AM: Sundown Park Road
Weather: Freezing temps, snow flurries. Both dogs seemed energized by the brisk conditions.
SERIES A. Offline drill, 60-yard segments, followed immediately by a land double interrupted by a blind (Laddie only)
I set up the course while both dogs aired and played, then ran Laddie on the entire course as Series A. Later, I ran Lumi on a part of the course for Series B (see below).
Laddie's work on Series A proceeded as follows.
For the first retrieve, I sent him down the 180-yard BL of the offline drill, blew WS at 60 yards, and cast him left to the first offline blind, an OD. For the second retrieve, I sent him down the same BL, blew WS at 120 yards, and cast him right to the second offline blind. For this series, I modified the offline drill and did not finish by sending Laddie to the end of the BL for a non-handling retrieve.
Instead, using the same SL, we turned to the right and ran the double interrupted by a blind. The two marks were "thrown" using RLs and stand-ins (carriage bolts with streamers attached), with the stand-ins landing near a pre-positioned retrieval object. The first stand-in was launched by the left RL at 170 yards, right to left to land near a pre-positioned duck. The second stand-in was launched by the right RL at 100 yards, right to left to land near a pre-positioned pheasant. The angle between the two marks was 60°. The angle between the left mark and the BL of the offline drill was also 60°
As soon as the right mark was down, I sent Laddie to retrieve the pheasant. I then ran him on the pre-positioned blind, a duck just in front of the woods at 150 yards from the SL, on a line midway between the two marks. After Laddie returned from the blind with the duck, I sent him to retrieve the memory bird, the duck to the left at 170 yards.
The lines to both marks and the blind between them all passed thru keyholes formed by a widely spaced line of trees that ran diagonally across the course.
Laddie's performance on Series A was quite good. He required only a single WSC on each of the offline blinds, pinned the right mark, lined the interrupting blind, and finally pinned the left mark. He performed at all times with his usual exuberance, did not seem confused by being sent to the interrupting blind even though he had not yet picked up the memory bird, and took a good line to the memory bird when finally sent to it. My only concern was that his WS on the 120-yard offline blind was slow, requiring a sustained tweet before Laddie finally stopped running straight and turned to face me and sit. For that reason, I decided to give him additional offline drill work after Lumi had her turn to do some retrieving.
SERIES B. Land double interrupted by a blind (Lumi only)
Because Lumi is currently showing fine responsiveness to handling, because she does not seem to enjoy the offline drill, and because I want to preserve her soundness as much as possible, I only ran her on the double, interrupted by a blind, that Laddie had run in Series A. Lumi required four WSCs on the blind (compared to Laddie, who lined the blind), but she responded immediately to each WS and took a reasonable line on each cast. She seemed to have a clear picture of the line to the memory bird when sent, had excellent pick-ups of all birds, and remained in high spirits throughout her performance.
SERIES C. Offline drill, 60-yard segments (Laddie only)
We used the same poles and flags as the offline drill in Series A, but ran the BL in the opposite direction. For Series C, I started by dropping a duck at the BL end point with Laddie watching, then walked with him (and Lumi) to the SL. I put Lumi into a down behind the SL and ran Laddie on the drill.
In Series C, Laddie anticipated the first offline blind at 60 yards and veered toward it without being directed after I sent him down the BL. I called "no, here" and he raced back to heel. He then performed reasonably well on both offline blinds and the non-handling retrieve of the duck, staying on the BL unless I cast him off it and requiring only a single WSC for each offline blind. The only remaining problem was that his response to the WS on the second offline blind at 120 yards was not crisp.
AM (continued): Oaks Area 1
SERIES D. Offline drill, 70-yard segments (Laddie only)
As with previous work today, Laddie did not slip a whistle, and required only a single cast for both offline blinds. But as with Series C, he anticipated the first offline blind and had to be called back to be sent down the BL a second time. In addition, although he did stop when whistled on the 140-yard offline blind, it was not a crisp response, and he might not have stopped at all if I had not used a sustained tweet that I held until he began to respond.
Although Laddie is only using a single WSC per offline blind, a rate that can't be improved upon, I plan to continue working with Laddie on the offline drill until he shows an immediate response to every WS, even short tweets.
In order to try to defeat Laddie's anticipation of the short blind, I plan to increase both the length of the BL segments, and also the horizontal distance from the BL to the offline blinds.
I'm glad that I'm not seeing any drop in Laddie's enthusiasm level for the offline drill the way I did with Lumi after we'd practiced it for some time. I guess that Laddie, at least for now, sees the drill as an opportunity to run, to retrieve, and to participate in the close social cooperation required by our "hunt".
PM: Oaks Area 1
SERIES E. Offline drill, 70-yard segments (Laddie only)
For Series E in the late afternoon, we used the same course as Series D, but ran the BL in the opposite direction. Conditions were frigid, with a strong headwind as I sent Laddie out on each of the three retrieves.
Laddie did not seem affected by the headwind, and performed beautifully, again requiring only one WSC for each of the two offline blinds. For Series E, I used a short tweet for both WSs, and that was enough for Laddie to stop, although on the second, 140-yard WS, he took more steps that I'd like before he turned and sat. Since he showed improvement in this area between Series D and Series E, it's possible that simply with more practice, his responses to the WS will continue to improve.
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