Chant finally got some training in

[Anna Scott]

We have been working hard with a group getting ready for their first WC and with M away Chant has not been getting the training in that she should. Today it stopped raining so we went out and did a land blind with many factors, a set of land blinds through the hay bales and then a two step water cheating single. I ran both Chant and my sister's male. He is getting used to me as a handler as I do things a little differently than my sister. I ran him off the left today away from the water entry for the mark just to see if he would make the right decision to get into the water. First time he didn't so had to show him what I wanted. Second time through he made the correct choice. The cheating single cut the corner of the swim-by pond as its first step. We then moved back across the end of the large pond so that they had to swim across it, get out run about 30 yds and then reenter to cut the corner of the second pond. Levy was a little confused by the distance between the two water bodies but with a "hey,hey" he got the mark. Reran it and he had no trouble with the reentry.
Running through bales is always a challenge as the dogs tend to ping pong from one bale to another. We will do a set of marks through them tomorrow and then a blind across the pond and out into the baled field.
I can't wait till next week for M to be home so I can start teaching her some of these concepts.

[ZEKESMAN]

Sounds like a good training day.

[TuMicks]

Sounds like meaty set-ups. Our dogs almost never see hay bales. It would make them crazy. But they can figure out just about any sagebrush configuration. On a long land blind today, my sagacious little older HT dog "saw" the concept... a hip pocket, through-the-sage-slot and second big bush on the right. One whistled it. Now, if only we had more water. Because that is where she is very, very weak. I think what the big pros would say is that she is not well schooled enough on concepts because water is where you diagnose your problems.

So... still a work in progress.

[Anna Scott]

When I was down a Don's I was thinking about your water problem. You mention that your older dog is not well schooled on her water concepts. Don uses a pond that is only 50ft by 30ft to teach all kinds of water concepts. It is rectangular and has long exit and entries at the east and west ends. The south side has a long slope down to water and there is a small creek and fields on the north side. When they cut the grass they leave areas of cover for the dogs to run through. It is amazing what they can set up on this small body of water. All of the concept such as; up the shore, long entries and exits, the swim-by, cheating singles, casting into and out of the water are taught on this small body of water. Bill often said I that he knew the dogs could swim, what he needed to know was did they understand what he was asking them to do. Don is working on his dad to write a book but I suggested that they do a training video showing people what can be accomplished with a small pond with some land around it.

[windycanyon]

I wish I had a swim by pond here!!!

[TuMicks]

I think we are still bummed about losing the custom built, gorgeous technical pond we've been using for years and years. It was quite a blow when we learned the property had sold. (And NOT to a retriever person. I wouldn't be surprised if the pond gets filled in.) It was our first visit to this new little private pond. I think the pro we train with will begin to visualize the possibilities as the summer goes on. But that is a great line. YES! Our dogs do know how to swim. Well... RD still has difficulties with it. Poor girl hits the water so hard and wants to get to the other side SO badly... she's trying to get up on top of it and run. She's still slapping the water a bit. It's funny.

Bridget is well schooled, but poorly disciplined. With the pro, she knows she MUST do these things, so she was beginning to go on strike. That is, no-go, or spin and pop. (It's why she qualified for the Master National in 2012, but couldn't deal with the pressure thereafter.) That's not a problem with me. The no-go's have stopped. In fact she almost broke on the live flier the other day. But now we have the consequences of a looser hand on the reins. I'm going to have to be more demanding.

I am on a learning curve more so than the dogs. I need to learn to anticipate behaviors and time the corrections appropriately. Not a trivial skill.