Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096

    Well this did not go so well...

    -flags-walk-mark-jpg

    Honestly, this is not a cognitive failing on her part. We did this from one angle, and she caught on immediately. Ran the blind... check. I walked to the white bucket and threw the mark... check. Walked back to RD and had her run the blind under the arc and then let her have the mark. Fine.

    But then, I moved the set-up to run from the other direction... and she came unglued. OMG!!!!! There's a white bucket! OMGOMGOMG... snort, quiver, whine, dance, snort, pant, whine, whine, whine pantpantpantpant.

    So we bagged the lesson of the day and just worked on being calm. Backed her up. Turned away from the set-up to face the parking lot, worked on QUIET, and only turned her around when she was quiet and calm. We did this for maybe 15 minutes. We'd get to the point where I would say "DEAD" for the initial, pre-mark, there-it-is-you-know-where-you're-going-already part of the drill and it was immediately pantpantpantwhinewhinewhine... snort pant whine.

    So, hey. Joie de vivre is a wonderful thing. Beats the alternative. But we gotta work on the "unbridled" part of "unbridled enthusiasm".

    Back to the drawing board.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    714
    Thanked: 304
    I might guess that she was anticipating the fact that you were going to throw a mark from the white bucket. What if when you changed directions you brought the white bucket in ran the blind and then took the bucket out with you to throw the mark. I might even just go out and fire a dry shot, run the blind and then the next sequence go out and throw the mark. M did something similar on Sunday. We were running the diversion drill and when we stepped to the line she saw the pails sitting in the field and locked right on them. When I got her lined on the blind she gave me a no go. So Don said to take 3 steps forward and then send her. This worked because it broke her concentration on the pails. The rest of the drill was good.
    The weather over the weekend was terrible! It rained really hard Saturday morning, so much so that we move into the horse arena for the afternoon. Sunday the good news was that it had quite raining, the bad news was that it was snowing. We pushed through and I think everyone got a lot out of the two days with Don. He was really patient and helpful with a new handler who had his father-in-laws unruly golden and his other half's hard charging chocolate with many issues. He is going to do alright as both these dogs show him more respect then they do the other two.
    I sent M back with Don for a couple of weeks as I just don't think that she is ready to jump into qualifying at the end of the month. He is going to work on the confidence issue with cold blinds. He saw how she really is showing some confusion when ask to run a cold blind off of marks. I am going to miss her but today all I have done is sleep. We worked hard. I have a whole bunch of notes and exercises to do when she comes home. At the end of the day Sunday we took a drive around the property and Don pointed out different running lines for marks and blinds and what concepts we could build into them. Those that missed him this time want him to come up again. Not sure my old body will take it. Perhaps in September if he can get away.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    I know that you work really hard to help the new folks and you probably wanted to make use of every minute you had with such a great resource. But there is something about cold weather that can just wear a body out. Maybe it's the body trying to stay warm... I don't know. And I know you Canadians know how to dress for the cold, but... still. Being out in the cold just saps you. Training in the heat does as well, but in a different way. When you're hot, you can sit in the shade, drink an iced water or something and get back to it.

    I'd sort of figured that she was just so jazzed to see the bucket out there that she just couldn't contain herself. At the same time, it occurred to me that I'd not done walk back marks with her (or at least, not for a very long time.) So... we went into the back yard, no bucket, no nothing. I stepped out about 5 yards, tossed a little mark and started walking back to her. If she squeeked... I stopped and/or walked backwards. This seemed to have a positive effect. So I think we'll combine your suggestions, with the s-l-o-w walk-back.

  4. #4
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    Thanks, Anna. We got some things ironed out in the back yard last night. (Quiet before you can pick anything up.) We went back to the park this morning.
    -flag-lining-drill-5-17-16-jpg

    I began as you suggested. With no white bucket... just lined her to the pile. Then went out into the field and (again, no white bucket) fired a shot. Walked back to her. She squeeked a little when I lined her up for the blind (she was sure there should have been a mark and I needed to "no" her off where I'd been standing). But she alligned herself up to run to the pile again. I put the chair out there, threw nothing, but shot the popper pistol, walked back to her... again no'd her off the chair ran her to the pile. Then threw a mark (my blank pistol was empty by this time, darn it) ran her to the pile and then let her have the mark. She was much more composed. A little squeeking... which stopped each time and then I could send her. None of that crazy squeek-squeek-pant-pant-snort-pant-squeek stuff going on.

    Oh man. You gotta build precept on precept. I had to break it down. It was better today.

