Training with Field Trial group

Park Heights

Lumi, Laddie, and I used to train with Bob Hux at Timmy's property in Park Heights quite often, but in the year and half since Bob retired to Florida, we've only been to Timmy's property once, when Bob came back for a visit. Since Bob's groups were HT-oriented, we've never run FT set-ups at Park Heights.

But last night, Tony, one of the trainer's in Charlie's Cheltenham group, called me to let me know that several of the trainers were going to meet at Park Heights in the morning to train on grounds where the hay had just been cut, providing practice for that kind of terrain for the dogs.

We're in the middle of a heat wave and temps would reach the mid-90s, so we met at 8:00 AM, ran two series with the dogs swimming on every retrieve, and finished by noon.

SERIES A. Five singles

All of the dogs ran this set-up the same way, as five singles all within a 30° angle:

1. 110 yards to far right, a pheasant thrown right to left on a sharp angle back
2. 120 yards to far left, a pheasant thrown right to left behind a tree
3. 230 yards to middle right, a pheasant thrown right to left on an angle back
4. 230 yards to middle left, a duck thrown left to right
5. 270 yards center, a duck thrown right to left on an angle back

A busy rural road ran less than 50 yards to the right of #1 and #3, so if any dog got too far behind the throwers on those marks, the gunners immediately began to help them as a matter of safety.

The property's technical pond lay between the SL and all five marks. #1 and #3 had suction for the dog to run the bank to the right. #2 required the dog to go on-and-off a point.

The lines to #4 and #5 involved going past several trees on either side.

I think that for most dogs, the primary challenges of Series A were the size of the set-up (given the hot weather), and the fact that the dog would lose sight of the falls while crossing the pond, losing sight of the fall twice on #2, where the fall was already obscure because it was behind a tree. Another challenge was the suction to run the bank on #1, #2 (second water crossing), and #3. I believe that the Skimming Drill we have run nearly every day for several weeks in a variety of locations benefited Laddie on today's work, since he required no handling to get in the water and stay on line for any of these marks.

From what I saw, only three dogs ran all five marks without requiring help or handling on any of them. They were Timmy's dog; another dog who regularly trains on FT set-ups on Timmy's property; and Laddie, who pinned every mark with little or no hunting.

Tony told me later that Laddie had done a nice job. Tony is an AKC HT and FT judge as well as an experienced hunter and trainer, so that was nice to hear.

However, Laddie exhibited one behavior pattern that could get us into trouble in an event. On the positive side, as he entered the water with the birds on three of his returns, he simply swam across the pond, climbed out, and delivered the birds. But on two of the returns, he dropped the birds at the far side of the pond and began floating around and lapping water. In each case he responded to "Fetch" by picking up the bird and completing his return, but a bird might have escaped if he'd done that with a "cripple". The good news was that he entered the water without hesitation, something we struggled with for much of Laddie's life, but the bad news was those two delays completing his returns once he was in.

Here's a satellite view of Series A:

View 20100627 Series A in a larger map

SERIES B. Two water singles

After watching how tired some of the dogs had gotten running Series A, the guys setting up Series B decided to limit it to two retrieves, after which we would quit for the day.

The ten or so dogs that ran Series B did so in a wide variety of ways, using several different start lines. Most of them ran it as two singles, but at least one ran it as a double. I'll describe the series as Laddie ran it. I believe he was one of only two dogs who ran it with a retired gun.

The first mark was on the right, thrown right to left across the end of the pond into a clump of high grass at 120 yards. The entry was on a very sharp angle that invited the dog to run the right side of the pond, and several of the dogs tried to do so, but Laddie entered the water on line to the bird and completed the swim to the end of the pond without handling. When he reached the end of the pond, he came out where the thrower was rather than where the bird had been thrown, but he immediately darted left, picked the bird up, and re-entered the water. During his return, I had to repeatedly handle him to the left to keep him from getting out of the water, the only time all day I handled him.

The second mark was on the left, thrown right to left from in front of a tree onto the grassy area past the pond at 140 yards. I used a different SL for this mark, such that Laddie had a shorter swim compared to the first mark but a longer run before entering water. The run from the SL to the water entry was down into a depression and then back up over the dike at the edge of the pond, and the gunner retired behind a camouflage umbrella as the dog traversed that depression.

Thick, 8' high grass grew in a large clump at the edge of the water and lay on the line for the second mark, but until the end of the series, none of the dogs, including Laddie, tried to run thru it, instead skirting it by detouring a little to the right, or in one case skirting it to the left. Finally, Timmy ran his dog next to last and handled his dog to run thru the cover, and at that point I realized I should have done the same thing with Laddie. The cover looked impenetrable, but Timmy's dog had no trouble running thru it, so if this kind of situation comes up again, I'll check out the cover before assuming that Laddie can't run thru it.

Here's a satellite view of Series B:

View 20100627 Series B in a larger map

Land Triple

Rolling Ridge

I had originally planned to run a land triple and a water triple with both dogs today at Hunt Test distances, just for the fun of it. But the gnats were so bad during the land triple that I just decided to throw some bumpers in the pond for them afterwards and then call it a day.

Temps were in the high 80s. The fields at Rolling Ridge have not been mowed in several weeks, so all the cover is at least waist high. For the triple, all three throws were made with our two BBs.

SERIES A. Interrupted triple with blind (Lumi, then Laddie)

The first throw was on the left, right to left at 100 yards. The BB was behind a fallen tree, and the throw was into a large area of shoulder-high cover the edge of which ran roughly parallel to the line to the fall, creating a uniform wall of cover difficult to see differences in along its length. The throw was made after I cued "Sit, mark," but without any other information until the gunshot went off and launched the bumper across the somewhat lower cover and into the higher stuff.

The second throw was in the middle, right to left at 60 yards, again from an area of somewhat lower cover into an area of shoulder-high cover. I sounded the BB's duck call before firing this mark. The line to the mark was thru the corner of an area of higher cover, which the dog could skirt by veering slightly to the right. I allowed Lumi to do so, whereas I called Laddie back when he tried to and had him go thru the triangle of high cover.

The third throw was on the right, thrown left to right at 20 yards and behind a large tree. The dog had to run well around to the left to get to the fall.

After all the dog had watched all three throws, I sent the dog to pick up the 20-yard mark on the right. Next, I had the dog run an 80-yard blind under the arc of the mark the dog had just picked up. Then I had the dog pick up the 60-yard middle mark. And finally, we turned in the direction of the 100-yard mark, which was 120° to the left of the middle mark, and I sent the dog to pick up the last mark, which had been the first mark down.

I had done everything I could think of to make the last mark difficult for the dog to remember. However, both dogs seemed to have a clear memory of it when I sent them to it, running out to the area of the fall at full speed. At that stage, both dogs had a moderate-length hunt, trying to find the correct place to enter the high cover and then trying to find the bumper inside. However, both dogs had the necessary persistence and eventually emerged from the high cover with the bumper without any attempt to interact with me.

Challenging Lines

Cheltenham

I'd hoped to get some group training in with Laddie today, but only one other guy showed up at the property, and he was doing different things with his dog than I wanted to work on with Laddie.

So instead, I set up a series of single retrieves, sometimes a WB or OB planted, sometimes a WB thrown. Some of them are shown in the satellite view below. Because temps reached the high 80s, most of the work included some swimming.

I ran Lumi on a few retrieves as well, just for fun.

If you click the blue link at the bottom of the map, you'll see a page that gives the approximate sequence Laddie ran the retrieves, the distances, and an indication of which direction the retrieve went. You can also click the blue lines on the map to see which line is which.

Notes on Laddie's Performance

[I'm referring to these as blinds, but I made the WB or OB clearly visible on all of them. In today's drills, I was interested in Laddie's lines, not in control for situations where he doesn't know where the bird is.]

A (200-yard channel blind). Laddie has run this blind from shorter distances several times before. This was the first time we've run it from the mound near the barn. Laddie stayed away from the points on both sides on his own, without handling.

B (220-yard land blind). Laddie has also run this blind before. It goes from the mound near the barn, down into a depression, across a swim-depth ditch that narrows to the left, uphill across another wet area, and further uphill to the blind near the crest. If the dog gets off line to the right or goes too far, she can get out of sight. In the past, Laddie has required multiple casts to prevent him from cheating around the big ditch to the left. Today, I only needed a single cast "back", just as he started to veer left.

C and D (two skimming blinds). Our work on the Skimming Drill is paying off! Laddie required no handling on either of these retrieves.

E (180-yard channel blind). I had Laddie run (swim) this retrieve twice. The first time he got out of the water on the left 30 yards from the blind. The second time, he still required some handling, but he stayed in the water the whole way out.

