Field Training Test Series

congrats to you and laddie....well done

2012-06-03T22:53:57.224-04:00

congrats to you and laddie....well done

Hi, "ducks and bumpers". Thanks so much...

2012-05-23T11:11:45.931-04:00

Hi, "ducks and bumpers". Thanks so much for your comment. I don't recognize your name, but it's great to hear from you. Please feel free to write to me via email if you wish: LDRidgeway at gmail.

To answer your question, no, I don't think the judges were nitpicking at all. I think they wanted to see some control that Laddie and I didn't show them because I played it too safe.

After reading this post, my mentor, Alice Woodyard, sent me an extensive discussion on the subject of challenging the line, which I hope to include in a future post either on this blog or on my reference blog, "2Q Retriever".

In summary, Alice explained that if the handler keeps the dog "safe" (away from areas where the dog might go out of control), the dog is likely to be dropped if enough other handlers demonstrate that they are able to send their dogs into those areas without losing control of their dogs. Examples of how to avoid being dropped include maintaining a narrow corridor, identifying principle hazards the judges might expect you to be either close to or in contact with, identifying which of those hazards are mandatory and which are merely preferred, and identifying which of the preferred hazards may be too difficult, preventing your dog from being able to complete the blind ("survive") if you attempt them.

Alice also confirmed the simple rule "be sure to cross the line at least once", since some judges consider that mandatory, as was apparently the case with the judges in this trial, based on what the guy said to me.

By the way, all of this is in addition to the usual training objectives of having the dog get in the water when cast there, holding a cross wind, not losing the dog over a dike at the end, etc. These are all important, but they're more obvious to those of us who are new to field work, whereas the earlier points are not necessarily so obvious.

For making the kind of judgments Alice described, it's quite helpful to watch other dogs run the blind before your turn. In this case, I only got to watch one dog run the blind, and that dog (the test dog) was unable to get past the point at about 70y. I was also cognizant of the last competition water blind Laddie ran, almost a year ago, in which the first four dogs passed, and the next eight (including Laddie) all failed, thanks to a major change in weather conditions between the fourth and fifth dogs.

As a result, I was most concerned with "survival" on this blind. But perhaps if I had seen several dogs run the blind without going out of control near the point -- nine dogs were ultimately called back -- I'd have been less concerned about sending Laddie over there. On the other hand, it's also possible that even seeing that, given that at that time I had not yet had Alice's explanation of this subject, I still might have failed to challenge the line and Laddie might still have been dropped.

LL&L

sounds like you and laddie are doing really well m...

2012-05-23T10:35:32.427-04:00

sounds like you and laddie are doing really well making it to the water blind. do you think judge was nitpicking or should we be aware of this in our next trial

Hi, Ducks and Bumpers. Who are you? I wanted to ...

2012-04-15T04:47:09.254-04:00

Hi, Ducks and Bumpers. Who are you?

I wanted to thank you for your thoughts. Please see follow up post for my experience trying the idea with Laddie.

-- Lindsay

Let me know how u make out with this exercise so...

2012-04-14T15:23:18.547-04:00

Let me know how u make out with this exercise sounds like an idea that may work.

2012-02-10T08:40:10.215-05:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

I got into tracking as a retirement activity for m...

2011-12-04T00:23:37.005-05:00

I got into tracking as a retirement activity for my first agility & flyball dog. Dogs do not seem to loose their sense of smell [unlike hearing and sight] as they age. As an AKC-style tracker [as opposed to Search & Rescue or Schutzhund] I would comment that tracking, like many dog activities, is all about motivation! Particularily with an activity where we are "blind" and not fully aware of what the dog is actually doing. From my experience teaching tracking to my 5 dogs and other people's dogs, I would encourage you to use a line and, rather than verbally cue your dog on turns/corners, use increased tension on the line & your lack of movement to suggest to the dog to cast around to find the track. Many handlers try to keep a light tension on the tracking line to keep a connection with the dog, increasing the tension when the dog is off track and going with the dog when it is on the track. You can probabily reduce the number of food drops on the track. You could have additional articles on the track which gives you opportunities to reward your dog. The glove can hold a beloved tennis ball or other object. Clicker-train an article indication [away from a track]. Just some ideas.
one other idea to to add fish oil to Lumi's diet, if you haven't aleady. Fish oil [Omega 3 Fatty Acid] is anti-inflammatory. It really helped my first Dalmatian [who lived life intensely & got stiff at age 11]. And fish oil helps my car-accident-damaged ankle's stiffness. Few side effects to worry about in trying fish oil. Can use capsules from Costco/Walgreens/Target -- pierce with a pin & squeeze on food -- or liquid with a pump to add to dog's bowl. [Most dogs like the flavor.]
Happy training --
Lynnda L in Minneapolis, MN

At 20 yards I'd be afraid that my Mick would ...

2011-12-03T13:18:13.323-05:00

At 20 yards I'd be afraid that my Mick would catch it before it hit the ground. I got Mick qualified all-age this fall!

Hi, Ross. Thanks for your kind words at the link,...

2011-07-26T14:02:20.251-04:00

Hi, Ross. Thanks for your kind words at the link, as well as in this comment. I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep this blog up-to-date for awhile. Laddie and I still train most days, but between training time and work, I just don't have time to write blog entries.

I do tweet fairly often, in case anyone is interested in what Laddie's working on. I'm hoping that in the future, others will also tweet their training sessions so that I'll be able to get ideas from them.

