Though I haven't had time to type up all my notes from previous sessions, this was the third or fourth time we've trained with a highly experienced field trainer named Dave and a mutual friend named Carol. Carol is our holistic vet and runs her extraordinarily versatile Bernese Mountain Dog, Dyna.
We trained at a farm several miles from Warrenton, VA. Today Dave arranged for us to have pheasants for fliers and acted as gunner on all our marks. Thanks to my dogs now being able to run for other handlers besides myself, based on our practice over the last couple of weeks with four other handlers, we only needed three live birds for today's session.
SERIES A, B, and C
All three series had much in common, with some differences:
- Each series consisted of a land single.
- All three series were run from the same SL, though in three different directions.
- The marks were all at 60 yards. Series A and C were thrown right to left, while Series B was thrown left to right.
- For every mark, Dave threw the mark and fired two shots using his shotgun and live ammo.
- The sequence of handlers was the same all three times: (a) I ran one of my dogs. (b) I honored with that dog while Carol ran my other dog. (c) I honored with my second dog while Carol ran Dyna. For Series A, I ran Laddie and then Carol ran Lumi and Dyna. For Series B and C, I ran Lumi while Carol ran Laddie and Dyna.
- Series A was with WDs, Series B was with fresh dead birds that I brought, and Series C was with pheasant fliers.
- For every retrieve and every honor, Carol and I held the dog's tab, keeping it slack so that the dog couldn't feel us holding it, and made mental note of whether the dog attempted a break.
For Series B with dead birds, both dogs were steady running and honoring.
For Series C with fliers, Lumi was steady running and honoring. Laddie moved slightly while running for Carol, was steady honoring. Because of his movement when running, which was more of an alerting motion than creeping, Laddie's tab became taut. Carol did not think that Laddie would have broken, and it didn't look that way to me from the honoring position, either, but we can't be sure because he might have been responding to feeling the tab.
SERIES D. Land blind (Lumi, then Laddie)
Series D was a single blind, a duck at 170 yards against a backdrop of woods. The line to the blind was on a relatively steep diagonal downhill slope to the right. On the right of the line to the blind at 80 yards was a large grouping of trees and underbrush. The series, suggested by Dave, was designed so that both the hill and the trees would tend to draw the dogs to the right, acting cumulatively to make the blind more difficult, rather than canceling one another out. Another concern was that if the dog wrapped around the trees, the dog and handler would no longer be able to see one another.
Lumi ran the blind well, remaining responsive on all WSCs.
Laddie took an excellent line and looked as though he would need no handling, but at 150 yards he suddenly veered left. I blew WS but he must have realized that that close to the woods, he had to be near the bird and slipped the whistle, preferring to hunt. I should have immediately called NO-SIT and gone out to pick him up, but not wanting to make Carol and Dave wait that long, I let Laddie complete the retrieve. I mentioned my concern to Dave later and he urged me to pick the dog up in that situation, which I'll try to remember if it happens again, even though it causes inconvenience to the other trainers.
PM: Zion Road
SERIES E. Triple land blind (Laddie, then Lumi)
Series E was three blinds at distances closer to what I've seen for Senior-level Hunt Tests, rather than the longer blinds we've been practicing at recently. I also made no use of a diversion, since the dogs won't need to deal with that in their Senior tests, which hopefully will begin soon. Lumi's recent training with poison birds seemed to cause a problem in a couple of the marks she ran with a training group yesterday. I think it would be better for Lumi to get at least her first Senior leg, then worry about training for more difficult criteria.
For Series E, the first blind was to the right at 70 yards, a CCD placed between two widely spaced trees. The second blind was in the center at 110 yards, an OD placed at the far end of an elongated pile of brush and rock debris. The third blind was to the left at 140 yards, an OD placed in a large area of high cover with the line to the blind through a gap in a second elongated pile of brush and rock debris. The terrain was long, clumpy, grass with uneven footing. The field, an old nursery orchard, was dotted with trees of various species at irregular spacing.
The terrain was difficult enough that neither dog lined any of the blinds. Both dogs remained responsive on all WSCs, requiring no WOs.
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