Private Training: Alternation Drill

Today, Renee and I took our three Goldens to Rover's Content, the field training property in Cheltenham, for a high-quality alternation drill. The dogs played while I set out poles to mark where Renee would throw from. Then Gabriel, Renee's Golden, and Lumi went in the van while I ran Laddie. Next, Laddie went in the van while I ran Lumi. Finally they played some more, ending up soaked from swimming with muddy feet.

Conditions included temps in the 50s, bright sun, a calm wind, geese on the technical ponds, pools of standing water over much of the property, and low clumpy cover broken up by strips of high grass.

We ran from atop a mulch mound. We used no slip cords and neither dog seemed the least at risk of breaking. As I've been doing recently, I used food at various times with the intent of reinforcing good performance, but this was one day when the food seemed entirely irrelevant.

Each dog ran a single long series:

1. A poorman double of a duck and a pigeon, 30 yards, open ground.
2. 70 yards to a white dummy thrown by Renee standing in a keyhole formed by two trees after a gunshot, the dummy landing to the left of the trees and in high grass.
   
3. A poorman double of a duck and a pigeon, 40 yards, thrown to the far side of a pool of standing water.
4. 180 yards to a white dummy thrown by Renee standing behind and to the left of a tree, so that she appeared under the tree's boughs, thrown following a gunshot onto a high hillside.
5. A poorman double of a duck and a pigeon, 40 yards, thrown behind a stand of trees, requiring the dog to watch each bird thrown from the right of a tree and land on the left of the tree.
   
6. 250 yards to a white dummy thrown by Renee standing behind a large area of high grass, thrown after a gunshot into the shallows of a pond.
   

The long marks were well separated:

• #4 was 30° to the left of #2.
  
• #6 was 90° to the left of #4.

Both dogs performed well, but I was focusing on different issues with each dog, as described below.

LADDIE

On the poorman doubles, Laddie only exhibited resource guarding on one of the six retrieves, requiring a verbal cue to complete that one returns. The other five retrieves of birds looked excellent.

On the long marks, Laddie had no problem at all with #2 and #4. On #6, he got lost trying to run toward me, finally dropping the dummy and rolling on it. I called "here", and Laddie instantly jumped to his feet, picked up the dummy, and raced to me with it.

LUMI

Lumi showed no resource guarding of the birds, and once sent, ran all her marks nicely. On #6, she lost me on the return and started running the wrong way, but responded instantly to a recall whistle.

My primary concern with Lumi was working on her recent pattern of watching a thrown article fall, then taking her eyes off it too soon. The strategy I used today was to radio Renee to pick up the dummy and re-throw it if Lumi took her eyes off the fall before I sent her.

On #2, Lumi needed three throws. On #4, she needed two throws. On #6, she never lost focus and needed only one throw.

Comments. Both dogs showed nice progress working in much more challenging terrain than the ballfields we usually use for private sessions.

Laddie showed nice progress in two areas:

• Retrieving 5 of the 6 birds with no resource guarding
• Responding well to recall after getting lost on a return
  

Lumi also showed nice progress:

• Keeping her focus on the fall after a thrown mark, needing fewer and fewer rethrows as we continued thru the series

Naturally Lumi will train with our Field Trial group on Sunday. Though I had planned to keep Laddie out until his handling skills were better developed, after today's performance I am thinking of having him run with the group this Sunday as well.

Private Training: Alternation Drill

Renee offered to help with today's training (yay!), so I planned to run first an alternation drill with Renee throwing the longest marks possible in our local area, then a follow-up of yesterday's bail-out drill with Renee videotaping.

Unfortunately, time ran out and we had to skip the second series. So we ended up doing a single series, Laddie first, then Lumi:

1. A duck and a pigeon at 30 yards, separated by 15°, thrown as a poorman double.
2. A white dummy at 160 yards, thrown by Renee after a gunshot.
3. A duck and a pigeon at 30 yards, separated by 15°, thrown as a poorman double.
4. A white dummy at 260 yards, thrown by Renee after a gunshot, 30° to the left of #2.
   
5. A duck and a pigeon at 30 yards, separated by 15°, thrown as a poorman double.
6. A white dummy at 230 yards, thrown by Renee after a gunshot, 30° to the left of #4.

I used auto-whistles on all the poorman retrieves, and on none of the three long marks. Neither dog had any problem picking up and returning with the long marks without the whistle.

Both dogs did well on most of this. The only problems:

• Whereas Lumi's returns with the birds showed little or no sign of resource guarding, Laddie threw his head quite a bit and also angled out from me as he got closer a couple of times, requiring me to use an additional verbal "here" to reel him in. I don't know whether this is a cascading behavior that will deteriorate into something worse, or simply the way that Laddie is going to retrieve birds at this stage. But to me, he's not ready to retrieve birds under more exciting conditions while he continues to behave that way in private training.
  
• Lumi ran around a muddy baseball diamond the first time we ran #4, putting her off line and causing her to run to Renee instead of the fall. Since Renee was holding the dummy she would later throw for #6, Lumi became fixated on getting that dummy away from her and required a lot of help before she saw that the real #4 was still on the ground. I had Renee run #4 again, throwing a different direction so that Lumi wouldn't have to run across that diamond (as Laddie had not), and Lumi did fine with it.

Comment. Today's series was what I call an "alternation drill".

To reiterate my concept, I give the dog one or more short poorman retrieves (keeping the dog close to me for control) with difficult retrieval articles (dead birds, in this case with blood on one of them) to groove the Retrieval Paradigm. Immediately afterwards, we run a long mark (in this case to a dummy, since Renee won't throw birds). The hope is that even though the dog is much further out on the long mark, the pattern from the short retrieves holds and the long mark becomes more reliable than if we hadn't run the short marks first.

After a long history of alternation drills, the dog will hopefully have a well-developed habit of returning promptly on long marks that some day will hold up without further need to run short marks first.

Based on both dogs' dramatic progress with long marks after we began running the alternation drill, I continue to feel this is a useful training concept.

Private Training: Bail-Out Drill

Today, son Eric offered to help me train, which gave us an opportunity to throw marks, but I also thought it would be valuable for each of the dogs to retrieve at least one duck. Above all, I wanted both dogs to run Alice Woodyard's bail-out drill for the first time.

I set up a series to work on all of those, ending with the bail-out drill. It's possible that dogs contemplate what they've learned after a training session is over, and if so, that was the experience I wanted freshest in their minds.

The series was as follows:

1. 30-yard poorman mark to a duck
2. 200-yard single to a white dummy, thrown after "hey-hey"
3. Bail-out drill

On the narrow ballfield:

• #2 was 75° to the left of #1.
• #3 was merely 10° to the left of #2.

The bail-out drill was set-up as follows:

• Three poles were placed in a straight line (separated by 30-30 yards).
• The pin of pole 3 went through the eyelet of an orange dummy and then into the ground, pinning the dummy and holding it in place if a dog tried to retrieve it.
• A white dummy was placed 15 yards to the left of pole 2 and under the high branches of a conifer. The white dummy was not visible to the dog from the line of the poles but was readily visible once the dogs got within 10 yards.
  

Conditions: High 30's, drizzly, wind calm. We worked at a ballfield where the grass was wet, cold, and had standing water and mud in places.

I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. Both dogs were nearly identical in their performance, so I'll refer to both of them as "Dog" in the following description:

I walked Dog from the van past poles 3 and 2 of the bail-out drill, giving them a chance to notice the orange dummy at pole 3. We set up at the start line, which was pole 1 of the bail-out drill.

I walked out and threw the duck, then sent Dog to that mark. I didn't auto-whistle and Dog returned immediately without a whistle and with no hint of resource guarding the duck.

Next I called for the long mark. Again Dog did great without an auto-whistle.

Finally, we ran the bail-out drill, as follows: I sent Dog from heel to pole 2, whistled sit, and cast Dog on an "over" to the bail-out dummy to the left. Dog took a step in that direction, then looped back toward pole 3 and the orange dummy. Before Dog could get to pole 3, I whistled Dog to sit again, then called Dog toward me with a recall whistle. As soon as Dog was even with pole 2, I again whistled Dog to sit, then again cued "over". This time Dog took the cast, ran to the white dummy, and picked it up. As Dog did so, I auto-whistled and Dog came racing back to me with it.

I used food when I returned from throwing the poorman mark (to reinforce waiting) and at the completion of the series as we ran back to the van (to reinforce accompanying me back, and also as a positive association with the overall training session).

Minor differences in the way the two dogs ran:

• Lumi does not like sitting or lying down on cold, wet ground and won't maintain a sit. She puts her butt down, then immediately lifts it again. I tolerate it, because I know that she only behaves that way in those conditions, and she remains steady and focused.
• Lumi was tentative on the second "over" cast until she spotted the white dummy. Then she accelerated to it. Laddie only has one speed — overdrive — so that didn't happen with him.

Private Training: "Over"

At Alice Woodyard's suggestion, I wanted to devote at least one training session to "over". Today, in icy temps and freezing rain, the dogs and I had such a session, made up of two short series.

Both series were run with the same configuration: the dog at the imaginary pitcher's mound facing home plate, me at home plate 15 yards in front of the dog, two white dummies at 1st base 12 yards from dog, two white dummies at 3rd base 12 yards from dog.

