Scoring a British working test out of twenty

How is a spaniel class run?

A spaniel class is run as a line of dogs, one handler per dog, and each dog is cast into the same piece of ground in turn. The ground is chosen for cover: bracken, rushes, light bramble, a strip of game crop. The handler walks a line, the dog quarters in front, and the judge follows behind or to one side with the sheet in hand.

The order of the class is drawn before the day. In a novice class the ground is usually the easiest of the day, and the judge expects a dog to find game without being handled onto it. In an all aged class the same ground is used but the judge asks for a cleaner pattern and a faster response to the whistle. In an open class the ground is often the hardest, and the judge may ask for a retrieve from water or from heavy cover after the hunting is done.

A working test is not a field trial. No game is shot. A dummy is thrown or placed, and the dog is expected to hunt, to stop, and to retrieve in a sequence the judge controls. That control is what makes the marking readable across a whole class: every dog meets the same test in the same order, so the sheet compares like with like.

Handlers preparing a first entry often read the regulations before the day, and the plain-language write-ups of how these events are organised, including the vocabulary of a judge's sheet, are collected at working dog trials. The same page covers the spaniel classes and the brace work on the moor, which is useful when a handler moves from one discipline to the other.

How are the marks out of twenty built?

The twenty marks are split into four blocks of five. The exact wording varies between societies, but the blocks are consistent enough to describe.

Quartering, five marks. The dog works the ground in front of the handler, left to right, without being pushed. A dog that runs a straight line down the middle loses marks here. A dog that turns on the whistle and covers the ground in a pattern keeps them.

Hunting and finding, five marks. This is the dog's use of nose and its willingness to push into cover. A dog that hesitates at the edge of bramble loses marks. A dog that goes in, works the scent and comes out on the handler's line keeps them.

Steadiness, five marks. This covers the stop, the sit, and behaviour around the dummy. A dog that breaks on the throw loses marks here, and a dog that whines or creeps while another dog works can lose them as well.

Retrieving, five marks. The dog is sent, picks the dummy, returns and delivers to hand. A hard mouth, a dropped dummy or a refusal to deliver costs marks. A clean pick-up and a straight return keeps them.

The judge does not add a style mark. There is no separate score for looks or for speed. A fast dog that hunts badly scores lower than a slower dog that quarters well, because the four blocks are equal. This is the part that surprises handlers arriving from other sports: the sheet rewards control, not pace.

How are pointer and setter pairs worked on the moor?

A brace of pointers or setters is worked on open moorland, and the two dogs are handled by one handler or by two handlers working as a pair. The judge rides or walks behind, and the ground is chosen for grouse or partridge.

The brace is cast downwind or across the wind, and the two dogs are expected to quarter the moor independently but within the handler's control. When a dog finds scent it should point, and the second dog should back the point, which means it stops and honours the first dog's find without crowding it.

Marking on the moor is not out of twenty in the same way. A pointer and setter test is judged on the dog's range, its pattern, its point, its backing and its steadiness to the flush. The judge watches for a dog that hunts too close, which leaves ground unsearched, and for a dog that ranges too far, which cannot be handled. The middle ground is the aim.

A brace that splits and hunts as two separate dogs is marked down. A brace that covers the ground as a pair, one dog backing the other, is marked up. The judge also watches the handler: a handler who shouts across the moor disturbs the ground and the dogs, and the sheet records it.

What does the judge's sheet record?

The sheet is a working document, not a summary written afterwards. The judge writes during the run, and the marks are entered as the dog works.

The sheet carries the dog's registered name and number, the handler's name, the class, and the date and venue. Against each of the four blocks the judge writes a mark out of five. Many sheets also carry a short note column, where the judge records why a mark was lost: broke on the throw, refused cover, hard mouth, handled onto game.

At the end of the run the four marks are added, and the total out of twenty goes on the sheet. The judge signs it. In most societies the sheets are collected and the results are posted, and a handler can ask to see the sheet for their own dog. The note column is the part worth reading, because it explains the number.

A dog that scores eighteen has usually lost marks in one block only. A dog that scores twelve has lost marks across two or three, and the notes will say which. Reading the sheet after the class is how a handler plans the next month of training: if the notes say the dog refused cover, the work is cover, not retrieving.

How does a handler read the result?

A handler reads the result by comparing the four blocks, not by comparing the total with the winner's total. A dog that scores five, five, five and three lost its marks in retrieving, and that is a training problem with a clear fix. A dog that scores three, three, four, four has a broader problem, and the notes will show whether it is pattern, nose or steadiness.

The same reading applies across classes. A novice dog that scores sixteen is doing well for its level, because the judge expects less polish and marks the same four blocks. An open dog that scores sixteen has left four marks on the moor, and the sheet will say where.

Working tests are run through the spring and summer, and the ground changes with the season. A dog that quarters well in April may struggle in June when the cover is high, and the sheet from the June test is the more useful document. Handlers who keep their sheets in order can see the pattern across a season, which is more reliable than memory.

The judge's sheet is the only record that matters on the day. It is written in the field, in the handler's absence, and it is signed. Everything else, the gallery's opinion, the talk at the trailer, is secondary to the four numbers and the note beside them.

The figures and procedures described here follow the published rules of The Kennel Club, which sets how spaniel classes are run and marked out of twenty, how pointer and setter pairs work the moor, and what the judge's sheet records. Reading a score sheet without that context leaves gaps: a mark reflects a defined exercise, not a general impression of the dog. Owners who want the wording behind each column can check the source directly, then compare it with what they saw from the gallery.