De-flaring Drill, Steps 1 and 2

Mt. Ararat Farm

After Gaby and I trained with Patty in the morning, we returned to her farm, where she helped Laddie and me on Steps 1 and 2 of the De-flaring Drill.

Today we made made a few changes from the last time we worked with Laddie (and also Buster) on the drill. Last time we were learning how to approach the problem. That led to a few set-ups and then, based on that experience, to a training plan, which I added to my reference blog, "The 2Q Retriever". Click here to see that post.

Today, we followed that training plan first for Step 1. Gaby didn't want to run Buster on the drill, so we just ran Laddie, with Gaby throwing the long gun. We used a BB with a chair behind it for the short gun, the chair in neutral position and a white coat draped on it. We ran Step 1 (two singles) twice, once to the left, once to the right, moving both the SL and the chair to create a new picture, as well as reversing the throws. Both times, I started Laddie at the SL for the first trial, since that's the litmus test for deciding whether the dog is ready for Step 2.

Laddie didn't push off the chair in the least as he ran his lines to the long fall, so I felt he was done with Step 1 and ready for Step 2. I had planned to go home at that point, but because it had gone so quickly, Gaby offered to help me try Laddie on Step 2 as well. Again, we moved the SL and chair for each set-up, and again we ran it on both sides. Step 2 uses the same kind of set-up as Step 1, but for Step 2, the set-up is run as a reverse hip-pocket double.

Again Laddie ran all the retrieves on a laser, not veering in the least as he ran past the chair on either side.

So I guess now Laddie's ready for Step 3, the next time Gaby and I get together to work on the drill. For Step 3, we'll be retiring the short gun, that is, hiding it behind a large camouflage umbrella. If we are again using a BB for the short throw, we'll place an umbrella in front of the BB and chair. I'm not sure the chair, draped with white coat, will add anything, since it will be behind an umbrella, but at least the dog will see it on the way back as he's running the long mark.

Building Confidence with Singles

Canal near Rebel Ridge Farm

This morning Laddie and I trained with Patty's group, as we do as often as possible, given my work and travel schedule. In this case, we trained with her group both yesterday (Friday) and today, in both case at a technical pond known as "Mitchell's Pond" at the canal in Elkton, MD, near Rebel Ridge Farm. This is one of Patty's favorite places to train her dogs, and we've trained with her there several other times before.

Gaby is often there with Buster, her Lab, and possibly Gus, her Chessie. When Gaby trains with Patty, Patty runs Buster, while Gaby runs Gus (if he's there) and takes turns throwing. For today's training, Gaby was there with Buster, while Gus, who is injured, was home. As usual, Patty ran Buster. Buster is entered in his third Qualifying Stake next weekend, and Patty will run him there again.

Today's temps were in the 70s, with a few clouds and a good wind. The direction of the wind was variable and unpredictable.

For today's session, Patty had one of the other trainers, a guy named John, set up a water triple, and then later Patty set up a water blind. They may have run some other retrieves earlier. I was sick yesterday and slept in till 6:30 AM this morning. With the two hour drive, that made Laddie and me an hour late to the training.

John is an AKC Field Trial judge, and is notorious for his competition set-ups. I've heard that at one trial he judged, only four dogs made it thru the first series. He usually sets up something difficult for us at Patty's practices, also, when he's given the opportunity.

I don't know if today was one of his most difficult set-ups, but I decided that the individual retrieves were challenging enough that I wouldn't add to the challenge for Laddie by running any multiples. By contrast, Patty ran her Q dogs (those that she is currently running in Qualifying Stakes) on the set-up as a delayed triple, and even a couple of her younger dogs ran the outer retrieves as a double before running the long center gun as a single. She did run her younger dogs on singles, as I did with Laddie.

Here's a description of today's set-ups:

SERIES A. As run by Laddie, three singles

As run by Laddie (Patty used a different sequence), the first mark was on the right, a WB thrown left to right on an angle back at 200 yards. The line to the first single was a channel swim with points on both sides. The second mark was on the left, a WB thrown left to right to the end of a point at 170 yards. The second single was a LWLWL, with the bumper thrown into cover. The third mark was in the center, a duck thrown right to left at 210 yards into a mowed area surrounded by high cover. The line to the third mark was a channel swim, then crossing an island and back into water, then thru a stand of high cover known as "frag", to the bird.

Laddie ran all of the marks in Series A fairly well, though not as well as some of the other dogs and not well enough for a high score in a Q. For the first mark on the right, I needed to handle him to keep him off one point on the right, though he held his line without help the rest of the time. For the second mark, he ran an excellent line but, seeing that water still lay before him as arrived in the area of the fall, and not picking up the scent of the bumper, he leapt in the water and continued on his line. Patty, who was throwing, called hey-hey, and Laddie then came back, picked up the bumper, and brought it in. Laddie ran the third mark in the center without help.

Although Laddie didn't have the terrible problems with returns that he sometimes does, he did run the bank on some of his returns in situations where the other dogs took the same route back that they had taken out. I would have preferred that he not cheat, since it's a lost opportunity to practice a good line, but since I've heard that such returns would probably not be penalized in competition, in this case I preferred not to make an issue of Laddie's returns. I feel that doing so might create an impediment in his motivation to return at all, and since that's Laddie's greatest weakness, I feel that requiring him to take a straight line back on his returns is a low priority. I recognize that the more he does it, the harder it might be to prevent it in the future, but nonetheless it still seems a lower priority than strengthening his motivation on the returns.

Running singles for confidence

My primary goal in today's work was to improve Laddie's confidence, since he has been popping and showing other signs of confusion or stress when we've trained with Patty. I've tried other strategies in previous sessions which have not stopped such behaviors, but today I seem to have hit upon a strategy that was effective: running the marks as singles. Laddie neither popped nor even peeked on any of the marks, and came closer to showing off his skill as a marker than he has in most of our previous sessions with Patty.

So I think I can now say that for Laddie, a good approach to having him practice without popping when training with a Field Trial group such as Patty's, might be to have him run singles rather than multiples, at least on tight set-ups. Hopefully after more weeks of training on singles, his confidence will have built up enough that we can again begin running him on multiples.

SERIES B. Keyhole water blind

Patty set up a 160-yard water blind for the advanced dogs. The line started with a channel swim between two points. Then came the primary challenge of the blind, a 3-foot wide keyhole passage with an old sign on a metal pole on the left, and a point of land on the right. Once thru that passage, the line was across another inlet of water, thru a stand of high cover at water's edge, and to the blind behind the high cover.

Laddie handled reasonably well until I got him thru the keyhole. Then he ran up onto the point of land and turning toward the SL, crouched to eliminate. As soon as he finished and began to kick dirt back with his front paws, I whistled, hoping to cast him back into the channel where I could keep him in sight, but he turned, leapt into the channel behind the point and out of sight, and then completed his run to the blind on a straight line but out of my control. Patty later told me that from a judging point of view, it wouldn't have mattered that he went OOC, since he would have been disqualified earlier for eliminating during the outrun. A dog might not be penalized for eliminating on the way back with a bird, but is disqualified if the dog eliminates on the way out.

Practicing with Singles versus Multiples

In today's practice, I ran Laddie on John's set-up as three singles, as did Patty with some of her young dogs. For her more advanced dogs, Patty ran the set-up as a double and a single, or as a delayed triple.

I might mention that running a dog on singles in a multiple-gun set-up is not a strategy limited to young dogs. I know of several trainers who believe that once a dog "understands" what a multiple is, the dog should be run primarily on singles in multiple-gun set-ups.

However, Patty does not follow that practice, and I'm under the impression that Alice does not, either.

I think the primary advantage of running singles is that it strengthens the dog's marking, which will be the primary consideration in scoring.

On the other hand, even if the dog has a good memory, there's more of a challenge to running multiples than simple memory. For example, when multiple marks are down, they can act as diversions for one another, which can be especially challenging if the go-bird is longer than one of more of the memory-birds, or if a flyer is used as a memory-bird while the g0-bird is a dead bird. As another example, the dog may see one picture when a multiple is thrown, but then if one or more guns retire, the dog sees an entirely different picture when she's lining up to run the memory-birds after she's returned with the go-bird.

I suppose that here, as in other areas of dog training, maintaining a balance is best. I guess my goal with Laddie will be plenty of singles, balanced by plenty of multiples.

De-flaring Drill

Mt. Ararat Farm

Because both Buster and Laddie had difficulty with flaring on yesterday's work, Gaby and I decided to work on that problem today. The idea is that once the dog no longer attempts to flare around a short gun, the other skills we were attempting to work on -- out-of-order indent triples, retired guns -- can then become the focus of the training, without allowing the dog to self-reinforce on flaring, and also without having the dog trying to learn multiple skills at the same time.

