Obedience test for hunting dogs during the breeding and rearing season: Bern hunting association shoots up the forest

An information poster, put up along a forest path in 3423 Ersigen, informs the public: on Saturday, 13 June 2026, the cantonal Bern obedience test for hunting dogs will take place in this forest during the morning, organised by the Bern hunting association and its hunting dog commission.

The test is held under the patronage of the association and is compulsory for all dogs used for hunting in the canton of Bern. In the canton of Bern, the obedience test is a prerequisite for being allowed to use hunting dogs for hunting at all.

A telling detail: as part of the test, shots are fired to assess the dogs’ «gun-steadiness».

The poster asks the public for understanding and «consideration», with two explicit recommendations: only enter the forest on official paths and keep dogs on a leash on that day.

Breeding and rearing season: whose rules apply?

The 13th of June falls right in the middle of the breeding and rearing season, that sensitive period in which roe deer fawns lie in the tall grass, ground-nesting birds sit on their clutches and fox and badger cubs make their first ventures out. It is precisely during this time that hobby hunters and their associations urge the public emphatically, year after year: keep dogs on the leash. No entering off the paths. Quiet in the forest.

And now? A sizeable number of hunting dogs, trained in tracking and searching, deployed in the forest, combined with shots that startle wild animals. According to the poster, the cantonal hunting inspectorate has given its approval. A special permit for motorised use of the forest paths is in place. All legal, all officially sanctioned.

That does nothing to change the substance of the matter: what the public is supposed to do throughout the entire spring evidently does not apply to hobby hunting itself.

No isolated case, but a system: obedience tests for hunting dogs take place regularly in early summer in Switzerland. The scheduling thus falls structurally within the breeding and birthing season, without any consideration being given to this. What counts as a disturbance for walkers with their dogs is an organised operation for the hobby hunt.

Hundreds of metres in radius, right in the heart of the habitat

Hunting dogs at an obedience test are not domestic dogs out for a walk. They are worked at a distance, tested on giving tongue and on flushing game. Even an «obedience test» does not mean that the animals are kept on a lead throughout or restricted in their movement. Combined with gunshots as a stress test, the result is a backdrop of disturbance that stands in clear contradiction to what the civilian population expects at this time of year.

For wild animals in the most sensitive phase of the year, the difference between a free-running family dog and a free-running hunting dog simply does not exist.

Responsible contact person according to the poster

The contact person named is Regine Christen, head of hunting dogs of the JWV Burgdorf. The test leader is Peter Zenklusen.

The poster closes with the words: «Many thanks and a hunter's greeting.»

Well then.