  5. #5
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    714
    Thanked: 304
    Don tells us to do this drill in different places as it build confidence for blinds with marks. The last step we do with it is to throw the mark, send the dog for the mark , stop her and cast her to the blind. This is the step you need in a test when they throw a poison bird and you dog goes for it and you need to stop them and cast for a blind. I have seen a number of dogs dropped on this concept. One was at a National. They threw a poison bird on the blind. You have got to be able to handle away from a mark that the dog is not supposed to pick up. This can be tough with a high flier.
    My sister is sharing her young dog with me. Today we reviewed force to the pile, back casts and I started the right hand side of the T. Just waiting to go out and throw some marks.

  6. #6
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    Just when I thought I'd been making progress (on "snort-whine-squeek-whine-squeek-squeek-whine-snort-pantpantpant...") we go out on a hillside full of vegetation to set up a 6 blind spread, nothing exciting, and what does she do? Rrrrrrugh! on the send. Really loudly. The pro was very put out with me because I let her get away with it. My bad.

    So, now today... I am primed. No more nice mommy. Ready to drop the hammer. We're doing marks, so SURELY... I'll have occasion to correct her for vocalizing. Uh, not so much. We set up a triple and a blind. By HT standards, they were quite long. Maybe 125-175 yards. (I don't know why but I've been seeing very not-so-impressive distances at HT. In Master, a lot of complexity, but not distance. Our last Junior test was ridiculously short. Anyway... )

    -marks-blind-5-18-16-jpg

    The pro wanted me to do the triple. So we called for them going L to R around the horn. RD was doing almost inaudible squeeks as the birds went down, then was still and quiet as a statue. So, I have her lined up on the last bird down, and put my hand down and called her name and she almost took my knees out running for the memory bird. Which she got to with a slight hunt. She lined up next for the last bird down. She actually took a good line to it (obviously had marked it) but the pro wanted me to handle on a mark. So I did. Then I lined her up on the middle bird and she took an absolutely perfect line toward the water, leaped in (fabulous water entry) and nailed it. I was expecting a little bit of struggle lining up for the blind... but nope. Maybe all that flag work we've done in the park had some effect. She just almost lined it. I gave one insurance whistle as she approached the shore behind the middle bird.

    Honestly, she's a piece of work. I am not experienced enough as a handler to really know what I'm doing and how to read my dog. But we're both going out there to learn. So there it is.

  7. #7
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    So what is she saying when she's going "whine, squeek, snort, pantpantpant, snort, squeek, whine, whine?"

    Here is my favorite cartoon of all time.

    -larsen-hey-hey-hey-jpg

  8. #8
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    714
    Thanked: 304
    This looks like a good lay out. The blind interacts with the two marks and the corner cuts of the pond are a challenge. We often do those types of marks and blinds when decheating and teaching cheating singles.
    I love Gary Larson I have several of his books and used the dog cartoons all the time when I did a club newsletter. The other one I really like is the Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip. My favourite is when Grimm gets a personalized licence plate that reads "BORN 2 P". I included it in my puppy info when I had litters.

  9. #9
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    Blah, blah, Ginger. Blah, blah, blah! Blah, Ginger, blah, blah blah!

    Too funny.

    Also instructive. Why we teach... then CORRECT... and not nag.

  10. #10
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    2,366
    Thanked: 1096
    Prior to going to my mother's for a week we had one last training session with the group. We had to do a flier walk-up, then a bird to the left thrown (big splash) into water. Then a pretty way far and across the water toss that landed on the shore, and a blind off the toe of the third bird (about 25 yards off the toe).

    She was steady on the flier. (Wow!) Swung with me to the left then right... hammered the outside birds, and had the world's most beyond-crazy hunt on the flier, running almost past it a couple of times. The gunner told me I was practically handling her right on top of it. Then she just got loose, loose, loose and was giving me cast refusals. Finally, found the flier... and two whistled the blind that had given all the other dogs fits.

    But what she did on the flier... when she finally found it, was egregious. She was rolling it in her mouth and being sticky with it. I did not manage this at all well. (I have SO much to learn.) The pro got on Rocket Dog immediately. Then we made RD fetch the bird again and hold it and spit it for me. But I got the lions share of the criticism.

    The rest of the training group is off to a big HT in Salt Lake. So no group training until next week. It's just me and Rocket Dog. Since I just got home last night, we kept it simple this morning. Did a flag drill in the park, with a walk back mark. But the standard is absolute silence. She got that part. When she started giving me that RRrrrugh! on the send, I figured, OK, Jack... the lining drill is done and now we are going to handle, handle, handle. That stopped the rrrughing. The pro says that when Rocket Dog is doing that vocalization on the send, it means she's (and I quote) "having way too much fun." So that's why we go from lining to casting.

    So, anyway, that's what is going on here. I honestly think the next time we have a flier, I'll manage her on the line better. But that won't be until next week. I believe that I learn something with every catastrophe. Boy, I'll tell you what... doing dogs can sure keep you humble.

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •