Hunt Test Training

On Tuesdays these days, we train with Bob Hux's Hunt Test group at Cheltenham. Today after an overnight freeze, Bob set up two land series, postponing water work for warmer weather.

Series A. Though not particularly long, Bob's first series included a variety of challenging factors. The set-up was as follows:

1. 80-yard mark (duck flyer), the line thru marshy wetland and several goose decoys
2. 80-yard mark (duck thrown by winger), the line down a steep, tangled embankman, thru a muddy ditch, diagonally across a dirt road, and finally thru a strip of high cover and another group of goose decoys
3. 100-yard blind (duck), the line diagonally across a road, between two trees, diagonally across a deep wide ditch filled with stagnant water, past a mound on the right, and finally to a camo lining pole

#2 was 90° to the right of #1. #3 was 60° to the right of #2.

LUMI

If this had been a test, I believe Lumi would have passed it, but on this occasion, several problems occurred:

• As we were waiting at the SL, the flyer got away from the gunner. The gunner called out for Bob to get a dog to pick up the bird, who was active but apparently flightless. I asked the gunner whether I should send Lumi, and when he said that I should, I sent her and she picked up the live duck and brought it to me. I then walked across a bridge on the right to bring the duck back to the gunner.
• When we then started our series again, I called for the flyer on #1, as usual watching Lumi rather than the field. I heard a gunshot, a long pause, and then another gunshot. Lumi held steady, but concerned that I shouldn't send her if there was any chance of another gunshot, I looked up to see if the gunner had retired, and Lumi broke. I ran the rest of the series as though nothing had happened, but I gave Lumi much longer waits than usual on Series B, and plan to start using long waits on a regular basis for the foreseeable future with both dogs.
• When #2 was thrown, I wasn't watching thrower, so I'm not sure whether Lumi looked away, or didn't see the mark because of the bright sun, or saw it but was still fixated on the flyer station. In any case, when I sent her, she veered toward #1. Per Alice's suggestion to handle Lumi on marks occasionally rather than calling for help from thrower, I blew WS, then cast Lumi to the mark. She ran straight to it, so perhaps she had seen it. Her responses on the WS and cast were good.
• Lumi was responsive on cues running the blind, but squared the ditch both ways. We need to work on that.

After running her series, Lumi honored the next dog's non-flyer single without difficulty. I gave her a treat, then tossed a duck and said "get your bird", and she seemed perfectly content as we walked back to the van together.

LADDIE

Laddie ran only #1 and #2 of Series A, and I requested thrown ducks instead of a flyer and instead of using the winger.

I ran Laddie without a slip cord on Series A. He was steady but crept forward several inches on both marks. Alice had suggested having Laddie retrieve a few dummies before sending him if he creeps, but I wasn't comfortable interrupting the group training for that on this occasion.

I didn't communicate with Laddie during either mark except for an auto-whistle as he was pouncing on each bird. His returns and deliveries were excellent in most respects, with no stalling, no dropped birds, firm holds on the delivery. Laddie's return path for #2 was too wide, but that was cheating around difficult terrain, not the resource guarding behavior we have been addressing the last few weeks.

Series B. Bob set Series B up in a different location from Series A, and with fewer factors:

1. 50-yard mark (duck thrown by winger)
2. 110-yard mark (hand-thrown duck)

#2 was 60°g; to the left of #1.

LUMI

Because Lumi had broken during Series A when we had a long delay before I sent her, I used a long delay for both marks in Series B. Lumi did fine running this series, then honored a double for the next dog.

LADDIE

I decided to let Laddie experience the winger for #1, and ran him on a slipcord for that mark. He tried to creep or break, so I was glad I had used the slipcord.

Instead of a slipcord on #2, I had Laddie watch the mark thrown with the previously retrieved duck still in his mouth, and he did well. He held onto the old bird, and he didn't creep or seem inclined to break.

The only sound from me while Laddie was running the marks was auto-whistles on both pick-ups. On the first one, I waited to see what Laddie would do if I didn't whistle, and Laddie delayed his pick-up until I whistled. Therefore, I plan to resume an early auto-whistle for the foreseeable future.