F (340 yard land/water blind). Laddie has swum the water portion of this retrieve before, but that was from inside the road. Today, we ran it from the top of the hill near the barn. Laddie required handling to get past the first point, and also to get onto the second point, but he responded in both cases, which I think was good work at those distances.

G (180-yard land blind over a mound). For this retrieve, the dog runs from one mound near the barn, down a hill, across a road, over a second mound, and then picks up the blind on a third mound, all in a straight line. Laddie had considerable difficulty with this retrieve, repeatedly trying to round the middle mound to the left or right. After several tries, I shortened it up enough for him to succeed, and then had him rerun it from increasing distances till he finally ran the full route. However, I am not happy with how many times I expected him to be able to take the middle mound on his own when he wasn't ready, and had to call him back to try again. As a result, on the last retrieve he popped three times, clearly not confident in his understanding of what was required to avoid being called back. Hopefully we can work on this or something similar soon, and rebuild his confidence on this picture.

View 20100613 Challenging lines in a larger map

Cheating singles at Rebel Ridge

Rebel Ridge Farm

Today the dogs and I needed to travel to New York for my biweekly on-site work schedule. As we did a couple of weeks ago, I planned to stop at Rebel Ridge Farm, about halfway between home and my place in Brooklyn, to train with Patty's FT group, including Gaby.

However, when I arrived at Rebel Ridge, no other trainers were there, so I took the opportunity to work with Laddie on some of the retrieves we'd had the last time we trained with Patty, which was at this same location. Lumi, who's been with me instead of my daughter the last week, was "pick-up dog" for a couple of retrieves I didn't want Laddie to do, but mostly I was concerned with continued preparation of Laddie to run in Qualifying Stakes some day.

SERIES A. Swim-by pond

For Series A, Laddie ran four retrieves, two to an LP with a WB placed at the base, then two more thrown by a BB left to right from the corner of the last pond, angling back to the same position where the LP had been.

Series A was run at a pair of small rectangular ponds referred to as the swim-by ponds by some of the other trainers. The first retrieve to the LP was run from a point between the two ponds. The second retrieve to the LP was run over both ponds. The first retrieve with the BB was run from the same point between the two ponds. And the last retrieve, also with the BB, was run across a road and then over both ponds.

Here's a satellite view of Series A (the marks were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series A in a larger map

SERIES B. Cheater with bridge concept

Series B was based on a set-up Patty had used for one of the marks in a triple the last time we trained together. The throw was a "bridge" mark, left to right across a neck in a technical pond, with the thrower on the left point and the fall on the right point. The position of the SL required the dog to take a sharp angle entering a pond, assuming the dog didn't run the bank. If the dog squared the entry, she would be swimming toward the thrower. Bridges are a difficult concept for many dogs anyway, and this entry made it even more likely that the dog would swim to the left point instead of the right one. To make it even worse, two decoys were floating near the left point.

For the version that Laddie ran today, I tried a BB with a stickman on the left bank, but the BB was not able to launch either of the bumpers all the way across to the right bank. After launching both of the BB bumpers, I let Laddie pick up one of them and sent Lumi for the other.

I then put Laddie in a stay at the same SL, walked to the left point, fired a pistol, threw a WB across to the right point, and walked back to the SL to run Laddie.

Laddie did so well on the earlier water entries that I decided to have him run it again, but raising criteria on the skimming picture. We walked to a new SL across the road and past a hay bale, left him at the new SL so I could throw for him again, and returned to run him. Again he took the water entry well. This time, although he did not square the bank on his water entry, he swam to one of the decoys near the left point. He then began a hunt which took in the left point and the water near that point, but he never crossed to the right point on his own. After letting him hunt unsuccessfully for some time, I blew a WS and cast him toward the right point, and he went almost directly to the WB without the need for further handling.

Here's a satellite view of Series B (the marks were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series B in a larger map

SERIES C. Past a point, cheater on second pond

Series C was a 240-yard mark based on one Patty had used for one of the triples during our previous session training with her group. Today I used a BB with a stickman as our thrower. The BB was set near the top of a rise, and as with Patty's version, was aimed to throw left to right on a diagonal to the slope of the hill so that it landed at a low point in the terrain. The line to the fall was across one section of a technical pond that included swimming past a point on the left, then onto land, then across a second section of the pond, and finally back onto land to the fall.

I had Laddie ran this single twice. The first time, he started to run around the second section of the pond on the left. I stopped him with a WS, cast him right so that he was back on his original line, and then cast him "back", which took him across the water. He needed a hunt but soon found the bumper and brought it back. He ran around the far section of the pond on his return and I decided not to stop him, since most of Patty's dogs, even if they took the far section of water on their outrun — some did, some ran around it — they nearly all ran around it on their returns.

The second time Laddie ran this single, he took the second section of the pond on his own and also ran straight to the bumper. I was pleased to see that he had learned from the first time and didn't need to be handled to stay on his line and get into the second section of water.

Laddie made no attempt to swim to the point in the first section of pond either time.

Here's a satellite view of Series C (the marks were run top to bottom in this view):

View 20100607 Series C in a larger map

SERIES D. Two blinds

I decided not to run Laddie on the blind that Patty had set up for a few of her dogs last time, because I felt the blind would be less interesting this time because it wouldn't have the influence of flyers from a previous series that the dog had run earlier the same day last time. I decided instead to set up two of my own blinds intended to exercise skills Laddie has been working on lately.

The line for the first blind, 120 yards, was at a slight diagonal thru both of the swim-by ponds. Laddie didn't swim them on a diagonal but squared up when swimming inside each of them. The only time he needed to be handled was on the small strip of land between the two ponds, where he started to run around to the right before I blew WS, cast him over to the left, then quickly stopped him again and cast him into the second pond. He lined the blind from there.

The line for the second blind, 170 yards, was into the technical pond, past a point on the right, then on and off a second point to the blind on the far bank. Laddie needed a little handling to get past the first point, but lined the blind from there, taking the on-and-off without handling. He also needed handling past the closer point on the return, because I wanted him to return on the same line he'd taken out.

Here's a satellite view of Series D (the blinds were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series D in a larger map

Skimming Drills with Time-outs

Rolling Ridge

For the last three days, Laddie and I have continued to work on the Skimming Drill, using our Bumper Boy for setups with both high cover and water as obstacles.

Each day, I've experimented with increasing distance to the entry point of the obstacle, and narrowing the width of the section cut off, the two factors that seem to have the most effect on difficulty. Laddie has been making steady progress for both kinds of increase in criteria.

I've done little handling. If Laddie attempts to skirt the obstacle, in most cases I call him back. Today, for example, I used no handling at all.

In today's Series A, Laddie did a great job on two retrieves running thru a corner of high cover. The distance to the entry was relatively short compared to some of our earlier set-ups, but the amount of cover to be cut off was smaller. In other words, I relaxed one criterion while raising another.

For Series B, we moved to the pond. Again, our distance was a little shorter than yesterday's at the pond (50 yards to the entry versus 70 yards yesterday), but today's slice of water was narrower than yesterday's.

As Series B progressed, I ended up making one change to our procedure that I had not planned in advance.

For the first three throws of Series B, Laddie tried to run the bank the first time I sent him, then took a good entry when I called him back and sent him again. When he tried that two-try pattern again and attempted to run the bank on the first send-out of the fourth throw, I called him back and made the snap decision not to give him a second opportunity to perform that particular retrieve. Instead, I walked him quietly to the van, put him in his crate, and closed the back gate. All the windows and a side door were still open for ventilation, but I wanted him to have a clear sense of a time-out, a procedure with which he has almost no experience, but which seemed appropriate in these circumstances.

After reloading the BB, I brought Laddie back out and we ran the same challenging retrieve again. This time he took the correct entry the first time I sent him after the throw, breaking the chain at last. Yay!

However, when I fired another bumper and sent him again, he again tried to run the bank. So for the second time today, I called him back, we walked to the van together, I had him get in his crate, and I closed the back gate of the van.

After reloading the BB one more time, I brought Laddie out and we ran the retrieve once more. Again he took the correct entry the first time I sent him after the throw. And then I fired the other bumper and sent him again, the only difference that I ran him from my other side, the more difficult side. It did no harm. This time, too, he took the correct entry.

I was pleased with the results of using the time-out for this situation. I think I could have taken a different approach, which would have been to move closer once I saw that he wasn't ready to run the first send out correctly four times in a row.

However, the fact that Laddie ran correctly the second time in each case seemed significant to me, as though he were learning a behavior chain of running the obstacle incorrectly on his first try, and then running it correctly after being called back. Not efficient, but not so easy for him to fix himself because of his strong impulse to run the bank and get to the fall that much faster. I felt that showing him a specific undesirable outcome for the two-try pattern, the lost opportunity to complete that retrieve at all, might be more appropriate in this case than simply lowering criteria by backing off on distance or increasing the width of the slice.

