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  1. #1
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    New ways to pull my chaiin

    I know I have a high maintenance, high roller. The fact that she is always coming up with new ways to spaz out on line should not be surprising.



    -marks-blind-6-16-16-jpg



    In training yesterday... she exits the holding blind and comes to line in a polite fashion. She sits like a rock when the birds are going down. She squeeks (just a little bit!)... but shuts up when she realizes she can't go until she's quiet. All of that is a huge improvement. So this is what she did today: She watched the first bird go down. Then the second. GREAT! Then she self-selected to go long and get the memory bird. IF this were a test... I wouldn't fight her. But we were training. I should have fought her to get the bird the way I wanted her to get them. IOW: I shouldn't have let her have her way. Everything for her is about discipline on the line. But... I wasn't really thinking, so I cut her lose. She took a great line to the "memory" bird... then faded such that she was going to split the difference. So I stopped her, and 2 whistled the "memory" bird. As she was bringing it in, I thought... oh, great. Now she won't remember this memory/"go" bird and we'll have two non-marked marks in a row. Nope. She bee-lined it and stepped on it.



    I screwed up on the poison bird blind. I have a lot of difficulty with depth perception. Often I think Rocket Dog is out of any "danger zone" when she's not. S\Before I sent her, she was showing me she was going to get the bird even though I "no'd" her off of it. But she took left hand back casts. I really thought I was way beyond the area under the arc. If I'd thought I wasn't, I would have gone to a hard, verbal left over. But, no... I gave her a silent back and she pounced on the bird. My bad. Then she carried a great line under the arc and got the blind with just a couple-or-three whistles.



    So, who learned more yesterday, me or Rocket Dog. I think I had the most to learn and I hope I did.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
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    Don't feel too bad Tu Mick's I saw a gentleman that we both highly respect in this game get the same result at a National FT. A long slightly uphill blind with a poison bird. It was a crosswind away from the poison bird so it didn't have too much play in the scenario. He lined his dog up, dog took a great line so instead of stopping him and giving a cast to the blind he let him go. Dog got to poison bird and dived right into it. Too late for that saving whistle. I watched several people, pros included think their dogs were going to line the land blind yesterday only to have their dogs veer off at the last minute and head for wide open spaces and then when they tried to handle the dogs fell down the heel and the end of the blind became a nightmare. Learning just when to blow that whistle is not easy.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Aaargh! I think my rule of thumb has got to be when-in-doubt... blow-you're-lungs-out.

    The pro says that with a high roller like Rocket Dog, you almost HAVE to make them think they're on thin ice. You can't demand too much. They have to be challenged to think every step they take toward the bird. At the same time... I need to work on being absolutely certain I know WHERE the danger zone is. Pick my "slot" and keep the dog honest all the way through it.

 



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