CLASSIFICATION OF FAULTS
Working Certificate Test Rules and Regulation
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11.1 Serious Faults (Table of Contents)
11.1.1 Anyone of the following is sufficient to fail a dog and are considered serious faults:
(a) Repeated evidence of poor nose
(b) Reluctance to enter rough cover, water or other unpleasant or hard going after having been ordered to do so several times
(c) Returning to the handler without a bird or without being called in (d) Switching birds
(e) Ignoring a bird after finding it
(f) Unwillingness to release a bird on delivery until compelled to do so by severe methods
(g) Retrieving a decoy
(h) Hard-mouth or badly damaged game which, in the opinion of the judges, is caused solely by the dog
(i) Throwing anything into the water to persuade the dog to enter or re-enter the water or to direct him towards the fall
(j) Breaking in WCI and WCX
(k) Roughness with game
(I) Stopping his hunt
(m) Restraint by touching or holding a dog to prevent him from breaking, in WCI and WCX
(n) Out of control, i.e. paying no attention to many whistles and directions by his handler
(0) Loud and prolonged whining or barking
(p) Watching blind retrieves being planted or being retrieved by another dog mandatory disqualification of both dog and the handler from the test
(q) Watching birds being thrown or retrieved by another dog in any test
(r) Deliberate blocking by a handler so that a dog will not see all birds and all falls, this applies to both the working dog and the honouring dog
(s) Handling in WC
(t) Breaking on the honour in the WCI and WCX or any other interference with the working dog
(u) Threatening gestures, or any form of intimidation made to a working or honouring dog
(v) Recast on a marked retrieve in WCX
(w) Failure to bring bird back across the line
11.2 Moderate Faults (Table of Contents)
11.2.1 Repetition of a moderate fault, or a combination of several of these faults, may convert the total infraction into a serious fault. Some infractions may be so slight as to warrant their consideration only as a minor fault. Usually 2 moderate faults should eliminate a dog from the test. The following are considered to be moderate faults:
(a) Failure to make the area of a fall requiring that the dog be handled to it
(b) Leaving the area of a fall
(c) Hunting in a slow, disinterested manner
(d) Not stopping for direction after 2 or 3 whistles which he should have heard, in WCX
(e) Deliberate failure to take lines or casts for more than a short distance, in WCX
(f) Going out of his way by land without certainty of purpose en route to a water mark
(g) Controlled break in WCI/WCX or going before being sent in WC
(h) Reluctance to enter rough cover, water, ice, mud or any situation involving unpleasant going for the dog
(i) Poor style, including a disinterested attitude, a slow or reluctant departure, quest for game or return with it
(j) Popping-up, i.e. looking back for directions on a marked bird before an extensive search
(k) Moderate whining of short duration
(l) Reluctance to give up bird in WCI or WCX
(m) Recast on a marked retrieve in WCI
11.3.1 While these faults may be so light as to only require a notation on the judge's sheet, several or repeated minor infractions or a combination of these minor infractions may convert into a moderate or even serious fault. The following are considered to be minor faults:
(a) Lack of attention
(b) Poor line manners (such as heeling poorly, not immediately taking and staying in the position designated, dropping a bird at delivery, jumping after a bird, not remaining quietly on line after delivery
(c) Slow pick-up of a bird
(d) Dropping birds
(e) Sloppy bird handling
(f) Unsteadiness, including creeping on line in WCI or WCX.
(g) Failure to take handler’s direction
(h) Occasional failure to hold the line given or directions given, in WCX
(i) Slight reluctance to give up a bird in WC
(j) Returning by way of land in a water mark, or marking a detour on return from a land mark
(k) Leg-lifting, particularly on the way to a fall
(l) Failure to deliver to hand in WC
(m) Recast on a marked retrieve in WC
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