Why? Because I sensed a risk that if I didn't show him an undesirable outcome, the two-try pattern would remain in his system only to reappear in less convenient circumstances, such as group training or an event. In group training, the chain would probably be reinforced because I'd be reluctant to give up the entire series, and would be more likely to call him back and run him again. In an event, I wouldn't take any action at all and would hope that he could correct his line and complete the mark despite running the bank. If I was going to try to put an end to the two-try pattern, this seemed to be the right time to do it.

I don't know whether making it easier would have been better in this case, or if the time-out was better. I would not want to use time-outs very often. I can imagine undesirable side-effects of a time-out, such as Laddie someday intentionally running a bank if he was tired and wanted a break. But today, as a novel procedure, it seemed to work well.

Postscript

It occurred to me later that perhaps another way of addressing the two-try chain would have been to use a Walk Out rather than calling him back. WOs have been quite effective for other difficulties in the past, and they appeal to me much more than using a time-out. I think that's what I'll try if it comes up again in the future.

Perhaps I shied away from it today because I'm currently suffering with a gout attack, which makes walking difficult. It's just something I'll have to deal with.

Skimming Drill with Remote Launcher

Rolling Ridge

Once again, Laddie and I worked at Rolling Ridge today on the Skimming Drill.

Since the drill is intended eventually to make skimming automatic for marks, I thought I'd try using our Bumper Boy as a "gunner". In addition, since I hope the drill will promote ease of handling in the same picture, I also ran a couple of blinds thru a corner of high cover without an LP at the blind.

As we have in most of our other Skimming Drill practice sessions, we trained both with corners of high cover, and with the curved sections of a pond. I'd have preferred an easier water picture, such as an angular corner, but curved shorelines are what we have available at this location.

As I usually try to, I used set-ups we've never used before on this property.

We ran six marks thru corners of high cover with the BB, six marks across a curved shoreline with the BB, two blinds thru a corner of high cover with WBs, and four more marks across a curved shoreline with the BB. For the first and second series with the BB, the BB was behind the obstacle and launching toward the open edge. For the last series, the BB was at the open edge and launching behind the obstacle. I didn't realize it until I tried it, but I thought the latter set-up turned out to present an easier picture.

Laddie continued to improve despite the addition of the BB, and also despite the removal of the LP for blinds. That is, he was able to take the edges of obstacles without handling from greater distance than in any previous session.

Actually, I used no handling today. If Laddie didn't take the obstacle correctly, I called him back.

Altogether, he needed to be called back only once on land and only twice on water. For the rest of his retrieves, he took the obstacle automatically. He lined both blinds.

Another area of improvement is that as recently as yesterday, he was taking the edges of water too fat. That is, he would square the entry and veer off line too far into the pond. From the standpoint of getting off line and possibly ending up lost, that would seem to be just as much a problem as running the bank. I worked with him extensively on not doing it the last few sessions, and today it was a non-issue.

It's possible that, prior training aside, the excitement caused by the BB helped pull Laddie into a straighter line. He always practices with great enthusiasm, but I still sensed that the BB — with its duck call, gunfire, and flying bumper — made the Skimming Drill even more fun for him.

Based on correspondence with Alice, one issue I've become concerned with is that the Skimming Drill could, in theory, cause a dog's marking to deteriorate, specifically if the dog became more concerned with taking the obstacles than with getting to the area of the fall and to the retrieval article itself. Several things made me think that that isn't happening with Laddie, at least not yet:

1. He tried to cheat the obstacles those three times.
2. When the bumper fell in mid-high cover on the land marks, he had no hesitation to dive in and hunt it up.
3. When the bumper fell behind the embankment on the water marks, he flew over the embankment and disappeared from sight, then appeared a moment later, tail high and the bumper in hand.

In summary, to me he didn't seem to have lost any keenness for the mark.

One additional side note: I noticed today that Laddie doesn't merely race into high cover, he leaps and pounces on it as he enters. What style! :0)

Skimming Drills

Rolling Ridge

Like every day the last few days, today was a continuation of running Laddie on the Skimming Drill, first on land, then on water.

He's making good progress.

Skimming Drills

Rolling Ridge

In the morning, Laddie and I trained on a field in the Rolling Ridge subdivision near home on Brink Road.

Series A and B were mirror images of one another. In each series, I used three LPs and four WBs. I placed one LP at the SL, a second LP and two WBs on a line that went near but not thru a point of high cover, and the last LP and two WBs on a line that went thru the high cover a few feet from the point.

I then sent Laddie from one side to pick up all four of the bumpers, in this sequence: past the cover, thru the cover, past the cover, thru the cover. Then I put the bumpers back out and ran him to the same locations but from my other side.

Seeing the difficulty Laddie had with this drill, and the importance of this skill in FT competition, I wonder why I've never heard of anyone running this drill before. I've given it a name: the Skimming Drill. I can see many ways to vary it and to increase performance criteria:

• With a point of high cover to skim
• With a rounded edge of high cover to skim
• With a pond's squared corner to skim
• With a pond's rounded shoreline to skim
• In water with a point of land to skim
• In water with a rounded edge of land to skim
• With white, orange or black bumpers
• With or without a lining pole
• From near the entry point to increasing distances back from the entry point
• With the target near the exit point to increasing distances beyond the exit point

The goal is to get the point where the dog is able to run all of those pictures without handling.

Black Hills Regional Park

Series C was another skimming drill with high cover.

Series D was another skimming drill, but this time at a rounded edge of shoreline. Laddie made progress during Series D, but for the water retrieves, he never got to the point where he could cut straight across the curve of the pond without handling. In addition, he never got to the point where he could take the sharply angled entry without either running the bank or squaring the shoreline, so we needed to run every water retrieve for Series D from water's edge.

Skimming Cover

Liberty State Park

After a 2-1/2 hour drive to go 9.2 miles, thru first the Battery Tunnel and then the Holland Tunnel, Laddie and I finally arrived at lovely Liberty State Park on the New Jersey shore just a short, scenic view from the Statue of Liberty.

The sun was nearly on the horizon, but we still had a few minutes of sun and then twilight to work on a large, slightly domed field of low cover adjoining an area of high cover on one side.

The area of high cover took a curved shape, creating a perfect opportunity for Laddie to work on the difficult lining picture I call "skimming". The dog must enter the high cover at a very sharp angle, run thru it for some distance, and then emerge again to continue in a straight line from the original SL. A similar challenge occurs when the dog is sent toward a rounded shoreline, and rather than veering slightly to run the bank, must enter the water and swim just a few feet from shore till reaching the far edge of the curve.

Although Laddie learned to run into cover, rather than around it, long ago, I learned in today's work that he does not yet understand these very sharp angles of entry. Instead, he repeatedly attempted to run just outside of the cover, curving around in the low cover rather than cutting into and thru the high cover.

I had several unsuccessful attempts to elicit the correct behavior by calling him back and sending him again, each time moving closer and closer to the entry point. I then put him at the SL in a sit and entered the cover myself, carrying a bumper with me. I pushed thru the high cover on the line I wanted Laddie to take, walked nearly to the far edge, and thru the bumper straight forward and high, so that Laddie could see it from where he was waiting. I was then able to send him and have him take the correct line.

After that breakthrough, we ran the same thing a few more times, the only difference being that I moved the SL further and further back away from the entry point into the high cover.

We had enough time for several successful retrieves. By then, Laddie was panting hard in the hot, muggy air, so we got back in the van and drove back to our room in Brooklyn.

FT group work and water returns

Rebel Ridge

In the past, when I wrote that my dogs and I trained with a Field Trial group, I meant Charlie's group training in Cheltenham. But today, I mean a different group, Pattie's group, who was training at Rebel Ridge in northeastern Maryland. Pattie is professional retriever trainer and a friend of Gaby's, and has been kind enough to welcome Laddie and me to train with her group from time to time. We trained with her today as Laddie and I were on the way to New York — Rebel Ridge is at approximately the halfway point on our biweekly drives to New York — and also a couple of other times recently.

In today's group training, the dogs ran two land/water set-ups with three marks in each. All the throws were ducks, except that the middle throw of the first set-up was a white bumper, and the middle throw of the second set-up was a duck flyer.

I won't describe the set-ups in detail because it's not important for the purposes of this post. Suffice it to say that most of the marks invited "cheating" (running around one or more water crossings), and that both set-ups overall were significantly longer than a typical Hunt Test set-up.

Despite the fact that Laddie ran both set-ups as three singles (most of the dogs ran them as triples), here's what the other trainers probably "saw" when they watched Laddie take his turn: a terrible marking dog, with virtually no sense of where most of the falls were and, to all appearances, no concept of taking a water entry rather than running the bank.