Return and Delivery Milestone. Based on Laddie's performance yesterday and today, it appears that it is no longer necessary for me to provide communication other than an auto recall whistle on his returns and deliveries. Based on discussions of dog training I've read, the risk remains that under stress such as competition, the old, incorrect versions of Laddie's return and delivery behavior may crop up, but at least for now, this phase of Laddie's training seems to be a success.

Last fall, after both dogs tried to eat their birds during their turns in a Hunt Test, we three began a long journey, and at times our prospects looked pretty bleak. A month or so ago was the low ebb, when Alice saw in Laddie the warning signs of a failed project.

Yet here we are, two dogs going out, picking up birds, and bringing them back, while I stand quietly waiting for them. Of course we have many more things to train, but today feels like the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.

Whistle Sit, Marks, Marks and Blinds

Today's training included the following:

• A morning hike that included practice on both dogs' whistle sit (WS)
• Series A, three marks (Laddie)
• Series B, blind-mark-blind (Lumi)

Whistle Sit Practice. This morning Lumi, Laddie, and I went for a hike along the creek at Brink. Besides the enjoyment of hiking, I had two training goals. First, I was looking for a location where we might begin work on the swim-by drill in the next few days. And second, I was blowing WSs for both dogs every few minutes.

The purpose of random WSs on our hikes continues to be two-fold: First, since I reinforce each correct response, responses are improving. This is especially true with Laddie, since Lumi's responses were already excellent the first time I tried this on a hike a few days ago. Today, both dogs were near 100% reliability, and in most cases, nearly zero latency. Since the trend is going in the right direction, I hope to continue to see improvement as we continue practicing the WS this way.

The second reason I believe this drill is valuable is that it enables me to calibrate each dogs' evolving responsiveness to the WS at various distances and levels of distraction. The idea of not giving cues I'm not confident will work has become deeply ingrained in me from years of study and correspondence with other dog trainers. Because of my on-going WS practice sessions with Lumi and Laddie, I'll have the confidence to use the WS in particular training and competition situations.

Series A. For today's series of marks for Laddie, I combined my own plans with guidance from Alice and Jody and came up with these objectives:

• To continue our proofing with increasing distances on the first retrieve, in this case increasing the first retrieve from 110 yards in our previous session to 130 yards in today's.
• To fade as much handler feedback as possible from Laddie's returns and deliveries.
• To build the reinforcement value of a wing-clipped pigeon by sending Laddie while holding the bird, rather than leaving the bird in its carrier, and then letting Laddie retrieve the bird after every mark, rather than waiting until after the entire series.

We ran Series A at the Oaks field with Nate throwing. Here's the set-up we used:

1. 130 yards (duck), station marked with a chair
2. 80 yards (duck), station marked with a stickman
3. 170 yards (duck), station marked with a stickman

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

As we drove to the training site, I decided, as our initial step toward fading handler feedback, to say "good job" three times per retrieve: once as Laddie started toward me, once at 1/3 of the way back, and once at 2/3 of the way back. So I did that on #1, but watching Laddie's behavior, I didn't feel that I saw it making any difference.

Therefore, I decided on the spot to accelerate the fading process, and on #2, mostly out of habit, I said "good job" when Laddie was halfway back. Again, I didn't see any effect on Laddie's performance.

So on #3, the longest retrieve of the day, I decided with some trepidation not to say a word. I stuck to my guns until Laddie had swung to heel, then in a quiet voice, I said, "nice job"..

The reason for my trepidation was that I was afraid that without feedback, Laddie would either be confused about whether he was performing correctly and vary his behavior in an attempt to elicit a response from me, or he would revert to behavior that he found more entertaining because I wasn't prompting the desired behavior. With relief, I learned that neither of those problems occurred.

On #1, Laddie dropped the bird just as he was sitting down, but that bird was pretty old. Aside from that, he was perfect. He never wavered, never slowed, never snaked or looped, didn't even throw his head. He just went out and did his job.

Perhaps it helped that I was holding a clippie, and let him have a short retrieve with it after each mark. I didn't allow parading or other freelancing, because I didn't want Laddie to rehearse such behavior at this time in his career. But I set the clippie out about 5 yards so Laddie got to run to it, pounce on it, pick it up, carry it back to me, and deliver it. I'm sure he'd've preferred to hold it longer, but I hope that even so he liked it. He seemed excited.

