Friday, January 25, 2008

Private Training

Today, Renee and Eric brought their dogs, Gabriel and Josh, to Cheltenham with Lumi, Laddie, and me. After about 15 minutes of all four dogs playing in the field while I was setting up a series, I ran Laddie and then Lumi on three singles each:

  1. 150 yards (thrown by Eric onto open ground in front of a mulch mound)
  2. 190 yards (thrown by Renee into high cover)
  3. 250 yards (thrown by Eric into high cover)
Pyramid configuration:
  • #1 was 30° to the right of #3
  • #2 was 15° to the left of #3
Each single was set up and run the same way:
  • The thrower stood at a pole to throw the mark.
  • A plastic bag, open at the top and containing a duck, sat next to the thrower.
  • A landing area for the dummy was marked with a surveyor's flag.
  • The landing area was scented with bottled duck scent.
  • The thrower fired a starter pistol, then threw a black & white canvas dummy with streamers.
The dogs ran without slip cords, and both dogs were steady on all marks.

I gave each dog a chunk of fast-food burger after each delivery.

Conditions: Sunny, 28°, no wind. Clumpy low grass with many strips of high grass on a rolling terrain.

Notes on Laddie's Series: On #1, Laddie had a big hunt but eventually found the dummy without any assistance. I auto-whistled, but he ran to Renee (parading) instead of directly home, ignoring my whistle and a couple of voice cues. When he reached Renee, he immediately turned and headed to home, but by then I had walked out from the start line and met him half way. Without saying anything, I took the dummy, slipped a lead over Laddie's head, walked back to Eric to toss him the dummy, and walked back to the start line, where Laddie and I set up to run again.

The second time Laddie ran #1, he ran straight to the dummy, picked it right up, and came straight back. He did the same thing on #2 and #3, except that on #3, he swerved a bit to his right so as to run closer to Renee with his dummy on the way back. I auto-whistled for all marks, perhaps unnecessarily. Laddie ran with his usual exuberance at all times.

Notes on Lumi's Series: On #1, Lumi ran straight to the dummy, put her mouth on it and stood still for a moment, then picked up the dummy and ran straight back to me. I whistled recall when she lifted her head, which may or may not have been necessary.

On #2, Lumi seemed to run right over the dummy without seeing it, then had a big hunt, eventually ending up at the scented landing area for #3. Renee had to call Lumi several times before she came running back to the correct area, but she still couldn't find the dummy. Renee then picked up the dummy and threw it again, and this time, Lumi ran straight to it, picked it up, and came running straight back to me. Again, I auto-whistled, perhaps unnecessarily.

The first time Eric threw #3, Lumi turned her head to look at Renee even though Eric had just fired a shot. When I sent her, she ran a few steps and then pulled up to a stop. You could see her thinking, "I have no clue where I'm supposed to be running to." I called her back to me and asked Eric to throw again.

The second time Eric threw #3, despite all the running around when we first got there, and all the additional running around on #1 and #2, Lumi ran flat out to the dummy, picked it up immediately, and ran straight back with it.
Again, I auto-whistled, perhaps unnecessarily.

Lumi's spirits
were high the entire series, visible in her galloping charge both directions and in her joyous body language.

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