I've decided not to run Laddie in any more Hunt Tests for awhile, and focus entirely on Field Trials, specifically, Qualifying stakes. In fact, Laddie will be running one in upstate NY on Friday. We'll probably resume running Master tests in the future.

Best of luck with Luna!

If you or other readers wish to contact me, my gmail address is LDRidgeway.

Thanks again.

--Lindsay

Hi Lindsay, I just love this blog. You've rea...

2011-07-26T11:09:59.610-04:00

Hi Lindsay,

I just love this blog. You've really put a lot of work into your dogs and this site. I love it when you write from the dog's perspective as well.

My dog Luna is going to do her WCI next week and has 1 ribbon done of her NAHRA Intermediate title. She still needs lots of work on the water. We have such a short training season.
Check out our club Calgary Hunting Dog training with WRHRC

Hope your hunt test season is going well.

Ross

JAM = "Judge's Award of Merit". Awa...

2011-04-11T20:42:50.338-04:00

JAM = "Judge's Award of Merit". Awarded at the discretion of the judges, it typically means that the dog completed all the retrieves reasonably well, but was not judged to be one of the top four placements. This would mean that the dog has to make it thru all the call-backs -- in this case, as is fairly common, thru three call-backs -- and then do a reasonable job on the last series.

I've recently heard that sometimes a judge will decide in advance that a dog can do no better than a JAM because of sub-par work on one retrieve in an earlier series, but still deserves to be called back to continue the trial, and have a chance for a JAM, based on otherwise high quality work.

Congratulations, enjoyed reading it. I've hea...

2011-04-11T17:43:54.439-04:00

Congratulations, enjoyed reading it. I've heard of JAM in FT's before, but what does it actually stand for?

Awesome! What a great inspiration you have been to...

2011-04-05T08:43:51.101-04:00

Awesome! What a great inspiration you have been to those of us who do not wish to use aversives.

Congratulations and Happy Training'

2011-04-04T14:06:19.390-04:00

Congratulations and Happy Training'

Good job

2011-04-02T22:50:11.534-04:00

Good job

This is SO exciting! Great job to both of you, I ...

2011-04-02T09:56:48.318-04:00

This is SO exciting! Great job to both of you, I can't wait to hear about your next event. Thank you for sharing so much of the work that got you up to this point.

Hi, Terry. Thanks so much for your note. It'...

2010-09-27T07:01:38.860-04:00

Hi, Terry. Thanks so much for your note. It's great to hear from another positive trainer.

The most difficult challenges for both my dogs were the field recall (especially returning over water) and honoring flyers.

I'd be interested to know whether you had any difficulties in those areas, and if so, how you addressed them.

Lindsay, I read the article about you in Whole Dog...

2010-09-23T20:44:09.342-04:00

Lindsay, I read the article about you in Whole Dog Journal. I too am I positive trainer swimming upstream in the shock collar world of field training. I am looking forward to reading more of your progress this season. I have gotten two dogs through Senior and Seasoned. One all positive, one mostly. Working with a puppy now who may have what it takes to make it all the way - it will take a community of help to get him there, though.

Very interresting post. FYI, here is how Field tr...

2010-06-29T04:57:34.056-04:00

Very interresting post.
FYI, here is how Field trials are done in France:
Field trials

Thanks for your comment. To answer your question,...

2010-05-13T16:28:07.295-04:00

Thanks for your comment. To answer your question, Alice writes a column for a newsletter I subscribe to called "Hunt Test Know How". I suspect that's where I saw her discuss this particular topic.

I really enjoyed reading this with the pictures. A...

2010-05-13T11:28:44.581-04:00

I really enjoyed reading this with the pictures. After the first section then looking at the picture I was wondering why you used over rather than back cast, so thanks for explaining. Do you happen to know where that article by Alice is? Thanks! Keep up the good work!

You're probably right about training too far a...

2009-08-18T09:39:42.475-04:00

You're probably right about training too far above senior level. You could run two blinds. One over the point they can run over, then past the one they can't.

Looks like a nice spot.

Thanks for looking at it for me, Dave. Today was ...

2009-08-17T22:33:51.405-04:00

Thanks for looking at it for me, Dave. Today was my first day at the location, but I expect to train L&L there several more times over next two weeks, so I appreciate the suggestions.

As I recall, the south point has some kind of structure on it that doesn't show in the satellite view, which is why I planted our blind at water's edge today. I may be remembering wrong, but I don't think a dog can go over that point.

The other consideration is that L&L will be competing in Senior this fall. I don't think we'd see blinds like the ones your describing at that level. Often I do overtrain for our level, but if it's going to take too many whistles, I'd rather have the dogs work closer to event level and build confidence.

One idea I had was to send them past the island from various angles. They should be pretty comfortable with that, and I think they'd still be overtraining with respect to Senior level.

It looks like a good blind would have been from th...

2009-08-17T22:14:07.682-04:00

It looks like a good blind would have been from the blind location on the left, across the tips of both points, and over to the far shore. Or past one point and over the other, to the far shore.

Pretty cool!

Thanks so much for your comment. I think I've hea...

2009-04-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much for your comment. I think I've heard others say they like that book. It's cool that someone else discovered the same approach to head-swinging.

Have we corresponded via email, or only via comments on this blog? If you'd like to use email, write to lindsay dot ridgeway at mac dot com.