Series A. I ran only Laddie on Series A and he had no trouble with it:

1. "Over", visual and forgot to use voice, to the right.
2. "Over", visual still with no voice, to the left.
3. "Over", visual and remembered to use voice, to the right.
4. "Over", visual and voice, to the left.

Series B. I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. The similarity of the way they both ran the series was uncanny, to the extent that I can describe both of them at the same time below by referring to "Dog".

I always used a visual "over", while I used a verbal "over" intermittently. I don't remember when I did and when I didn't.

As you'll see, I had to handle both dogs on #1 and #4. They were both instantly responsive on 100% of whistle sits (WSs) and always cast in the generallly correct direction, though not always on a perfect angle.

1. With Dog in a sit facing me, I threw a dummy halfway between Dog and me, whistled sit (even though Dog was already sitting), and cued "over" to the right. Dog broke to the right, did not make an attempt at the thrown dummy, but also did not run on a straight line to the target pile, instead running on a line bisecting the target pile and the thrown dummy, angling in slightly instead of a true "over". I used a WS and a cast back to direct Dog to the target pile. Once Dog saw the target dummies, Dog pounced on one and came running back to me with it.
2. With Dog in a sit facing me, I again threw a dummy halfway between Dog and me, whistled sit, and cued "over" to the left. This time, Dog ran straight to the target pile, pounced on a dummy, and brought it to me.
3. With Dog in a sit facing me, I threw a dummy over Dog's head, whistled sit, and cued "over" to the right. Dog ran straight to the target pile, pounced on a dummy, and brought it go me.
4. With Dog in a sit facing me, I threw a dummy past Dog on a line midway between Dog and the left pile of dummies. I then whistled sit and cued "over" to the left. Dog ran toward the thrown dummy. I used a whistle sit to stop Dog before Dog picked up the thrown dummy, then cast Dog to the left toward the target pile. Dog was curiously resistant to that pile, and it took several WSs and casts before Dog finally ran to the pile, pounced on a dummy, and brought it to me.

Comments. Although it might have been nice to have both dogs respond perfectly on every "over" cast, this seemed to be a helpful session. Both dogs got good experience with sitting on the whistle and benefitting from it, both dogs demonstrated a basic understanding of "over", and both dogs showed improving resistance to divesions. I plan to repeat Series B in future sessions until both dogs clearly understand "over" as being a 90° cast.

After that, I plan to strengthen the WS by running a series of pinball drills in which I whistle sit at a midpoint and cast the dog with "over" to a dummy not visible to the dog from that position. I'm hoping that experiencing such "bail out" dummies will reinforce both the WS and "over".

Private Training: Bird-foot Drills

This morning it was sunny but bitter cold, which the dogs didn't mind but my hands did. I decided to have a low-exertion day of handling drills based on Alice Woodyard's suggested bird foot configuration.

First I set up a diamond of white and orange dummies, the white dummies 20' from the start line and 12' apart, the orange dummies 40' from the start line on a line between the white dummies. The white dummies were turned sideways for maximum visibility, while the orange dummies were turned endwise for minimum visibility. Lumi ran first, then Laddie. When I sent each dog to the orange dummy, the dog took the correct line and retrieved an orange dummy the first time sent.

Next we had our first session of using the bird foot layout as a casting drill. Per Alice's guidance, I moved the white dummies so that they were 18' apart, I added a fourth orange dummy, and I scattered the orange dummies in a small area rather than lining them up end to end. Again, I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. For each drill, I had the dog sit 40' from the orange dummies with the dog's back to the orange dummies, and I stood 15' in front of the dog. I then repeatedly cast the dog back to the orange dummy pile between the white dummies with a verbal "back" and a right or left arm raised straight in the air. The choice of arm was to tell the dog which way to spin.

LUMI: The first time I spun Lumi to my right, she ran to the white dummy on the right side. I cued "no here" and brought her back to the sitting position, then cast her again. The second and third times I spun her to my right, she spun 180° and retrieved an orange dummy.

The identical sequence happened when I spun her to my left.

LADDIE: The two times I spun Laddie to my right, he spun 180° and retrieved an orange dummy.

The first time I spun him to my left, he spun the correct direction but ran to the white dummy. I was't sure whether he was taking a wide path or actually planning go retrieve the white dummy, so I didn't whistle until he picked it up. I walked to him and took the dummy, lay it back on the ground, and walked him back to his starting position. The same thing happened again. For the third cast with my left arm, I positioned Laddie between the two white dummies. Again he spun the correct direction and this time retrieved an orange dummy. We then reran it from halfway back to his original starting position, and then from the original starting position, and each time he retrieved an orange dummy.

Holodeck Training

Holodeck Program
based on guidance from Alice Woodyard and Jody Baker

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• [Because Laddie seems to have been learning some incorrect lessons from group training, he will not be training with the other dogs at this time.] Before and after group training, work on wagon wheel drill. If someone happens to offer to throw for us, run bulldogs or alternation drill.
  
• Don't work Lumi too hard while waiting for group training to begin.
• White jacket.
• Load pockets: pistol, ammo, ear protectors, radio.

BEFORE FIRST DOG

• No birds until we've had some good sessions with dummies; therefore, make sure the gunners have dummies with them when they go out:

--Hard white dummies with streamers, running midway thru group for 2-3 weeks. [This will be our first week not using canvas dummies, and our first week not running first, since establishing a baseline.]
--After 2-3 weeks, combinations of dead birds and dummies until dogs ready to try a flyer.

RUNNING LUMI

• No multiples until Lumi has had some good series running singles.
• No blinds with the group, since that would let Lumi continue to practice hunting for the article rather than responding to a whistle.
• Run shortest mark first, longest last.
• Auto-whistle the first two marks of each training day. Based on how Lumi does, consider switching to an only-if-needed whistle for the remaining marks of the day.

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Attempted break?
• Lumi returned uncued? Auto-whistle? Contingent whistle? Voice?

AFTER SESSION

Purchase some dead birds if available.

Training Day

As planned, only Lumi ran with the group, Series A and B. But both dogs also participated in some solo bird foot drills at the Rover's Content property, and one of the other trainers was kind enough to throw four short marks for Laddie, Series C, when the group training was over.

All the marks for Series A, B, and C were run thru several strips of high grass. The day was cold, breezy, and overcast.

I brought both dogs to the start line off lead for all series, and ran them without a slip cord. Lumi did not break on any of her marks, though she was highly excited especially on Series B. Laddie did break on his first two marks of Series C, but with a duck in his mouth for the second two throws, he did not break on those.

All of the sessions are described below.

Series A

I had planned to run Lumi in the middle of the pack with white dummies, but with other dogs retrieving ducks, two of the other trainers insisted I should run Lumi first, so that she would not have to pick up a dummy over duck scent. We've practiced that considerably over the last few weeks, but I didn't want to argue and proceeded to run Lumi first.

We ran three singles:

1. 100 yards
2. 160 yards
3. 210 yards

#1 was 30° to the left of #3, #2 was 30° to te right of #3.

NOTES. #1 was thrown from behind a tree, and Lumi apparently didn't see the throw. The first time I sent her, she went out a few yards and then began to prance around. I called her to heel and sent her again, and this time she ran toward the thrower, then hunted for awhile. Eventually she left the area and the thrower called hey-hey. She raced back, found the dummy, picked it up, and galloped back with it on my whistle.

Lumi pinned #2, and I auto-whistled as she picked up the dummy. She seemed distractted by the thrower's bag of ducks, but I whistled again and she brought me the dummy.

On #3, Lumi hunted the area of the fall, then got out of range and the thrower called hey-hey. She found the dummy, picked it up, brought it toward the thrower, spit it out, and seemed to be looking around for a duck. The thrower said "fetch!", which Lumi somehow understood even though I use "give it". She picked up the dummy, I whistled, and she brought it back to me.

It seemed evident that Lumi really wanted to retrieve a duck. I decided to give her a shot at one in the next series, which came some time later.

Series B

Lumi ran as the second dog. We ran the course as three singles:

1. 80 yards
2. 110 yards across a watery inlet
3. 160 yards through a deep hollow

I had sent out white dummies with all the throwers. When I brought Lumi to the line, I used the radio to tell #1 to throw a duck, and that I would let the others know whether to throw a duck or dummy after I saw how Lumi did on #1.

Lumi displayed no sign of resource guarding on #1, so she got to retrieve ducks for all three marks, and brought every one of them straight back on an auto-whistle. She pinned all three marks and displayed a high level of excitement the entire series, from every send out to every delivery.

Bird Foot Drills

The bird foot drill is Alice's name for a lining drill set up and run as described below:

• Two white dummies, turned sideways for maximum visibility, 20 feet from start line and 12 feet from one another
• Three orange dummies, end to end and turned away from the start line for minimum visibility, 40 feet from the start line and on a line between the white dummies
• The dog is sent to the orange dummies. Alice describes the procedure for what to do if the dog does not go to the orange dummies. I followed her procedure with Lumi on the first drill and Laddie on the second.
  

