Shore-handling Toolkit, Water Blinds, Cheaters, Water Series, Land Series

Summary

At Cheltenham in the morning:

• Series A. Continued work on Tools #8 and #9 (Laddie)
• Series B. Water blind (Lumi)
• Series C. Happy throws in ditch with underwater debris (both dogs)
• Series D. Water blind (Lumi)
• Series E. Water series (Laddie)
• Series F. Water blind (Lumi)
• Series G. Cheating singles (Laddie)
  

At Sundown Road Park in the afternoon, with Nate throwing:

• Series H. A land series consisting of four blinds and three marks (both dogs)

Series A. Since Laddie hasn't progressed as fast I would have liked in carrying a dummy across and channel and past me standing at the end of the channel, especially left to right in the swim-by pond we've been using, I came up with a couple of approaches that might help him progress faster.

First, I tried setting up two poles on the grass near the pond and casting Over back and forth between them. What I found was that Laddie could easily take the casts as long as he wasn't carrying a dummy, but that he had difficulty diverting away from me if he was carrying a dummy.

That gave me an idea for a way to work with Laddie in the pond, as follows:

1. Walk with Laddie to the right pole, cue Sit, then throw dummy into water almost all the way across the pond.
2. With Laddie waiting at right pole, walk to end of channel, face Laddie, and cue Over.
3. Laddie leaps in water, swims to dummy, continues swimming in same direction, climbs up onto the bank, and runs to me with the dummy.
4. On subsequent trials, throw the dummy shorter distances, until eventually Laddie makes the same swim across even if the dummy is placed on the ground in front of him, or the dummy is placed in his mouth, or eventually if he swims to it from the center of the pond in the full swim-by drill.

Today, we did steps 1-3 from both directions. In the future, we'll gradually implement step 4.

Series B. This was Lumi's most complex water blind to date, an LWLWL with a duck that included a stickpond as the second water crossing.

Series C. This series consisted of happy throws into a ditch with plants and branches both above and below the surface for both dogs. Laddie had little trouble with them, while Lumi needed more time to enter the obstructed water at first.

Series D. This was a water blind Lumi had difficulty with when we ran it once before. It consisted of a water crossing to a duck on the far bank, at a position where the channel makes an S-curve. Apparently the positions of the land confuse Lumi and she tends to swim online about halfway, then veers left or right and has difficulty accepting a Back cast, instead wanting to swim back and forth as if every cast was an Over.

Lumi had less difficulty today than the previous time. I plan to practice this same blind with her in subsequent sessions until she becomes comfortable with it. If I can find another S-curve, we'll practice in that location, too.

Series E. Series E was a poorman double for Laddie, left to right in a 90° angle:

• #2 (go bird): LWLW across an island covered in tall grass (duck)
• #1 (memory bird): LWLW across a wetland mass of high grass (white dummy)

Laddie performed accurately and exuberantly.

Series F. Series F was a water blind with a duck for Lumi across a stickpond with underwater debris, an area where Lumi has repeatedly shown discomfort. I used gradually lengthening happy throws to get her acclimated to the crossing, then cued Back for the blind, which she executed well.

Series G. Although Laddie has not completed his swim-by training, I feel he is ready to begin cheating singles while we continue with the swim-by simultaneously. Today, Laddie had three cheaters as follows:

1. I positioned Laddie, using a lining pole as our SL, so that when sent, he would cross a dirt road and then 10 yards of grass. That would bring him to a horizontal water entry at the end of a channel 20 yards across.
2. For the first throw, I walked to the right side of the channel and threw a duck into the middle of the channel, 10 yards from the end. I then walked back to Laddie and sent him.
3. For the second throw, I walked to the left side of the channel and again threw the duck into the middle of the channel, this time 20 yards from the end.
4. For the third throw, I threw from the right again, this time to a fall 30 yards from the end of the channel.

On the first two throws, Laddie took a direct line without handling. On the third throw, he started to run around the water to the right. I blew WS, cued a come-in, again blew WS when he reached the end of the channel, and cued Over into the water. Laddie showed excellent response to each WS and cast.

Series H. Series H was a land series on the ball fields at Sundown Road Park, with Nate throwing. The set-up, left to right within a 90° angle:

• #1: 120-yard blind (orange dummy)
• #3: 110-yard blind (orange dummy)
• #2: 90-yard mark (bird), thrown left to right over the line (TOL) to #3
• #7: 170-yard blind (orange dummy)
• #6: 120-yard mark (bird), thrown left to right away from the line (TAL) to #7
• #4: 140-yard mark (bird), thrown left to right toward the line (TTL) to #5
• #5: 150-yard blind (orange dummy)

I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. Notes:

• Both dogs did great on the marks.
• As I've seen the last few sessions of land blinds including today's, Lumi's handling at these distances is no longer satisfactory. She repeatedly slips whistles, refuses casts, or takes a cast and then digs back. I feel we need to work at shorter distances and build up Lumi's responsiveness again.
• Laddie's handling has deteriorated some from when we were concentrating on land series like this day after day, but his handling is still reasonably good and spectacularly responsive much of the time.