Leg #3!

[Labradorks]

Picked up our third JH leg today!

Leg #2 was a couple weeks ago. It was fine and his pass was unquestionable, but not how I like to see him run. His lining to the birds was good and he had good marks, but coming back he was distracted by the gunners. After picking up the bird he would run toward the blind and stand there for a second wagging his tail before heading back in. Yes, it was cute, but no, it was not something I wanted him doing. When coming in for delivery I could see him slow more than I like, so I took this as a sign that I was being too high-pressure for him. Over the past two weeks I trained a few times and focused on two things: proofing his recall and adding more value to the delivery. I don't use traditional corrections or training methods, so this meant creating a situation for the dog in which turning around quickly and getting back to the handler was something he really, really wanted to do.

Today he had four perfect marks and earned all 9s and 10s on his scorecard. He never once thought about checking on the people behind the blinds and let me tell you, I was sweating bullets because they only had one blind out there with the people behind trees the rest of the time. When we hike I often duck behind trees and play hide and seek with him! He completely ignored them and his return was almost as fast as his delivery, all the way back to the line. His marks were perfect with barely a hunt. He did his signature tail wag during delivery of the bird and the judge exclaimed, "Look how happy he is! Even giving up his bird he's happy!" I hadn't even done the water marks by that point and if all I came home with was the acknowledgement that my dog was a happy, happy worker, I would have been thrilled!

Here's a picture of my hunter, a blooper really since all of the orange ribbon pictures are starting to look the same.

[IRISHWISTLER]

Labradorks,

3 down and 1 to go for the JH. Good on ye and ye accomplishments to date. Good luck in ye next HT!

Cheers,
Irishwhistler

[barry581]

Good job!!! A happy dog is a dog that will work hard!!!!

[TuMicks]

Congratulations!!!

[POPTOP]

Congratulations!

[windycanyon]

Congrats! I was happy to just be able to get out and do some water work on Saturday w/ a group. We had a ball!

[Rosy]

Congratsssssssss

[Jeff]

Congrats!!!!

[Scoutpout]

congratulations! and yes, hearing "what a happy dog" is a wonderful thing!

[TuMicks]

An interesting thing one of the old timers (and conformation people) at the Portland trial said to me as we passed his chair on the way to the truck after the land series: "Lotta dog you got there." Well, yes... yes she is. Kinda not sure if it was a complement, but at the same time, it wasn't in any way snide. Mine just doesn't have the joie de vivre and insouciance that yours does. He's such a cool dude.

Where do you plan to title? (Because you will. 100%)