Gaby and I tried a number of set-ups to work on flaring today, thinking at first that we could start at a fairly advanced level, such as with a double or with a retired gun. We found that we were not able to sufficiently focus on flaring if we started at that level. We also learned that a BB is not accurate enough to throw the long mark, and we also realized that instead of using a stickman for the short gun, a chair with a white coat would be more appropriate.

Based upon our experiments today, I've written up a complete training plan that I call the De-flaring Drill. Click here to view the entry in my reference blog, "The 2Q Retriever".

In future sessions, Gaby and I plan to work our way thru the steps of the De-flaring Drill. Based upon how quickly both dogs seemed to grasp the concept of not flaring today, once Gaby and I worked out a good way to practice, hopefully the dogs will soon learn the more advanced pictures as well.

Out-of-order Indent Triples with Middle Gun Retired

Mt. Ararat Farm

Today, Gaby worked with Buster, her yellow Lab, while I worked with Laddie. Lumi came along, which made me happy, and Gaby also threw some marks for Lumi, but Lumi did run the big set-ups that Buster and Laddie did.

Series A and Series B were identical, with the exception of terrain. We ran Series A on a flat, rectangular field with ankle-length alfafa. Then we ran Series B with our SL at the top of a steep hill in knee-high cover, with trees in the picture for the longest mark. The idea was incremental experience with a particular picture, first in easy terrain, then with added factors such as the hill.

For both series, the first mark was on the left at 180 yards, thrown left-to-right by a BB with a stickman next to it. The second mark was in the center at 70 yards, thrown left-to-right by a real thrower, who then retired behind an umbrella while the dog was returning on the go-bird. The third mark was on the right at 140 yards, thrown left-to-right by a BB with a stickman next to it.

For both series, the set-up had a different challenge on each mark:

• For the go-bird, that is, the 140-yard mark on the right, the dog had to accept postponing the nearer center retrieve and instead run past it 30 degrees to the right.
• For the center mark at 70 yards, the dog had to get his bearings without depending on a visible gun station.
• For the final 180-yard memory-bird on the left, the dog had to take a line only a little to the left of the retired gun (that is, the umbrella), since flaring it would put the dog on a line too far to the left.

Buster's Performance

I don't usually include performance of other dogs besides Lumi and Laddie in this blog, but in this case I'll describe Buster's performance as I saw it.

In Series A on the flat field, Buster had no difficulty with the 140-yard mark on the right nor the retired 70-yard center mark, and the only difficulty he had with the 180-yard mark on the left was that he flared around the thrower (me) behind the umbrella and had to veer back to the right to get back on target. However, he did so at top speed, ending up nailing all three marks without difficulty.

In Series B, he again nailed the first two marks, and again flared the umbrella in the center when running the 180-yard mark on the left. But this time, he didn't veer back on line well enough and ended up behind (to the left of) the left gun station. Gaby watched him for a few moments, decided that he seemed to have little idea that the bumper was in the shadows at the foot of a tree 30 yards to the right, and chose to handle him. Although Buster's marking wasn't as strong as it had been on the other marks, he handled nicely and was soon at the fall. I commented to Gaby that accepting handling when necessary during a mark is a key skill for an advanced retriever, and Buster had performed that skill beautifully.

Laddie's Performance

My goal recently has been to create set-ups that let Laddie build confidence while somewhat pushing the envelope on his learning. Today's session definitely pushed the envelope, hopefully not too much, but actually more than I would have preferred. However, he didn't exhibit any avoidance behavior that I noticed, so perhaps today's work was at about the correct level.

In Series A, Laddie attempted to run to the center mark when I sent him to the go-bird. I called him back, and I was pleased that I was able to do so. I then again sent him to the 140-yard mark on the right, and this time he sped out to the correct area. However, he needed a long hunt to find the bumper.

I think this shows the problem that a dog can have with an out-of-order series, that is, one in which the throws are not in the order longest-to-shortest. In such a series, once the dog sees the shortest mark thrown, the dog's experience may tell him that that is normally the final throw, and he may fail to properly focus on any marks that are thrown afterwards. That seems to have been the case here with Laddie.

Once Laddie was back with the go-bird, he then ran the center mark. He overran it but came back to it without difficulty, just as Buster had. I think that's about what one would expect for an indent configuration (that is, with the shortest mark in the center) and the center gun retired, especially for hard charging dogs like Buster and Laddie.

Finally in Series A, Laddie flared the umbrella while running the left mark, but veered back without difficulty toward the fall and nailed the mark. In retrospect, I feel that I should have called him back and re-sent him when he pushed off the umbrella, and that I missed a training opportunity by not doing so. On the other hand, I'll reiterate that my primary goal at this time is building Laddie's confidence, so I was disinclined to interfere with his momentum. But unfortunately that decision means that Laddie was reinforced for flaring, making it more likely that he'll do it again in the future, when it may not work out as well in a more difficult set-up.

In Series B, I felt that Laddie showed he had learned from Series A on the first mark. He probably still didn't get a good enough look at the 140-yard mark, since he needed a small hunt rather than nailing it, but he made no effort to divert to the center fall once sent. To me, that was the highlight of the day.

On the 70-yard center mark, Laddie seemed to have a good sense of where he was going, but with Gaby hiding behind the umbrella, his line was a little off and he ended up blowing past it. He stopped himself fairly soon and began a hunt, but after a few moments, I felt there was too much likelihood he would spin around and switch to the left mark, and I didn't want to have to stop him if he did so. So I blew a WS and handled him to the center fall. He handled well and raced in with the bumper.

On the 180-yard left mark of Series B, Laddie again flared the umbrella, and I again missed the training opportunity to call him back in. However, he corrected fairly well, stayed on the correct side of the BB and stickman, overran the immediate area of the fall, stopped himself quickly, and turning back toward the SL, rapidly quartered to the bumper.

I think today's session was more of a learning experience for Laddie than for Buster, who has been training with a Pro nearly daily since last spring. I would have preferred that I had designed a set-up where Laddie could have been a bit more successful, perhaps by widening the left gun so that flaring off the umbrella in the center wasn't an issue and enabling Laddie, as well as Buster, to nail the long memory-bird in both series. However, hopefully it was still a productive session for both dogs.

Out-of-order Reverse Hip-Pocket Double

Rolling Ridge

Conditions: Gorgeous day: blue skies, 72 degrees, light wind

SERIES A. Out-of-order reverse hip-pocket double with blind (Lumi, then Laddie)

Lumi ran first and ran only the double. Laddie ran second and ran the whole series, first the double, then the blind.

The first mark of the double was on the left at 70 yards, thrown right-to-left and angled back so that it landed in cover on the far side of a rise, making the area of the fall hidden from the start line. The second mark was on the right at 140 yards, thrown right-to-left from a stickman and angled back across a ditch into cover. The line to the longer mark on the right passed a little to the right of the shorter "thrower", making this a reverse hip pocket double. The fact that the long mark was thrown as the go-bird made this an out-of-order double. Both throws were with BBs.

After Laddie picked up both marks, he ran the 260-yard blind. The line to the blind ran downhill just to the right of the stickman for the long mark, across a ditch, uphill and thru a line of trees, and across an old paved driveway.

Notes on Performance

I am more concerned these days with building Laddie's confidence than I am with pushing the envelope, but I guess this set-up was too easy. Both Lumi and Laddie nailed both marks, and Laddie ran a nice tight blind, with two clean casts.

Here's a photo of Series A:

Current Training Activities

We continue to train daily, and I often keep notes on each session, but I don't currently have time to keep up our online journal.

Here are some of the things we work on:

• In Patty's Field Trial group, we work on whatever her set-ups are, but my primary concern is trying to build Laddie's confidence in that context. I've come to believe that a lot of his problems on returns, which only seem to happen in group settings, come from an emotional response to the situation. I'm not sure yet whether the root cause is: Laddie picking up stress from me (which Alice and others suspect to be the case); or he is affected by the presence of other trainers, dogs, and field training gear; or, as I'm inclined to believe based on some experimentation, he's affected by set-ups that he considers too far over his head. One of his symptoms is popping. I'm hoping to use his frequency of pops as a yardstick for measuring my success in simplifying set-ups to increase Laddie's success rate, with the goal of course to eliminate popping, as well as poor returns, entirely.
• In private training and training with Gaby, we're working on a variety of concepts, varying from day to day: inline triples, hip pocket doubles in combination with a third retrieve (either a third mark or a blind run after the double is down before one or both of the marks are picked up), reverse hip pocket doubles run with a third retrieve, and out of order doubles or triples (that is, having the go-bird not be the shortest mark). In addition, we run land and water blinds, practicing things like angled water and cover entries and exits, on-and-off the point, keyholes, wraps (such as running past a hedgerow that has a field opening up behind it, tending to suck the dog behind the hedgerow), and hills. Distances of our marks are in the range of 40-300 yards. Distances of our blinds are in the range of 150-300 yards, occasionally even bigger.
• Sometimes we run drills. For example, yesterday, out of curiosity, I ran Laddie on an out-of-order double with a long blind, and then I had him do a session of pile work. For the pile work, I set up a pile of 10 bumpers (5 white, 5 black) at an LP, and ran him to it from an SL 90 yards away. He ran both directions with great enthusiasm on every retrieve. In addition, I was pleased to see that he almost never dawdled or shopped on the pick-ups. I think he may have started to shop maybe twice, and as soon as I called "Here", he immediately grabbed the bumper he'd originally picked up and streaked back to me. Other drills we've run from time to time over the last few months are the Skimming Drill with both high cover and water as the obstacles, the Cool-off Drill, and variations on the Offline Drill.