Laddie also got to carry a duck back to the van, cued with "get your bird". That seems to be as valuable to Laddie as it is to Lumi.

Series B. For Lumi's series, I once again wanted her to develop a comfort level with running a blind either before or after running marks while throwers were in the field, but without too much wear and tear. Here's the set-up I came up with:

1. 100-yard blind (orange dummy, marked by surveyor's flag)
2. 80-yard mark (duck), thrown from station marked by chair and two stickmen
3. 100-yard blind (duck, marked by surveyor's flag)

#2 was 30° to the left of #1, and was thrown to the right, away from the line (TAL) for #3. #3 was 30° to the left of #2.

I had planned to let Lumi retrieve the clippie after each of her retrieves, too, but neither of the birds looked too fresh after Laddie was done with them, so I decided not to use them with Lumi. She didn't seem to miss it.

On the blinds, Lumi took a wide line on both send-outs, but was responsive on all WSs and casts. Her performance on the mark was excellent as usual.

Whistle Sit

For the first time in his life, Laddie, who like our other Goldens usually sleeps in our bedroom, slept thru the night without waking me to go out. I was concerned that that might indicate he was especially tired from the activity of recent days, or perhaps that he was under the weather. Since both Lumi and Laddie have had ample group work the last couple of weeks and will probably continue to do so, I decided it prudent to skip training with the Field Trial group today.

Once we got up, Laddie seemed his usual bouncy self, so in the morning I took the three Goldens for a hike while Renee was working (she's a fitness trainer and gives classes at a club on Sunday mornings as well as other times during the week). Bringing Gabriel along was intended to let him have fun participating in the outing, but for various reasons it didn't work out well and I probably won't try that without Renee again.

Every five minutes or so, I blew a whistle sit for Lumi and Laddie (Gabriel hasn't been trained to sit on a whistle). Today, I only needed a second whistle to get the dogs to sit twice. The improvement from yesterday was the result of both a slight improvement in the dogs' responsiveness to the whistle when it's interrupting other activities, and also an improvement in my ability to reserve the whistles for situations in which both dogs are likely to respond correctly. In the days to come, as their responsiveness and my confidence increase, I'll gradually raise criteria, both distance and degree of distraction.

Marks and Blinds, Marks, Whistle Sit

Today we trained with Nate at Oaks for Series A and B, then hiked with Renee and Gabriel and got in some whistle sit (WS) practice. Bryan accompanied us to Oaks to videotape. The series with Nate throwing were as follows:

• Series A. Blind-mark-blind (Lumi)
• Series B. Three marks (Laddie)

Series A. Series A was intended for Lumi to practice running a blind both as the first and as the last retrieves in a series, but to conserve Lumi's soundness, we only ran one mark in between. The resulting series was as follows:

1. 110-yard blind (orange dummy marked by a surveyor's flag, in line with a prominent tree 30 yards further out)
2. 80-yard mark (bird)
3. 150-yard blind (bird marked by a surveyor's flag, in line with a prominent tree in the distance)
   

Although these distances were short by Field Trial standards, they seemed reasonable by Hunt Test standards, which was consistent with my recent decision to focus on Hunt Tests with Lumi.

Temps were in the mid-70s and felt hotter, possibly because we're not yet acclimated to the warm weather. Lumi, who has always performed poorly in higher temps, moved slowly to and from the field, and also moved slowly when running her series, but except for speed, I felt her performance was good.

I used a wingclip as an intended reinforcer for the series, but based both on Lumi's slow returns, and her seeming interest in carrying one of the ducks in preference to the wingclip, I'm not certain that the opportunity to carry a wingclip is actually of value to Lumi.