Now here's what I saw: a dog who, amazingly, picked up every bird and trotted right into the water with it on his returns, making it look simple and routine. Between the two series, I'd guess that added up to about ten water entries with a duck.

Dating back for years, and as recently as only a few weeks ago, I was concerned that I would never solve Laddie's problem of returning into water while carrying an article, especially a duck, and at its worse with strangers around. Never mind the fact that most retrievers seem to have no difficulty with that skill at all, for Laddie it seemed potentially fatal to his competitive career.

How much does this milestone have to do with the Walking Recall, a training plan I invented a couple of weeks ago and have described on my reference blog, "The 2Q Retriever"? That's a question I can't answer. But I am pleased with Laddie's breakthrough, and if the Walking Recall is part or all of it, I'm happy that I finally found a solution to this major flaw in Laddie's development.

Sometimes progress with one skill is accompanied by a temporary setback in another. Maybe that's why Laddie's marking was so awful today. Or maybe it was a case of Group Discount Factor, similar to Alice Woodyard's term, "Event Discount Factor," which describes the almost inevitable decline in performance of a dog in an event compared to the dog's work in practice. Today Laddie was training with a new, and rather large, group, on a property he's only seen a few times and has never run FT set-ups on. Nor is he particularly experienced in FT groups set-ups at all. Plus we had flyers today. With all that change and all that excitement, perhaps it would be surprising if Laddie's performance hadn't declined some.

Well, bad marking is bad marking. Hopefully Laddie's good marking will resurface again sometime, and better sooner than later. Meanwhile, Laddie is finally able to bring a bird back over water even under in the presence of lots of other trainers, lots of other dogs, and even a few crates full of flyers!

Land blinds

Emory Road

Today I had Gabriel, Renee's Golden, in the van along with Lumi and Laddie as we were driving Renee first to work at the fitness club where she teaches, then to visit her mother about an hour from our house. I stopped on three of the legs to take the dogs for hikes in various green areas, and on two of them, I left the dogs in the van while I planted a blind (OB), then let them all out and ran Laddie on the blind. The two blinds were in a large field, traversed by a winding paved road, owned by one of the utility companies. Laddie ran one of the blinds in the morning, the other in the afternoon.

SERIES A. Land blind

Series A was a 280 yard blind run in light rain. The line to the blind was diagonally across a rectangular section of field, to the left of a telephone pole on the edge of a slope down to the road, an angle away from the road, across a concrete ditch, across a grassy area on an angle toward the tree line of a wooded section, and across a section of wood chips to the edge of an intersecting wooded section, with the OB planted at wood's edge.

Series A had two challenges: (1) Running the dog just to the left of the pole and to the right of the road, which required the dog to reach the downhill slope at 150 yards from the handler, then run sideways along the slope till passing to the left of the telephone pole. (2) Staying to the left of the wooded section, when a large uphill field invited the dog to run to the right of the wooded section.

Laddie had trouble with the line and needed to be called all the way back in twice, and partially back in a couple more times, but he remained responsive to both WS and casts the entire time, and as always maintained a high level of enthusiasm and engagement.

SERIES B. Land blind

Series B was a 180 yard blind run in what had become a warm, sunny afternoon. The line to the blind was along the left edge of a curving road, then at a sharp angle off of the road and diagonally up a slope adjoining the road, between two telephone poles 10 yards apart, 100 yards across a meadow angling in toward a section of woods, to the OB planted in cover in front of a large shrub at the edge of the woods.

I thought that the challenges of Series B were: (1) To get off the road on a straight line rather than following the curve of the pavement. (2) To run diagonally up the slope adjacent to the road rather than squaring the slope and also rather than following the hill's baseline. (3) To run between the two poles rather than outside one of them or possibly even hunting the base of one of them. (4) To stay on line while approaching the woods on an angle rather than squaring the wood line to the left or running the open meadow parallel to the wood line by veering right. (5) To stop and find the OB in cover rather than darting into the woods or running past the shrub without responding to a handle.

As it turned out, Laddie had no difficulty with any of those challenges. He stayed on an excellent line off the road, up the hill, and thru the telephone poles, then responded well to three WSCs to keep him in a narrow corridor to the blind.

Land blinds

West of Zion Park

As the weekend and Laddie's next Senior test approaches, with temps in the low 50s, I thought today might be a good day to give him a little handling practice. This adds to the variety of recent days, when we've run such things as a quad thrown with two BBs to exercise Laddie's memory, a double with a sharp angle back and a sharp angle in thrown by a single BB, and a water double thrown with two BBs combined with a water blind requiring a shoreline swim.

Today's blinds (OBs) were hopefully more difficult than anything Laddie will see on Saturday, giving a safety margin in preparation for the test.

The first blind was in the middle at 80-yards. The line to the blind was thru knee-high cover, past a telephone pole, and thru a strip of waist-high cover, then straight up a nearly sheer rise to the top of a 15' high mound. The bumper was planted at the crest of the rise, so that Laddie had to get to the top and then immediately stop, or he would disappear on the other side and we'd be unable to see one another, making handling impossible.

The second blind was to the right at 180 yards, at the end of a split-rail fence. The line to the blind was thru knee-high cover, then moist mud, with the blind planted in a clump of high cover. The challenge of this blind was that the actual placement was in the vicinity of a variety of likely-looking alternative blind placements: a telephone pole on the right, a mound on the left, and a gap between the fence and the mound that could easily have represented a keyhole, with a small meadow and then an orchard of widely spaced trees beyond.

The third blind was to the left at 280 yards. The line to the blind included a variety of factors intended to challenge Laddie's handling. The line was thru knee-high cover most of the way. After an initial open stretch, the line went under a giant electrical tower, past a mound of strongly scented topsoil, over a spot with a deer hoof and several leg bones still attached to each other, and sideways for nearly a hundred yards up a hillside. The blind placement was marked with an LP, and as in the first blind, was placed at the crest of the hill, so that if Laddie went more than a few steps past the plane of the blind, he'd disappear behind the hill and we wouldn't be able to see each other.

Laddie had little trouble with any of these blinds, but did require handling on all of them. For the short blind in the center, he faded left or right each time I cast him back near the sheer rise, since I doubt I've ever run him on a blind that required such a climb, and the rise must have looked like a border or barrier rather than a path to the blind at first. For the second blind on the right, Laddie was drawn to all of the expected diversions, but remained responsive to the WSCs I used to redirect him each time he faded away from the clump of cover containing the bumper. For the third blind, he had little trouble staying on line, but he stalled at the deer bones and required a number of casts to send him racing back to the LP and the final bumper. When I later went to retrieve the LP, I realized why it had taken so long to get him going again: He had used a spot a few feet from the bones to eliminate.

Advanced retrieves

Cheltenham

Although I wasn't able to get Laddie to the FT training group in time to train with them today, Laddie and I did train at Cheltenham in late morning and early afternoon, using the Bumper Boy (BB) Derby Doubles we recently acquired. I replaced the battery in one of them a couple of days ago, and yesterday I repaired the wiring in the other one, where some of the tiny wires had somehow gotten severed.

With temps above 80°, I decided to have all of today's retrieves as water retrieves.

Although any of today's retrieves could have been run as blinds, I felt that Laddie's learning would be better using the BBs at this stage, for two reasons. First, I wanted Laddie to have a clear picture of his destination, so that if I had to handle him, he'd have an opportunity to recognize that it was because he had veered off line. Second, I wanted to provide a more pleasurable association for these long, challenging retrieves, and felt that running to a mark launched on a big arc with gunfire would probably be more fun for Laddie than running a blind.

SERIES A. Two water singles

Series A consisted of two water marks run across the property's large pond. Though Laddie basically ran Series A as two back-to-back singles, I moved the SLs to provide the kinds of lines I wanted Laddie to practice.

The first mark was on the right, thrown left to right to water's edge at 190 yards. The line to the fall ran down a steep hill, across an inlet, a few feet to the right of a point, across the main pond past two honking Canada geese on the left, across the next point, and across an inlet to the bumper. Laddie ran and swam a perfect line most of the way, but when he reached the far point, I saw him glance to the left, toward a cheating opportunity around the left side of the final inlet. I blew WS and cast him "over" off the point to the right. He lined the mark from there.

The second mark was on the left, thrown right to left angling back across a dirt road to the edge of the woods at 210 yards. The line to the mark was across level ground, over a dirt road, down a steep embankment, across the near inlet, over the same peninsula that Laddie had swum past without touching on the earlier retrieve, across the rest of the pond thru the area where the geese had been swimming, up the far embankment, across another a dirt road, and nearly to the woods that surround the pond. Laddie ran and swam another perfect line, this time to the far shore and up the embankment, but at that point he veered right and began to hunt in the area of the BB. After some time, I decided to handle him to the fall. I made that decision for two reasons: First, I'm not a fan of long hunts, and if there'd been a real gunner, I'd have called for the gunner to help. And second, since there was no real gunner, it was an opportunity for Laddie to get some positive reinforcement (that is, success) from long distance handling cues.