Retired Gun thru Treeline

Mt. Ararat Farm

Recently, Gaby and I were working with her yellow Labrador, Buster, and my Golden, Laddie, on a set-up we thought might come up in a Qualifying Stake: a hip-pocket doubles as two retrieves within a triple. To increase the level of difficulty, we retired the long gun.

The dogs seemed to have some difficulty with the set-up. I had noticed that Laddie had trouble with that set-up in our private training also.

It occurred to Gaby and me that the problem might not be the hip-pocket, it might be the retired gun. So we ran another couple of such triples without retiring the gunner, and sure enough, both dogs did great.

So to end our session that day, we ran a long but simple retired-gun single, with the handler tossing a bumper a short way to the side for the dog to retrieve after the long throw, giving the long thrower a chance to retrieve. It was interesting for me seeing Laddie's double-take when I set him up to run the long mark, his eyes darting from side to side apparently looking for the white coat, then refocusing on the original line and locking in. I felt that at that moment, he realized that the thrower wasn't there any more and understood he'd have to run the correct line without depending on the sight of the thrower. I suspect Buster has gone thru a similar realization at some point. Both of them nailed the retired gun in that drill.

So today, Gaby and I decided to broaden that understanding to another combination: running thru a treeline where the gun is retired. We planned the session and then went out to run it. Both dogs did nicely. The set-ups were difficult enough to require some hunting on a few of the marks, but not so difficult as to cause failures. Hopefully, the retired gun concept was instilled thru a process of gradually raised criteria. For each series, Buster ran first with me throwing a duck as the long mark and retiring, then Laddie ran second with Gaby throwing the duck as long mark and retiring. Here was our training sequence:

SERIES A. Land single with short hand-throw

The line to the long mark was across a sunny alfafa field into shadow, down a deep crevice, thru a line of old trees, and again into sunlight on short cover in front of a corn field.

Here's a satellite view of Series A:

View 20100829 Series A in a larger map

SERIES B. Land double

The long memory-bird with the retired gun was similar to the one in SERIES A, though from a different SL, thru a different part of the alfafa field, thru a different opening in the tree line, and of course to a different fall. The go-bird was thrown by a BB with a stickman, and was angled in toward the SL, and away from the line to the long mark, with the fall into calf-high alfafa on a line that required the dog to run past a hedgerow, then veer behind it and out of sight from the handler. I've never seen a mark that requires the dog to run a dog-leg in a test or trial, but Charlie set up such a mark once in a training session so I thought it might make an interesting challenge for the short bird.

Here's a satellite view of Series B:

View 20100829 Series B in a larger map

SERIES C. Land triple

Series C was an Xmas tree format. Again the long mark, thrown first, was similar to the long marks in Series A and B, but this time run from yet another part of the field, and in a different direction from either of the other two. The second throw was thrown on a line away from center by a BB with a stickman. The third throw, the go-bird, was thrown by a second BB but with no stickman, and though only 70 yards was thrown across a bowl and into a depression in the alfafa field.

The SL for Series C was on a mound behind a strip of tangled underbrush that the dog had to run thru for all three marks. Both dogs required hunts on the go-bird and had little trouble with the second mark. Neither dog nailed the long retired mark, but neither required a long hunt, either.

Here's a satellite view of Series C:

View 20100829 Series C in a larger map

Current Training Activities

Laddie and I continue to train nearly every day. I'll add detailed journal entries when I have time, but here's a brief summary of what we're working on at this time:

Training with Patty Jordan's Group

When we train with Patty Jordan's group, we run some version of whatever the set-up is. For the first few sessions, I attempted to run Laddie on series that I thought were at his level, but I've gradually realized that in that context, his performance is significantly below my expectations, resulting in an unacceptably high percentage of unsuccessful series. I have been trying to modify the set-ups appropriately, and will continue to do so, aiming to find the level where Laddie can run at near 100% success rate.

Private Training

In addition to training with Patty, Laddie and I train with Gaby and one or both of her dogs whenever possible, or alone when we have no one to train with.

We run a large variety of marks and blinds, too much variety for me to catalog at this time. However, some particular areas we're currently working on are as follows:

• Retired guns. Currently we're working on retiring the long gun on Xmas-tree triples, where the middle mark is the longest and thrown first. Over time, we'll also practice that configuration and throwing sequence but with other guns retired instead of or in addition to the long gun, and also with around-the-horn throws with various guns retired. In addition, we'll work with other configurations, such as indents triples, with various guns retired.
• Inline triples. This is a triple where the three gunners are all in the same line and all throwing the same direction, which is also along that line. The dog tends to forget the middle gun even when it's not retired. We're working on Laddie gaining an improved mental picture of the inline triple, with the ultimate goal of Laddie being able to run a big inline triple, with the SL far to one side resulting in a tight angle for the three lines, and with one or both of the middle and long guns retired.
• Hip-pocket doubles. This is a double with the two marks in a tight angle, both thrown the same direction, such that the short mark falls on a line which if extended would run a little behind the long gunner, making the long mark more difficult than for a more widely spaced set-up. I would prefer to run this as part of a triple, with perhaps a flyer as the go-bird off to one side. But when we work on this alone, I usually use a BB for the long gun, a BB and stickman for the short gun, and a long blind which I have Laddie run after the two BBs have fired, but before Laddie has picked up the bumpers. This is called an interrupted double. Because BBs are almost invisible when placed in cover, the long gun is effectively "retired", adding to the difficulty of the dog remembering that mark.
• Sharp angle entries. Laddie has made significant progress on this skill, for both water and high cover, thanks to our weeks of work on the Skimming Drill. I continue to include work on angle entries in many of our set-ups.
• Steadiness, especially honoring. Whenever Gaby and I can train with live birds, we set up series for Laddie (and also Gaby's Chessie, Gus) to work on steadiness, both at the line as the working dog, and honoring. We use a variety of set-ups. For example, we might have one of Gaby's sons throwing a clip-wing duck at 50 yards as the go-bird after launching a BB at 70-yards as the memory-bird. When I have Laddie honor, I try to choose the most difficult position for honoring, that is, closest to the flyer and positioned so that the working dog runs past Laddie on the way to the flyer.

Goals

Currently, I have no expectation that Laddie will run in a Field Trial this year. I believe he's as skillful or more so than some of the dogs I've seen entered in Qualifying Stakes, but those dogs are not successful on the more difficult retrieves, and I assume Laddie would not be, either.

I believe that running Laddie in Quals under those circumstances could result in him developing some undesirable habits that he associated specifically with the context of a trial. That's called "test wise", and it's a difficult problem to repair if it occurs.

In addition, I don't think running Laddie in series that are currently too difficult for him, without being able to incorporate training procedures such as moving our SL, calling for help from a gunner, or running the series as singles, is good for his confidence or development of his skills. I don't intend that he be 100% successful in all our work together, since that would mean I wasn't putting him in new areas of learning, but I do want to maintain a higher rate of reinforcement (ROR) than I think we'd have running Quals.

Hopefully, Laddie will be ready to run his first Qual next spring. Once that begins, our goals will be as follows:

• For Laddie to run without getting DQed for poor returns, poor line manners, or other foundation skills.
• For Laddie to have a successful land series, getting called back to the land blind.
• For Laddie to pass the land blind and get called back to the water blind.
• For Laddie to pass the water blind and get called back to the water series.
• For Laddie to have a successful water series.
• For Laddie to get a Judges Award of Merit (JAM).
• For Laddie to get a placement.
• For Laddie to get a First Place.

When Laddie meets all those goals, he'll have earned the designation Qualified All-Age (QAA), which for Goldens and Chessies is shown as three asterisks behind the dog's name.

Thereafter, I'll begin running Laddie in the all-age Field Trial events, the Amateur and Open Stakes. Of course, it's way premature to plan that far ahead of where we are now.