In spare moments during the group training, I set up this drill four times in different locations, and in each location ran Laddie first, then Lumi.

The results:

FIRST LOCATION

• Laddie: Went to the orange dummies on his first try.
• Lumi: Went to each of the white dummies on her first two sends. When she did so, I called her back with "no here". Then I sent her three more times: first from between the white dummies, then halfway back, and finally from the start line again. She went to the orange dummies each of those times.

SECOND LOCATION

• Laddie: Ran past the orange dummies on his first try, then to one of the white dummies on his second try. I called him to me with "here" the first time, "no here" the second time. Then I sent him three more times: first from between the white dummies, then halfway back, and finally from the start line again. She went to the orange dummies each of those times.
• Lumi: Ran to a white dummy on her first try. I called her with "no here", sent her again. She ran between the white dummies and almost past the orange dummies, spotted them as she was running past and brought one to me.

THIRD LOCATION

• Both dogs went to the orange dummies on their first tries.

FOURTH LOCATION

• Both dogs again went to the orange dummies on their first tries.

Series C

This series was thrown by one of the trainers for Laddie after the group training was completed. It consisted of four marks of 70 yards with dead ducks, thrown after gunshots. The marks were 30° apart.

Laddie pinned all four marks, but stalled at the fall with all, and looked like he would have begun to chew the ducks if left to his own devices. I auto-whistled each pick-up, and when he didn't come, I began to walk out. I had to walk less and less distance with each mark, only a couple of steps on the last one.

Once Laddie began to run toward me with the ducks, he didn't stop again, and delivered each duck nicely. I took the first and last one as soon as he swung to heel and sat with them, but I had him hold the second and third in his mouth at the start line while watching the next mark thrown in the hope that it would discourage breaking (it did), and also in the hope that that would make the delivery more valuable and increase the probability of immediate returns in the future.

Training Group Advice

As often happens, I received some advice during today's training. Today, one of the trainers said that Field Trial trainers have their dogs look for the long gun first, as soon as the dog comes to the line, and if you're running singles, you'd run the long mark first.

I think it makes sense to look for the long gun first on a multiple, especially if that's going to be the first mark thrown. Often, however, that will make the long mark the last mark retrieved. When running singles, if you run the long mark first, you're actually running the opposite order that the more advanced dogs will typically run.

In discussing this with Alice some weeks ago, she recommended that at Lumi's and Laddie's current stage of development, they should be running singles with the shortest mark first, the longest mark last.

Conclusion

Although I had planned to have Lumi retrieve dummies for a few more sessions before trying her on ducks again, it appears that she may be ready to retrieve ducks from now on. I don't know how soon they will have flyers again, and I would be reluctant to have her retrieve a flyer yet. But as long as they're throwing dead ducks, or even dead pigeons, I'm comfortable with letting her continue to retrieve them as long as she does not begin to display signs of resource guarding again.

Although Laddie has been retrieving ducks well in private training, today showed that he is not yet reliable retrieving ducks under group conditions, even the subdued conditions of short marks and a single thrower. Alice has recommended that he not run with the group until he has a rock solid whistle sit, so that is our current training objective. Once that feels solid, he'll retrieve dummies for 2-3 weeks before we try having him retrieve ducks with the group.

Both dogs exhibited nice progress on the lining drills.

Private Training

Once again today, we had two sessions. Today, it was a morning solo session at a neighborhood ballfield, and an afternoon session at Cheltenham with Renee as thrower.

The morning session (Series A and B) was wagon wheels, mixing dead birds and dummies. The afternoon session (Series C thru E) was alternation drills, alternating short poorman marks of birds, with long thrown single marks of dummies, plus a final single for Laddie.

Only black and white canvas dummies with streamers were used today for all drills. The birds were dead pigeons and ducks in various combinations. I reinforced the dummy retrieves with food and each session with food, happy dummies, and tug.

Series A. Two dummies alternating with two birds at 20 yards, separated by 90° angles. I sent the dogs to both dummies first, then both birds. Both dogs were 4 for 4.

Series B. Three birds alternating with two dummies in a semicircle, separated by 45° angles. The birds were at 20 yards, the dummies at 25 yards.

Laddie was 4 for 5. He took a whistle sit and cast off the bird when he veered off the send to the second dummy.

Lumi was 5 for 5.

Conditions for Series C thru E. The afternoon sessions were run at Rover's Content in Cheltenham. The day was sunny, with temps in low 50s and variable winds. The rolling terrain had low, clumpy cover with many strips of high grass and occasional pools of standing water.

Series C. Alternation drill, alternating short poorman multiples of birds with long thrown marks of dummies:

1. 20 yards, dead pigeon into high grass, first throw and memory-bird of a poorman "double"
2. 20 yards, dead duck in front of a mound, second throw and go-bird of the "double"
3. 180 yards, canvas dummy thrown in front of a mound after gunshot
4. 30 yards, dead duck into high grass, first throw and memory-bird of a poorman "double"
5. 25 yards, dead pigeon behind a mound, second throw and go-bird of the "double"
6. 290 yards, hard white dummy with streamers thrown into high grass after gunshot

LUMI: I used an auto-whistle on all marks except #4 and #5. Lumi's performance was flawless. She pinned every mark, picked up every bird and dummy uncued and unhesitatingly, and returned to me at an excited gallop.

LADDIE: I used an auto-whistle on all marks, and reinforced all retrieves with food, plus happy dummies and tug at the end of the series. Laddie's performance was wonderful, except that we ran #6 twice.

#6 was a traversal thru standing water, and on the first return, Laddie stopped to drink, then play. I walked out, cued "sit", picked up the dummy, and walked him back to the start line on a leash. We then reran the mark and he ran it beautifully, never slowing in either direction. He didn't stop on any of his other returns the rest of the day.

Renee believes that Laddie stopped because he was thirsty, and I agree that I should make sure he always gets plenty of water. But possible thirst aside, I believe that Laddie has a gap in his training to date, namely inexperience with land-water-land, even shallow water. Lumi had the same problem last spring. Now that I see the issue, it's something I hope to work on with Laddie in the next few weeks.

Series D. Alternation drill, alternating long thrown marks of dummies with a short poorman mark of a bird. This series was run from on top of a mulch mound:

1. 100 yards, hard white dummy with streamers thrown into high grass after gunshot
2. 30 yards, dead duck into high grass thrown as a poorman single
   
3. 220 yards, hard white dummy with streamers thrown into high grass after gunshot

LUMI: I used an auto-whistle only for #2, and it seemed unnecessary. Lumi's performance was again flawless. She pinned every mark, picked up both dummies and the bird uncued and unhesitatingly, and always returned to me at an excited gallop.

LADDIE: Had to hunt a short time for both dummies, and needed a whistle to get oriented on his returns (he may have been parading for the thrower Renee), but he needed no help finding the dummies and responded instantly to the recall whistles.

Series E. Because Laddie had shown a problem traversing standing water, I had him run one more single before we quit for the day:

1. 100 yards, last 30 yards through knee-deep standing water, hard white dummy with streamers thrown on other side of the pool after gunshot

Laddie slowed slightly as he approached the water, then plunged in and swam across, came out and picked up the dummy on the run. He shook off and pranced around for five seconds while I tried a recall whistle and then shouted "here" several times. At last, he turned toward me, swam back across, and ran excitedly all the way back to me. Once I saw he was well on his way, I turned and ran away from him. In a few seconds, he caught me and we played fetch and tug games for some time.

General Remarks. Neither dog has "stalled" or exhibited any resource guarding of birds in weeks. Today was a continuation of that pattern.

Both dogs are now generally run without slip cords. Neither attempted a break all day.

I reinforced all retrieves with food, plus happy dummies and tug at the end of each series.

This was one of Lumi's best days of training in some time. She was essentially perfect all day.

Both dogs showed great enthusiasm for today's wagon wheels in the morning as well as the afternoon work at Cheltenham. While both dogs clearly have a genetic predisposition for retrieving, my impression after comparing many sessions with and without food is that intermittently reinforcing retrieves with food provides a markedly improved association for the overall game.

I think this is more true for Lumi than for Laddie, who only has one speed, but even for Laddie, his returns, especially the last few yards, seem more focused than ever since we began intermittently reinforcing with food again.

Private Training

Today, we had a solo morning session and an afternoon session with two throwers. As usual, we'll also work on "give it"/"hold"/"out" indoors at dinnertime, but this post is about our outdoor training.

For the morning session, we ran two series of wheel drills (Series A and B). For the afternoon, we ran two sets of marks (Series C and D).

For the wagon wheels, I used prepositioned dummies and all were in plain sight. I only had the dogs retrieve the outer ring of dummies. I used praise, food, random tosses of a dummy, and random games of tug as reinforcement for retrieves.

Although I believe that lining skill is enhanced by using a whistle sit and recall if the dog goes to the wrong article, I was curious to see how the dogs would do if I used a whistle sit and the cast them to the correct dummy instead.

Series A. Three rings:

• Four 3" white dummies at 5 yards
• Four 2" white dummies at 7 yards
• Four 3" orange alternating with four black & white canvas dummies at 10 yards

Laddie was 8 for 8, Lumi was 6 for 8.

