So the set up today was a fairly tight but doable double. The left bird wasn't thrown straight back, but close. The right one fell pretty close to the left hand gunner's hip pocket. But, it wasn't that bad.
But there was a wipe out bird thrown from slightly behind the line and off to the side and it made a big arc from right to left, such that the lines to the double were under the arc.
Well, it fried Rocket Dog's brain. She picked up the wipe out bird and had no idea where the others were. She was so frazzled, she was hard to handle to one of the birds and that is really unusual for her. (And we had a 15 mph cross-wind... but that's just Nevada for you. We're kinda used to that.)
But the good news is she was steady as a rock. Whew!
We're still running Seniors and she won't see anything that hard at the next HT. But if she'll just behave on line, we're aces.
Sounds so complicated to me so I'm in awe on how they can do what they do.
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As I said, she would not handle and wanted to go back to where she had picked up the short bird. Last 2 days, I have been running some yard drills with orange bumpers (which dogs can't see) and that she did not see me place, and have tossed a white one in between. The discipline is that she will pull off the obvious, attractive bird or bumper, and take a line to something she cannot see. It's about team work.
She knows this drill. We've done this kind of stuff or similar for a long time. "NO-BIRD... HERE (or HEEL)".
So I was shocked to see that she was caving in to the white bumper in the yard (for Pete's sake!!!)
I have heard that having control on the line AND control with casts is sort of a yin and yang. We've gotten some control on line, but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to handling.
Then again, we run another Senior on 4/8. I'll find out if she really is any better on line.
A wipe out mark does exactly what it is designed to do. Refocus attention on that short mark and wipe the longer marks out of memory. We practice this often as it is a tricky concept that a judge will throw at you at a trial. The other that we need work on is the short retired. W will also need to review a punch bird.
We also run the same type of drill wit2white bumpers on the outside and an orange up the middle. also do the one with 2 strings of white bumpers (maybe 6 on both sides) and an orange I the middle at the ends of the lines. Pick up the orange one first and then run decrease angles to the whites
I couldn't work a wipe out bird in my back yard, but I could try for a little more handling control. So she had a couple of days of running blinds past her bowl of food!
The group is out there repeating those marks today. But we are going to CA to run a Senior and I didn't want to get in to a fight with her. Also I needed the day to clean my house and get ready to go.
Good luck at the test.. RD should be up for it. We usually take the day off training before running a test. Don't know if it is for my benefit of the dog's. You are right about not wanting to get into a fight the day before a test a little off time never hurts attitude.
Ugh... yin and yang. It is really hard to get a well balanced retriever. I think the food bowl thing might have been a bit much. She started to pop, which is amazing for a dog like RD. Her nature is all drive and I think I may have put a damper on it.
This is a schematic of what we did yesterday...
For a HT dog... these were very long marks. We used the whole pasture to set this up. The first 2 times I sent her for the go bird, she tried to cheat the water. I didn't want to get into a whistle-war, and decided to call her back and reline her. Twice! But when she realized she'd not get the bird without taking the water, she took a perfect line. BUT... naturally, for the memory bird, she was thinking water-water-water. I stopped her and gave her one cast and she was fine. And she did her blinds very well... better than most of the big dogs.
I'm nervous about this upcoming HT. Not only are they predicting snow over the passes in the Sierra, but thunder storms all day Saturday in Corning. It's crazy what some people do in this hobby. Sometimes I'm out there freezing my butt off, or sweating bullets, and I think "Gee... wonder what the other doctor's wives are doing this weekend?"
Right. They are calling for 4 feet of snow over 6000 feet for tomorrow. If they close the interstate, I guess we won't be going.
Last edited by TuMicks; 04-06-2017 at 04:23 PM.
When I retired I had a closet full of business suits and still have racks of shoes that never see my feet. I was thinking that it is about time for some new clothes. Jeans, t's and sweatshirts. Today it is raining and really wind. Too cold for me to poke my nose out.
It will at least a month before M sees any water work. We may get one short water mark in for the picnic trial.
I like your set up. Have you ever used secondary selection on a set up like that, pick up the go bird, run a blind, pick up the memory bird and then run the long blind.
Hopefully we will get out Sunday and Monday to do some marks, tune up drills on Saturday.
Here's wishing for better weather than they are calling for the test.
Hope you get better weather out there - that system looked nasty!
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Scout CD RAE6 WC March 6, 2007; Tullemore Browning Superposed PCD RN RI "Trigger" Nov 11, 2016
Missing:
Castelleja's Dual Mags "Mags" March 1993 - March 2008
"Pocco" the chocolate wonder August 1993 - December 2007
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