Here's a video of Series A:



Series B. We continue to work toward the benchmark of three sessions in a row in which Laddie's performance is flawless on a 150-yard retrieve as the first retrieve of the day. In our previous session, the first retrieve of the day was at 90 yards. Today's first retrieve, building on that, was at 110 yards. The series of three singles was an indent configuration as follows:

1. 110 yards (duck), with position marked by a chair
2. 80 yards (duck), with position marked by a stickman
3. 150 yards (duck), with position marked by a stickman

During Laddie's returns, I carefully watched his movements for the possibility of a change in direction or dropping the bird, and provided feedback to him as he proceeded. When he was performing well, I clapped and called out praise. When he seemed to waver slightly, I called "here" to guide him back on target, and again called praise as he responded. My intent in the future is to fade that feedback more and more as his performance matures and the tiny body cues indicating that he's about to break down stop appearing.

Although Laddie showed some slight inconsistency in his returns — a slowing or change of direction near the end, some head-throwing — he did not drop a single bird.

Here's a video of Series B:



Wingclip Ritual. Since obtaining pigeons for use as wingclip reinforcers, I've been trying to evolve a ritual that will enable the dogs' performance to benefit from the using the birds as rewards. For today's version of that ritual, I had a carrier with wingclip pigeons at the start line, and when the series was complete, the dog was given an opportunity to pick a wingclip up and carry it around for a few seconds. Associated with that reinforcer was the phrase "Your birdie's waiting" (YBW), which I used twice for each dog:

• Before the series, I showed the dog the carrier and said YBW, but without giving the dog an opportunity to carry a bird.
• After the series, we returned to the carrier and I again said YBW, but this time I opened the carrier, took out a bird, and placed it on the ground for the dog to pick up. After the dog carried it around for a few seconds, I cued "sit" and took delivery of the bird, returning it to its carrier.
  

After the wingclip was returned to the carrier, I threw a duck for the dog and said, "Get your bird." The dog picked the duck up and we walked back to the van together.

Whistle Sit Practice. While the dogs and I hiked along the creek at Brink with Renee and Gabriel in the late afternoon, I blew a WS every 10 minutes or so. Sometimes the dogs would both sit, sometimes I'd have to blow a second time. I'm still learning what distance and distractions they're reliable with, so that we can raise criteria slowly from there.

Pick-up Shaping, Whistle Sit

Today was a light day of retrieve practice, with a single brief series in the morning at Fair Hill. In the afternoon, we hiked with Renee and her Golden, Gabriel, and worked on Lumi's and Laddie's whistle sit (WS) along the way. The morning series was as follows:

• Series A. Pick-up shaping (both dogs)
  

Series A. Series A was intended to give the dogs an opportunity to practice fast pick-ups of ducks. The dogs also had some practice running thru cover, and for carrying clipwing pigeons in their mouths as reinforcement for their retrieve work.

At Fair Hill, I chose a location in a field with several large patches of high grass. I placed the start line (SL) in a small clearing surrounded by cover, and chose three directions separated by 90° angles to throw poorman marks of ducks into cover for the series. Running Lumi first, then Laddie, each dog ran the following sequence:

1. Dog ran a poorman single.
   
2. I walked with Dog to the pigeon carrier and said, "Your birdie's waiting." Then I cued "sit", placed a clipwing on the ground (see "Picking up a Clipwing" below), released Dog, Dog picked up the clipwing, I called Dog to me, we walked 10 yards away from the carrier together, then back to the carrier together, I again cued "sit" and took delivery of the clipwing, and placed the bird back in its carrier.
3. Dog ran two more marks as a poorman double.
4. We repeated the ritual in step (2) above.
5. I tossed a duck for Dog, cued "Get your bird," we walked together to the van, Dog jumped in, and I gave Dog a high-value treat.

Both dogs seemed highly motivated by every step of the game and both had fast pick-ups of every mark.

Picking up a Clipwing. I had planned to place the clipwings in the dogs' mouths because the dogs are rough on the birds when they pick them up from the ground. But Lumi reacted adversely when I tried to put the clipwing in her mouth, and since my intent was to use the clipwings as reinforcement, that was an undesirable situation. Therefore, I decided to let the dogs pick the clipwings up from the ground instead.

Practicing Whistle Sit. During our afternoon hike, I tried a test that Alice had recommended. We hiked for about ten minutes, and then, with both dogs within 20 yards and distracted with doggie activities, I blew a WS. Lumi sat instantly. Laddie froze looking at me and I watched him, but when he still had not sat down for five seconds, I whistled again and then he did sit.

