Offline Drill with Keyhole

Sundown Park Road

CONDITIONS: Temps in low 30s, light snow, wet snow on ground.

SERIES A. Offline drill with keyhole (Lumi, then Laddie)

This is a variation on the offline drill, which I devised some months ago to work with both dogs on clarifying their understand that the WS still means to sit even when the dog thinks she knows where she's been sent.

Today, with conditions not well suited to some of the other training we might have worked on, I decided to run the dogs on a variation that has the same objective specifically with regard to blinds on a line thru a keyhole. I've noticed recently that Laddie tends to believe its no longer necessary to sit on a WS once he's gotten thru the keyhole.

For Series A, the course was a 120-yard backline to an OD/LP, with a keyhole formed by two trees at 30 yards. On the first send-out, I blew WS at 60 yards and cast Over to an OD/SF to the left. On the second send-out, I blew WS at 90 yards and cast Over to an OD/SF on the right. On the third send-out, I didn't stop the dog and the dog completed the 120-yard retrieve.

SERIES B. Offline drill with keyhole (Lumi, then Laddie)

For Series B, the course was a 190-yard backline to an OD/LP, with a keyhole formed by two trees at 70 yards. On the first send-out, I blew WS at 110 yards and cast Over to an OD/SF to the left. On the second send-out, I blew WS at 150 yards and cast Over to an OD/SF on the right. On the third send-out, I didn't stop the dog and the dog completed the 190-yard retrieve.