Here's a satellite view of Series A:

View 20100502 Series A in a larger map

A Note on Using "Over" off the Point

As I mentioned above, I used an "Over" cast off the far point on the first mark of Series A. This is something I had read about in an article by Alice Woodyard, but I had some direct experience with it earlier this week. In a similar situation, I used a straight "Back" cast, and as Alice had warned in the article, Laddie disappeared behind the point and then veered sharply toward the shoreline rather than carrying his cast. When I called him back and reran him, I used an "Over" cast to get him off the point, then cast "Back" from open water, where I had a clear view of him, and him of me.

That worked much better, and I remembered to use the same strategy today.

SERIES B. Two up the shore singles

One challenge for Laddie, and I guess for all retrievers, is staying on line and in the water when its necessary to swim past a gunner to a mark thrown on an angle back along the shoreline, a set-up called "up the shore". The double suction of the landfall, and the gunner, are difficult for a young retriever to resist.

For Series B, I decided to run the same up-the-shore retrieve twice. I assumed that I'd need to handle on the first one, and then I'd have Laddie run the identical retrieve and perhaps he would not need handling the second time. That's exactly how it went. Here's a description of the retrieve.

I sent Laddie from near water's edge, with a slight angle entry that was no challenge for Laddie. He then swam thru a keyhole formed by an island on one side and a point on the other. Next, he swam thru a stick pond, ignoring protruding trees and various decoys, passing the opening of a channel on the left. The BB was positioned several yards from the corner of that channel opening up the shoreline, aimed so that it would throw the bumper on an angle back further along the shoreline, nearly to a large tree on water's edge.

The first time, Laddie swam a good line till he got past the channel opening, then veered right toward the BB. But he accepted handling, swam out to the left, and completed the retrieve without getting out of the water until he reached the bumper.

The second time, Laddie did not veer and swam straight to the bumper.

SERIES C. Double mark

Although today was mostly about running and swimming good lines, and the go-bird of Series C was very much about that objective, I decided to use Series C for another couple of objectives as well. I had Laddie run it as a double, challenging his memory. Also, the first throw, that is the memory-bird, was unusually long for us. Here's a description of Series C:

The first mark was on the left, thrown left to right across a road at 320 yards. As seen from the SL, the BB was on the left of a cedar tree 150 yards out, and the fall was on the right. The line to the mark was across an area of cover, across a channel, across a large field, across a water-filled ditch, across another large field, and over the road to the fall. That was the memory-bird.

The second mark was on the right, thrown left to right on an angle back at 240 yards. The line to the second mark was across a section of cover, across the channel, across a point of land, a swim thru two keyholes formed by a broad point on the left and first a peninsula, then an island, on the right. After the keyholes, a wide expanse of water lay before the dog. The line approached the far shore on an angle, then crossed more cover to the fall. That was the go-bird.

As it turned out, the second mark was too difficult for Laddie. Every time he went off the back of the point of land, disappearing for some time, he came up again either on the left or the right. I called him back to the point three times, positioned him for a straight back cast each time, and raised an arm straight up, calling "Back". He would seem to launch off the back of the point on the correct line, but when he became visible again, he was up on one side or the other each time. Finally I called him back to the SL and lined him up for the long memory-bird.

I thought it would be that much more of a challenge, since it had been so long since he'd seen it thrown, but Laddie nailed it perfectly.

I then piled Laddie into the van and drove him around to the other side of the property, parked the van, and together we walked to the point that I'd been casting him off of. I then had him run the Series C go-bird as a blind. Even with me that close to him and in clear view, Laddie still has significant difficulty with the double keyhole. He seemed to understand going thru the first one, but treated the second one as a barrier, repeatedly swimming left or right rather than straight back. I think part of the problem was the unusual (for us) configuration. But a second part of it was the big water that lay beyond the keyhole. By that time, Laddie had been running retrieves for three hours, the first two featuring long swims and all of them featuring mental challenges.

Eventually, Laddie did accept a cast thru the second keyhole and lined the retrieve the rest of the way, perhaps remembering the original picture even though we had driven around to the closer launch point.

Here's a satellite view of Series C:

View 20100502 Series C in a larger map

A Note on "Dummies" vs. "Bumpers"

Around the time I started training Lumi for field work, I read somewhere that "training dummies", or "dummies", is the newer terminology, replacing "bumpers", the older terminology. Ever since then, I've tried to use "dummies" whenever possible.

However, I've finally concluded it's a losing battle. First of all, I don't know a single other trainer who uses the term "dummies", though they all know what I mean when I say it. And secondly, Laddie and I now train with Bumper Boy equipment. Having a BB throw dummies just sounds silly.

So from now on, it's "bumpers", along with associated new abbreviates as needed, such as WB and OB.

Poison-bird Singles

[Laddie and I continue to train every day, but I haven't had time to update this training journal every day. Examples of things we've worked on:

• 300-yard+ blinds in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, in twilight and usually with other people and dogs, some off lead, dotting the field
• Training with Gaby and some of her dogs, sometimes with other trainers as well; for example, yesterday we practiced several set-ups in which the dog would run one or more land-water marks as well as a land-water blind, each of which would require the dog to go past a point without touching it, to go over a point, or combinations of both in the same retrieve; distances were in the 100-200 yard range
• The Walking Recall drill that I invented this week and hope to describe in our companion blog, The 2Q Retriever; Laddie and I now use this drill for lunchtime walks in Brooklyn as well as strolls across the rolling hills of ProspectPark

Power-line Right of Way, Fieldcrest Road

Today Laddie and I went to a field a few minutes from home, under the massive array of power lines that runs thru our part of the county. We've often trained under those lines, which run for many miles. We've never trained on this particular stretch before.

SERIES A. Poison-bird single

First, I used the Bumper Boy (BB) to throw a mark right to left angling sharply back, with the fall at 50 yards. Then, I had Laddie run a 130-yard blind "behind the gunner", with the line to the blind passing slightly to the right of the BB, diagonally down a long hill, diagonally across a wide depression, with an area of impenetrable shrubbery angling in on the right and a ditch, backed by a treeline, angling in on the left. The line ultimately passed the point of the shrubbery on the right, crossed the ditch, ran diagonally uphill a short distance, and lay a yard or so inside the treeline. After Laddie ran the blind, I sent him to pick up the mark.

SERIES B. Poison-bird single

First, I used the BB to throw a mark left to right angling, with the fall at 50 yards in a large, sloped depressing. Then, I had Laddie run a 150-yard blind on a line 180° from the line to the mark. The line to the blind went over the crest of a grassy hill, passed close to the point of a section of woods, ran thru knee-high cover and between two shrubs so close together that the foliage touched at the top, approaching a white split-rail fence angling in on the right, and under the branches of some trees at the edge of the woods where the blind was planted. After Laddie ran the blind, I sent him to pick up the mark.

Line Mechanics for Poison Birds

I thought I'd mention a convention of line mechanics that I use with both Lumi and Laddie when running them on interrupted marks, that is, marks that act as PBs until after the dog has run one or more blinds.

The convention is that I have the dog watch the mark or marks on the side that the go-bird is thrown as normal. For example if the go-bird is thrown left to right, the dog watches the throw or throws from my right side, and will eventually run the marks from there as well.

But if I'm going to have the dog run a blind after watching the throws, but before picking them up, I have the dog switch to my other side to line up for the blinds. I believe switching sides before being sent helps the dogs understand that they will be running a blind or two before being sent to pick up the marks.

Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

On an overcast day with temps in the 50s and intermittent showers, Charlie's group had eight dogs today. Laddie and I were there, but Lumi is staying with my daughter Brookie the Cookie this week.

SERIES A. Pinch blinds

Charlie called the blinds in Series A "pinch blinds", because they require the dog to run on a line that takes the dog very close to a gunner.

For this setup, Charlie put out a stickman at 30 yards, and to begin, the dog was sent to pick up a dummy three feet in front of the stickman. Since dogs do not usually find articles near gunners, and are generally not encouraged to go near them, some of the dogs actually had trouble with this simple retrieve, though Laddie did not.

Next, the dog ran a 150-yard land blind that took the dog just a few feet to the right of the stickman, then just skimming an inlet of the property's largest pond, then diagonally up the pond's long embankment, then thru one of several keyholes formed by a small grove of trees, then across a long strip of grass running parallel to the dirt road that circles the pond, then across the road at a bend, and finally to a pile of ODs placed in front of an LP. One or two of the dogs ran this blind from the original stickman, but Charlie encouraged most of the handlers, including me, to move up close to the stickman before sending the dog.