Approximately every ten minutes thereafter, I blew another WS under the same rules as the first one, for a total of six times. The results were as follows:

1. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle (as described above)
2. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle
3. Both dogs sat immediately (for this WS, the dogs were 20 yards away and on the embankment across a creek from me)
4. Both dogs sat immediately (for this WS, the dogs were roughhousing together when I blew the WS)
5. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle
6. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle

As Alice pointed out, the more we practice this, the less useful it is as a test of the WS in an unaccustomed context. However, I feel that if we continue to practice in this way on more hikes in the future, gradually increasing distance, the dogs will become increasingly fluent in their responsiveness to the whistle. Equally valuable, I will acquire a better knowledge of the level of their evolving responsiveness, enabling me to make informed decisions about when to use a WS in training situations and when it is unlikely to be effective. The goal would be to continue this kind of drill until the dogs become completely reliable at virtually any distance and regardless of what activity they're involved in.

Hunt Test Training

Today we trained with Bob Hux and several other trainers at Park Heights. It was a bit cool at first and Bob did not plan to swim the dogs yet, but by late morning, temps were in the 70s, so Series B was our first water series of the season with Bob's Hunt Test (HT) training groups. As a result, our two series for today were:

• Series A. HT-sytle land series
• Series B. HT-style water series

As in any HT-style series, all throwers were retired behind holding blinds or natural features such as trees.

In each case, I modified the series for each of my dogs to suit what I perceived to be the dog's training needs at this time.

Series A. This was the land series, run from a mound:

1. 60 yards thru rough terrain to a duck hand-thrown from a mound into thick, low cover
2. 100 yards across two muddy ditches and rough terrain to a duck thrown by a winger thru branches of a large tree onto open ground, with a large pond to the right of the thrower
   
3. 100-yard blind, a duck positioned at a camo lining pole, the line to the blind running midway between #1 and #2, past woods and underbrush on the left, thru rough terrain, and across a muddy ditch to a stretch of open ground

LUMI

Lumi, running as the first dog, ran the series as two singles followed by the blind. She ran it well and without difficulty. After she ran the series, I said, "Get your bird" and she carried a duck to the van. There I said, "Your birdie's waiting," and placed a clipwing pigeon in her mouth to carry around for a few moments, then loaded her back in the van.

LADDIE

Laddie only ran #1 and #2, as singles. On #1, he took one step toward the thrower when he picked up the bird, then turned and raced home. Perhaps he remembered that the clipwing was waiting.

On #2, Laddie broke when the bird was thrown by the winger, and the thrower ran out and picked up the bird before Laddie got to it. He remained steady for the second throw, which was by hand.

Other than those two problems, Laddie's performance was excellent on both of these singles, the second of which was quite difficult compared to Junior tests I've taken my dogs to.

After Laddie ran the series, I said, "Get your bird" and he carried a duck to the van. There I said, "Your birdie's waiting," and tried to place a clipwing pigeon in his mouth to carry around for a few moments. Unfortunately, he is not accustomed to having things placed in his mouth, so that procedure confused him and he tried to spit the bird out. I finally managed to get him to carry the bird a short way by staying close in front of him after putting the bird in his mouth, and calling him a step toward me at a time.

Series B. This was our first water series with Bob this year, and Laddie's first water series since last fall. With the throwers in the same positions, I had them throw differently for the two dogs.

LUMI

Again running as first dog, Lumi's series was as follows:

1. 20 yards, a duck thrown into reeds at the left shoreline five yards beyond the tree where the thrower was positioned.
2. 40 yards, a duck thrown into a small cove, placed behind and slightly to the outside of the point upon which the thrower's holding blind was set up.

I used a position on the embankment that gave Lumi a 30° angle between running the bank and swimming back to me on #1. The line to #2 was 15° to the right of #1.

Lumi swam straight to the fall for #1, brought the bird up onto shore, shook off, and began slowly to move inland, presumably with the intent of running the bank. I whistled her to a sit, cued "over", and she entered the water and swam back to me.

For both marks, I stayed high on the embankment and urged Lumi to bring me the bird without dropping it, a skill which she had developed last year, but on this day she dropped both birds to shake off. That's a skill we'll need to work on.

