increasing the complexity of the tunnel increases from a simple straight configu- ration to a maximum number of 5 turns. The Master level adds a new element which is an unknown number of rats on the course. The total tubes used is 8. There are 1 to 5 rats on course and the handler doesn’t know how many. The remaining tubes all have used bed- ding—there is no empty. The handler needs to call “clear” when they feel their partner has found all the rats on the course. Barn Hunt is one of the fastest grow- ing dog sports around. Robin Nuttall is the woman who is behind the sport. She came up with the game because she had a Min Pin, named Zipper, that had the drive to hunt. She wanted to give him the opportunity to use his skills and even though the origins of the breed seemed to be vermin hunt- ing, they were not accepted at AKC Earthdog events at the time. She started working on her own set of rules that have become Barn Hunt. The sport was announced in Febru- ary 2012 and the first sanctioned trial was held in April of 2013. Since the
introduction of the sport in 2012, there are over 22,000 dogs registered nation- wide, 186 Barn Hunt judges, 312 Clubs and 336 upcoming events across the nation. This sport is open to all breeds including mixes and even though it is based on Terrier hunting any breed can excel. The Toy breeds have many active registered dogs. The list below shows the current registration and titles earned in the Toy group. This is defi- nitely one of the must-try sports. In my opinion this is one of the games that we should all let our dogs play and I urge you to go check out an event near you. For more information, events near you and a complete set of rules go to www.barnhunt.com. Come play with us!
aBouT THe auTHor Laurie Cowhig is the founder and president of Redwood Ratters, a Sanctioned Barn Hunt club based in Northern California. She holds Trials all over the state. For more informa- tion about her upcoming events go to www.redwoodratters.com or email her at redwoodratters@comcast.net. She currently has two Pugs, three Boston Terriers and a Smooth Coated Brussels Griffon. Bambi was the first Pug in Barn Hunt to earn the RATO– Open Title.
Toy Breeds affenpinscher Brussels griffon Cavalier King Charles spaniel
# regisTered ToTal awards raTi
raTN raTo raTs raTM raTCH raTCHX raTCHX2 raTCHX3
16
5
4
1
24
18
9
8
1
124
118
55
37
18
5
2
1
Chihuahua
72
61
34
17
8
2
Chinese Crested
80
46
30
12
2
1
1
english Toy spaniel Havanese italian greyhound
4
2
1
1
30
31
17
12
2
31
22
11
5
3
2
1
Japanese Chin
1
Maltese
9
9
6
2
1
Manchester Terrier, Toy
51
20
15
5
Miniature Pinscher
140
115
57
34
15
5
3
1
Papillon
216
219
91
71
34
11
6
2
2
1
1
Pekingese Pomeranian Poodle, Toy
1
2
1
1
37
37
17
14
6
40
25
13
7
4
1
Pug
22
9
4
3
2
shih Tzu
17
18
8
7
3
silky Terrier
47
34
11
14
6
3
Toy Fox Terrier yorkshire Terrier
78
62
33
17
9
3
83
66
34
18
10
4
ToTal
1123
919
451
286
124
37
13
4
2
1
1
5 01 / 05$) 5 0:4 4 &15&.#&3 t
Powered by FlippingBook