Drills, Marks, etc.

[TuMicks]

So we're still working in my favorite park.



She doesn't have this down pat. It's still a teaching issue. But she's working with me and after reviewing it, she will pull off a white flag, run past it and pick up an orange bumper. We'll just keep hacking away at it.



In the afternoon, we loaded up the truck and went out to meet the group. Is this a gorgeous place to train dogs, or what? They set up a triple, with a blind off the hip pocket of the right hand bird. No point in diagramming it because she did not meet the criteria for steadiness that we're seeking. So she got a correction and got taken back to the truck. She's running Junior. There is no Junior mark in this hemisphere that she can't pick up. We're not worried about that. The line manners, however... are where our attention has to be focused.

As an aside, we were in the park and a guy came up and began talking to me about my training set up. And I did not see that he had a unleashed Doberman wandering around until the dog had his face in Rocket Dog's butt and a near confrontation ensued. Oh, well... the guy assured me that his dog was just wanting to say "hello" and was "friendly", blah, blah, blah.

What are you gonna do?

[Anna Scott]

I like what you are doing to modify your drill. It is all in the building of team work getting the fine lines.
What a beautiful spot to train. I think our group would just sit and admire the mountains. That is the one thing I would really like to add to my bucket list. Have been east now I need to go west.
This has been a crazy week. Sunday was our picnic trial which was well attended and great deal of fun. Monday and Tuesday we started training with a new member in our group. He is a long time trainer and has a great property with many concept ponds on it. He has put a great many hours into digging and landscaping. In the past he has invited us to train but we have never been able to take him up on his offer. Now the time seems right so we will start to alternate training grounds. He has some good ideas and is very knowledgeable about teaching dogs. He gave us a modified version of a diversion drill that we always do. His version is set up so that the dog has to start picking out the gun stations as it comes to line. I will try it out and then post about it.
Wednesday night we trained with another group. One of the dogs in an Amateur and Open National champion. He is now retired as Howard does not want him to hurt himself but he still has the desire.
M has been a real turd this week. I think she may be coming into season as my sister's male has been hot to trot after her. She is now just over two and this will be only her second heat. She sure is different from Chant. When Chant was coming in she marked like a laser and her blind work was superior. M can't find a ball of sh-t tied to her tail. She is just wimpy and distracted. I hope it is the heat cycle or we are in for a tough time. She got a good ear pinch Wednesday night as she was just disobedient and trying to run the show. Today I took her out to run some schooled blinds and she did great. Some of the blame may be mine as I have been really concerned about my old girl. She got something in her eye and I thought she had lost the sight in it but after a thorough cleaning and some antibiotics it has cleared up. However she is still losing weight as old dogs do and was very lethargic during the hot days of the weekend. She was even bringing up her food. I have given her some stomach medication and that has settled. Today was cool and she was bouncing around like her old self. I took her out with me and she had six short hand thrown retrieves. She went for the nightly walk with the pack tonight and is now sleeping on the couch. I was really worried that I was going to lose her earlier in the week but she seem to have rallied. I do know that it is a matter of time.

[TuMicks]

Oh, man... they never live long enough. You can never be ready for their passing even if you've had a wonderful decade plus with them.

Did I ever tell you what I heard an old Canadian pro say once. (I can't remember who it was but in the late 70's he was running in our circuit of Western and Central NY, and Pennsylvania). Anyhow, it was an Open All Age and there were some awesome dogs running a very salty set-up and there was a complete newby-never-watched-a-retriever person in the gallery. The pro was friendly and the newby said... "Oh, WOW! That's fantastic! I never knew dogs could do that! How long does it take to train them to do those things?" The pro told him... "Oh, about 20 years." and the newby said "Oh wow. Do really live that long?" and the pro just said... "Nope." And that's kinda the way of it, really.

We were in a different place yesterday. They set up a very tough triple, double blind. I ran RD on the blinds, then lined her up for a mark. Now... I had thought we were making incremental progress on her creeping. BUT when the birds went off she shot those front feet out, butt in the air, assuming the full-crouching-tiger-about-to-leap position and got a significant correction. And no marks. This is going to continue. But I'm OK with that. She can flat mark... and that won't degrade so fast as to justify letting her rule the line. There is a guy in our group who has a dog that was JUST FINE all the way through Senior, is now running master and has broken in three HT's in a row. I'm not sure what happened but that is not a problem I want to see.

[TuMicks]

This was near the site of the crime, the unambiguous leap forward. Today we returned to the area to do a big blind spread. The storm system was coming in and it must have dropped 20 degrees from 9AM when we set it up until we were done a couple hours later. The wind was almost blowing the handlers over. This is looking east and the clouds that you see were being blown away and replaced with big black cumulus suckers.

Glad to be inside and warm.