LADDIE

Running as third dog, Laddie's series was as follows:

1. 15 yards, a duck thrown into open water in front of the tree where the thrower was positioned
2. 30 yards, a duck thrown into open water in front of the point where the thrower's holding blind was positioned

On both marks, Laddie leapt into the water, swam straight to the bird, and swam back to me with it. On #2, he turned his head toward the shoreline several times. Each time, I cued "here" and he turned back toward me and continued straight. On both marks, I met him near the shoreline and called him to me a step at a time for several steps before taking the bird, in order to avoid having him drop the bird and shake off before delivering it.

Dokken Training. Because of the difficulty Laddie had taking a clipwing in his mouth, later at home, I worked with Laddie and a Dokken pigeon (a rubberized replica available for a variety of bird species) until he was completely comfortable taking the article from my hand. Tomorrow, I'll bring both a Dokken and a live pigeon with us into the field, and work with Laddie on both of them to transfer his skill with taking the Dokken over to the pigeon.

Protecting the Clipwings. The reason I wanted to place the clipwing pigeons in the dogs' mouths, rather than placing them on the ground or throwing them to be retrieved, was that yesterday Laddie injured a clipwing while pouncing on it, a small puncture wound on the bird's back. I showed the bird to our holistic vet, since the dogs were seeing her today, and she said that the wound looked minor and should soon heal, but I'd rather minimize how often that happens.

Pick-up Shaping, Return Shaping, Marks and Blinds

In this morning's session, we worked at Fair Hill on pick-up shaping with both dogs, making use of a long line and our new wing-clipped pigeons (Series A). In the afternoon, we went to Oaks with Nate to work on shaping Laddie's return and to work on marks and blinds with Lumi (Series B, C, and D). The series were as follows:

• Series A. Pick-up shaping (both dogs)
• Series B. Return shaping (Laddie)
• Series C. Marks and blinds (Lumi)
• Series D. Return shaping (Laddie)

Series A. I used this series to work on speeding up the pick-up with both dogs (Lumi tends to take her time looking for just the right grip, Laddie tends to shop). I also used the series to begin to associate the phrase "Your birdie's waiting" with the availability of a wingclip for reinforcement.

Series A was the following drill, first with Laddie, then with Lumi (both referred to as "Dog"):

• I measured a 100-foot run between two lining poles.
• I placed a "pile" of four ducks at the far pole. (The ducks were not actually piled up, they were scattered near one another but not touching one another.)
• I set down a carrier containing a wing-clipped pigeon, or wingclip (WC), next to the start line (SL) at the near pole.
  
• I sent Dog to the pile four times, alternating sides that I sent Dog from. I had Dog deliver to whichever side sent from.
  
• I had Dog on a 100' line for the first two sends only.
• If Dog took more than an instant to pick up a bird, I used the line to pull Dog toward me. Because of springiness and play in the line, this did not have the force of an aversive jerk, but it prevented Dog from remaining in the area of the pile.
• After each delivery, I unclipped the line and together we walked to the WC carrier.
• I said in a cheerful voice, "Your birdie's waiting," then removed the WC and cued "sit" to Dog.
• I walked 10 yards from Dog, off to the side from the line to the pile, and placed the WC on the ground. In the later reps, I tossed the WC a few feet rather than just placing it down.
  
• I walked back and sent the dog to retrieve the WC.
• After taking delivery, I replaced the WC in its carrier and we returned to the SL for the next send-out to the pile.
  

In Laddie's case, the long line prevented him from completing his first retrieve. He was faster for the others and completed all of them.

In Lumi's case, she was also too slow on the first retrieve and I tried to pull her away from the pile, but she managed to grab a bird as I was pulling and so was able to complete her retrieve. She, too, was faster on her subsequent pick-ups.

It would probably be possible to generate more motivation and reinforcement value with the WCs using a different procedure — for example, throwing the WC and allowing the dog to parade around with it after picking it up — but I feel the need to balance those goals with the need for a solid retrieve pattern, especially for Laddie. This drill may actually be more along the lines of excitement-proofing the retrieve than adding motivation, but to me, pending guidance from Alice and Jody, it seems the best way to use the WCs at this time.

