Hunt Test Training

Today we trained with Bob Hux and several other trainers at Park Heights. It was a bit cool at first and Bob did not plan to swim the dogs yet, but by late morning, temps were in the 70s, so Series B was our first water series of the season with Bob's Hunt Test (HT) training groups. As a result, our two series for today were:

• Series A. HT-sytle land series
• Series B. HT-style water series

As in any HT-style series, all throwers were retired behind holding blinds or natural features such as trees.

In each case, I modified the series for each of my dogs to suit what I perceived to be the dog's training needs at this time.

Series A. This was the land series, run from a mound:

1. 60 yards thru rough terrain to a duck hand-thrown from a mound into thick, low cover
2. 100 yards across two muddy ditches and rough terrain to a duck thrown by a winger thru branches of a large tree onto open ground, with a large pond to the right of the thrower
   
3. 100-yard blind, a duck positioned at a camo lining pole, the line to the blind running midway between #1 and #2, past woods and underbrush on the left, thru rough terrain, and across a muddy ditch to a stretch of open ground

LUMI

Lumi, running as the first dog, ran the series as two singles followed by the blind. She ran it well and without difficulty. After she ran the series, I said, "Get your bird" and she carried a duck to the van. There I said, "Your birdie's waiting," and placed a clipwing pigeon in her mouth to carry around for a few moments, then loaded her back in the van.

LADDIE

Laddie only ran #1 and #2, as singles. On #1, he took one step toward the thrower when he picked up the bird, then turned and raced home. Perhaps he remembered that the clipwing was waiting.

On #2, Laddie broke when the bird was thrown by the winger, and the thrower ran out and picked up the bird before Laddie got to it. He remained steady for the second throw, which was by hand.

Other than those two problems, Laddie's performance was excellent on both of these singles, the second of which was quite difficult compared to Junior tests I've taken my dogs to.

After Laddie ran the series, I said, "Get your bird" and he carried a duck to the van. There I said, "Your birdie's waiting," and tried to place a clipwing pigeon in his mouth to carry around for a few moments. Unfortunately, he is not accustomed to having things placed in his mouth, so that procedure confused him and he tried to spit the bird out. I finally managed to get him to carry the bird a short way by staying close in front of him after putting the bird in his mouth, and calling him a step toward me at a time.

Series B. This was our first water series with Bob this year, and Laddie's first water series since last fall. With the throwers in the same positions, I had them throw differently for the two dogs.

LUMI

Again running as first dog, Lumi's series was as follows:

1. 20 yards, a duck thrown into reeds at the left shoreline five yards beyond the tree where the thrower was positioned.
2. 40 yards, a duck thrown into a small cove, placed behind and slightly to the outside of the point upon which the thrower's holding blind was set up.

I used a position on the embankment that gave Lumi a 30° angle between running the bank and swimming back to me on #1. The line to #2 was 15° to the right of #1.

Lumi swam straight to the fall for #1, brought the bird up onto shore, shook off, and began slowly to move inland, presumably with the intent of running the bank. I whistled her to a sit, cued "over", and she entered the water and swam back to me.

For both marks, I stayed high on the embankment and urged Lumi to bring me the bird without dropping it, a skill which she had developed last year, but on this day she dropped both birds to shake off. That's a skill we'll need to work on.

LADDIE

Running as third dog, Laddie's series was as follows:

1. 15 yards, a duck thrown into open water in front of the tree where the thrower was positioned
2. 30 yards, a duck thrown into open water in front of the point where the thrower's holding blind was positioned

On both marks, Laddie leapt into the water, swam straight to the bird, and swam back to me with it. On #2, he turned his head toward the shoreline several times. Each time, I cued "here" and he turned back toward me and continued straight. On both marks, I met him near the shoreline and called him to me a step at a time for several steps before taking the bird, in order to avoid having him drop the bird and shake off before delivering it.

Dokken Training. Because of the difficulty Laddie had taking a clipwing in his mouth, later at home, I worked with Laddie and a Dokken pigeon (a rubberized replica available for a variety of bird species) until he was completely comfortable taking the article from my hand. Tomorrow, I'll bring both a Dokken and a live pigeon with us into the field, and work with Laddie on both of them to transfer his skill with taking the Dokken over to the pigeon.

Protecting the Clipwings. The reason I wanted to place the clipwing pigeons in the dogs' mouths, rather than placing them on the ground or throwing them to be retrieved, was that yesterday Laddie injured a clipwing while pouncing on it, a small puncture wound on the bird's back. I showed the bird to our holistic vet, since the dogs were seeing her today, and she said that the wound looked minor and should soon heal, but I'd rather minimize how often that happens.