Note: We got out early Christmas morning, but had limited time before the family would be gathering around to open gifts under the tree. I decided to use a nearby field and a relatively fast set-up that the dogs would hopefully find challenging and fun. I also decided to run a quick tune-up drill before the series, hopefully increasing the likelihood of good performance on the series itself.
When we got to the field, I left the dogs in the van and went out to plant a total of four CCDs, two at each blind. Then I got back in the van and we drove near where I planned to set up the SL. I put both dogs' collars on, the ones with 9" tabs attached, and let the dogs air and play while I set up an LP for the SL, installed the tie-out nearby, and placed the RL for the series we would run.
With everything in place, I called the dogs, attached Laddie to the tie-out, and brought Lumi at heel to the SL to run her tune-up and Series A. When she was done, I brought her to the tie-out (no need to actually attach the lead), brought Laddie at heel to the SL, and ran his tune-up and Series A.
TUNE-UP DRILL: With the dog waiting at the SL, I walked 40 yards from the SL at a 90° angle to the right of the rightmost retrieve planned for the series and placed the bird in a fringe of grass there. I then walked back, lined the dog up on the bird, and cued Back. When the dog got halfway to the "blind", I blew WS, then cast the dog on a straight Back, and when the dog was about to pounce on the bird, I blew WCI. This tune-up drill has two goals: to refresh the dog's WS, and to refresh the dog's quick pick-up of the bird.
SERIES A. Double land blind with poison bird (Lumi, then Laddie)
As planned, Series A consisted of the following steps:
- Use the RL and a weighted streamer to simulate throwing a PB from behind a large tree, left to right at 40 yards, 90° to the left of the leftmost blind. The streamer landed beside a hedgerow a few feet from a duck which the dog had seen placed there earlier.
- Run the dog on the first blind at 130 yards, the blind on the right of the two blinds.
- Run the dog on the second blind at 150 yards, the blind on the left of the two blinds. The angle between the two blinds was 15°.
- Line the dog up on the PB and release with the dog's name.
The line to the second blind was past the end of a hedgerow on the left, over a hump and dry ditch, and thru a narrow keyhole formed by two trees.
LUMI: Lumi did fine on the tune-up and was excited by the launched streamer, resulting in difficulty getting lined up for the first blind, which of course she had not seen placed. She took a good line for about 10 yards, then veered left toward the PB. After that, it was a long, tedious process directing her to the first blind, requiring perhaps 20 WSCs. Lumi remained responsive to the whistle the entire time, though after one sit she barked in frustration, highly unusual for her. On the other hand, her casts were poor. She would turn in the correct direction out of the sit, but then either take the wrong bearing from the beginning or take a few steps in the correct direction and then veer off.
When Lumi finally completed the first blind, I decided that she had had enough frustration and sent her for the PB. After we packed up later, I went and picked up the CCD for the second blind that she had not run.
LADDIE: Laddie had a sterling performance. He ran the tune-up well, watched the streamer launched toward the PB that he'd seen placed earlier, readily came to heel for the first blind, accepted the small number of WSCs needed to run that blind, ran the second blind just as easily, and exploded for the PB when released, resulting in one of his patented tumbling pick-ups, then raced back for the delivery to complete the series.
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