Series B. Three rings:

• Four 3" white dummies at 10 yards
• Four 2" white dummies at 15 yards
• Four 3" orange alternating with four black & white canvas dummies at 20 yards

The first time I tried this set-up and ran Laddie, he took off into an adjoining farmer's field and rolled in something disgusting. I cleaned him up a bit, put him in his crate, and set up the same course elsewhere in the same park. I ran Lumi first, then Laddie on the new set-up.

Both dogs were 4 for 8. Lumi was 0 for 4 on the orange dummies, 4 for 4 on the canvas. Laddie was highly distracted by something in the woods or a nearby field, and was 0 for 4 running toward the distraction, 4 for 4 running away from it.

Neither dog attempted to pick up the wrong dummy when whistled to a sit or when cast, even if the dog was standing right over the wrong dummy. Both dogs were 100% responsive on whistle sits and casts, and in all cases but one, needed only a single cast to the correct dummy. Both dogs were also 100% responsive in picking up the dummies and coming straight back.

Lumi seemed to be distracted by something on one of her sends and needed three casts. She went the right general direction on all of them but took slightly wrong angles the first two times and had trouble homing in on the dummy.

In contrast to some of yesterday's practice, both dogs showed a high level of enthusiasm on both of today's wagon wheel drills. Weather may have been a factor. Yesterday, the temperatures reached record-breaking highs for the date, while today temps were in the 30s with gusting winds, conditions Goldens seem to find invigorating.

Series C. Three singles:

1. 30 yards, as a poorman mark, dead duck
2. 100 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers
3. 160 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers

Lumi: I used an auto-whistle for #1, no whistle for #2 and #3. Excellent work.

Laddie: I used an auto-whistle for #1, also needed to whistle #2 and #3, with Laddie responding instantly to all whistles. To go straight on #3, Laddie had to run over the side of a hill and across a corner of pavement, which he did, maintaining a laser line.

Series D. A double with B&W canvas dummies with streamers:

1. 140 yards
2. 70 yards

Laddie: Again needed whistle, again Laddie responded well. This time, the throw for #2 required Laddie to run thru a wooded section to maintain a straight line to the mark, and he did so.

Lumi. No whistles, again excellent work.

Private Training

With no one else to train with today and temperatures in the 60s, we did two series of wagon wheels and then went swimming for the first time in months.

For both wagon wheel drills, all the dummies were prepositioned, the dogs only retrieved the outer ring, and they were reinforced for each retrieve with food and praise. I used no casting today, and both dogs were 100% responsive to every whistle sit and recall, which was how I dealt with veering offline instead.

Occasionally the dog makes it all the way to the incorrect dummy, but as long as I whistle sit before the dog picks up the dummy, both dogs will sit and then recall on whistle without trying to pick the dummy up. I haven't tried casting the dog from there to the correct dummy, since that might reinforce going to the wrong one and cause it to increase, but I think I'll try the cast periodically to see if they'll take it.

Both dogs were about 70% accurate on the first send, but only about 30% accurate on the second send. In other words, if the dog didn't go to the correct dummy the first time, the dog would usually repeat the error, or veer to the other side, rather than immediately getting it right the next time.

I thought that shortening the distances might make Series B easier than Series A and increase the success rate (and therefore the rate of reinforcement), and that seemed to be true for Lumi, but not for Laddie. That may have been because today Laddie was unusually distracted by goose droppings and possibly other environmental factors present at today's training site.

Series A. Wagon wheel drill with three rings:

• White 2" dummies at 10 yards
• White 3" dummies at 15 yards
• Orange 3" dummies and B&W canvas dummies at 20 yards

Series B. Wagon wheel drill with three rings:

• White 2" dummies at 5 yards
• White 3" dummies at 7 yards
• Orange 3" dummies and B&W canvas dummies at 10 yards
  

Swimming Laddie has long since become a faster runner and higher jumper than Lumi. In fact, Laddie runs faster, jumps higher, and acts wilder than even the two BCs we live with. But as today showed, Lumi is still easily the faster swimmer.

Nonetheless, Laddie showed measurable progress in today's swimming compared to the last time we swam, when he was about half his present age. Laddie can now happily and repeatedly swim as far as I can throw a dummy, and has no difficulty waiting at my side until sent.

In addition, our swimming session got some benefit out of the "give it"/"hold"/"out" training we've been doing at dinner time for the last couple of weeks. Instead of dropping the dummy to shake off as soon as he reached shore, Laddie was responsive to "hold" as he was coming out of the water and retrieved the dummy to hand before shaking off. If the unseasonably warm weather holds up, we'll add distance/duration to those deliveries out of water in the days to come.

Comments I was pleased about the way today's outdoor training sequence worked out.

I continue to feel that the wagon wheel drills recommended to us by Alice Woodyard are valuable not only for fine lining in the presence of diversions, but also for grooving the fundamental retrieval pattern: go out, pick up the article, and bring it straight back.

In addition, I think today added a new element of extrinsic reinforcement, or at least pleasant association, to the wagon wheel retrieves. While wagon wheels are hopefully somewhat self-reinforcing for Lumi and Laddie because they involve retrieving, and while feeding and praise add extrinsic reinforcement, wagon wheel drills at such short distances are also relatively low energy and therefore, it seems, not as much fun for either dog as most of our field training.

I think it's good for the dogs to learn that we need to keep on working, and working well, even when it's not as much fun. I think it's even better to cap off such a lesson with an exciting session of swimming. With repetition, that trains the lesson: Working even when it's not much fun predicts the possibility of great times afterwards.

Private Training

Today, per Alice Woodyard's recommendation from last week, we worked on wagon wheels. Over the day, each dog ran five series, two in the morning and three in the afternoon. Each series was in a different location.

Although performance varied from series to series, one constant was that both dogs were 100% responsive on every whistle sit and every whistle recall.

Lumi was also responsive and reasonably accurate on every cast, whereas Laddie's casts were not accurate enough. He leapt out of his sit on every cast, but did not always go in the direction I cued. Since I did not intend this as a casting drill, I minimized casting for both dogs, and since it wasn't working well with Laddie, I only tried it with him a handful of times.

Series A. Four prepositioned orange dummies at 20 yards, one invisible from the start line, four thrown white dummies at 20 yards. I had the dogs pick up the three visible orange ones, then the invisible orange one, and finally the four white ones. I reinforced the retrieves of the orange dummies with food.

Lumi had some trouble on both the visible and invisible orange dummies, and to improve her success rate, I walked her closer after a couple of unsuccessful, veering send-outs on any dummy she had a problem with.

Astonishingly, Laddie did not need a single resend on any of the eight retrieves.

Series B. Four prepositioned orange dummies at 25 yards, three invisible from start line, four thrown white dummies at 15 yards. I had the dogs pick up the visible orange dummy, then the three invisible orange dummies, and finally the four white ones. I reinforced the retrieves of the orange dummies with food.

Lumi needed some resends on the orange dummies, but I never needed to walk her closer.

Laddie's performance was similar to Lumi's.

Series C. Four prepositioned orange dummies at 25 yards, all invisible from the start line, four thrown white dummies at 15 yards. I had the dogs pick up only the orange dummies. I reinforced all retrieves with food.

Neither dog lined on faith. Laddie needed to be walked closer, Lumi responded well to handling. I was concerned that one or both dogs may have been hunting on scent rather than actually lining.

After Series C, I decided that it's premature to train lining and faith, and that we should get lining to visible targets fluent first.

Series D. Four prepositioned dummies at 20 yards, all visible from the start line, four thrown white dummies at 15 yards. I had the dogs pick up only the orange dummies. I reinforced all retrieves with food.

Series D was too easy for both dogs, so I decided to try finer lining.

Series E. Four prepositioned white dummies at 5 yards, four prepositioned orange dummies at 7 yards, and eight prepositioned additional dummies at 10 yards. The additional dummies were four 2" white dummies alternating with four B&W canvas dummies. I had the dogs pick up only the outer ring of eight dummies. I reinforced all retrieves with food.

Because the lesson was simplified, this was the day's most satisfying drill. Both dogs were 70-80% accurate. When they'd go to the wrong dummy, I'd whistle a sit and then a recall, to which they were always responsive. The goal was for each dog to learn to go in the direction he was looking when sent, and over the eight retrieves, the dogs seemed to be grasping that concept.

Planning. In the future, I plan to make some or all of the targets invisible from the start line again, and also to increase the suction of the diversion articles by using dead, and later live, ducks. For now, I think it's more valuable to strengthen the dogs' performance in drills like Series E. Not only does this practice accurate lining, but it also practices and reinforces unhesitating pick-ups, direct returns, and whistle sits and recalls to remedy incorrect responses, the foundation skills needed for productive participation in group training.

Private Training

Today, son Dave offered to help with our training, so instead of working on wagon wheels, I thought I'd see how the dogs would do retrieving dead birds. I also wanted to try out one of the drills Alice Woodyard had recommended for my dogs a few days ago, a pinball drill with duck scent across the path to each target.

