Testing the abilities of Finnish retrievers (part 1)

The more I’ve studied retrievers (mainly flatcoats and goldens) around the world, the more confused I’ve become by the various terms that are used to describe tests, trials, and such. Since we blog about our dogs bilingually and have a large amount of foreign readers, I’ve decided to write a description of how Finnish retrievers’ hunting abilities are tested.

The following description is based on the rules governing the different types of testing that are still in a trial period (the trial period ends by the end of 2008). The rules are created by the Finland’s Retriever Association and approved by the Finnish Kennel Club.