Derek Burden is pictured to the left with his first Drahthaar, Axel, after a
good chukar hunt. Derek started training dogs with us in 2002 and has had
a hand in most of what we have done since then. Derek first started
training dogs with his father, Mike Burden, and showed such a natural talent
with animals that we hired him to work for us in 2004 at the age of
sixteen. Derek did most of the training of Axel on his own with a bit of
help from his father. 
Axel was born in the spring of 2004
and Derek trained and handled him to a 112 maximum score at a NAVHDA Natural
Ability test and a 69 point score at a VDD VJP test the following
spring. Later that fall, Derek ran Axel in the VDD HZP test and they
both did a great job with Axel scoring 176 points. That same fall Derek
ran Axel in the NAVHDA Utility test and earned a fabulous 193 points with a bit
of a disappointing prize three. The prize three was due to an unfortunate
coincidence where the duck search was ran in the same place that Derek had
practiced many blind retrieves. Poor Axel never expanded his search to
find a live duck that was placed about 100 yards away. He was looking for
the dead duck he new was about 40 yards on the far shore. No matter, Derek
shrugged off the prize three and set his sites for the VDD VGP test, the most
comprehensive of all versatile hunting dog tests in this country.
As soon as hunting season was over in February 2006, Derek and Axel began preparing for the VDD VGP test. The VGP test requires but is not limited to some of the following: steady to fall, blind retrieve on land, 300 meter rabbit drag, 300 meter fox drag, independent forest search, 400 meter blood track, blind retrieve in water, search for duck, and independent search without a duck. Derek and Axel trained all summer and they were ready for the test in September of 2006 held near Logan, Utah. Derek and Axel finished the test with 302 points out of a maximum of 312 points. Derek and Axel's 302 points is a tremendous accomplishment for any trainer let alone for a young man.
A couple of interesting things happened while Derek and Axel participated in
the VGP test at
Logan
Utah. The night
before the test it snowed six inches. The day before, temperatures were in
the 90's. No one was prepared for this weather which made the task even
more difficult for Derek and Axel. Next, because of the weather, Derek and
Axel did not have a chance to do their blood track until sundown. Derek
was offered the chance to run the track the next day in the light, but confident
of Axel, he chose to run the track in the dark without the benefit of being able
to see blood on the ground for reassurance. Axel took one detour on some
ruffed grouse, and was called back without benefit of blood sign to restart the
track. A GPS was used to determine the location of the track. Axel
smoked the rest of the track and dog and handler were rewarded in the end.
There is one more thing--the brown dog to the left of Axel in the picture on the right, that is Lany, a 15 month old female Drahthaar. Derek trained Lany by himself at the same time he was preparing Axel for the VGP test. Derek ran Lany in the HZP test the day after running Axel in the VGP test. Lany passed her HZP with 164 points. Congratulations to Derek, Axel, and Lany. Great handlers make great dogs.