While running in Field Trials is my primary goal for Laddie, I will also probably run him in one or more Master Hunt Tests this fall. How many we do will depend on how he does on the first ones we try. If it turns out that he is successful, and eventually qualifies in five Master tests, he'll earn the title of Master Hunter (MH).

Lumi's Field Career

Although Lumi is only six years old, relatively young for a field dog, I doubt she will be earning any more field titles. According to her pedigree on k9data.com, she is the first dog in at least five generations of her line to earn a title of any kind. I feel that her string of titles, especially her GRCA WCX and her AKC SH, as well as First Place in a number of competitions, represent a remarkable record of accomplishment.

In addition, because advanced US field retrievers are invariably trained with ecollars these days, and have always been trained with aversive stimuli, she may be the first positive-trained dog ever to earn either a Golden's WCX or US retriever's SH.

At our most recent visit to Carol Lundquist, our holistic vet, I mentioned to Carol that these days, Lumi looks as though she's picking her way thru landmines when she returns from retrieves, carefully eyeing every step and taking many detours around patches of terrain she apparently deems too risky. Carol handled Lumi's feet for a few moments, then commented: "Well, Lindsay, you could get X-rays if you want, but I think I can tell you what they'd show. Lumi's toe joints are now becoming knobby. I'm pretty sure her arthritis, which X-rays have previously shown in her hips and wrist, is now in her feet as well. We could give her something for the pain, but we'd risk damaging her internal organs. With all the supplements, injections, special diet, and therapy that she's already been getting for years, I think she's already receiving the best care we can give her."

So now I'll describe the sort of thing Lumi is up to these days.

When we are at home in Maryland, Laddie and I continue to train pretty much every day. As I head for the front door, Laddie is there ahead of me. Lumi may also be on her feet and ready to join us. More often, she's lying down somewhere, either in sight or in another room. In that case, I say something like, "Lumi, training," and in some cases she takes that as a cue to get up and join us. Other times, she looks up at me but makes no effort to get up, as if to say, "You guys go ahead and train, I'll be waiting for you here." Currently, she comes with Laddie and me about half the time. If I know we'll be training with flyers, I use a non-optional recall cue to bring her along, since I know she'd make that choice if she knew.

When Lumi does join us in the van, she usually rides in front, either in the shotgun seat or in my lap, while Laddie prefers the back area, often on the floor behind me. When I'm out in the field with the dogs in the van, I generally leave Lumi in the passenger area, while I put Laddie in the single crate I keep in the back of the van. Lumi occasionally jumps out of the window to come to me if I leave it down too far, and she'll get into food if I accidentally leave any around, but aside from that, she's fine in the passenger compartment. By contrast, Laddie did a lot of damage to my previous van and I don't want it to happen to the new one.

When it's time for Lumi to take a turn in the field, I mostly run her on single or double marks up to about 100 yards. She is no longer steady at the line and often breaks, but I make no effort to discourage that. Her pick-ups, once a weak point, are now excellent, better than they've ever been. Her outruns are filled with enthusiasm, and she's still likely to nail every mark. She looks like a rocking horse when she runs, which I've always found pleasantly distinctive, but I recently learned it's something that dogs with hip pain do to compensate. Her returns tend to be painfully slow, though sometimes she does run back. I believe it depends on the terrain. She has about the sweetest face I've ever seen on a dog as she brings me the bird or bumper. I don't ask her to honor and rarely run her on blinds, though she often lines them when I do. She seems to place great value on being permitted to carry a bird when we return to the van. I give her a treat or two when she hops in, as I have her whole life.

In New York, where we spend four days out of every two weeks, our routine is different. I walk both dogs together three times a day, and I also take each dog on a separate walk twice a day, leaving the other dog in our room. That gives me some time alone with each dog.

Other than field work, I plan to go on training Lumi in various activities, to keep her mind active and to enjoy our relationship. Currently I'm working on her "hold", which was adequate for her field career but which I'd like to have more reliable for re-training an old trick she used to do, rolling herself up in a blanket by grabbing the corner as she rolls over.

We also go on frequent hikes. Sometimes we hike with Laddie, sometimes we all hike with Renee and Gabriel, and sometimes I take Lumi by herself.

Lumi and I have recently added something new to our life together. Sometimes I lie down on the living room floor, and for some reason this has become highly exciting to Lumi, and she begins wrestling with me, even play-biting. If I don't close Laddie in a separate room, he quickly joins us, and soon Lumi and Laddie are tussling like puppies. This is a side of Lumi I haven't seen in years. It's a pleasant counterpoint to her quiet side, lying on the couch with her head in my lap as I watch TV with Renee, or sleeping with her back against me in bed.

I think that gives a reasonable picture of Lumi's life these days, hopefully bringing some closure for readers of this blog to Lumi's field career. I doubt her field work in the future will be particularly instructive, and I expect that I'll make little reference to her in future posts on this blog.

Stop on a Dime Drill, Interrupted Hip Pocket Double

SUNDOWN PARK

Today was our first session of my new Stop on a Dime Drill, which I think will evolve into a daily warm-up drill that looks a bit like a Double-T.

Today's version was simple: 100 yards to a pile of five WBs, 50 yards to WS, stopped every time (mistake), alternated between CIW versus Back, all returns were extrinsically reinforced (puppy bumper throws and tug). I used "Nope" and callback for a loose response to the WS.

Next time I'll have at least half the runs with no stop. I may also add some other casts besides "Back".

Goals of a planned daily Stop on a Dime Drill:

• Build high reinforcement value for a tight WS
• Take edge off Laddie's energy for subsequent training or competition, hopefully improving performance
• Build and/or maintain endurance
• Perhaps add reinforcement value for return

ROLLING RIDGE

SERIES A. Interrupted hip pocket double with blind

First mark was on the right, thrown at 170 yards by BB (marked by stickman) left to right into medium cover in open meadow downhill from gun station. Second mark was on the left, thrown at 40 yards by BB from behind shrubs left to right into thick medium cover, again open meadow. Fall of second mark was approximately inline to BB and stickman of first mark, making this a hip-pocket double.

To maximize the challenge of Laddie remembering the hip-pocket marks, I would have liked to set up a triple, preferably with the go-bird a flyer, but given available resources, I used a blind instead: After dog watched both throws, dog was sent to 250-yard blind (OB in high cover, no marker) diagonally across ditch, through several cover changes, diagonally traversing an uphill climb, and past a large fallen tree with risk that dog would wrap behind it. After dog picked up blind, dog was sent to pick up short go-bird, then long memory- bird. Having the marks thrown, and then having the dog run a blind before picking up the marks, made this an interrupted double.

Laddie lined the blind, then pinned both marks needing no hunts. I have no idea how he knew where everything was.

Though we continue to train pretty much every day, I don't always have time to record all our sessions. Today's Series A was similar to two series I had Laddie run a few days ago, though we didn't have a stickman in those set-ups. On both of those, Laddie had difficulty with the long marks. I guess the stickman, which I added today hoping to make the short mark more difficult, also made the long mark easier.

After another 2-3 of these set-ups over the next few days, we may try it without the stickman again. I'd like Laddie to be as comfortable as possible with the hip-pocket picture.

Steadiness Training

Mt. Ararat Farm

Today, Gaby and a couple of bird-boys (her son Jim and a friend of his, Dave) helped me work on steadiness with Lumi and Laddie.

Although Lumi participated in every step of the work, her performance was too inconsistent for confident skill development. For example, she repeatedly tried to take the flyers to a shady error to spend time alone with them, rather than bringing them back to Gaby, who was handling Lumi.

Therefore, today was primarily for working on Laddie steadiness.

As an aside, I had also hoped to give Laddie practice with out-of-order flyers (that is, the flyer as memory-bird rather than as go-bird), but it turns out that, at least for my dogs, you can't have an active, clipped-wing duck at 50 yards and a dead duck at 30 yards and expect the dog to pick up the dead bird first no matter what order they were thrown in. I'm sure it can be taught, but it wasn't worth it to me, so after the third throw, we had the flyer thrown as the go-bird for the remaining doubles.

We ran a total of eight doubles, alternating Laddie (who ran first) and Lumi as working dog, with the other dog honoring the working dog. We used no honor dog for Laddie's first double, and Lumi did not honor after her last double.

I handled Laddie the entire time, and Gaby handled Lumi the entire time. Jim threw the live ducks, firing live ammo at the ground where the duck would land while the duck was still in the air. For the dead ducks, Dave blew a duck call, then threw and fired a blank pistol while the bird was in the air. We used three live ducks for the whole series.

Jim was positioned with the bird crate behind a holding blind. Dave was in the open, on an angle 60° to the left of Jim. Both gunners threw left to right. As mentioned above, Jim threw first for the first three doubles, Dave threw first after that.