We ran the following series, first Lumi, then Laddie:

• Mark #1 - 30 yards, dead pigeon.
• Mark #2 - 100 yards, dead pigeon, 90° to left of mark #1.
• Pinball drill - 90 yards, four poles (spaced 30-30-30 yards), no articles, duck scent on two tracks between poles 2 and 3, and on two more tracks between poles 3 and 4. The pinball course was 90° to left of mark #2.
  
• Mark #3 - 220 yards, dead pigeon, 45° to right of mark #2.

Everything was run on lawn at nearby Sundown Park, except that mark #3 extended out into an unmaintained area of clumpy grass and underbrush for the last 100 yards.

All marks were thrown after a gunshot.

Dave said he was excited about both dogs' performance, especially Lumi's, which was not only error-free but was unusually enthusiastic.

Laddie broke twice on mark #1 and once on mark #2 and ignored my recall, and each time, Dave picked up the bird. Obviously I'd have preferred that Laddie not break, and I'd have preferred that he come when called, but as Dave pointed out, it was cool to see Laddie's steadiness improve so visibly when he saw that breaking was fruitless.

Considering that Laddie hasn't had a chance to run around since Saturday, I suspect that if he'd had some play time before today's training, he wouldn't have had quite so much bundled up energy and would not have broken. We're working on his recall, but I guess the gunfire and the dead bird, combined with all that energy, were too much for him today. We'll keep working on it.

I id not see the breaks as too significant, since they declined rather than increasing. By comparison, seeing both dogs responsiveness on picking up birds and racing back to me with them was thrilling.

Neither dog seemed to have any trouble with the duck scent on the pinball drill. Soon we'll try a more advanced handling drill with duck scent that Alice has also suggested.

Private Training

Although Laddie did not participate in the group training (see today's "Holodeck Training" post), he did accompany Lumi and me to Rover's Content today. Both before and after the group training, I set up wagon wheels for both dogs to practice their lining, whistle responses, and in some cases handling.

I ran the wagon wheel series in a variety of locations, all characterized by rolling terrain, low clumpy cover, small pools of standing water, and strips of high grass. I used whistle sits and either casts or recalls if the dog went off line, and an auto-whistle after every pick-up.

We used all hard dummies, four white with ropes and streamers, four orange (except for Series A). In each case, all dummies were 20 yards from the start line in the center. The white dummies were at the four points of the compass, while each orange dummy was midway between two white ones.

When orange dummies were used, the dog was sent to all the orange ones in random order. After all the orange ones were picked up, the dog was sent to all the white ones. The dog was sent from a sit on either side of me, and asked to deliver on either side, in random order. If the dog saw me place or throw the dummy, I sent the dog with the dog's name. If the dog did not see me place the dummy, I sent the dog with "back".

Today's five series represented a progression of increasing difficulty:

Series A: Laddie. White dummies, watched me throw them.

Series B: Laddie and Lumi. White and orange dummies, watched me throw first the orange ones, then the white ones.

Series C: Lumi and Laddie. White and orange dummies, watched me throw first the orange ones, then the white ones. Two of the orange ones were invisible after landing.

Series D: Lumi and Laddie. Orange dummies planted, watched me throw white dummies. One orange dummy was in plain sight, other three were partially or fully invisible from start line.

Performance. Both dogs picked up every dummy uncued and were 100% responsive to every sit and recall whistle. Lumi was also responsive to every cast. Laddie did not take the casts accurately so mostly I just called him back and resent him if he went off line. A few times, I also walked him closer to the target dummy before sending him again.

Plans for Future Sessions. Next time, we'll repeat Series E until both dogs are confident. After that, we'll make the following increases in criteria:

• We'll try replacing the white dummies with dead birds. That will increase their distraction value, and will also raise the excitement level of the drill and give the dogs pratice returning with birds after they've picked up the dummies.
  
• We'll place the orange dummies at 30 yards, then throw the white dummies to 20 yards.
• We'll place the orange dummies at 30 yards, then throw dead ducks to 20 yards.
• We'll add a third ring of eight dummies at 40 yards for the dogs to retrieve first.
  
• We'll try using one or more wrapped live ducks in combination with white dummies and/or dead ducks for the ring at 20 yards.
  
• We'll try using one or more shackled live ducks in combination with white dummies, dead ducks, and/or wrapped live ducks for the ring at 20 yards.
• We'll try increasing distance. This will not necessarily increase the difficulty of lining; in fact, it might actually make it easier, since the articles will be further apart. However, it will give the dogs practice with whistles and retrieving real birds at longer distances.
  

Holodeck Training

Holodeck Program
based on guidance from Alice Woodyard and Jody Baker

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• [Because Laddie seems to have been learning some incorrect lessons from group training, he will not be training with the other dogs at this time.] Before and after group training, work on pinball drill with duck scent and wagon wheel drill. If someone happens to offer to throw for us, run bulldogs.
  
• After airing Lumi, let her rest in van while waiting for group training to begin.
  
• Put on Lumi's collar for slip cord.
• White jacket.
• Load pockets: slip cord, slip lead, pistol, ammo, radio, ear protectors.

BEFORE FIRST DOG

• No birds until we've had some good sessions with dummies; therefore, make sure the gunners have dummies with them when they go out:

--Canvas dummies and run first for two weeks. [This will be our second week of this.]
--Canvas dummies but running later for two weeks.
--Rubber dummies for two weeks.
--Combinations of dead birds and dummies until dogs ready to try a flyer.

RUNNING LUMI

• No multiples for Lumi until she has had some good series running singles.
• No blinds with the group, since that would let Lumi continue to practice hunting for the article rather than responding to a whistle.
• Run shortest mark first, longest last.
• Use a slip cord if reasonable possibility of a break.
• Auto-whistle the first two marks of each training day. Based on how Lumi does, consider switching to an only-if-needed whistle for the remaining marks of the day.
• If Lumi has something in mouth, anything but coming right back is bad. Gain control. If you cannot influence her, walk her out of the field and don’t let it happen again. Drop the criteria back, which might mean, stop training with FT group.

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Attempted break?
• Lumi returned uncued? Auto-whistle? Contingent whistle? Voice? Walk out?
• If Lumi did not come straight back, why (for example, RG, parading, Super D, zoomies, diversion)?

AFTER SESSION

• Purchase some dead birds if available.

Group Training As planned, Laddie did not train with the group. We did some private wheel training both before and after the group training, which I'll describe in a separate post. This post only applies to Lumi's work with the group.

Today's session included only a single series of marks:

1. 140 yards into high cover, throwers obscured by trees
   
2. 220 yards into standing water, with pools of standing water en route
3. 280 yards into standing water, pools of standing water en route

Terrain: rolling low hills and low, clumpy cover with strips of high grass crossing all marks.

Configuration — pyramid:

• #1 was 90° to left of #3
• #2 was 10° to right of #3
  

I ran Lumi first, and I had the throwers throw our blank and white canvas dummies with streamers. Shotguns were used for all marks.

I walked Lumi to and from the start line off lead and used no slip cord. She did not attempt a break.

Lumi picked up every dummy uncued and on the run, then turned to look for me without breaking stride. Because of the distances and the terrain, I auto-whistled all marks. Lumi turned toward me, cantered home, and delivered nicely as soon as I whistled.

Lumi got a little off line and went out too far on #3. When she seemed to have lost track of the area of the fall and risked going out of sight, I used the radio to call for help. The thrower attracted her attention and re-threw the dummy. Lumi immediately ran to it, picked it up, and brought it to me. Considering the 280 yard distance, the fact that the dummy was thrown into a pool of water, the fact that Lumi was looking into the sun when the mark was thrown, the fact that she had to run thru rough terrain including a large area of standing water to get to the dummy, the fact that the dummy had little or no scent, and the fact that the area of the fall had not yet been scented by other dogs or birds, I wasn't worried that Lumi had a little problem finding the dummy on #3.

One of the other trainers commented, "She seems to be returning a lot better now." Another trainer also said Lumi did a nice job.

While some of the dogs ran triples, and some ran a double and a single, a few also ran one or more singles. Compared to the others, Lumi ran nice marks, and even with her problem finding #3, ran her series better than several of the others.

Private Training

Heavy rains prevented us from training outdoors yesterday, but today was sunny and unseasonably warm, temps reaching the lower 50's with little to no wind. Renee and I packed up our three Goldens and drove to Rover's Content, the training facility in Cheltenham where I train with the Lumi and Laddie on Sundays, for a private training session. Gabriel, Renee's Golden, waited in the van during the training session, and had lots of play time before and after.

Lumi and Laddie each ran a total of four series, three from one mulch mound, then one more from a different mulch mound and in the opposite direction. Laddie ran Series A-C first, then Lumi. Then Laddie ran Series D, then Lumi.

The terrain at Rover's Content is rolling hills and valleys, short clumpy cover mixed with strips of high grass. Except for the 35 yard marks, all of today's marks required the dogs to run through several strips of high cover, and some also went through large pools of standing water. Most of the falls were in high cover.

Series A

Poorman triple, then thrown single. The triple:

1. 35 yards, dead duck, dropped quietly in place
   
2. 35 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers, dropped quietly in place
3. 35 yards, dead duck, dropped quietly in place

Wagon wheel configuration:

• #2 30° to left of #1
• #3 30° to left of #2
  

Retrieval sequence: #3-#2-#1.

