by Josh Stephens 

As a proud new owner of a German versatile hunting dog I suspect you’ve spent the last several months falling head over heels in love with your new puppy. You’ve spent time getting to know your dog and appreciating the natural instincts of the breed. You may have taken him hunting a few times; somewhere along the line you may have started training him and wondering about the next step. Perhaps you’ve heard about the “VJP,” or the spring puppy test. Your breeder likely mentioned the test and stressed its importance to him and the breed as a whole. If you joined a breed club, then your fellow members are probably encouraging you to test your new pup. There are many reasons to test, as covered in the article here, but if you are wondering just what the heck this test is, and how best to prepare you and your pup for it, keep reading.

The VJP test

The Verbands-Jungend-Prüfung (VJP) is the first breed test that your new dog will run in. It’s intended to evaluate the natural abilities of pups less than fifteen months old. Technically, pups could be anywhere from about four to nineteen months of age when they run the VJP. Many pups are born in the spring and tested 12-15 months later.

Again, the VJP is intended to be a natural abilities test. As such, trained behaviors like obedience and retrieving aren’t tested. Items that are tested include track, use of nose, search, pointing, and cooperation. Additionally, the dog will be tested for gunfire sensitivity and will be observed for loudness or vocalization on game and/or scent. The following is an example of a typical VJP test day, though it’s not uncommon for the order of events to get switched around.

Early in the morning, all of the dog handlers will meet with the judges for a briefing. During this meeting you’ll need to provide your original Ahnentafel and proof of rabies vaccination to the judges. (At some point during the day the judges will inspect your dog’s tattoo and make sure that it matches the Ahnentafel.) The judges will inspect his teeth and they may take a look at his eyes as well. In many cases they may give the dog a good once over just to ensure he’s in good health and injury-free going into the test.

In the pre-test meeting you and your dog will be assigned a number for the test. During the test, instead of shouting for a dog or owner’s name, the judges will just say, “Bring up dog three!” Be sure to pay attention to this! Not only is it important to remember your number, but in many cases the judges may call the dogs up out of order for various reasons.

The hare track is commonly the first field event though it’s not a requirement. During this event, the judges and a group of helpers will walk in a line similar to what you’d do when pheasant hunting and “beat” the bushes for rabbits. The handlers and their dogs will walk about 50 meters behind them. Once a rabbit is spotted the person spotting it will shout, “Rabbit!” and raise their hand. The judges will all race over to get a good look at where the rabbit started from and the track the rabbit took from there. Once you hear “rabbit,” you need to stand in front of your dog and block his view of what’s going on because if your dog sees that particular rabbit then he’s not eligible to track it. Once the judges have had a quick chat about the rabbit and notated the track, they’ll call for a dog. (Assuming that enough rabbits can be found, most dogs will get a couple of tracks each.) If the judges call your number, try to get your dog to them as soon as possible since the scent trail starts degrading the moment the rabbit has left. You’ll then put your pup on the track and off he goes!

Once you release your dog on the track, stand back and let him do his thing. Over-handling is a common mistake at the VJP. Remember, the judges aren’t there to evaluate your handling skills or trained behaviors; they are evaluating your dog’s natural abilities. The judges are looking to see how well a dog follows the track, how he recovers when he loses the track, how well he uses his nose, if he’s “loud” on scent or sight of game, etc.

The field search and pointing is often next. While the other dogs and handlers wait, you and your dog will enter the field with the judges. They’ll instruct you to turn him loose and walk the field as you would if you were hunting. As you walk and your pup searches, a shotgun will be fired a couple of times to ensure the dog isn’t gun shy. During the field search the judges are watching to see if pup hunts for you, or just sort of runs wild hunting for himself. They’re watching to see how far he ranges from you, whether or not he comes back to check on you, how he uses his nose, etc.

Next, you’ll move into a section of the field that’s holding birds. When your pup finds a bird, hopefully he’ll point it. When you or a judge sees the dog on point they’ll say, “Point!” and raise a hand, then you and the judges will start easing up toward him. You’ll pause a safe distance away from your pup as the judges evaluate the point, then they will tell you to pick up your dog. You can simply walk up and clip a lead to your dog and walk away, or you can literally pick him up, carry him a short distance, and release him in a different direction.

Preparing for the test

Even though the VJP is a natural abilities test there are some things that you should do in preparation.

* Know what you’re getting into! There is some great reference material available for this test. The VZPO states the official standards and rules for the test, so this document is a must read. Also, the Armbruster Training Manual is an invaluable resource as it describes the test and recommends training and handling methods. Thirdly, the Drahthaar Puppy Manual is an excellent book and is popular among versatile dog owners.

* If possible, go watch a VJP. If you’ve never seen one you’ll learn a lot just from observing.

* Get your pup used to being handled by strangers. Have everyone you know pet him, and look at his ears, eyes, and teeth. Many dogs fight having their teeth looked at and the more often it’s done, the more comfortable they will be.

* Expose your pup to wide open spaces. If he’s never been outside of your yard and suddenly he’s in a wide open field, he may just decide it’s party time and ignore your calls to him. While obedience isn’t being tested at this event, cooperation is, and a pup that’s out of sight is awfully hard to judge.

* You should run through every step of the test, as closely as you can simulate it, at least a couple of times. You don’t want the first time that your pup has ever seen a bird to be at the test. You don’t necessarily need to have done a lot of pointing work with him but at least be sure to expose him to feathered game to ensure his natural pointing ability has been “woken up.” You’ll also want to know how your pup will react if you try to approach him and “pick him up” while he’s on point. Additionally, if you haven’t had a chance to hunt with him you’ll want to be sure you know how he’s going to react to a shotgun being fired over him. Even though the intention of the VJP test is to evaluate your pup’s natural ability, a certain amount of training—and especially some key exposure―will make it easier to showcase these abilities.

What to bring with you

In addition to your dog, his Ahnentafel, and proof of rabies vaccination, there are a few things that you need to bring with you to the test.