The next weekend will be dedicated to the 20th dog event organized by Track dog handlers group of Province of Bergamo. The Bergamo group is committed every year to organizing a working trial for the specialist breeds Hannoverischer Schweisshund (Hs) and Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund (Bgs). These tests are organized and carried out on an itinerant basis among the various Alpine Districts of our province, where ungulate selection hunting is practiced, precisely to spread the culture of recovery and raise awareness among hunters and public opinion on the importance of this activity. This year the event will return to the territory of the Cac Valle Borlezza in the Municipality of Castione della Presolana, already touched by a similar appointment in 2016.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary, Saturday 14 May, the national race will be held and the following day the international job trial will be held. with the participation of expert Slovenian and Austrian judges. For those unfamiliar with the recovery activity, here are the fundamental principles for which this activity was born and takes place. “The research and recovery of injured ungulates is an indispensable tool for the correct management of the fauna - explains the President of the conductors Tiziano Copetti-. With the increased presence of ungulates on the territory and the increased number of heads assigned to be killed and even accidentally run over, the probabilities of incurring an injury are consequently increased and the search and recovery interventions as well.
In these unfortunate cases the recovery activity provides the hunting and civil community with a service that aims to eliminate the possibility of leaving injured or suffering animals and / or their carcasses on the territory with obvious advantages for public health and the safety of all citizens". Furthermore, as regards purely the hunting aspect, if a shot and wounded animal is not recovered it will increase the quota of the sampling plan with the risk of numerically exceeding the management forecasts. In summary, it is an ethical and moral question and hence the importance of having dog-handler pairs prepared and up to the standard. difficult task.
"The work tests, designed and dedicated to this particular activity, play a fundamental and preparatory aspect for assessing the ability of dogs and their degree of training –Concludes Copetti-. In practice, the tests to which the dogs are subjected, in addition to evaluating the correct level of training and the relationship with their handler, simulate, for obvious reasons, the injury and the finding of an ungulate ". The expert judges, the day before the test, proceed with the laying of an artificial track for each individual subject that will be judged. From the presumed point of injury (anschuss) the path of the injured animal is simulated, imprinting on the ground an imprint with the hoof and 250 cc of blood of an animal taken in hunting or injured and suitably stored for the purpose.
The track develops on a path of about 1.200 meters with two sudden changes of direction, about 90 °, called angles or beds, and the competitors have a maximum of one hour to solve the path and reach the end of the track with finding of the animal. The ability of the dogs to faithfully follow the track will be evaluated, neglecting other emanations deriving from the nocturnal passage of other ungulates. If the test is passed, with the qualification of at least "Very Good", it will also be valid as a "qualification" for search and recovery work. Saturday 14 May, at 9, with meeting point at Alpini Park of Castione della Presolana, the organizers have decided to celebrate the twentieth anniversary with the organization of the breed rally that will see a large number of subjects parade in front of the Slovenian judges, Robert Bandelj and Boris Baič, in order to evaluate the morphology and compliance with the breed standards of the subjects presented, rewarding the best. After the awards ceremony, a convivial dinner will follow in the evening at the Migliorati restaurant in Castione della Presolana, which will be attended by local authorities and the dog world as well as all competitors and guests.
The following day will see instead engaged in ENCI international work test 16 crews divided into 4 heats judged by the expert judges: Hans Bernhard (Austira), Lido Movigliatti (Sondrio) and Diego Vassalli and Osvaldo Valtulini (Bergamo). After the first common discipline, called the "waiting for the handler" test, where the dogs will be placed "on the ground" in a large meadow and left alone, without the sight of the handlers, for 20 minutes with two rifle shots interspersed, the crews will be distributed in the nearby Valle di Tede, theater of the test. The event is sponsored by the Lombardy Region, the Province of Bergamo, the Municipality of Castione della Presolana, the Cacs Val Borlezza, Valle Seriana, Valle Brembana, Val di Scalve, Bergamasque Prealps, Gruppo Cinofilo Bergamasco, Federcaccia and UNCZA. The two days of the event will be enlivened by the music of the hunting horn players of the Trento quartet.