Our SL was an LP, with a holding blind on the right. For maximum excitement, I had Laddie honor between the holding blind and Lumi (the working dog), a few steps forward so that he was closer to the clip-wing duck as it was being thrown than Lumi was, and so that Lumi would walk behind him when coming to the line, then run past him on the way to the duck.

Both dogs wore yard collars with tabs. For Laddie;s last series of working and honoring, I removed the collar and substituted a loose slip-lead. By that time, I was confident that he wouldn't break, but I wanted to make sure that he wasn't wise to the collar and tab.

From what Gaby told me, Lumi's steadiness steadily improved, but I'm not sure of the details.

Laddie was steady working on all four of the doubles he ran. He may have tried to break from honor on the first double that Lumi ran — unfortunately, I can't remember — but he was steady at honor for the other three. He may have even been steady on the first one.

Following the style I've used with both dogs for at least a year, when Laddie was honoring I stood at his right flank, facing away from the field, and I cued the honor with "Just watch".

However, I made several changes to the honor compared to previous training:

1. We did not run to the van to play after the honor. Instead, Laddie watched Lumi run to her clip-wing, and soon thereafter I walked Laddie to the holding blind to wait our turn to run again. While this is not the pattern that would occur in an event, I think it's high value reinforcement for a successful honor. We did go to throw some ducks away from Gaby and Wes after Lumi and Laddie completed their last series.
2. I did not repeat "Just watch" over and over again as Laddie was honoring. I said it more than once on some of his honors when his body language suggested he might need a reminder, but I want to move toward Laddie honoring without me talking to him and I felt we were building duration successfully.
3. I did not walk directly away from the field and call "Here" when releasing Laddie from his honor. Instead, I slowly turned, took a step toward the field, and crossed in front of him, saying "Here" while showing a target hand for him to follow as he turned away from the field. Those mechanics were based on a recommendation from another trainer some weeks ago, who had once had a dog break after being released. He told me that after that, he stepped in front of the dog after being released rather than stepping away and calling.

Water Work

Lakeside Boulevard

Today, Gaby and I again met at the Lakeside Boulevard pond in Edgewood. Gaby had Gus, her Chessie, who will be running in a Senior Hunt Test next weekend, and Buster, her yellow Lab, who will be running in his first Qualifying Stake next weekend. I had Laddie, who is not currently entered in any events but practices at about the same level as Buster.

For Gus, we ran him on two Senior-like water series — a double and a blind — and also ran a confidence drill on water with him at the end to work on his tendency to pop when the gun is retired and the fall is not visible from the start line.

For Buster, we had him run three shoreline marks of 100-150 yards, a 200-yard water blind, and a drill extracted from Alice Woodyard's Diversion drill to get Buster more comfortable with running to a long mark or blind behind the gunner for a shorter mark, since he had flared in that situation on the water blind.

Laddie ran two shoreline blinds similar to the lines he ran here yesterday, a 150-yard shoreline mark (one of the same ones Buster ran), a 200-yard water blind (the same one Buster ran).

Below, I provide additional detail on the long water blind. Since it's the only series I'll describe in detail, I'll call it Series A, though it was actually about the seventh setup of the day.

SERIES A. Water single plus blind

I've gradually come to realize that the art of creating a challenging retrieve is not only to place so that various factors come into play, but also to arrange for as many of those factors as possible to influence the dog in the same direction. This is called stacking factors, I believe.

The satellite view below shows Series A, a 200-yard water blind. It was actually combined in Series A with a short mark intended to add to the stacking. Here's a description of the series.

The single mark was thrown from a position close to the shoreline, on a sharp angle back right to left into open water at 50 yards. After the dog picked up the mark, the dog was sent on the blind shown in the satellite view.

I attempted to stack several factors all of which were intended to push the dog to the right:

1. To take the correct line into water, the dog had to run behind the gunner, who was seated facing to the left, coming within a a couple of yards. If the dog pushed off the gunner, it put the dog into the water on a line too far to the right.
2. If the dog squared the water entry, that would aim the dog too far to the right.
3. A light wind was blowing left to right.
4. Perhaps because of the wind, the water also seemed to be moving left to right.
5. The dog passed a point on the right a little more than halfway out.
6. The point became more of a problem because the water became shallow enough for the dog's feet to touch bottom several yards out from the point. When a dog touches bottom, that tends to draw the dog more strongly to nearby land.
7. Once the dog was past the point, a wide inlet opened up behind the point, with several patches of cattails to attract the dog, and several pieces of litter floating in the water acting as decoys.
8. As the dog got closer to shore, a tendency to square the shoreline also pulled the dog to the right.

Gaby's Lab Buster in fact succumbed to the stacked factors toward the right, flaring around the short gunner on the water entry, then ending up on the point, and almost getting lost behind the point. But Gaby was able to keep Buster within control and he ended up climbing onto shore at the perfect exit point, then easily handled thru the keyhole to the blind.

The first time I sent Laddie on the blind, he took a line on the short gunner's left. Although he was not that far off line and I could have handled him back onto the correct line, I wanted to see whether he would flare off the gunner if he took the correct line so I called him back, carefully lined him up and got him locked in, and sent him again.

This time he took the correct line and did not flare off the gunner. He then took a good entry into the water and swam the first half of the outrun on a good line. As he approached the area of the point, he began to veer slightly right. I blew WS and cast him on an angle back to the left, which he took and carried well. That took him past the point on a good line, which he held halfway thru the open water on the far side of the point. Then he began to veer left for some reason, and it took two or three WSCs on an angle back to the right to get him going in the correct direction again. He came up on shore further to the left than he should have, but had no trouble pushing thru the shoreline cover, running up the embankment, running thru the middle of the keyhole formed by two trees, and picking up the blind.

Gaby and I were reasonably pleased with the performance of both our dogs on this blind, and were also happy to have them get practice with a big-water swim.

View 20100718 Water blind in a larger map

Skimming Singles and Blinds

Edgewood, Maryland

This morning, Gaby with her Chessie Gus, and I with Laddie, explored an area between her place and mine, looking for places we could train today and also in the future. Gaby had heard of one location, which we were able to find after some driving around. In the course of driving around, we asked for directions at one point that took us to a completely different pond. We decided to continue looking until we found the planned destination, trained there, and then returned to the one that we had discovered by accident afterwards for some additional training.

At the first pond (Lakeside Boulevard), I ran Laddie on Series A, B, and C described below, while Gaby ran Gus on a completely different set-up, a water double and blind we set up to practice Gus for his Senior test next weekend.

At the second pond (Copenhaver Park), I ran Laddie on Series D described below, while Gaby ran Gus again on completely different set-ups, two water-double-plus-blind series again similar to what Gus might see in a Senior test.

While Gus's set-ups were intended as practice for Senior water series, all marks were thrown with visible falls to engender confidence in marking. I was pleased with Gus's performance, and I think Gaby was as well.

I haven't tried to describe Gus's series in detail in this post.

Lakeside Boulevard

This is the pond we originally looking for.

I've shown the three series Laddie ran today on this pond in the satellite views below. Gaby threw the marks. Note that I've attempted to show the arc of the throw for each mark with a small pink triangle.

SERIES A. Water single plus sight blind

For Series A, the mark was on the right, thrown right to left at 110 yards. On the mark, Laddie had to run thru cover at each water entry and exit, including a thick patch of high cattails on the final water exit. The sight blind was on a line 90° to the left of the line to the mark, an OB at 90 yards marked by an LP with a tape waving at the top. For the sight blind, I moved the start line to create the desired line to the LP and bumper. Laddie required handling on the mark, but no handling on the sight blind's shoreline swim.

View 20100717 Series A. Water single plus blind in a larger map

SERIES B. Water single

For Series B, Gaby threw a 70-yard mark right to left down the embankment to water's edge. As with the Series A mark, Laddie required handling on this mark. Here's a satellite view:

View 20100717 Series B. Water single in a larger map

SERIES C. Water single

For Series C, Gaby threw a 100-yard mark left to right down the embankment to water's edge. Here's a satellite view, showing that Laddie needed to take a sharp angle entry into water, then a sharp angle exit, then a second sharp angle entry into water again, before getting to the fall at the final shoreline. Laddie required no handling on this mark.

View 20100717 Series C. Water single in a larger map

Copenhaver Park

This is the pond someone directed us to when we were trying to find the other one. The pond was nestled in woods and covered with large patches of lily pads, one of the most picturesque venues Gaby and I have trained or tested at. In addition, the microclimate here was significantly cooler than the high 80s temps we were experiencing at Lakeside Boulevard.

SERIES D. Water blind

I've shown the 90-yard water blind Laddie ran here in the satellite view below (running from top to bottom in the view). The line to the blind required two sharp angle entries into water thru shoreline foliage. Based on Laddie's performance, it was evident that Laddie was taking a line based on the direction he was sent from the SL, and could not see the bumper until he had gotten up on the final shoreline.