Single:

90 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers, thrown after gunshot, 15° to the right of #1 of the triple.

A white bag containing dead birds, open at the top, sat next to the thrower.

Series B

Same as Series A, except that the single was 140 yards and 22° to the right of #1 of the triple. Lumi only ran the single on Series B.

Series C

Same as Series A, except that the single was 220 yards and 30° to the right of #1 of the triple. Lumi only ran the single on Series C.

Series D

Two singles of B&W canvas dummies with streamers thrown after gunshots:

1. 140 yards
2. 190 yards, 15° to right of #1

A white bag of dead birds, open at the top, sat at the thrower's position for #1 while each dog ran both singles.

Notes on Laddie's Runs

On Series A thru C, Laddie had difficulty with the wagon wheel, repeatedly starting on line and then veering to a different article. He was 100% responsive to whistle sits and recalls, and twice, when I cued "leave it" and "here" while he was standing over a bird or dummy, he responded correctly and returned to heel without the article.

One time, after veering off several times and being whistled to sit, then come back to me, Laddie ran part way out and stopped without me cueing it, apparently confused whether he was to retrieve or not. That showed me that he was confused about what I wanted rather than trying to act independently from my cueing.

On Series D, the first time Laddie ran #1, he marked well, but on the way back, he stopped at a large pool of standing water to drink and then roll in the water. I walked out to him, put him on leash, and gave the dummy to Renee so she could throw the mark again. The second time we ran #1, Laddie did fine. He also ran #2 without difficulty, and showed no sign of being confused or distracted by the bag of ducks at the pole for #1, which he ran past off to his left.

Notes on Lumi's Runs

Lumi had no difficulty on any of these series, except occasionally finding me from the fall over the tall grass. When she would look confused, I'd whistle and she'd come.

Lumi was so confident on the wagon wheel in Series A that I didn't bother to run her on that part of Series B and C.

On Series D #2, like Laddie, Lumi showed no sign of confusion or distraction from the bag of ducks at the pole for #1.

Conclusion

Lumi seemed to have all the skills needed for today's training, and seems to have recovered her ability to retrieve dead birds, a skill she had developed some months ago but had then lost late in the competitive season. I plan to continue having her retrieve dummies in group training for a few more sessions, but I'm feeling good that she will soon be able to retrieve birds — at least dead birds — with the other dogs. Lumi also seems to be feeling better physically the last week or so than she did for several weeks.

The lessons for Laddie seem more complex:

• Laddies's problems in going to the wrong marks on #1-#3 on Series A-C might appear to be freelancing, but the fact that he stopped on his own at one point says to me that he was not trying to ignore me, he simply does not have a thorough understanding of lining yet. Next week, we will focus on that skill.
  
• Laddie playing in the water on Series D might appear to be a lack of retrieve drive, but the fact that he did not stop when we reran the mark says to me that he in fact has strong retrieve drive. As long as he believed that he could both play and complete the retrieve, he apparently preferred that to simply coming back with the article. But once he learned that stopping to play cost him the opportunity to complete the retrieve, he didn't do it again.
• Laddie's marking was outstanding.
• Laddie was 100% responsive to the whistle, for both sits and recalls, the entire day.
• Laddie was not confused by bird scent coming from the bag sitting with the thrower.
• Laddie had no difficulty with the divesion of the bird bag sitting alone at the #1 pole on Series D while running #2.
• Laddie had no difficulty picking up dummies in the presence of duck scent.
• Laddie picked up each dummy and each dead duck promptly and immediately returned toward the start line. While he did show some reluctance to complete the return with the ducks, he was completely responsive to verbal cueing to do so.
• In summary, Laddie has made visible progress in the areas that we have focused on the last two weeks. Although he had some incorrect responses in today's series — poor lining, mild resource guarding of the birds, stopping to play in the water on one return — he seems to have the foundation of responsiveness to whistle sits and recalls, combined with a strong drive to retrieve, needed to work on solutions to each of those problems.
  

Private Training

In the previous three training sessions, we gradually raised criteria in the alternation drill. Today we trained at a neighborhood ballfield and took a breather, relaxing criteria instead of raising them. We shortened the distance of the long mark to 170 yards, used no birds or bird scent, and fired no pistol. We were forced into these conditions by logistic constraints, but in my estimation, no harm comes from a session of easy successes, and learning may even improve by including such sessions occasionally.

Each dog ran two series back to back, and except for where son Eric was standing to throw the long mark, the two series were identical:

• With dog in a sit at the start line, and Eric visible out in the field, I walked out at an angle and threw a hard white dummy. Then I walked back to the dog and sent him/her to the dummy I'd just thrown. The first two throws of the day, I used an auto-whistle when the dog picked up the dummy. Aside from that, I didn't whistle all day.
• When the dog delivered the first dummy, I walked out at a different angle and threw it again, then walked back and sent the dog to that one. This gave the dog two short poorman marks of about 40 yards.
• Then I waved to Eric to throw a B&W canvas dummy with streamers, calling out "hey-hey" in lieu of firing a pistol. When the dog brought that dummy back, I had the hard dummy waiting for a string of reinforcers: a couple of happy dummies, a game of tug, and a small bite of string cheese. The reason for not using the canvas dummy is that we don't play tug with the canvas dummy.
  

Given this set up, each dog had a total of six retrieves today, four 40 yarders and two at 170 yards.

Both dogs performed flawlessly and seemed to have a great time.

Private Training

Today was our third practice with the alternation drill. To review briefly, the alternation drill consists of bouncing the dog back and forth between two kinds of retrieves:

• A wagon wheel, mixing birds and dummies at short distances, in which the handler is able to maintain complete control because of the close proximity
  
• A long, exciting retrieve of dummies in the presence of bird scent

The idea of the alternation drill is to use the wagon wheel to shape the correct retrieval pattern — devoid of hesitation, shopping, parading, and so forth — no matter what kind of article the dog finds at the fall, and then to immediately utilize that pattern to practice and highly reinforce a long mark of a dummy in the presence of duck scent, preparing the dog for that kind of mark in group training.

Today, we added two new components to the alternation drill. First, instead of working solo, our training partner Barbara was present to throw the long marks, and second, we used a whistle sit for any lining errors on the wagon wheel before calling the dog back, rather than calling the dog back immediately with a recall whistle.

Interspersed with two series of marks for Deuce, Barbara's yellow Lab, the training sequence for Lumi and Laddie was:

• Alternation drill containing three series for Lumi
• Alternation drill containing three series for Laddie
• A long mark for Lumi
• A long mark for Laddie

Details follow.

ALTERNATION DRILL: LUMI

Series A. A poorman triple followed by Barbara throwing a single.

The triple:

1. 30 yards, dead pigeon
2. 30 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers
3. 30 yards, dead pigeon

Marks quietly placed while the dog waits at start line. Marks placed and retrieved right to left. Marks separated by 30°.

The single: 70 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers, 30° to the left of #3 of the wagon wheel. Thrown on high arc after gunshot. When dog returns, excited laughter and praise, two happy dummies, a game of tug, and several bites of high value food.

I used an auto-whistle on all retrieves in Series A.

Performance: Lumi performed this series flawlessly.

Series B. Identical to Series A except that the mark was further to the left and a distance of 120 yards, and I did not use an auto-whistle on any of the retrieves in Series B, and no whistle was needed.

Performance: Lumi ran this series flawlessly, with one exception:

In the wagon wheel, Lumi tried three times to swerve from #2 (the dummy) back to the line for #1 (the old fall of the pigeon already picked up). Each time, I whistled a sit, then a recall, and each time she responded instantly. The fourth time I sent her to #2, she kept her line and retrieved the dummy with great enthusiasm. When she returned for the delivery, I quickly sent her back out to the pigeon at #3.

Series C. Identical to Series B, except that the mark was still further to the left and a distance of 170 yards. Again, I did not auto-whistle and no whistle was needed.

Performance: Lumi ran this series flawlessly, taking the correct line the first time on every mark.

ALTERNATION DRILL: LADDIE

Laddie ran the identical set-ups to what was described for Lumi above.

Series A. Laddie's performance was excellent, except for much head throwing and a slight reluctance to come to heel with the two pigeons. He was, however, completely responsive to both whistle recall at the pick-up and "give it" when he slowed on his return.

Series B. Laddie's performance was again generally excellent, but his returns with the birds and the long mark were not automatic, and the head throwing and hesitant delivery with the birds continued. He responded instantly to a recall whistle on every mark.

Like Lumi in her Series B, during the wagon wheel, Laddie also tried to swerve from #2 to the old fall at #1, and like Lumi responded instantly to both the whistle sit and the whistle recall. Unlike Lumi, he only tried it once, and the second time I sent him to #2, he held his line and completed a lovely retrieve.

Series C. Based on Series B, I used an auto-whistle for every retrieve. Except for the head throwing and hesitant delivery with the pigeons, Laddie's performance was excellent on this series.

LONG MARK: LUMI

This was a 240 yard single with a B&W canvas dummy with streamers, thrown after a gunshot.

