Training Day, Blinds

AM: Cheltenham

SERIES A. Three Triples with a Flyer Duck (Lumi, then Laddie)

Series A was part of a training day conducted by our local FCR club, preparing for a WC/X to be given at the same property next week. Lumi already has her WC and WCX. Laddie has neither and I'd like him to get them. However, with overnight temps in the teens and twenties, and daytime temps in the thirties and forties, I decided not to risk Laddie having a bad experience with cold water and did not enter him in the test, nor did we participate in today's water series given later in the day.

Nonetheless, we still came to training day for the opportunity to practice with a friendly group, and for the opportunity to have flyers as marks. Although a WCX does not involve the dog honoring a flyer, I also asked for permission to have my dogs honor on lead the following dog after they ran their series.

The land series of a WCX is run as a triple, and that's how many of the handlers ran their dogs. My dogs both had multiples yesterday, and since I've been told that running 90% singles is best for improving or maintaining a dog's marking skills, I had both dogs run today's course as three singles.

For the first bird, a duck thrown right to left from the right station, I used line mechanics as if it were a triple, showing the dog the flyer station on the left, then the center station, and finally cueing "sit, mark" as the dog turned with me to face the right station. For the second bird, a duck thrown right to left from the center station, I used line mechanics as if it were a double, showing the dog the flyer station on the left, then cueing "sit, mark" as the dog turned with me to face the center station. For the third bird, a flyer thrown right to left from the left station, I cued "sit, mark" as the dog faced the station.

All three marks were designed to land in open space. Except for steadiness, these were relatively easy marks for both dogs, and both dogs pinned all three.

Lumi: Lumi was steady on #1 and #2, broke on #3. Thinking quickly, our "judge" called out for the gunners to pick up the bird before Lumi could reach it, and they did. I called Lumi back to heel and said that if they had enough flyers, I'd like to purchase another one and try it again.

They had plenty of flyers and we did try it again, and again Lumi broke. Again the gunners picked the bird up.

Next we tried it with a dead bird, Lumi still off-lead. I didn't think she'd break for a dead bird, but she did, and again the gunners picked the bird up. From this experience, I realized that Lumi doesn't break on flyers per se, she breaks if a bird is thrown from a station where flyers are kept in a crate. That may come in as useful information in developing a training plan to work on Lumi's steadiness, since it's apparently unnecessary to throw a live bird every time in order to tempt her into breaking.

Finally, we ran the third mark with Lumi on-lead. Again she tried to break, but of course was unable to go until I removed the leash and sent her.

After that, I had Lumi honor on lead, using our new "just watch" cue. Lumi was steady for the two dead birds but tried to break when the last bird of the triple, the flyer, was thrown.

After the running dog was sent, I ran with Lumi to pick up a duck I had pre-positioned for her on the way back to the van, and gave her several happy throws and games of chase with the bird before having her get back in the van.

Laddie: Laddie ran #1 and #2 off lead. He crept a little, but did not break.

He ran #3 on-lead, and then honored the next dog on-lead. He was steady on one of them, tried to break on the other, but I can't remember which was which.

After the running dog was sent, I ran with Laddie to the van to get a 2" dummy out of the trunk, and gave him several happy throws and games of tug before having him get back in the van.

SERIES B. Offline Drill, 70-yard Segments (Laddie only)

Taking advantage of the fact that we'd driven out to Cheltenham, I set up an offline drill for Laddie on a field dotted with trees, surrounded by woods on three sides, with patches of high cover and some half-frozen standing water on the BL. Laddie required more than the minimum of one WSC for each offline blind, but was responsive on every handling cue despite the difficulty of the terrain and the length of the retrieves.

Since Laddie is still slipping whistles on blinds run at Cheltenham (for example, see Series C), I feel we need to continue running offline drills at this location. In future sessions over the next few days and weeks, I'll look for challenging locations to set the drills up, and may also increase the distances.

SERIES C. Triple Blind with Poison Bird (Lumi, then Laddie)

For Series C, we worked in the same field as Series B but with a different SL. With the dogs in the van, I put out two ODs at each of three locations. To run each dog, I brought the dog to the SL, cued Sit, went out to fire a pistol and throw a duck left to right at 40 yards, and returned to the SL. That duck acted as the poison bird (PB) for the series. A tree was two yards to the left of the line to the PB. Back at the SL, I ran the dog on the three blinds, then released the dog to retrieve the PB.