View 20100717 Series D. Water blind in a larger map

Notes on Laddie's performance

Laddie's set-ups were all intended to challenge his ability to take difficult angle entries into water, one of the obstacles we've been working on with the Skimming Drill. Today was a great opportunity to try his skill out in new locations, and with Gaby and her dog present for added excitement and distraction proofing, rather than in private practice as we usually work. I would have preferred that Laddie take each water entry without handling, and in fact he did not require handling for either the shoreline sight blind in Series A nor for the water mark in Series C. However, he did require handling for the marks in Series A and B. I felt that the fact that he didn't require handling for Series C showed good short-term learning, which hopefully will continue to develop Laddie's long-term learning.

With Series D, the first time I sent Laddie, he tried to run the bank at the mid-point and handled poorly when I tried to get him back on a good line. So I called him all the way back and ran him from the SL again. This time he took an excellent line and got past all the trouble without handling, requiring only a minor adjustment in the open water in the last third of the outrun.

Gaby told me several times how pleased she was with Laddie's work on today's retrieves. That was great to hear.

Interrupted Single, Skimming Drill, Offline Drill

Fairhill

SERIES A. Interrupted Single (Lumi)

Since Lumi seemed interested in getting in some work, I set up the BB for a 50-yard angle-in into medium cover in open meadow. Then I had Lumi run a 90-yard blind (OB) 90° to the right, before sending her to pick up the mark. She ran the blind well, without any attempt to detour over to the mark, then nailed the mark. I thought it was a nice job on a pretty difficult memory-bird.

SERIES B. Land triple and blind (Laddie)

For Series B, the first mark was in the middle, thrown left to right on an angle-out at 140 yards. The second mark was on the right, thrown left to right on a sharp angle into medium cover in open meadow at 70 yards. The third mark was on the left, thrown right to left on an angle-in at 110 yards. All three marks were thrown by BBs. After Laddie picked up the three marks in the reverse order they were thrown, he ran a 180-yard blind (OB) on a line that ran just to the right of the line to the middle mark.

The third mark, the go-bird, was the kind of retrieve we've been practicing in the Skimming Drill, with a sharp angle entry into high cover to take a straight line to the fall. The second mark was challenging because it was an angle-in and because the dog had no reference points near the fall. The first mark was fairly easy. The challenge on the blind was that the dog had just run in that approximate direction to pick up the final memory-bird and dogs with Laddie's level of experience have learned not to return to old falls.

Laddie did marvelously on Series B. He took the angle entry into cover on the go-bird in both directions, and he nailed all the marks, including the second mark on the right, the location of which I had forgotten but Laddie had not. After picking up the marks, he then ran the blind without difficulty, taking WSCs to stay within a narrow corridor.

SERIES C. Offline Drill

For some time, Laddie has been running blinds successfully but has taken longer to stop on his WSs than I would like, so today I thought I'd break out a drill we trained with quite some time ago: the Offline Drill. Because Laddie is more advanced now, today's version was longer than we've trained with in the past, and the offline blinds were both further from the SL, rather than evenly spaced.

Here's a description of the drill:

• I placed B1 (WB) at an LP with a tape waving at the top, 210 yards from the SL.
• I placed B2 (OB) 30 yards to the right of the line to B1, 150 yards from the SL.
• I placed B3 (OB) 30 yards to the left of the line to B1, 120 yards from the SL.
• At the SL, I lined Laddie up on B1 and sent him with "Back". When he was out 120 yards on line to B1, I blew WS, then cast him over to B3.
• Again at the SL, I again lined Laddie up on B1 and sent him with "Back". When he was out 150 yards on line to B1, I blew WS, then cast him over to B2.
• Finally, I ran him to B1 without handling.

Laddie ran the drill perfectly, stopping quickly on each of the two WSs and taking each "Over" with enthusiasm and accuracy.

Skimming Drill, Cool-off Drill

Fairhill

Laddie ran four skimming drills with high cover, in four different directions, two with the cover on his left, two with the cover on his right. Each was a double, with the go-bird requiring a sharp angle entry into cover.

In terms of short-term learning, he did very well, running the second, third, and fourth drills perfectly.

In terms of long-term learning, he didn't do as well, because he tried to "cheat" around the cover on his first mark.

On the other hand, we haven't practiced skimming drills in some time, since I decided to stay away in the days before his Senior test last weekend. Now that that's out of the way, we're going to be running them again and hopefully get Laddie fluent with running them correctly.

Rolling Ridge

Although Laddie had had plenty of water during and after the work at Fairhill, it was a hot day and he was hot. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to try a Cool-off Drill, so we drove over to Rolling Ridge. I planted an LP with an orange tape waving from the top a couple of feet from the edge of the pond, and placed a white puppy bumper in front of it. Then I ran Laddie to it as a sight blind from the top of the embankment 40 yards from the LP, with Laddie to run almost parallel to the edge of the pond never more than a few yards from the edge.

The goal was for Laddie to pick up the bumper and bring it directly back to me rather than taking it into the pond first. If he did it correctly, I would throw it for him far out into the pond and send him even before the bumper landed, much more exciting than a mere dip.

This time, Laddie showed excellent long-term learning. Even though we haven't practiced the Cool-off Drill in several days, Laddie executed it perfectly. Great way to end the day's work.

Laddie's Senior Hunter Title

[Here's the republication of a post to DogTrek and PGD on July 11, 2010. Edits to the post for this republication are shown in blue to save reading time for those who may have already read the story once on the lists.]

Hi, everyone. Laddie here. Lumi, Daddy and I are back in Maryland this morning, since driving down from Newburgh, NY, after my final Senior Hunt Test yesterday. I say "final" because I qualified in the test and got my fourth Senior ribbon, which means now I have my Senior Hunter (SH) title. The next time I compete, it will be in either a Master test or a Field Trial Qualifying Stake.

Some people wrote to Daddy today and asked for details on the test, but he's got other things on his mind, so he said I could tell you about it. I'm sure you'd rather hear my perspective anyway.

As is usual in Senior tests, yesterday's test consisted of a land series followed by a water series. They had "callbacks" after the land series, so you had to do well enough in that series to get called back to water. With 25 entries, the test had two scratches, and 18 dogs were called back to water. Fourteen dogs qualified overall.

Temperatures in New York had reached 104 degrees earlier in the week, but the day of the test was a radical change in weather. Rain came down in torrents throughout the land series, soaking everyone and, more relevant to us retrievers, virtually eliminating the scent cones which normally play such a helpful role in finding our birds. Though the rain finally stopped just about the time the first series ended, in this test, our sense of scent didn't help us very much.

Now in the descriptions that follow, I'm going to use some jargon. If anyone reading this doesn't know what a term means and would like to know, please ask and I'll be happy to explain it. Also, using Daddy's approach to writing distance estimates, all distances are approximate and conservative; that is, the distances were more likely longer than I've written than shorter.

OK, here goes:

SERIES A. Land double with land blind

For Series A, the first mark of the double was on the left, a duck thrown left to right on a sharp angle-back, and thrown from behind a holding blind and a hedgerow. The fall was at 80 yards. The second mark was 90 degrees to the right, a duck flyer thrown left to right from behind a holding blind, with the fall also at 80 yards. Both throws were preceded by duck calls from the judge and then the gunner's station, and both throws were accompanied by one or more shotgun blasts. A winger was used for both throws.

The field was covered in thick cover, varying from knee-high to chest-high on humans. The ground was uneven, and a depression ran across the entire field, so that we ran slightly downhill from the startline and then slightly uphill to the marks. A dirt road, invisible from the start line, ran up the left of the field and then across the back, so that both birds were thrown from inside the road and landed outside it, requiring us dogs to remember our training and push over the roads, rather than treating them as barriers as comes naturally.

Series A was run as a walk-up. The go-bird was the flyer, and although the flyers fell in a wide area, they all landed in thick, high cover. With no scent, some dogs, including me, ran good lines to the falls but missed the bird, and then had to run around and hunt for awhile before finding it. I was running #6, fairly early. For some reason, some of the later dogs seemed to have an easier time finding their birds. I don't know why, maybe that happens in other tests, too.

The memory-bird was the mark on the left. The line to the memory-bird was past the end of the hedgerow on the left, and I did the same thing almost every other dog did, again except for some dogs toward the end. As I ran thru past the point of the hedgerow and saw the gunner's station behind it, I was drawn to the station instead of continuing straight. It wasn't the station itself, but rather some strong attraction on the ground in that immediate area that got to so many dogs. So I began hunting short, but after a little while, I realized my mistake and went longer, got across the road, and there was the bird.

