Allen / UKC
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Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 9282 |
You referring to this one?
Legislating Tree Dog Style
Q: According to the UKC rules, what is considered treed? If a dog, after being declared treed, momentarily puts his nose to the ground and remains silent and then continues barking at the tree, should he be minused for leaving the tree? What sometimes gets me is when my dog meets me off of the tree (maybe 10 feet) and then turns and runs his nose along the ground right back up the tree, and starts back treeing. Some people minus me and some don’t. If I have first tree you can bet I get minused.
I think there should be some clarification. If treeing is going to be considered to be within the umbrella of the tree, state that in the rules. If they will be minused for trailing or scenting the ground within the umbrella, state that, or maybe put a 1 minute rule on a dog seen scenting under a tree if you’d like. Define the radius about the tree that will be considered tree area. On the casts I’ve been on, this is one major source of headaches. I like “coondogs” and if a coondog scents beneath a tree and starts treeing again he is still a coondog. If a dog backs out from the teeth at the bottom of the tree and is treeing on the scent cone, that is a coondog.
A: I guess according to the UKC rules, the bare minimum requirement a dog must meet to be considered treed is to bark at least once every two minutes and not leave the tree. Everyone applies the rules differently in regards to dogs leaving the tree. Many do refer to the dogs nose being on the ground (implying that the dog is trailing). Some refer to being outside the “umbrella” of the tree. The rules are not that specific. Rule 4(f) says that dogs will be minused when they have been declared treed and dog leaves tree. This is a judgement call but a dog that puts his nose to the ground at the base of the tree and then goes back to treeing will not be minused if I am judging the cast.
I think what adds to the confusion is that portion of Rule 4c which states, “If he goes on the trail just his tree points will be minus.” Is this why some hunters make reference to a dog’s nose being on the ground? Whether a dog’s nose is high on the bark, or on the ground has nothing to do with whether or not he has left the tree.
The more clearly you define an exact distance a dog can be from the tree, the more you open the judging of a cast to carrying tape measures and arguing over inches. You have to use common sense. Yes, you are going to run into people who never had it (common sense), but, I would be interested in knowing how many other people have been minused when their dog came 10 feet off a tree to meet them, then went straight back and started treeing. It seems reasonable by very basic definitions that a dog can either be considered to be at the tree treeing, at the tree and not treeing, or to have left the tree altogether.
You can’t put a time and a distance on every aspect of judging a cast. You could make this so impossible to judge that it couldn’t be done. For example, how close (in feet) does a dog have to come to the cast and how many seconds must he stop before he can be minused for quitting a track? How many rods must dogs be away from the cast or how many decibels must their voices be down to before you can call time out for trailing out of hearing in different directions?
Just two examples of the many issues that cannot be clarified with measurements. I’m afraid that with some individuals, the desire to own a 130 bark per minute tree dog has caused them to place too much of an emphasis on tree style when judging a cast. The Nite Hunt rules do not legislate tree style.
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05-01-2018 03:24 AM
