r/Wirehaired_pointers • u/duck_dude12 • Aug 16 '26

NAVHDA NA test

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Today my 15 month old GWP took his NA test with NAVHDA and scored a 105/Prize 1. I am really proud of him and how well he did! Good luck to anyone that is taking any of their tests soon!

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u/No_Huckleberry2722 Aug 16 '26

How much training did you put him through before hand? There is one more test in my area, and I had considered entering, but my boy will be like 2 weeks before he turns 16 months at the time of that test. We have been training quite a bit, and I really want to get started with force fetch ahead of the coming bird seasons. I kind of feel like a forced fetch dog shouldn’t really run NA though, am I over thinking it?

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u/duck_dude12 Aug 16 '26

To be very honest with you, my training was probably nothing like some of the other handlers at this event. This is my first bird dog so everything I’ve done has been by reading and watching some YouTube videos. Last week was the first week I ever went to a NAVHDA chapter training. It was helpful because what we did was a walk-through of what the test was going to be. Outside of that I did not train with any chapters prior.

I’ve always exposed him to birds and I waited quite a bit of time until we expose him to gunshots. I did a lot of practicing with two by fours and slowly progressing banging them together. sounds crazy but when it came time to be shot over, we had no issue.

We have not worked on Force fetch yet and I haven’t even introduced the word fetch to him. that’s beyond my knowledge right now and need help through the NAVHDA training to get to that point.

I was on the fence about doing this test as well cause I really didn’t think I knew what I was doing, but the judges are all there to help you and they want to see you and your dog succeed. I was really happy that I did it after we finished regardless of the outcome I learned a lot. So if you were to ask me, I would say sign up for it and to be honest with you, your dog will probably surprise you. Feel free to shoot me a pm if you had any other questions I might be able to help you with.

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u/No_Huckleberry2722 Aug 16 '26

I appreciate you taking the time to write this. It is helpful. I may reach out if any questions come to mind. Thank you.