The first time I Lumi ran this, I had inadvertenly left our training gear, including Deuce's much-chewed Dokken, on the exact line of the mark. As Lumi ran on the correct line, she spotted the Dokken, picked it up, and then continued to run toward the fall. I whistled recall and she immediately turned back toward me. I praised her well for her performance, since this had the unintended appearance of an inline double, and I was pleased that she had picked up the short mark first.

I then moved the training gear and ran Lumi again. This time, she ran the long mark to perfection. No whistle was needed.

LONG MARK: LADDIE

Laddie ran the same long mark as Lumi, minus the training gear, and ran it with his usual all-out speed and determination. After we started the mark, a pair of hikers passed the start line and by the time Laddie was returning, they had walked between Laddie and me. Twice Laddie swerved toward them, and each time I whistled recall and he instantly got back on line toward me.

GENERAL NOTES

I didn't use a slip cord at the start line for either dog, and both dogs were steady on every mark.

Lumi had a great day, responding nicely to every whistle, marking with her usual accuracy, and displaying no hint of resource guarding the pigeons. Every retrieve was carried out at a gallop, and Lumi's demeanor was uniformly engaged, cheerful, and enthusiastic. It is so nice to see her healthy again.

I was pleasantly surprised by Laddie's responsiveness on the whistle sit and how quickly he quit trying to swerve to wrong fall on the wagon wheel of Series B. His resource guarding behaviors with the pigeons were not satisfactory, but aside from that, Laddie's performance was terrific.

Private Training

Today, we continued working solo on the alternation drill with Laddie. Lumi did so well with the alternation drill yesterday that I had her rest in the van while Laddie ran, and then brought her out just to run a cold blind.

I could hardly believe how well both dogs did. I noticed that we were working in a drizzle today, and I think that may inescapably give birth to a new superstition on my part. From now on when we're training, I just know that at some level, I'm going to be hoping for rain.

Details of the session follow.

LADDIE

Laddie ran four series of four marks each, that is, four poorman quads. He ran with his usual all out speed and exuberance the entire day.

At the end of each series, I threw a happy dummy for him a couple of times and then we played some tug. Finally I set him up to wait at the start line while I went out to throw/place articles for the next series, and gave him a chunk of fast food "cheeseburger" as he went into his sit.

Series A

1. 33 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers, thrown after a gunshot and with a high, exciting arc
2. 33 yards, dead pigeon with dried blood on the feathers, dropped quietly in place
   
3. 33 yards, B&W canvas dummy with streamers, dropped quietly in place
4. 33 yards, dead pigeon dropped quietly in place

The marks were separated by 30° angles, right to left, and were run in the reverse order, #4 first, #1 last.

For this series, I ran Laddie on a 100' line. I auto-whistled as soon as he picked up each article. He responded instantly to every whistle, and brought every article straight back. The long line was entirely irrelevant, and I didn't use it again the rest of the day.

Series B

Same as Series A, except #1 was thrown 60 yards from the start line.

Laddie ran #4 (a bird) fine. On #3 (a dummy), he started on the correct line but then started to swerve toward #2 (the other bird). I whistled recall (no voice) and he spun around and came back to heel.

We repeated that sequence six (!) times. Every time, Laddie responded instantly to the whistle. Finally, on the seventh try, he took the original line all the way to the dummy, picked it up, and came straight back with it. Of course, I cheered enthusiastically, and as soon as he swung to heel and sat down, I quickly took the dummy, placed my hand over his forehead, and released him to the bird at #2 with his name.

On #1, Laddie ran straight to the dummy but then ran past it and started to hunt. I called "give it", and he then immediately picked up the dummy and raced back with it.

Series C

Same as Series B, except #1 was 90 yards and I used ducks instead of pigeons at #2 and #4.

Performance was almost identical to Series B with one major exception. Laddie only tried to swerve from #3 to #2 a single time. The next time I sent him to #3, he took the line, ran to the dummy, and brought it right back. As in Series B, I quickly sent him on to #2.

Series D

Same as Series C, with the following exceptions:

• I went back to pigeons again.
• #1 was 120 yards from the start line.
• The angle between #1 and #2 was only about 10°.

Laddie took every line correctly on the first try this time, and picked up every article on the run as soon as he reached them. This series was essentially flawless.

After the last series, I threw a dummy for Laddie a couple of times and we played some tug, then we ran together to the van and I gave him the last of his cheeseburger as we ran. I also threw his dummy some more and played tug some more as we ran. It was a joyous time for both of us.

The delta between yesterday's last series and today's first was startling, and the improvement during today's training only increased that delta. The alternation drill appears to be an effective antidote to the problems Laddie has been displaying lately.

LUMI

Series A

170 yard cold blind, orange dummy, no pole

The dummy was at the base of a tree and faintly visible to me from the start line.

Lumi's run went as follows:

• Lumi tried to pop at 30 yards. I just continued to look at her without moving, and after about five seconds, she resumed the line she'd been sent on.
• Twice, Lumi drifted to the right toward the bird falls from Laddie's training. Each time, she responded instantly to both my whistle sit and my angle back cast, both times taking the correct line from her new position. I didn't use my voice for handling at all.
  
• Fifty yards from the dummy, she caught sight of it and suddenly sped up and ran to it, picking it up without hesitation. I then whistled recall, but she had already turned for home. The whistle wasn't necessary, but my using it may have served to reinforce Lumi's association between the cue and the correct response.
  
• Lumi did not run flat out in either direction except when she caught sight of the dummy, but she cantered nicely, with a sweet and cheerful demeanor, the entire time.

Private Training

Today I began to work Lumi and Laddie on a drill I call the "alternation drill", focused on helping them to return immediately with a dummy they've been sent to even if they believe that ducks may also be out there somewhere.

I'd have preferred to run the drill at the same facility where we train on Sundays, and with throwers to help me, but since neither of those were possible today, I came up with the following solo drill:

1. I set out six surveyors flags as targets for thrown retrieval articles, at varying distances from the start line and on angles of 30° from one another. #1-3 were 100 feet from the start line, #4 was 50 yards from the start line, #5 was 100 yards, and #6 was 150 yards. Note that contrary to other posts I've written, the numbering of these flags does not reflect the order that the marks were thrown/placed.
   
2. To start the first series of four marks, I put the dog into a stay at the start line and walked out to #4. There, I fired a starter pistol and threw a canvas streamer dummy on a high, exciting trajectory to the #4 flag. I then walked to #3 and calmly dropped a duck, to #2 and dropped another dummy, and to #1 and dropped another duck.
3. I walked back to the dog, attached a 100' long line, and sent the dog to #1, prepared to use the line to guide the dog back if the dog did not immediately return with the duck.
4. With the line still attached, I sent the dog #2 and then #3.
5. Then I detached the line and sent the dog to #4. When the dog returned and delivered the last dummy, I reinforced with a high value treat. That completed the first series of four marks.
   
6. For the second series of four marks, I repeated steps 2-5, but used flag #5 instead of #4.
7. For the third and last series, I again repeated steps 2-5, but used flag #6 instead of #4. For that last mark, instead of feeding the dog at the start line when the delivery was accomplished, I ran toward the van with the dog and tossed the food to the dog as we ran.

This adds up to a total of three series, four retrieves each, most of them quite short. Besides simply practicing the desired retrieval pattern, the drill is also set up so that the dummy retrieves at the end of each series, when the dog is not on the long line, are the most fun for the dog. Those are the ones thrown with a gunshot, the ones thrown high, and the ones where delivery earns a chunk of food. As an aside, this drill also provides practice for long stays, lining, remembering multiple marks, and returning with ducks as well as dummies.

The reason for delivering the last treat while running back to the van is to help the dog begin to learn that even if the treat doesn't come on the start line, as will be the case in competition, delivering the dummy still predicts a fun outcome, in this case, first running together, than a treat.

After setting up the course, I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. Here's how it went.

LUMI

Lumi had almost no difficulty with this drill. The only exception was that, after running the first series of four marks, Lumi had learned that #1 and #3 both had ducks while #2 had a dummy. Therefore, when we ran the second series and I sent her to #2, she started in the right direction but then swerved toward #3.

Nice try, Puppy. As soon as she swerved, I called "here" and she turned on a dime and returned to me without my needing to use the long line. She didn't try swerving off line again on that series of four marks, nor on the next and last one either.

LADDIE

Laddie's performance was higher energy than Lumi's as usual, but not as accurate.

First of all, he swerved from #2 to #3 on both the second series of four marks and the third. Secondly, he didn't respond to "here" or a whistle so I had to use the line to stop him. Thirdly, his returns with the ducks were unreliable. And fourthly, on the long marks run without the long line, he did not return promptly, requiring repeated whistles and calls to get him to stop running around with the dummy in his mouth.

ANALYSIS

While it is disappointing that a dog who has been in training for seven months cannot execute this simple drill, Laddie's performance was actually good news. Previously, it was difficult to create a situation in which Laddie would predictably display his running around behavior in private training, making it difficult to predict whether the week's training would have any effect on Laddie's performance the following Sunday.

Now that we have seen this behavior early in the week, we can continue to practice this drill each day and watch to see whether the behavior persists or declines. If we are fortunate and the behavior declines, extinguishing by the end of the week, we can have reasonable hope that the behavior will also not occur in group training, though of course it's not guaranteed. On the other hand, if the behavior persists throughout the week, that will tell us that this training plan does not successfully extinguish the behavior, and we can expect the problem to be just as bad next Sunday.

