Private Training

After yesterday's Dummies Over Duck Scent drill, we ran another session today, with Renee throwing a single 160 yard mark for each dog. The mark was a B&W canvas streamer dummy thrown onto an area cleared in the snow and scented with ducks. A lining pole acted as a target for Renee's throws.

I asked Renee to describe what she saw at the fall. Putting that together with what I saw:

• Laddie's momentum carried him past the dummy, so he skidded, spun around, picked it up, and kept on running. Unfortunately, he seemed to have lost his bearings and was running at an angle from the line back to me. Rather than waiting to see whether he'd correct the line himself, I gave a single recall whistle and he immediately swung around and raced home.

• Lumi galloped to the fall (she seems healthier this week than she has for several weeks), looked at the dummy, looked at me, hesitated, and finally picked up the dummy and immediately raced back to me. I didn't whistle, but I did cheer when she was about halfway back. In case it's not obvious, the reason I didn't whistle when she first got to the fall was that I was afraid she'd come back without the dummy.