After the land blind, the dog ran a 190-yard shoreline water blind 15° to the left. This blind took the dog a few feet to the left of the stickman, then across a 30-yard inlet, then across a peninsula, then along the shoreline more than 100 yards to a pile of ODs placed in front of an LP. Again, one or two dogs ran this blind from the original SL, the others from closer to the stickman.

I felt Laddie ran both of these blinds reasonably well. Like most of the dogs, he veered slightly right and skirted the inlet on the first blind, but then ran the rest of it with just one WSC, taking an accurate cast and lining the remainder of the blind. He required a few WSCs to keep him in the water on the long shoreline swim of the second blind, but he remained responsive and ended up swimming a good line.

SERIES B. Three water singles

Although this set-up could have been run as a triple, Charlie suggested to me, when I inquired on the radio, that it would be best for Laddie's preparation for running in Qualifying Stakes if we ran it as three singles. It turned out that every dog ran it that way.

All marks were WDs thrown by a gunner in a white jacket and with a gunshot. None of the gunners retired.

The first mark was in the center, thrown left to right on an angle back up the shore at 180 yards. The second mark was on the left, thrown right to left across a channel at 80 yards. The third mark was on the right, thrown right to left on an angle back over a road and in front of a mound at 230 yards.

Laddie watched the throws for all of these marks from the SL, which was atop a mound. Some of the handlers moved up for one or more of the marks.

The line to the first mark in the center was across the end point of a ditch filled with swim-depth water and lined with high reeds, then thru a line of trees and underbrush, then across a dirt road, then thru a stick pond, then between two points (the ends of two small islands), then across big water, then approaching a shoreline at a sharp angle, then a short way up onto the grass. Like some of the other dogs, Laddie tried to run around the ditch on the left the first time I sent him. I called him back and sent him again, and the second time he ran an excellent mark, requiring no handling to run a good line despite all the factors such as the steep embankments, the underwater debris and high cover in the ditch, the barrier of the trees and underbrush, the stickpond, the suction of the islands, and the diagonal shoreline swim as the dog approached the far shore.

The short second mark to the left was thrown near a sharp bend in a channel. I decided to leave Laddie at the mound and walk up so that I could send him on a different line than the one from the mound. After walking up, I called Laddie to me before sending him, so that he would swim most of the way to the mark along the channel's shoreline, rather than swimming the short distance across the channel and coming up at the point of land where the channel bent, which was the direct line to the fall if the dog ran from the mound. I was the only handler to do this. I guess the other handlers weren't worried, as I was, that having the dog run the bank on that retrieve might run counter to the dog's primary guidelines ("stay in the water") for such a picture. If he'd run from the mound, Laddie would have actually had to veer offline on the right to stay in the water.

The third mark to the right was again across the ditch in front of the mound, then thru the line of trees and underbrush, then across the dirt road, then across the stickpond, then over a small island, then back into water and high reeds, then up onto wetland and high cover, then across a small inlet of running-depth water (field trainers call this "running water", as opposed to "swimming water"), then over a large field, then diagonally across a dirt road, and finally to a section of low cover in front of a mound, with woods behind that.

Laddie ran Series B as the second dog. The first dog had diverted around the small inlet of running water on this third mark, so when Laddie reached the same point, I blew WS and cast him straight back with a spin to the left, sending him over the inlet rather than letting him skirt it. Aside from that, he nailed the mark, not hunting short or otherwise getting diverted as several of the other dogs did on that mark.

Despite my using a whistle at one point or another on all three marks, I felt Laddie did an excellent job on this series. In a training situation like this, my mentors have suggested that it's better to handle Laddie and have him run the correct line, rather than just let him go to "see what he does".

As always, Laddie ran with great enthusiasm. However, his returns on all the marks were easily the worst of any of the dogs. On every one, he stalled at least somewhat before entering water on the returns, and in one or two cases, he put down the dummy to mark and then explore before responding to my recall cue, picking the dummy back up, and resuming his return.

Charlie discussed Laddie's work with me later, and at one point in the conversation, I commented on Laddie's dismal returns. Charlie's only comment on that subject was, "We don't judge the returns." Since Charlie is a Field Trial judge, and in fact was one of the judges at last year's National Open, I felt a bit less concerned about Laddie's returns after that comment. In fact, I'd say the greatest concern might be if Laddie's returns deteriorated even further, especially in event conditions, to the point that he wouldn't complete the delivery at all within a reasonable amount of time.

Land and Water

Rolling Ridge

Rolling Ridge is a new development about ten minutes from home. We've trained there often before over the years, taking advantage of the rolling hills, large hillsides, an abandoned homestead with old trees, outbuildings, etc., and an irregular-shaped ditch that's usually dry. Today, I discovered another feature, a sediment pond that in the past did not seem suitable for training — too shallow, too muddy — but now seems to have normal pond water and swim depth in places. Its not a technical pond — no peninsulas — but the edges seem well suited to shoreline de-cheating.

Since Lumi has her SH now, and I'm only running her for her own entertainment, I decided not to swim her till her allergies start to calm down. I don't know that they have anything to do with the water, but I'd rather keep variables to a minimum.

SERIES A. Double land blind with poison bird (Laddie)

Series A started with a 130-yard blind (OD) to the left. Next, I used a Bumper Boy to "throw" a PB mark on the right, left to right at 60 yards. While the PB remained in place, I ran Laddie on a 290-yard blind (OD) down the middle. After Laddie returned with that blind, I sent him to pick up the PB.

The line to the 130-yard blind passed a hedgerow on the left, then an outbuilding on the right, and crossed a variety of low ridges and shallow depressions along the way. The blind ended on a mound. The line to the 60-yard mark was diagonally up a steep, grassy slope, then over the ridge and part way down the other side. The line to the 290-yard crossed many terrain changes, including a muddy section, and passed many trees, stakes, and other diversions. The greatest diversion turned out to be the fact that a swale veered off to the right and then uphill, creating suction for Laddie to try to follow that route rather than continuing diagonally down the slope he was on, heading into an area with several small trees and visually less open, when he reached that diversion.

SERIES B. Land blind with poison bird (Lumi)

Series B, for Lumi, was made up of the outer retrieves from Series A. First I launched the Bumper Boy. Then, while the training dummy remained fallen, I ran Lumi on the 130-yard blind. Finally, I sent her to pick up the dummy from the Bumper Boy.

SERIES C. Land blind (Laddie)

Series C was a 310-yard blind (OD) diagonally across a trench, diagonally over a steep, low rise, and amongst trees and yard debris. The blind was planted beside the wall of a small out-building.

SERIES D. Shoreline de-cheating (Laddie)

Series D was a series of about ten retrieves along various curved edges of the pond, requiring him to enter the water at a very sharp angle, swim straight along the edge as it curved slightly away from him and then toward him again, and arrive 40-50 yards later at an OD planted at water's edge on the other side of the swim.

Laddie had the most difficulty with one particular stretch where he had to swim thru a 5-yard keyhole formed by the shoreline on the right and a cylindrical metal pond-management device on the left. We practiced the most on this stretch, but Laddie never did get fluent at swimming thru the keyhole. I plan to return there and work with him on it more until he is fluent with it.

Interrupted Land Series

West of Zion Park

Today I planned to use our working Bumper Boy again, but I realized while setting up the course that I had left the receiver on all night, and the battery had drained.

Fortunately, a guy named Greg, whose son was playing baseball at the nearby field, had stopped to watch Lumi and Laddie work. It turns out Greg is an experienced trainer who has taken several dogs thru Senior level. When I realized I needed a thrower to replace my launcher, he was kind enough to step in.

We only ran one series, but Laddie had an extra retrieve, so I'll describe it as two series.

SERIES A. Interrupted single with blind (Lumi)

For Lumi's version of the series, Greg threw a WD right to left, angling back, with the fall at 90 yards. When the dummy was down, I ran Lumi on a 110-yard blind (OD), on an angle 30° to the left of the line to the mark. Then I sent Lumi for the the mark. I'm not sure whether this is called an interrupted single, or a poison-bird single.

The line to the mark was thru calf-high grass across uneven ground, and the fall was in front of diagonal row of trees with virtually no distinguishing features. The line to the blind was thru the same field, then thru a keyhole formed by a break in the line of trees, with two large trees on either side of the keyhole, and across two terrain changes, first into tangled underbrush, then onto mowed lawn. The blind was planted at the foot of a third large tree 20 yards back from the keyhole.

