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  1. #1
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Finally got to water

    -july-1-jpg

    This ate everyone up. The distances didn't exceed 100 yards, max. No wind. Bridget balked after getting the left hand (go-bird) mark. Got down the channel after the far bird and popped. Ugh. Not a good day.

    RD got it as singles, doing the short right hand one first. On the plus side, she marked all the birds. But on the short right hand bird, she just over-ran it. Took a good line. On the long one, she decided to swim across and try to run her way to it. She got in some serious trouble and had the good sense to jump back into the channel and keep swimming. Again she swam past it, but then came back for it. No problem on the short left hand bird.

    Both Bridget and RD managed to do the blind under the arc. Bridget one-whistled it. Branna needed more help, as would be expected.

    We will be back on the American River again tomorrow and Friday and will repeat similar concepts.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Similar concept today. Ram Jet Rocket Dog showed signs that she was SO THRILLED to do water marks yesterday she could hardly contain herself today. Bit of squeaking going on.... quivering with excitement. She gets SO LOCKED ON to the most obvious bird station when she exits the blind that she forgets to (or won't) heel to face the first bird down. So, again, it's always and forever about line manners and discipline. The talent is there.

    Bridget did better today, mainly because I did better. I cannot spend a lot of time fine-lining her... I just have to tell her to mark, and then (no hand down, no nothing...) give her her name and send her. If we spend time fussing with it on line, she gets in a sweat and no-go's.

    Could there be two more different dogs? I knew when I contemplated getting my next dog that I wanted one with more steam. Uh... I think I got what I was looking for.

    A friend of mine suggested that Bridget is a Fiat, and RD is a "Laborghini".

  3. #3
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    So good to hear how excited they are to retrieve and are having fun. Add in water, the perfect combination.
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    Kissing Bandit

  4. #4
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Loborghini, that is awesome!
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    Maxx and Emma Jean

    Ozzy - 10/2002 - 06/2011 - Rest well my sweet boy. You are forever remembered, forever missed, forever in my heart.

  5. #5
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    Like your set up, especially the two on the right where the dog has to pass the short gun station to get to the longer bird. We finally got some training in to day. The WC group are finished so it is time to concentrate on our own dogs. Did a simple set of land marks giving M the chance to do a double. She is getting the concept quite well. We then went to water and set up 3 more marks. The two left marks had in-line gunners throwing mom and pop birds. The first was thrown right to left and landed just behind a point so the dogs had to get out and then back in. The second mark was thrown left to right across a narrow channel. This mark was the most difficult of the three as the dogs wanted to stay in the water and carry through the channel instead of getting up on the island. The third mark on the right side was thrown up a long inlet parallel to the shore. It was a nice long straight swim to a clear mark. M did have some trouble with that middle bird as this was a brand new concept for her but she eventually figured it out with a little help from the gunner. She got deep of the island and had to be handled back.

  6. #6
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    It does take patience. At the end of the day, we do a good job of teaching them GET IN THE WATER... STAY IN THE WATER (which is where little Miss RD is right now.) And then they learn that sometimes, Believe it! The line takes you up on the land... and then back in the water. But you're giving them both of those to think about in the same series. Very salty.

  7. #7
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    You are right. The in and out mark was short and simple. Don has said to concentrate more on get in the water and stay in than the ins and outs. There is so much to teach a young dog. We have been doing a set of pattern blinds that she pretty much has down pat . One drill I need to go back to is one that teaches casting in and out of the water. The dogs seem to really like it. It is done on the swim-by pond with 2 marks on land and 3 across the pond. Once the piles are established you can do all kinds on handling on it. Teaches angle entries, back angles, swimming parallel to shore, casting into the water and out of the water. M did really well the first time we ran it but I notice on cheating singles she really doesn't want to cast back into the water if she gets out too soon. This drill will help her with that.

  8. #8
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Sounds like exactly what we used to do at our old technical pond. There was a learned "pile" that they could do from many places but by the end of the process it was a long water entry, swim... land angling back into the water then up on land (an angle across a point) water again and then up on land... and the entry and final run to the pile could be backed up a country mile if desired. It's just going to be a little more difficult to teach the dogs these concepts now, but... if there is a bright side... it won't be a place specific thing and they'll be generalizing it naturally. (Still wish we had the pond... grumble, grumble.) Also, the loss of the technical pond where we were familiar with the steps we used for each dog, now without it, I'm finding it worthwhile to keep notes and diagrams (which I usually inflict on you all.)

    Maybe some day when I win the lottery I'll buy a plot of land and water rights for many acres all around me. (Yeah, right.)

 



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