Want a fun sport that is physically and mentally exhausting for your dog, uses your dog’s instincts, and is filled with great camaraderie? Then you should try Barn Hunt for dogs! This sport is enjoyed by dogs of all ages, sizes, breeds, and mixes.
In 2013, Robin Nuttall designed the sport of Barn Hunt to encourage people to indulge their dogs in a sport that appeals to dogs’ natural instincts. At the time her Miniature Pinschers were not allowed in AKC Earthdog events, and she wanted a fun test for their hunting instincts.
The Barn Hunt Association was formed and became an overnight success. Dogs need to register with the Barn Hunt Association to compete for titles. The association lists clubs where knowledgeable people can help you train your dog for Barn Hunt. They also have a listing of events in your area when you and your dog are ready to compete.
How to Play Barn Hunt
The basics are simple. A dog needs to hunt through a course of straw or hay bales to locate rats safely hidden in tubes. Along the way, the dog must climb up the bales and hunt for rat tubes. They also must negotiate a tunnel made using the bales.
Safety is important in Barn Hunt. The rats are in ventilated PVC tubes that keep them and the dogs safe but allow the dogs to use their natural skills (detecting the rat’s scent!) to find them.
Rules forbid dogs from roughing up tubes or knocking the tubes around. Ramps and steps help dogs achieve climbs, although owners need to take responsibility for controlling their dog’s kamikaze leaping desires from bale to bale or back to the ground.
Competing in Barn Hunt
To earn Barn Hunt titles, you must join the Barn Hunt Association. The cost is a one-time $32 fee.
The hardest part about learning to compete in Barn Hunt with your dog is reading your dog and knowing when he has found the tube with the rat. When he finds the correct tube, you need to call out “rat” and then restrain your dog so the rat wrangler can safely remove the tube. If you call rat in appropriately, your run ends.
Some tubes are filled only with litter (bedding from a rat cage), which can be tough on a beginner dog because there is scent. Others are empty. And, of course, there are tubes with a live rate in them. The number of each type of tube varies with the level you run. All tubes are tucked under slanted bales or tucked between bales and/or covered with straw. Tubes can be hidden on the ground or placed up on bales.
Barn Hunt Alert Signal
Each dog has his own alert signal. Some dogs bark. Some paw at the tube with the rat. Some try to grab the tube. And, unfortunately, some dogs seem to use telepathy, forcing you to learn the subtle signal. This is where your partnership comes in.
You also need to be able to guide your dog to be sure he does the climb and tunnel. As your dog passes into higher levels, tunnels become more complex, with multiple turns. That also means they are longer and quite dark, which can sometimes back a dog off. In addition, there is never a rat tube hidden in a tunnel so dogs who are truly into the hunt may avoid the tunnel since there is no reward of a find.
Competition Levels
Barn Hunt has multiple levels. All levels require your dog to find the rats and you to call out the find. Your dog must find the specified number of rats associated with each level, which ranges from 1 rat up to 5 rats at the highest levels. The dog must also do required bale climbs and tunnels, all with a set amount of time. Fastest run wins. A false alert, which is calling out “rat” at a point your dog was not indicating a live rat, is non-qualifying.
The first level is called Instinct. This entry level merely requires that your dog indicate which of three tied-down tubes contains a live rat versus being empty or filled with litter. This level requires indicate which one of three tubes has a rat in 1 minute.
At Novice level, your dog must go through a short tunnel of straw bales, climb on a bale and find the one rat hidden in the ring. You and your dog must work together so that all obstacles are completed. Novice requires that the dog find one rat, climb, and do a simple tunnel in 2 minutes.
From there, you move up to Open (find two rats, do a tunnel with one turn and climb in 2 minutes, 30 seconds), Senior (find four rats, climb, and do a tunnel with 1 or 2 turns in 3 minutes, 30 seconds), and Master (find one to five rats, climb, and do a tunnel with 2 or 3 turns in 4 minutes 30 seconds).
The Master level is tough because you don’t know how many rats are hidden. It will range from one to five. The course for this level is big, with more bales piled and spread, lots of fluff (loose straw to help hide tubes), and trickier tunnels with multiple turns. A course may also have a distance challenge with part of the course blocked off for you.
Barn Hunt Is Fun
If you’re new to Barn Hunt, attend a trial or two and observe the variety of dogs (and people, if you like people watching) who participate. At our local trials, we often have Great Danes and Chihuahuas plus everything between.
I have run 10 dogs in Barn Hunt: a Cirneco dell Etna, an Australian Shepherd, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and seven Belgian Tervuren. Each dog has had a different style of hunting and indicating rat tubes. My older Terv seemed to think the game was rather stupid because she did not get to chase, kill, and eat the rats. She had a superb sense of smell however, never once indicated falsely, and would calmly go around the ring and gently tap the rat tubes with her paw. Basically, she ran it like a scent-work exercise with the scent to find being rat.
Her son has been described as a “rat-seeking missile.” He flies around the ring at speed, grabs rat tubes wildly, and often places since he is so fast. I have no idea how he can smell so well on the run, but he does.
My youngest Terv and our Corgi both hunt primarily by sound. They check around the course, pause, and listen. If the ears come up and touch, while the dog stares intently, that is a rat tube.
The point is that each dog is truly different in how they hunt, although most use a combination of scent and sound. Through your partnership, you learn how to read your dog and figure out if they are just checking, or if they really found a rat tube.
