Monday, February 9, 2009

Honoring Drills, Blinds

AM: Oaks Area 3

SERIES A. British-style honoring

This is a drill that Dave, the guy we trained with yesterday, asked us to work on.

Both the dogs and I lined up at the SL, me on the far left or right. Nine times, I fired the starter pistol and threw a dummy, then sent myself or one of the dogs to pick the dummy up. As Dave requested, I picked the dummy up the majority of the times: I sent each of the dogs twice, and I picked it up the other five times.

PM: Riggs Road

SERIES B. British-style honoring drill

Same as Series A, but this time Nate joined us. The four of us stood in a line, and Nate blew a duck call, fired the pistol, and threw a dummy. I then called for one of the four of us to pick up the dummy. Lumi and Laddie each got two retrieves, Nate and I split the other five.

SERIES C. Double land blind (Lumi, then Laddie)

First the dog ran the right blind at 140 yards, an unmarked OD in high cover with the line just to the left of an area where the treeline jutted out from a section of woods. Next the dog ran the left blind at 380 yards, an OD marked with an LP in open meadow.

SERIES D. Bristish-style honoring drill

With the dogs on each side of me, and me holding their tabs hopefully imperceptibly, Nate threw dummies from in front of us to the left or right at 30 yards, using a duck call and gunfire. I would then randomly send one dog or the other, sometimes the dog on the same side as the throw, sometimes the dog on the opposite side.

Despite the excitement of the short distances, neither dog broke, nor seemed close to breaking, on any of today's drills.

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