Lumi ran a nice, tight blind, showing suction toward the mark (poison bird) but readily accepting WSCs. She seemed confused by the first terrain change, but once she recognized that it was not a barrier, she was fine. She then took an unusually long time to bring the dummy back, typically cautious around the uneven footing and high cover.

After running the blind, Lumi ran a remarkable mark, arriving at the treeline within just a few feet of the dummy buried in the grass. Considering the time she took on the blind, and the featureless field and wooded backdrop for the mark, it's difficult to understand how she was able to remember both distance and line so accurately, but she did.

SERIES B. Interrupted single with double blind (Laddie)

For Laddie's version of the series, first he ran the same two retrieves that Lumi had. Then he ran a 340-yard blind (OD) 45° to the right of the line to the mark, that is, on a line just to the right of Greg as gunner.

The line to the 340-yard blind converged diagonally on the treeline. It ran 220 yards thru the same field, then thru the legs of a huge steel-framed electrical tower, and finally across a wide strip of marshy terrain with standing water and mud. The blind was planted at the foot of one of the guide wires for a telephone pole closer to the woods. Diversions included a flattened cardboard box, and a large piece of white cloth, along the way.

Laddie watched the mark thrown, then ran an excellent blind to the left of that fall, handling to the 110-yard blind with a single WSC as he veered slightly left approaching the keyhole. Next, he took a good line to the mark, but unlike Lumi on that mark, Laddie pulled up and hunted short for a few seconds before getting back on line and racing to the mark.

For the 340-yard mark, Laddie took another good line for nearly 200 yards, then veered left as he approached the tower. But he responded readily and accurately on one or two WSCs. Once he had gotten back on line and was running under the tower, he lined the blind the rest of the way.

After picking up the dummy, Laddie did not come directly back. First he ran over to check out the large piece of white cloth, then he spotted a flock of birds (Canada geese, I think) in the opposite direction and ran after them, ignoring my CIW. Within seconds he had disappeared behind a hill on the right. But a few seconds later, he appeared back in view, still carrying his dummy, and ran the rest of the way back.

Characteristically, Laddie ran all three retrieves at full speed in both directions. He really turned on the afterburners when he spotted the geese.

Senior Hunt Test Tune-up

Cheltenham

As a final tune-up before Lumi's and Laddie's first Senior Hunt Test of the year, we ran the following series:

SERIES A. Poorman double with blind (Laddie, then Lumi)

The first mark (duck) was on the left, thrown left to right at 70 yards. The second mark (duck) was on the right, thrown from across the water right to left at 30 yards. After the dog picked up both marks, the dog ran a 40-yard water blind (OD) down the center.

Both marks were thrown with duck call and gun shot by the handler (me), while the dog waited at the SL. After I had thrown both marks, I returned to the SL to run the dog. That's what I mean by "poorman" marks.

The line to the go-bird, the second bird thrown, was down a short, steep embankment and diagonally across a stream. The bird was at water's edge on the far shore. The line to the memory-bird, the first bird thrown, was down a short, steep embankment, diagonally across an inlet, and approaching the far shore on a sharp angle, with the bird in high cover a few feet from water's edge. The line to the blind was across the inlet to a marshy point with the bird in high cover on a tiny island next to the point.

Both dogs showed confidence and enthusiasm, making the series look easy.

Blinds

Mt. Ararat Farms

Today we drove to Gaby's place to work, but trained alone.

LUMI

Lumi ran two blinds, first a water blind, later a land blind, both with ducks.

Lumi's water blind

The 70-yard water blind was thru an S-turn in Gaby's technical pond, and was designed so that it did not invite running the bank on the return.

Lumi often has difficulty with S-turns, trying repeatedly to go to one point or the other rather than swimming the big water along the centerline without touching land. That happened again today, but she remained responsive to whistles and casts. Though she didn't carry the casts very far, she managed to complete the outrun without touching either point.

I decided to try not whistling when Lumi reached the bird, and was most pleased that, unprompted, she picked it up and got right back in the water. I then blew CIW and fired a couple of pistol shots. Lumi swam straight back without veering toward either point.

Whistling when Lumi was already on her way of course made no sense as a cue. I used it because virtually any interaction with a dog seems to function as reinforcement, even a cue for a behavior the dog is already performing. I've found that pistol shots also function as reinforcement for both my dogs, interesting in Lumi's case considering that three years ago she was terribly gun shy. That of course was before she had learned association between gunfire and her favorite thing in the world, ducks!

The fact that Lumi was willing to enter big water on her return, even with the outside temp in the low 50s, gives me some encouragement that she'll be OK for her water returns when she runs in her next Senior Hunt Test a week from today. If she sees an opportunity to run the bank on her returns, I'm sure she will and I have no problem with that. But today, not seeing such an opportunity, she didn't maroon and try to eat the duck, but instead got right back into the water, without even the need for a whistle or call from me.

Lumi's land blind

The line to the 110-yard land blind crossed a series of dry ditches and a dirt road, all on a diagonal. Lumi lined it.

LADDIE

My goals with Laddie are significantly different than those with Lumi. Laddie, too, is entered in the Senior test next Saturday, and the following day will also run in a GRCA WC and WCX. For all of those tests, Laddie needs relatively short work, and for the water, it's most likely he'll need the ability to swim past one or more points. But in addition, I hope to run Laddie in Qualifying Stakes later this year, and for that sort of competition, he'll need the additional skill of being able to cross a point, a skill he has much less practice with. In addition, the marks and blinds for Qs will be much longer, and Laddie will need the ability to take difficult water entries from distance, and to handle at longer distances than he'll need for Hunt Tests and the WC/X.

With all of those considerations in mind, I ran Laddie on four water blinds and one land blind.

Laddie's water blinds

All of Laddie's water blinds were run from distances of 30-90 yards from the shoreline, making his water entries more difficult, since the greater distance made a run around the pond more inviting. In some cases Laddie required handling to stop him from running the bank. For the last one, he had so much difficulty taking good casts at 110 yards from the water entry that I finally called him to me, walked him closer to the pond, and ran him without difficulty from there.

The first and fourth water blinds where thru S-turns on two different axises of Gaby's pond. Laddie swam the first one, which was the same one Lumi had swum but with the SL set much further back, without any need for handling. He did require handling on the fourth one but remained responsive and did not touch either point. These were intended primarily as practice for Laddie's Senior test next Saturday.

The second and third water blinds required Laddie to touch a point, and one of them also included a difficult angle entry that strongly invited running the bank, especially because the SL was set considerable distance from the water. Laddie was able to run both of these water blinds successfully also, though touching the point seemed to confuse him somewhat. I guess that's because we've practiced staying off the point so much. These water blinds required more handling than I would prefer, but I think the need for handling on this picture will diminish as Laddie gains more experience with it, and gradually learns that the rule is to maintain a straight line, sometimes taking him over a point and sometimes taking him past it.

As with Lumi, I experimented with not cueing a recall when Laddie picked up his birds, and as with Lumi, Laddie picked up every bird and immediately returned. When the return showed no obvious opportunity to run the bank, he trotted straight into the water. When an opportunity to run the bank was clearly visible, he did that. I decided not to fight him on it, though I'm afraid that decision could work against his marking on water marks in the future. For now, Laddie developing a strong return behavior on water retrieves is a higher priority to me, and I was especially pleased to see that his return was strong enough today that he did not require a whistle or call. As with Lumi, I blew CIW and fired a pistol as reinforcement once he had fully committed to the water on his returns, both on the first and last retrieves.

Laddie's land blind

The bird for Laddie's 180-yard land blind was in the same place as Lumi's, but Laddie's SL was further back.

Steadiness training

Mt. Ararat Farms

Today we trained with Gaby and her dogs at her dairy farm. Gaby is a wonderful training partner, and today that included the generosity of providing live pheasants for us to practice steadiness, and kids to act as bird boys for our land series.

SERIES A. Land double with flyer, plus land blind (Lumi, Laddie)

For Series A, the first mark was on the right, a duck thrown left to right at 70 yards with the thrower standing at the edge of the woods and throwing into calf-high cover. The second mark was on the left, a flyer pheasant hen thrown right to left at 45 yards from a holding blind. After both birds were picked up, the dog ran a 90-yard blind to the left of the left mark, with the line to the blind passing close to the fenced corner of a horse field and with the blind planted in calf-high cover under the canopy of the treeline.