It's a good thing I didn't get too far to the left, because that was where the blind was. It was a hot blind, also at 80 yards, and also on the far side of the road. A hot blind isn't supposed to be in play unless the dog is really off course on the mark, but in this case, the suction on the line to the memory-bird was toward the blind, and in fact one dog (sadly, a Golden) did pick up the blind when she was hunting too far left for the memory-bird.

For the rest of us, the blind had enough factors to both left and right to require some handling for most dogs, but I and a few of the others lined it. When I was running back, I heard the judge say mournfully to the other judge, his wife, "He lined my blind, honey."

SERIES B. Water double with water blind

For Series B, the first mark of the converging double was on the right, a duck hand-thrown right to left at 50 yards down an embankment and a foot or two into the water, splashing among the lily pads growing there. The second mark was 75° to the left, a flyer duck thrown by a winger left to right so that it landed at 40 yards among lily pads on the left side of the pond. Both calls were preceded by duck calls from the gunner's station, and both throws were accompanied by one or more shotgun blasts.

The go-bird flyer on the left presented few problems other than having to find the bird among the lily pads. However, the memory-bird off the point on the right did cause problems. We dogs would start swimming out on a good line, but as we got closer and closer to the bird, we were also getting closer and closer to the point, and finally, for most of us including me, we would detour right and climb up on the point. Then we would hunt around on the point for awhile, however illogical that might sound, before finally getting back in the water to find the duck. Well, that's how it would go if things went reasonably well. Some dogs got out on the point and then ended up too far inland and needed help in the form of handling to get back in the water in the right place. Because of the high cover, the likelihood the dog would go out of sight on the far side of the point or in the nearby woods further up the embankment, and perhaps other factors, it was apparently quite difficult to handle dogs who needed to be handled off that point. I guess Daddy didn't want to have that happen to us after seeing it happen to several other teams who ran before us.

So Daddy made an error. I think it must have hurt my "trainability" scoring, but luckily, I still passed.

Here's what happened. When Daddy saw me veering right toward the point when running the memory-bird, he decided to handle me to the bird while I was still in the water. He had heard the judge commenting at a break that that's what he thought most Master handlers would have done, so Daddy thought he ought to do it. Actually, none of the other handlers ever did it, but of course Daddy didn't know that when he tried it. I guess it looked like a good idea, and besides, the judge had made the remark while Daddy was standing right there in earshot. I don't think Daddy wanted to look like he was blowing off the judge's expressed opinion.

Nothing wrong with handling me, and in fact I took Daddy's first cast correctly, but I didn't carry it very far, and before you knew it, I was headed back to the point.

Now I'm only a dog, so I can only guess at what happened next, but here's my best shot.

When Daddy saw me scallop back toward the point, he had a decision to make. On the one hand, he could handle me all the way to the bird. On the other hand, he could regret that he'd ever tried to handle me and let me find the bird the rest of the way myself.

The argument for taking the first option was, that's what you're supposed to do. Daddy was supposed to handle me all the way to the bird once he blew the whistle. However, when he saw me turn off from the first cast so quickly, he knew there was a good chance that the suction of the point, the poor handling conditions once I was on the point, and my accurate assessment that the bird was very close and could easily be hunted up without help from Daddy, all conspired to make it likely that I wouldn't be responsive to his attempts to handle me. So should Daddy attempt to handle me and make it obvious that I wasn't responsive in that situation, or should he just forget about it? Well, he didn't blow the whistle again until I had the bird, so I guess he felt that was the best course of action. Three people came over at separate times and lectured him about it later. :0)

After we dogs picked up both birds, we ran the second hot blind of the day, this time the water blind at 50 yards on a line 75° to the right of the memory-bird. The line to the blind cut a chord across a circular inlet, inviting the dog to run the bank on the right rather than staying in the water and swimming thru the thick patch of lily pads to the blind, and in fact some dogs were sucked to the right. Others veered left where the more open water was. As far as I know, only one dog took a good initial line and then followed it straight to the bird on the other side of the inlet, and that one dog was moi. Since this was my last Senior test, that was fitting. I don't know why, but Lumi and/or I were the only dogs to line our blinds in several of the Senior tests we've taken.

Believe it or not, now that I had run all three land retrieves and all three water retrieves, the hardest part of the test still lay before me. I had to honor the next dog, that is, I had to watch her work from a position a few yards off her right flank. I didn't have a great view of the marks, which believe it or not stoked my curiosity and actually made it more difficult for me to remain steady. But somehow I got thru it: The duck calls and shotguns sounded, the ducks splashed into the water, and the working dog was sent to pick up the go-bird. Then one of the judges said, "Honor dog released," and within the next few seconds, Daddy had my slip lead on me and we were racing thru the high cover back to the road that our van was parked on. I welcome any opportunity to run, and sometimes Daddy runs with me. This was one of those times. I think he was just too excited to walk. Since the judges had had me honor off-lead, Daddy was pretty sure I'd qualified and that I was now a Senior Hunter. We just had to wait for the formality of the ribbon ceremony later.

So that's it, that's the test, but I haven't told you the best part yet. Since we were coming from Daddy's work in New York, and would be heading back to Maryland when the test was over, naturally Lumi was in the van, too. But because she already had her SH, and isn't running in Master tests at least right now, she wasn't entered in any tests at this event. From the time we arrived in the morning, it looked like Lumi would just have to wait around all day while I took my turns running.

But when it was time for Series A to begin, the judges asked, "Does anyone have a test dog?" Daddy immediately volunteered Lumi, and they said, "Go get her, Lindsay," so Lumi got to run as test dog. Lumi hasn't been training very much and didn't do particularly well, but I was very happy for her, because she loves-loves-loves birds, and here she was getting to pick up three of them, including a flyer.

Later, when it was time for Series B to get started, Daddy brought Lumi up to the area where handlers were gathering, assuming that Lumi would be test dog for the water series, too. But they had decided to use that Golden who picked up the hot blind in Series A as the test dog for Series B, so Daddy shrugged and brought Lumi back to the van. When he came back to watch the beginning of the test, the judges told him, "We got another test dog, Lindsay, but if you like, Lumi could run as 'bye' dog. That will give the last entered dog a dog to honor."

Sure enough, Lumi, who had been the first dog to run that morning, was also the last dog to run that afternoon. They didn't need her to run the blind, but she still got to pick up two ducks, including her second flyer of the day. She was a happy dog.

Now for the best part of the best part. Lumi has only run one other test in her life in lily pads, and in that test she picked up the short go-bird, then flat refused to swim thru another patch of lily pads to get to the memory-bird. It turns out that swimming thru lily pads can be painful for a dog with arthritic hips and an arthritic wrist like Lumi.

So when Daddy saw that the water Lumi had been invited to run as bye dog on was covered in lily pads, he wondered whether the same thing would happen again. Sure enough, when she started out for the memory-bird and reached the first patch of lily pads in her way, she started to come around in a circle. Uh, oh, she's giving up, she's coming back in. But then, without any cue from Daddy, she righted her direction again and plunged thru the lily pads right back on line. Brave girl, braver than I needed to be. It doesn't hurt me to swim thru lily pads.

Now remember how I said that almost every dog had been sucked onto the point once they got close to the bird? Well, as far as I know only one dog stayed on a good line, pushed thru the last patch of lily pads, never touched the point, and swam straight to the location where the bird had splashed down. Guess which dog that was? That's right, it was the bye-dog, gentle Lumi.

I don't know which made Daddy happier: me getting my fourth Senior ribbon, or Lumi getting a chance to run all those retrieves when he'd expected her to have to spend the whole day in the van.

Sometimes fortune comes in waves. It was a good day for all of us.

Feathery wags and play bows,

Topbrass Lad of the Lakes SH WCX (Laddie)

Land Series, Cool-off Drills

Rolling Ridge

Today's focus was on tuning Laddie up for his Senior Hunt Test on Saturday. I wanted to exercise his memory for multiples, and I wanted to add reinforcement history for bringing me the retrieval article quickly even when tempted to cool off in nearby water.

In scorching 94° heat, we ran a land double and a land triple each combined with a Cool-off Drill retrieve, plus we ran a water blind with the double, and a land blind with the triple. I didn't let Laddie in the water until after the first Cool-off Drill, but after that, Laddie spent most of his spare minutes in the pond.

SERIES A. Land double, Cool-off Drill, and water blind

For Series A, I used a BB to throw one mark on a sharp angle-in at 40 yards, the other on a sharp angle-back at 100 yards, so that the two throws were almost in line with one another. Although such a set-up would not be likely to occur in a Senior test, it seems that for two marks on the same line, the closer mark tends to make it more difficult to remember the longer one. Challenging memory tests hopefully improve the dog's concentration and marking performance over time.