Furthermore, if that's the case, we'll have good reason not to run Laddie again in group training until we find a training plan that repairs the problem, and we'll have an objective litmus test to determine whether the plan is working.

Holodeck Training

Holodeck Program
based on guidance from Alice Woodyard and Jody Baker

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• To reduce likelihood of zoomies, run Laddie on pinball drills and cold blinds before the other trainers arrive; let Lumi rest.
• Put on dogs’ collars for slip cords.
• White jacket.
• Load pockets: slip cord, slip lead, pistol, ammo, radio, ear protectors.

BEFORE FIRST DOG

• No birds until we've had some good sessions with dummies; therefore, make sure the gunners have dummies with them when they go out.
• Arrange to run first.

RUNNING THE DOGS

• No multiples for either dog until that dog has had some good series running singles.
• Running shortest mark first, longest last.
• Always use a slip cord to prevent a break.
• Auto-whistle the first two marks of each training day. Based on how the dogs do, consider switching to an only-if-needed whistle for the remaining marks of the day.
• No blinds with the group, since that would let the dogs continue to practice hunting for the article rather than responding to a whistle.
• If a dog has something in mouth, anything but coming right back is bad. Gain control. If you cannot influence them, walk them out of the field and don’t let it happen again. Drop the criteria back, which might mean, stop training with FT group.
• If a walk-out is needed, try to run the dog on another mark even if that was supposed to be the last mark of the series.

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Attempted break?
• Dog returned uncued? Auto-whistle? Contingent whistle? Voice? Walk out?
• If the dog did not come straight back, why (for example, RG, parading, Super D, zoomies, diversion)?

AFTER SESSION

• Purchase some dead birds.

Preliminary

As planned, I set up a pinball drill and a blind for Laddie:

• Pinball drill: 200 yards, four poles (spaced 80-80-40), orange dummies at each pole
• Cold blind: 50 yards, no pole, orange dummy at base of tree

After both dogs aired, Laddie ran these while Lumi rested in van.

Laddie was only 50% responsive to whistles. He was suppose to pick up dummy at each pole and deliver it, then go further the next time, sitting at each pole. After picking up #2, he ignored recall whistle and ran to #3, then switched dummies before coming back. He did better on the cold blind, 67% responsive to whistles and casts, including an "over" with a slight angle in. I gave him chunks of meat for each delivery.

Lumi seemed to want to run the blinds, too, but I kept her resting in the van. Considering how well she did in the group training later, especially Series B, I feel good about that decision.

Conditions

Black & white canvas dummies with streamers for all marks. The other dogs were retrieving ducks, so the throwers had bags of ducks with them.

In both series, Laddie ran first while another trainer held Lumi on lead in a holding blind, then Lumi ran second while the trainer held a struggling Laddie.

All marks were thrown as for Field Trials.

Sunny, 35°F, winds 5-10 MPH.

Low, clumpy grass with many strips of high grass.

Series A

Using a set-up that the advanced dogs were running as a triple and a blind, we ran three singles:

1. 110 yards (into high cover)
   
2. 200 yards (into high cover)
3. 290 yards

Pyramid configuration:

• #1 30° to right of #3
• #2 30° to left of #3
  

LADDIE

On slip cord for all three marks, Laddie did not attempt a break on any.

He ran straight to every mark, picked the dummy up immediately, then ran around with the dummy in his mouth, possibly looking for a duck to exchange for the dummy. Eventually Laddie came in on repeated recall whistles and "here" on #1 and #2.

On #3, after lengthy running around, he eventually dropped the dummy to run around some more. At that moment, I started walking into the field, and would have preferred to walk all the way to him and walk him back on lead. But after 10 seconds, he ran to the dummy, picked it up, and ran to me. I was still 100 yards from him when he picked up the dummy, and didn't know whethter it would be better to whistle a sit and complete the walk-out. Because that risked another refused cue, and because his pick up and return now looked so good, I decided to reinforce that, so I turned and ran back. Laddie caught me and we ran to the start line together.

I had planned to feed Laddie a chunk of meat for all deliveries, but he was so focused on the next gunner after delivering #1 that I didn't want to interrupt with food. I did feed for #2 and #3 deliveries.

LUMI

I was confident that Lumi would be steady, so I didn't bother with a slip cord, and she was completely steady on all marks.

Lumi pinned #1, picked up the dummy, and with auto-whistle ran straight back to me.

On #2, Lumi got off line in the high grass and slope, ranged far from the fall, needed help to find it, and was reluctant to pick the dummy up even when she found it. When the thrower picked it up and threw it again, she ran to it, picked it up, and started to bring it to the thrower. I whistled recall once and she immediately turned toward home and brought it straight to me.

On #3, Lumi again got off line and again needed help. The instant Lumi saw the dummy, she picked it up and brought it straight to me.

After swinging to heel and giving up the dummy for every delivery, Lumi cheerfully looked up at me and bounced around, which I interpreted as hoping for a treat, and each time I gave her a chunk of fast-food cheeseburger.

NOTES ON SERIES A

• Lumi's marking was not as reliable as it used to be in Hunt Test groups, but Laddie's was excellent.
• Both dogs showed high enthusiasm at all times, and Lumi's physical condition seems to have improved from recent weeks. I didn't give her any Rimadyl this week as I've been doing for training days the last couple of weeks, yet she seemed to be the most enthusiastic she's been, especially on returns, in some time.
• Despite a week of practicing Dummy Over Duck Scent, Laddie seemed to completely revert to the Super D behavior he showed last Sunday. That may have been aggravated on #3 because it was a brand new canvas dummy and carried even less scent than the others.
• Lumi seemed to have profited from the week's Dummy Over Duck Scent training. Compared to her problems on every mark last week, she only had trouble picking up the dummy on #2 this week.
• Charlie commented that the distances on this series were "about what you'd get in a Qualifying", which was helpful information to me.
  

Series B

Using a set-up that the advanced dogs were running as a triple, we ran three singles:

1. 110 yards (into high cover, firing shotgun aimed at dummy as it was in the air)
   
2. 160 yards (into high cover)
3. 190 yards (thrower was difficult to see and threw the dummy almost straight back)
   

Pyramid configuration:

• #1 30° to right of #3
• #2 30° to left of #3
  

LADDIE

On slip cord for all three marks, Laddie attempted break only on #1, where the shotgun was used. His marking was excellent on every throw, even though the guy threw #3 before I signaled.

Laddie ran around with every dummy, what Alice calls "Super D". Unfortunately, he ignored initial recall whistles and voice, but he did not bring the dummies to other stations (parading) and he did finally come to me on each mark. On #3, his return fell apart and he stopped to roll on the dummy three times. I began to walk out as soon as he did it the first time, but he finally picked the dummy up and broke into a purposeful run toward me. We raced back to the start line together. Again because of Laddie's intense focus on the next mark after delivering #1, I only fed him after the deliveries on #2 and #3.

LUMI

After all the time we've resumed group training, at last one of the dogs had a good series.

I used no leash to or from the start line, and no slip cord during the throws. Lumi showed no hint of breaking, yet burst from the gate when released. On every mark, she ran straight to the fall, picked up the dummy on the run, spun around, and ran straight back. I auto-whistled on #1 but saw as I did so that it had not been necessary, and did not whistle on #2 or #3. Every delivery included a bouncing flip to heel and cheerfully looking up to me after I took the dummy. While that is not a desirable habit — I'd rather have Lumi immediately looking for the next gun — her upbeat attitude was a joy to watch.

I'm not sure how to account for Lumi's high motivation today compared to recent weeks. Some factors:

• She may have been better rested, something I concentrated on this week, including leaving Lumi home when Renee and I took Gabriel and Laddie for a hike on Saturday.
• She may have recovered from a period of pain.
• Waiting with other trainers in the holding blind while I ran Laddie first may have heightened her motivation to work with me, as I've seen happen in musical freestyle events.
  

Suggestions

I received several suggestions from the a couple of the advanced trainers:

1. When one of the dogs is running around with the dummy (only Laddie did this today), whistle "sit", then cue recall, instead of only cueing recall while the dog is running around.
2. For Laddie, do more pile work on a 100' line, then run Laddie on a 24" check cord on training days.
3. Don't have more than one article in the pile when doing pile work with Laddie, on the theory that it makes Laddie think there are typically more articles out there.
   

Summary

We have trained with this wonderfully friendly and skilled Field Trial group six times now since we resumed group training, each Sunday hoping to establish a baseline upon which to incrementally build more advanced field skills. It appears that we have finally found a baseline for Lumi, an exciting development.

While that is not the case for Laddie, who continues to have problems returning with the article (even a canvas dummy), I felt that today nonetheless represented progress. Laddie's marking was excellent on some long, difficult marks, he picked up every dummy immediately, and he didn't carry the dummies to other stations but stayed in the vacinity of the fall as he carried out his unfortunate hunt for additional articles. Hopefully, our private training over the next few days can address the return problem, perhaps the last piece of the puzzle for establishing that elusive baseline.