third prize with 163 points to
a maximum of a first prize with 324 points. In special cases,
such as with the totverbeller, totverweisen, or overnight bloodtrack,
searching for and retrieving of game that is shot in the field,
even more points may be awarded. The Austrian VGP has more subjects
(35) and therefore, a higher total score. The lowest possible
or third prize, VGP is 258; the highest first prize has 412 points
and with a 24 hours blood track even 420 points are awarded. Not
only the points are important, but first, second or third prize
is awarded. On a German or Austrian Weimaraner pedigree behind
the name of the dog, you see a "VGP II 279", this dog was awarded
a second prize VGP with 279 points.
It is somewhat confusing, because you may earn a first prize
with less points than another dog with a second prize! A second
prize is possible with 220 points and a first prize with 254 points.
This is less than the second prize with 279 points I mentioned
earlier. The explanation is as follows: The awarding of a 1st,
2nd or 3rd prize is not only dependent on the points scored on
each subject, but the result on what one might call ‘major subjects'.
For example, for a first prize in Germany you must have a 'very
good' (4 points) on the bloodtrack and a 'sufficient' (2 points)
on the other seven subjects belonging to the group ‘work in the
forest'. Those kinds of demands are also set with the other groups.
It is very sad when a dog - that is performing well at all of
the other subjects - is graded with a 1 or a 0 for the subject
searching in the woods (stöbern im wald) or buschieren (rough
shooting in the woods), because no less than a 2 is required.
In this case the dog can't pass his VGP!
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