Laddie nailed the short mark, then took a line too far to the left for the long mark and needed a short hunt to find it. When he returned with the second mark, I ran him to a 40-yard sight blind (LP and white puppy bumper) next to the pond as a Cool-off Drill. Since he'd been out in the field walking with me while I was setting up the course, and had just run two marks in the parched field, I knew he'd be in need of cooling off, but hoped he'd come straight back with the bumper. Unfortunately, he picked up and carried it into the water. However, he came running back immediately when I called "Here", so I still threw the bumper out in the middle of the pond for him. I may have been unintentionally reinforcing his cooling-off detour, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to reinforce his prompt response to the recall.

Finally, I ran him on a 110-yard blind (OB) diagonally across the pond. He needed two handles, an angle-back-left and an over-right, and was responsive for both WSCs.

SERIES B. Interrupted land triple and blind, Cool-off Drill

For Series B, I did everything I could think of to make the long mark difficult to remember. Here's a description of the set-up:

The first mark was on the right, thrown right to left by the BB on a long arc angling in, with the fall at 130 yards in open meadow away from any distinctive features. The bumper was not visible once it landed in the medium cover. In addition, I had loaded the BB with only one bumper so that it was nearly invisible and "retired" after the throw.

The second mark and third marks were thrown by a second BB on the left, with a stickman (retired gun rack and white overalls) placed just behind it. The second mark was thrown left to right an an angle back so that it landed at 60 yards almost inline with the first mark. The third mark was thrown right to left on an angle in at 40 yards.

Although even the second and third marks were invisible lying in middle cover in featureless areas of the field, Laddie nailed both of them. He then ran an 80-yard blind (OB) through a diagonal keyhole formed by a shrub on the left and a metal fence pole a bit further back on the right. Laddie had no difficulty with the keyhole and lined this blind, his only problem being that he was racing past it until I whistled, since we usually practice on longer blinds.

Finally, I lined Laddie up for the long mark and sent him. He nailed it, running an almost perfect line despite my best efforts to challenge his memory.

With four land retrieves under his belt, I again ran him to his puppy bumper, which I had tossed next to water's edge. This time, he ran to the bumper, picked it up, and flew back to me on my CIW, turning away from the pond as soon as I whistled. Of course, we had a rousing game of water fetch after that excellent recall, to say nothing of the superb series he'd just run.

Steadiness Training

Warrenton, Virginia

Yesterday, I made some phone calls and arranged for my old friend Dave Altman to get some birds for Lumi and Laddie to train with, and for a neighborhood kid named Austin to join us once again for a training session. I picked him up at 7:15 AM, we drove an hour and a half to a farm near Warrenton, VA, to meet Dave, and there we ran two series designed to help prepare Laddie for his Senior test next week.

SERIES A. Land double and blind

For Series A, Dave threw a duck I had brought in a cooler right to left as the memory-bird, then shot a pheasant which he had thrown left to right as the go-bird. Both falls were at 40 yards. After the dog picked up both birds, the dog ran a blind (unmarked OB) to the right of the line to the flyer. Although a light wind may have pushed the dog somewhat right to left, a steep downward slope ran left to right. In addition, the line to the blind passed a large tree with a wide-open field behind it on the right, the line passing thru the tree's dark shadow. Finally, the dog honored the next dog.

Laddie ran Series A as described above. Lumi, who is not currently in training, came after Laddie and ran only the two marks, acting as a bye-dog so that Laddie had a dog to honor. I handled Laddie, while Austin handled Lumi.

Both dogs were on yard collars and slackly-held tabs to assist with steadiness. Laddie did not try to break when he was working, but he did make a faint-hearted attempt to break on honor when Lumi was released. The tab came taught and held him in place.

This was the primary goal of today's work: Either Laddie would remain steady at honor, giving both him and me confidence in his steadiness in that situation, or he would try to break and learn that it wouldn't work.

The next series might give us information on whether any learning had taken place.

SERIES B. Land triple and blind

Series B was set up across the field from Series A, and in a different orientation.

With the dog at the SL, Dave, standing at the bottom of a depression, threw a pheasant left to right on an angle back with the fall uphill from Dave and at 60 yards from the SL. Next, the handler at the line threw a duck 20 yards to the right, on a line that ran behind the honoring dog. Then Dave shot a pheasant, throwing it left to right on angle in with the fall also uphill from Dave and at 30 yards from the SL. The dog was sent to pick up the flyer, then the short throw the handler had thrown, and finally the longer memory-bird on the same line as the flyer but further back. After the dog picked up all three birds, the dog ran a 200-yard blind (OB) on a line a little to the right of the line to the flyer, with the blind planted just before the crest of a hill, so that if the dog went too far, she'd be lost to sight for the handler. After picking up the blind, the dog honored the next dog from a position to the right of the SL and a little forward, so that the working dog would create an additional challenge to the honoring dog by running right across the honoring dog's line of sight when sent to the go-bird flyer.

With me handling, Laddie ran Series B as described above. He nailed all the marks, but I made a handling error and tried to cast him "Over" when he was level with the blind but too far to the left. He interpreted the cast as an angle back and in a flash was over the crest and out of sight. I blew a CIW and after a moment Laddie did come back into sight on the other side of the blind, then, without sitting on my immediate WS, ran to the blind and picked up the bumper. It wasn't a good job of running the blind, but fortunately this blind was probably harder than any Laddie would see in a Senior Hunt Test.

After Laddie completed his retrieves and we took our position to honor, me cueing "just watch" while standing off Laddie's right flank and facing backwards as I do when I have Laddie honor, Austin brought Lumi to the line. Lumi watched the three throws and then ran to pick up her flyer, but unfortunately the shotgun had opened the bird up and instead of Lumi picking the bird up and delivering it, she began to eat it.

Meanwhile, Laddie, who had remained steady when his birds were being thrown, also remained steady at honor. I was very pleased, and Dave, who's a professional trainer and an AKC Hunt Test judge, later said that Series B was harder than Series A and if a dog was going to break, the dog would have done so on Series B.

This makes me optimistic that Laddie learned something from being held by the tab on Series A, and applied his new skill on Series B. I should say "re-learned" and "renewed skill", since Laddie had similar steadiness training last summer and was steady in several tests last fall. Steadiness appears to be a skill that deteriorates over time if not practiced, at least for a 2Q dog, or at least for my 2Q dogs.

After Laddie had honored and I had taken him back to the van to play, I saw what Lumi was up to and sent Austin to take the pheasant away from Lumi. I decided that her retrieving was best ended for the day at that point, and sent Laddie to pick up the short bird that had been thrown behind him and the longer memory-bird, saving me from having to go out and pick them up. I hadn't set up a blind for Lumi, so that completed the retrieves.

Although I felt good about Laddie's restored honoring steadiness as exhibited in Series B, I'm not confident he's quite ready for a test that would require honoring a flyer, which may come up in his test next weekend. So I arranged with Dave and Austin for a repeat of today's agenda tomorrow morning. It will be interesting to see how Laddie does at that time, especially on the first series, since of course we won't get a do-over in the test if he breaks.

Land Series, Cool-off Drill

Rolling Ridge

For today's session with temps in low 80s, I started by taking Laddie to a field away from the water and set up a short double and longer blind, using a BB for the double. The go-bird required Laddie to make a difficult angle entry into the end section of an area of high cover, the sort of picture we've been practicing in our Skimming Drill. The memory-bird was in thigh-high cover but otherwise undistinguished. The blind was diagonally across rolling hills and over a dry ditch filled with underbrush, on a line just outside the line to the memory-bird.

Laddie did nicely. He required no handling to take the sharp angle entry into the high cover on the go-bird, he nailed both marks, and he was responsive on the three routine WSCs needed for the blind because of the hills and the ditch.

Although I wanted Laddie to run the double to some extent as preparation for his Senior test next weekend in New York, and also as a practical application of our Skimming Drill, I also wanted him to be ready for a swim after running a land series in warm weather. That set us up for the Cool-off Drill, which we ran next.

For the Cool-off Drill, I had Laddie run another reasonably long land blind at a 30° angle away from the pond, then, using the same SL, had him run to an LP with a length of tape attached at the top for maximum visibility, to pick up a puppy WB, his favorite. The LP was right next to the pond, and was 60 yards from the SL, representing a raise in criteria from the two previous times we've run the Cool-off Drill. Laddie's tendency would be to pick up the puppy bumper and take it into the water to cool off before completing his return. Our goal has been to get him to bring the bumper to me first, and then I'd immediately throw it for him into the water.

Laddie performed well on this second series, also. After running the long blind, he took the easy line to the LP and grabbed the WB. I had no sense of it crossing his mind to go for a swim before returning the bumper to me, but he happily welcomed the reward — the bumper thrown into the pond — that he'd earned.