Lumi Earns WCX

Today, Lumi earned her Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) Working Certificate Excellent (WCX).

For those not familiar with the WCX, it consists of a land series and a water series. The dog runs off lead in both, and therefore must be steady at the line for both series, and when honoring on the water series. The land series is a triple mark with upland birds, in this case pheasants. The last bird thrown, the go-bird, is a flyer, a real test for the dog's steadiness. The water series is a double mark with ducks, after which the dog honors the next dog.

Typically, some of the dogs entered pass and some do not. In today's test, in a driving rain with winds gusting to 40 MPH, nine dogs were entered and four passed both series. Lumi had outstanding marks on all five throws, never requiring a hunt, and was rock steady at the line for both series. Of the skills required for the WCX, Lumi had the most difficulty with honoring.

In this test, I think I might have helped a little. Our line mechanics involves me showing Lumi each gun station in reverse order of throwing before calling for the first throw, a procedure legal in Field Trials and the WC/WCX though not legal in Hunt Tests. After I showed Lumi the station for the go-bird, I turned toward the middle station but Lumi immediately swung her head to the first station. I patted my leg, put out an open hand to point, and turned my body several times, but she kept swinging her head back and forth between the left and right stations, never glancing at the middle station. I remember a judge once saying about the moment when you come to the line to set the dog up, "This is your time." I didn't want Lumi to have to wait for the gunshot to suddenly realize there was another station, especially given that only a second later they'd throw the flyer, and she'd need to turn her focus to that.

It finally occurred to me to have her switch positions, so I swung her around to heel position on the other side. I wasn't going to run her from there, but I thought it might break her rhythm on that head swinging, and fortunately it did. Immediately she spotted the middle station, her ears pricking up as if to say, "Hey, lookee there, another thrower!" Now she knew about all three of them. I turned to face the first station and called for the throw.

When Lumi ran, I had her pick up the go-bird first, then the first bird, and finally the middle bird. The Pro we train with had explained to me that that sequence minimizes the chances for the dog returning to an old fall on the latter two send-outs. Lumi's never run a competitive triple before and the strategy worked. She nailed all three marks.

Laddie also took a test today, for the Working Certificate (WC). For that test, the dogs are allowed to be on a slip cord until the judge releases them, so they are not required to be steady. They also are not required to honor another dog. The land and water series each consist of two single marks. In today's tests, the WC marks for both land and water were significantly shorter than the WCX marks.

Laddie had no difficulty with the land series, and even managed to return with the bird from the first water mark, which was thrown into light cover on the shoreline. But on the second water mark, which was thrown in the water a yard from shore, he picked up the bird and kept swimming, then marooned on the far shore.

Laddie has run that exact mark, as well as more difficult ones nearby and elsewhere, with me throwing the bird, then walking back to his side to send him. I'm not sure why he marooned in this situation, but clearly LWL retrieves remain a problem for him.

After giving Laddie ample time to respond to my whistles and calls, the judge had the thrower pick up the bird and throw it into the water. Laddie swam out to get the bird, almost turned back, but then responded to my whistle and brought the bird to me.

In retrospect, I handled Laddie all wrong in this situation. First of all, I should not have called him repeatedly. Even worse, I should not have reinforced his refused recall with the opportunity to get the bird. Instead, I should have taken this opportunity for a walk-out, by taking the foot bridge over to Laddie, putting on his leash, and walking him to the van. Not only would that have provided potential negative punishment for his marooning, but it would have done so in the context of a competitive event. A rare opportunity missed.

Nonetheless, Lumi's sterling performance made the difficult weather conditions worth every moment. Given the prevalence of ecollars in field training, especially with the more advanced dogs, I would guess that few 2Q dogs have ever earned a WCX. Lumi may be one of the first.