Easy Day

Today, because I was involved in other activities, the dogs and I didn't work on any of the items on our TO DO list. Our only training was open water retrieves at Black Hill, typically run as follows:

1. One dog is at heel on my right, the other on my left.
2. I step away from both dogs, either to the left or the right, and throw a dummy into the water at an outward angle.
3. I move to the other side of the dogs and throw a second dummy into the water at the opposite outward angle.
4. I move back to the dogs and send one of them to the last dummy thrown.
5. I then send the other dog to the first dummy thrown.
6. As each dog delivers at heel, I throw the dummy and cue Shake. The dog shakes off, then brings me the dummy and we play a game of tug.
7. Once both dogs are back, we play tug with me holding one dummy rope in each hand and the dogs pulling in different directions.

This game is primarily for fun, but I think it has some training benefits. Both dogs practice holding steady while the dummies are being thrown, and the second dog honors the send-out of the first one. In addition, the dogs practice delivering the dummy at heel, rather than dropping it to shake off as they get into shallow water or as they come out of the water.

The dogs and I play various training games nearly every day — other examples include hikes to practice WS and recall, dinnertime training of skills like line mechanics and backing up, Frisbee at the ballfield for coordination, etc. — but I rarely record them in this blog. I only mention today's games so as not to leave a gap for today's date.