The first blind was the center blind, placed just in front of a woods at 100 yards. The line to the first blind was past the PB and a tree on the left, and another tree on the right.

The second blind was the right blind, placed at 130 yards just past an outcropping of the woods on the left of the line to the blind. The line to the blind was between a tree, the PB, and the line to the first blind on the left, and another tree on the right.

The third blind was the left blind, placed at 140 yards just in front of the woods. The line to the third blind was between an outcropping of woods on the left, and on the right, two trees and the PB.

Series C was at the edge of both dogs' capability. The PB and trees formed keyholes, the PB also acted as suction for all three blinds, and the outcropping of woods on the second and third blinds acted as potential wraps. Neither dog lined any of the blinds except for Laddie on #2 (but he had found that while running #1), and both were drawn around to the left and out of sight by the wrap on the left of #3.

Lumi, running first, slipped two whistles. The first was after several good WSCs that brought her to the treeline too far left of #1, where she started to hunt instead of sitting when whistled. The other was when she disappeared left behind the wrap on #3. She came in when called after both incidents.

Laddie had four slipped whistles. On the first, he went OOC while running #1 and found #2. I walked out, put him on lead, put the OD back at the #2 blind position, walked with him back to the SL, and reran him on #1. On the others, he came in when called.

Besides those slipped whistles, both dogs had many successful WSs, but their casts were plagued by repeated digging back in various situations. In most cases, I used a quick whistle and re-cast. In a few, I used an exaggerated cast — Over instead of what I wanted, an angle Back — and in a couple, I called the dog in, blew WS, then re-cast, a procedure called attrition.

Based on those problems, it seems that the Cheltenham terrain is significantly more difficult than local areas we use for practicing blinds, even when the Cheltenham blinds were shorter than those we sometimes run locally. During the winter, we'll get to Cheltenham as often as possible, until the dogs are able to handle as reliably with Cheltenham's challenges as they've learned to at the easier locations (for example, see Series D below).

PM: Oaks Area 3

SERIES D. Triple Blind with Poison Bird (Lumi, then Laddie)

ODs were pre-positioned at each blind. I brought a dog from the van to the SL and cued Sit. I walked out, fired a pistol, and threw a duck angling back left to right. That duck acted as the PB for the series. My line for throwing the duck took me under the bough of a tree so that the bird seemed to come from behind the tree out into the open, landing on an embankment facing the SL at 90 yards. I walked back to the SL and ran the dog on the three blinds, then released the dog to pick up the duck.

The first blind was the right blind at 170 yards. Although it was longer than the second blind, I ran the longer blind first to maximize the challenge of the PB, which was closer to the longer blind and required handling the dog at greater distance. The line to the first blind was at a slight angle out from a fence on the right and passing the PB at a distance of 20 yards to the left. The line to the blind was also potentially influenced by the tree I mentioned above, and also by a hedgerow at the top of the embankment, 100 yards from the SL and a potential wrap. Thus the suction on this blind, consisting of the tree, the duck, and the hedgerow, seemed additive primarily to the left.

The second blind was the center blind at 100 yards. The line to the second blind was flanked by a tree on the right and three trees on the left, and the blind was planted just beyond another hedgerow, again on the left. So for this blind, also, the primary suction was on the left.

The third blind was the left blind at 170 yards. The third blind was on the embankment for a road and facing the SL, so that the OD was visible from the SL. The line to the blind crossed a dry ditch, with a raised embankment beside the ditch, at a diagonal. The line to the blind passed a tree and a boulder that may have acted as suction to the left, but it also passed several trees, a hedgerow, and a stand of trees and undergrowth acting as a possible wrap on the right, so the predominant suction seemed to be to the right.

Lumi, running first, lined the first blind and remained responsive for all handling on the other two blinds, then excitedly picked up the PB.

Laddie, running second, veered toward the PB when sent to the first blind but easily handled off it to the blind. Laddie remained responsive for handling to the second blind, and lined the third blind. Like Lumi, Laddie shot off like a rocket when I finally turned him toward the PB and called his name.

I think this course was too easy for either dog to have learned much, and mostly they were just practicing skills they already had. However, the fact that a course with blinds at these distances, dotted with numerous trees and hedgerows as well as a PB, was too easy, was an encouraging sign that we're making progress.