Private Training: Single-Dog Diversion Drill

Since I plan for both dogs to train with Nate as our helper this afternoon, I decided to leave Lumi at home to rest while Laddie and I went to train with Barbara and Deuce at Needwood Park.

Conditions were overcast with winds calm and temps in the low 20s. We ran Deuce, then Laddie, then Deuce again.

Deuce is making nice progress on Hunt Test-style marks. In home training, Barbara is working on getting him able to give up desirable articles, and when he's ready, we'll start working him with birds. He's also developing a nice whistle sit. Probably the highlight of the day for training Deuce, who loves dog play, was when he went out for a mark just as a pedestrian walking two Airedales showed up about the same distance from Deuce as Barbara. Deuce picked up the dummy and looked long and hard at the Airedales, but eventually he responded to Barbara's repeated recall whistles without ever taking a step toward the Airedales. Good dog!

Because I didn't have Lumi with me, and because Deuce isn't trained to play the same role that Lumi does in Alice's diversion drill, I decided to use a modified version of the drill that only required one dog. The bad news was that this turned out to be quite an advanced drill, right at the edge of Laddie's ability to succeed, and therefore involved more frustration than I like to see in a training session. The good news is that Laddie made significant progress between the first and last reps, and showed no hint of being demotivated.

The drill, which simulated a dog being sent to a blind after one or more marks have been thrown but not yet retrieved, was as follows:

1. I put a start line pole and "blind" pole 80 yards apart, with a pile of white dummies, visible from the start line, at the base of the "blind" pole.
2. I placed a chair and a bag of birds 50 yards from the start line, on a 30° angle to the left of the line to the pile of dummies (the center line).
3. I had Laddie run the pile of dummies with Barbara sitting in the chair.
4. I had Barbara stand and fire a gunshot, then ran Laddie to the pile.
5. I had Barbara throw a bird 10 yards toward the center line (no gunshot), then ran Laddie first to the pile of dummies, then to the bird.
6. I had Barbara fire a gunshot, then throw a bird 10 yards toward the center line, then ran Laddie first to the pile of dummies, then to the bird.
7. We repeated step 6 several times.

Beginning with step 4, Laddie nearly always veered to the left when sent. I would then whistle sit, he would sit (even if he had reached the bird), and I would cast him to dummies. In almost every case, he responded to the first whistle sit and took a single cast to the dummies.

I was unable to get Laddie's focus off of the thrown birds from the original start line at 80 yards, so on every rep, I found that I had to walk some distance along the center line until Laddie was able to look at the correct target long enough for me to send him. The distance I had to walk each rep gradually diminished, but never reached the point where I could send him from the original start line.

The first time Laddie ran to the bird, I ran behind him, and when I whistled sit, I was only a few feet away. The look of surprise on his face when he spun around and saw that I was right there was kind of comical. He sat promptly and took the cast to the dummies, still looking a bit bewildered. "I thought I left Daddy at the start line. What was he doing standing next to the bird with me?" I didn't feel I needed to run behind him again.

On a later rep, Laddie managed to reach the bird by the time I whistled, and he picked it up before responding to the sit whistle. I walked to him, took the bird, dropped it on the ground beside him to the left, walked 20 yards back toward the start line, and cast him to the right toward the dummies. He took the cast, I ran the rest of the way to the start line and cheered him when he delivered the dummy, then sent him to the bird.

In contrast to yesterday's diversion drill, Laddie did not snake a single time on his returns from the pile of dummies, nor did he ever veer to the side of the center line away from the bird when sent. He may have run straight to the pile once or twice without trying for the bird, but I don't have a clear memory of that ever happening.

I would have preferred that by the end, he was regularly running straight to the dummies when sent. On the other hand, it may have been more productive this way, since Laddie got a lot of practice with whistle sits and casts away from a diversion.

It must have been quite frustrating to Laddie being repeatedly cued not to get the bird when first thrown, even when he was already right there, but being required to retrieve a dummy first. I suspect Lumi would have shut down rather than continuing to play such a frustrating game, assuming she found it as frustrating as Laddie (which she probably wouldn't have at this stage in her development). But Laddie showed no drop in enthusiasm for the game, and it was clear that he was gradually figuring out that the sooner he retrieved the dummy I sent him to, the sooner he would get to pick up his beloved bird.

When Barbara threw the last bird, and Laddie continued to swerve toward the bird when first sent to the dummies, I sent him back to the pile of dummies three times before I sent him to the bird. We finally ran out of dummies. I'd have preferred to continue sending him to the pile until a time came when he went straight there, and then sent him to the bird. I think that would be salient lesson for him.