Private Training: Wagon Wheel

Today I thought I'd try out the warm up drills I plan to use tomorrow morning before group training. Tomorrow, I'll be resting Lumi before group training and only running Laddie on the drills, but today I ran both dogs on the drills.

Once out on the ballfield, I decided to modify the drills somewhat from what I had originally planned. The version I ended up with was in two series, Series A and Series B. I ran Lumi, then Laddie, on each series.

Conditions were sunny with temps in the high 30s and wind calm. The ground was damp but not too muddy.

Series A. A semicircle of white dummies and ducks, prepositioned and separated by 45° angles:

1. Dummy at 20 yards
2. Duck at 15 yards
3. Dummy at 20 yards
4. Duck at 15 yards
5. Dummy at 20 yards

I had the dog pick up the dummies first, then the ducks. To increase difficulty for #1 and #5, I sent the dog from the same side of me as the ducks. Neither dog had any difficulty with Series A, so that I never had to whistle sit or cast. I used an auto-whistle recall on every article, and both dogs delivered each article immediately and enthusiastically. I intermittently reinforced deliveries with food.

Series B. A semicircle of white dummies and ducks separated by 45° angles:

1. Dummy prepositioned at 50 yards
2. Duck thrown to 15 yards
3. Dummy prepositioned at 50 yards
4. Duck thrown to 15 yards
5. Dummy prepositioned at 50 yards

I prepositioned the dummies, then brought the dog to the start line and threw the ducks. Next, I had the dog pick up the dummies, which were invisible or barely visible to the dogs from the start line, then the ducks. To further increase difficulty for #1 and #5, I sent the dog from the same side of me as the ducks.

When sent to #1 and #5, both dogs swerved to the ducks, but both dogs were 100% responsive on whistle sits and casts away from the ducks and back toward the dummies. I used an auto-whistle recall on every article, and both dogs delivered each article immediately and enthusiastically. I intermittently reinforced deliveries with food.

When we returned home, I updated the second drill in tomorrow's Holodeck Program based on today's experience, reducing distances but adding thrown, rather than prepositioned, ducks.