Our intent was that each dog would run the series, then honor the next dog. The sequence turned out to be:

1. Lumi at the line with one of Gaby's dogs honoring. Lumi tried to break on the flyer but was unable to because I was holding her tab. I walked her gently but silently back to the van, had her get in, and left her there while I took Laddie from his crate and walked him back thru the barn to the setup. I believe that this was quite disappointing to Lumi, because she had shown enormous excitement at the opportunity to run the series. Hopefully she associated her loss of that opportunity with the fact that she tried to break.
2. One of Gaby's dogs ran the series while I was trading dogs.
3. Laddie ran the series without attempting to break. He nailed both marks, then lined the blind, all with his usual over-the-top enthusiasm.
4. Laddie honored Gaby's dog, again without attempting to break, but did try to run to a bird behind the SL when released from the honor. That's something we need to work on.
5. I again traded dogs, and this time Lumi was steady at the line. She had no difficulty with either mark, though her line on the memory bird wasn't quite as good as normal for her. She handled adequately for a Senior test on the blind.
6. Lumi honored Gaby's dog running the series yet again. As with Laddie, she did not attempt to break, but she did try to break into a run to get to a bird behind the SL when I called "Here" after the honor.

SERIES B. Water single (Lumi, Laddie)

Series B was a 60-yard single with a pheasant thrown right to left. The line to the fall had diagonal entries and exits to the water and a 50-yard swim.

Lumi required several calls to complete the pick-up and return. Gaby, from her vantage point as thrower, felt that Lumi was having some difficulty dealing with the pheasant's feathers getting in Lumi's mouth as she tried to pick up the bird.

Laddie seemed to have had the same issue, but he had less trouble dealing with it and returned on a single CIW.

Land blinds

Oaks Area 2

For today's blinds, I used the unusual (for us) set-up of three blinds at almost identical distances. Lumi's blinds were in the same locations as Laddie's: in front of a tree, under the dripline of another tree, and in an open area on a berm. To get the extra distance, I moved the SL further back for Laddie's series. All blinds were ODs.

SERIES A. Triple land blind (Lumi only)

Series A for Lumi was made up of three blinds at 110-90-100 yards. Angles between the lines to the blinds were 45°. Lumi ran her blinds left to right.

SERIES B. Triple land blind (Laddie only)

Series B for Laddie was made up of three blinds at 260-240-220 yards. Angles between the lines to the blinds were 30°. Laddie ran his blinds left/right/center, longest first and shortest last.

Laddie ran the first blind with two excellent casts, an angle-back-left and an angle-back-right. He lined the second blind. Then he popped and had other problems on the third blind (the center one under the dripline). I don't know why he had so much trouble on it. It's possible that he was physically uncomfortable after hundreds of yards of all-out running (Laddie's only speed) in 80° weather.

Water blinds

Lake Frank

All today's work was with WDs. In addition to the blinds, the dogs also swam out for several open water retrieves, one of the games that Lumi and I played here for years before we got into field work.

SERIES A. Water blind (Laddie only)

Series A was an 80-yard retrieve across the neck of an inlet. The primary challenge was a pair of fishermen, with bobbing floats that looked a bit like dog toys, 15 yards from the line to the blind.

SERIES B. Water blind (Laddie, Lumi)

Series B was 140-yard shoreline retrieve. Lumi was unable to make the difficult water entry, which required leaping over underwater boulders and debris near water's edge, so for Lumi's blind, we moved a few yards down the shoreline to allow her to wade into the water, making her blind somewhat shorter than the one Laddie would swim. In addition, Laddie swam all the way out and all the way back, whereas Lumi swam out but then ran the bank for her return.

SERIES C. Water blind (Laddie)

Series C was a 190-yard water blind. From the SL, Laddie ran diagonally down a steep hill, thru an opening in a hedgerow, and diagonally down a steep embankment. He leapt into the water, swam 120 yards to the opposite shore to pick up the WD, and made the return trip to complete the retrieve.

Land blinds

Oaks Area 1

SERIES A. Double land blind (Laddie only)

These blinds had minimal factors, and were primarily to help Laddie's conditioning. The blind on the left was 320 yards. The blind on the right was 570 yards.

Oaks Area 3

SERIES B. Keyhole land blind (Lumi only)

This was a 100-yard blind across a low crest, a depression, thru a break in a hedgerow, and up a hillside.

SERIES C. Keyhole land blind (Laddie only)

This was a 100-yard blind over a different crest from the one in Series B, and thru a diagonal keyhole formed by the end of a hedgerow and a tree. At the same time Laddie was running thru the keyhole, he was running across a boggy area with standing water.

Steadiness training and long marks

Mt. Ararat Farms

Today the dogs and I traveled to Mt. Ararat Farms, the dairy farm owned by our friend Gaby, to train with her and her dogs.

Gaby ran each of her Chessies on part of our work together, and ran Buster, her yellow Lab, on the long triple with Laddie at the end. I won't try to describe her dogs' work, just Lumi and Laddie.

SERIES A. Double blind (Laddie only)

We arrived while Gaby was getting birds, so I took the opportunity to follow Charlie's advice from last week and get some long work in for Laddie. While he and Lumi waited in the van, I planted two ODs at distances of 200 and 310 yards, then got Laddie out and had him run them as blinds. He needed little handling and handled well, staying in a narrow corridor, but mostly it was for conditioning.

SERIES B. Land double with blind and honor (Lumi, then Laddie)

For Series B, the first throw was on the left, a duck thrown left to right into calf-high cover at 90 yards. The second throw was on the right, a clip-wing hen pheasant flyer thrown right to left at 30 yards. The flyer was thrown with the accompaniment of a live shotgun blast aimed away from the bird, so that all the flyers were alive and active during the retrieve, simulating "cripples" (wounded birds). After the dog picked up both marks, the dog ran a 100-yard blind to an OD at an angle of more than 180° from the first mark. Then the dog honored the next dog, standing slightly closer to the flyer than the running dog.

This series was intended purely as a breaking test, and every dog tried to break at the line, honoring, or both. Lumi and Laddie both had their collars and tabs on, and mostly I remembered to hold the tabs so that the dogs couldn't break. But unaccountably, I neglected to hold Lumi's tab when her pheasant was throw. She broke, ignoring my attempt to control the break with "Here".

My original thought was that if either or both of my dogs could run this series without breaking, I'd enter them in a Senior Hunt Test that closes in a few days, and if either or both tried to break, I wouldn't enter that dog. On that basis, the decision would be that neither dog is ready for the Senior yet. However, a flyer at 30 yards, with the honoring dog even closer, is far more difficult than the dogs are likely to encounter in a test, so I still haven't decided for sure.

SERIES C. Land double with honor (Lumi, then Laddie)

For Series C, we left the gunners where they were but moved the SL to the other side of the setup and further from the guns.

Now the first mark was on the right, again a duck this time thrown left to right (rather than converging as in Series B) at 100 yards, again into calf-high cover. The second mark was again a clip-wing hen pheasant flyer with a live shotgun blast aimed away from the bird, this time at 70 yards.

Neither Lumi nor Laddie attempted to break either running or from the line. The only problem they had was that when released from the honor, they both tried to break into a run to the dead birds lying on the ground near the holding blind. That's something we need to fix, though so far it's never cost us a ribbon.

SERIES D. Qualifying-style triple (Laddie only)

Since I'm concerned about Lumi's soundness, I let her run around some more today, but no more retrieving. I believe that Series D would have been too difficult for her in any case. Gaby did run Buster, her two-year-old yellow Lab, on Series D with Laddie.

I described it in the title as "Qualifyings-style". Because we had few factors, I believe it was too easy for a real Qualifying Stake, but at comparable distances or even longer.

For Series D, the first mark was in the center, a WD thrown right to left at 300 yards. The second mark was on the left, a WD thrown right to left at 320 yards. The third mark was on the right, a WD thrown right to left at 170 yards.

For Series D, the SL was nearly at the top of a long slope up from the property's technical pond. For the go-bird, the 170-yard mark on the right, the dog was expected to run downhill to the edge of the pond, swim past a point on the left, and pick up the WD on the far bank of that section of the pond. For the second retrieve, the 320-yard mark on the left, the dog was expected to run downhill, skirt the pond on the dog's right, and run back uphill and thru the corner of a cornfield to the fall. For the last retrieve (the first throw), the dog was expected to run downhill and out to the end of a peninsula, enter the water and swim the long axis of the pond between points on either side, exit the water and run uphill to the first WD that had been thrown.

Notes on Laddie's performance

Despite the suction of the peninsula on the left of the first water entry, Laddie made the correct entry and swam straight to the first fall on the right.

Laddie also nailed the second mark on the left.

For the third mark, the long mark down the center, unfortunately I don't remember whether Laddie required handling on the way out or not. However, I do remember that he cheated on the return and ignored my cues when I tried to stop it. Since Charlie advised me a week ago not to allow Laddie to cheat on returns in training (it's OK in tests), I put Laddie and his dummy back on the far side of the pond, walked around to the other side, and called him to me so that he would again swim the long axis for his return.

At that point, we were out of time and had to head for home.