I may have mentioned that folks in our training group are really not into drills very much. Obviously, drills are (by design) something you can do with just you and your dog. Nevertheless, I think drills and exercises are a bit poo-poo'ed by folks I know that do HT's. But I've been describing the couple of drills I have been doing that I think are helping us out with our line manners.
Two developments.. I found out that some folks on whose property we train do drills ALL. The. TIME. These are people who have been to quite a few Master Nationals with their goldens. And, for many of their drills, they use white PVC pipe laid out on the ground to discipline themselves and their dogs about their body positions relative to each other. Ta DAH! Exactly what we've been working on. So I feel like I'm doing the right things.
Also today, doing a "simple" blind spread (nothing is simple in a NV desert landscape choked with sage brush, of course...) one of the pros complimented me on the way Rocket Dog was lining up with me. We picked up those blinds better some dogs who are much further along in training than we are. (Quick brag... once Rocket Dog gets a head of steam going, she doesn't dance around bushes and bramble... she just goes through them. Also, she didn't square the road today, took a nice angle across, angled up the hills... Once she begins taking and holding a line better, she is going to be a real thrill to watch on blinds.)
Anyway, tomorrow we drive to Suisun City to run our very first HT. I know it's just a Junior... but the degree to which all the scents and sounds and birds and guns and other dogs will cause her to blow her gasket and otherwise have seizures of extreme doggy anticipation, that is still a mystery. I think I'll know the minute we begin our walk to the holding blind. I know we can't "train" on the grounds... but maybe we can use the parked trucks near us to make her think this is a "go to the back of the bus" exercise.