Interrupted Triple with Wiper

Oaks Area 2

After a major snowstorm a few days ago, the ground has been too treacherous for training. But a couple of days of rain, followed by a beautiful, sunny, and relatively warm day today, gave the dogs and me an opportunity to get out for some training day.

Today's series was almost a mirror image of the last triple we ran, though today with only one blind.

SERIES A. Interrupted land triple (Laddie, then Lumi)

While the dogs waited in the van, I placed an LP as our SL and planted two ODs as a blind. I brought Laddie out to run the series first, then put him in his crate and ran Lumi. That used up the time we had available. Here's how I ran each dog.

With the dog waiting at the SL, I walked 100 yards to the left of the line to the blind and threw a frozen duck left to right. I walked across the line to the blind, over to the right side, and threw a second frozen duck left to right at 90 yards into an area of widely spaced trees, the bird landing in a shallow pool of standing water five yards behind a tree. I walked across the line to the blind again, back to the left side, and threw a frozen chukar left to right at 50 yards, so that the line to the first mark was under the arc of the third throw. For all throws, I blew a duck call and fired a pistol. After throwing all three marks, I returned to the SL to run the dog.

First, I ran the dog on the blind, between the first and third marks on the left and the second mark on the right. The blind was an OD at 190 yards, thru a break in the treeline and up a hill. Next, I sent the dog to the go-bird, the 50-yard mark on the left. Then, to the second mark, the 90-yard mark on the right. Finally, to the first mark that was thrown, the 100-yard mark on the left.

Both dogs handled well on the blind, apparently comfortable with the idea of running blind before picking up the marks. Laddie's casts were more accurate, but both dogs were responsive on all WSs and stayed within a fairly narrow channel. Both dogs also picked up all three birds without difficulty, though Laddie's routes were straight to each fall, while Lumi bowed left on the two longer marks, as though she were running toward where she remembered me throwing from and then veering right when she got close. Another explanation is that she might have been avoiding some of the large areas of standing water.

Both dogs showed great enthusiasm on their outruns, and Laddie also raced back on every retrieve. Lumi's returns were more leisurely for some reason; one possibility is that she may be having some discomfort in her hips and wrist from the cold.