Series B. For this series, Nate threw three marks for Laddie at 90-110-130 yards, all ducks, separated by 30° angles. The first throwing position was marked by a chair, the others by stickmen.

Laddie's performance on Series B was flawless: he never crept, pinned every mark, never turned toward the thrower, raced all the way home and delivered every mark without dropping a single bird.

This series, along with Series C and D, was run at the most distracting of our local venues, the Oaks field. The terrain is thick, clumpy grass over irregular footing from groundhogs or other burrowing animals, and the field is occupied by a large herd of deer, some of which sometimes stray into sight while we're working. Flocks of birds sometimes settle and lift again nearby, and when it's been raining, as it has been lately, the small pools of standing water occur in many places.

But today we had a special treat. As Laddie was running Series B, a rider on horseback in clear view rode across the field less than a hundred yards behind the chair and stickmen. That meant that Laddie had to run in the direction of the horse and rider on each mark, pick up his bird, and run back leaving them behind him. Laddie showed some interest in them at the SL, but once each mark began, he performed as if they weren't even there.

After the third mark, I said, "Your birdie's waiting", took out the clipwing, put Laddie in a sit, walked out 10 yards, tossed the clipwing a few feet, walked back to Laddie, and sent him to retrieve it. Then I put the clipwing back in its carrier, tossed a duck out for Laddie to pick up, and said "Get your bird". He picked the duck up and we walked back to the van together.

Series C. Series C was another fairly low-key combination of marks and blinds, in this case the following:

1. 100-yard blind to an orange dummy marked by a surveyor's flag
2. 110-yard mark, a thrown duck
   
3. 150-yard blind to an orange dummy marked by an orange lining pole, almost invisible from the SL at that distance

#2 was 30° to the left of #1, and #3 was 45° to the left of #2. A chair and a stickman accompanied Nate at his throwing position for #2. A second stickman was positioned between Nate and #3. Nate threw in the direction of #3, so it was a kind of toward-the-line (TTL) drill, but not as tight as most we've practiced.

As usual, Lumi ran the mark easily. She took a wrong initial line on both blinds, but was responsive to whistles and casts and had little difficulty with either of them. I had shown her the wingclip in its carrier before we started, and she seemed excited when I walked her over to it after each of her blinds. In each case, I threw a short poorman mark with the wingclip as I had for Laddie. Hopefully, anticipating the possibility of savoring a clipwing at the completion of each blind will provide added incentive for responding efficiently to every whistle and cast, since slipping whistles and refusing casts only delays the time when Lumi will get to carry the wingclip around for a little while.

Series D. Series D was virtually identical to Series B, especially in the high quality of performance. The only differences were that the marks were 110-130-150 yards, and there was no horse.

Hunt Test Training

Today was our second Tuesday HT group session at Cheltenham for the new season, our third with Bob Hux overall (we also had a Thursday session at the Park Heights property, as we plan to again this week). We didn't have time to warm up, so after the dogs had a chance to air, we ran two series with Bob, who was training five dogs, and another trainer, who training one.

Conditions. Temps in the low 50s, wind 5-10 MPH, overcast and misty, with a light rain falling.

Series A. Lumi ran the same version of Series A as most of the other dogs, while Laddie ran a modified version.

LUMI

Lumi ran Series A as two singles and a blind:

1. 130-yard mark (duck thrown by a winger) with decoys on line to the fall
   
2. 70-yard mark (flyer duck)
3. 100-yard blind (duck at camo lining pole)

The configuration was as follows:

• #2 was 30° to left of #1
• #3 was 15° to left of #2
  

Lumi was steady and retrieved flawlessly on both marks, and ran the blind with a single cast, an "over" when she came up level with the blind pole but had not noticed the blind 10 yards to her left. Her WS was sluggish but serviceable.

The blind was not only tight to a mark, but even more difficult because it was tight specifically to the last mark run, to a flyer, and to a location still occupied by a crate of active ducks. By way of comparison, the only other dog who ran the blind was an SH FCR training for Master, and that dog required at least half a dozen casts.

On another day, the number of casts might have been reversed, but on this day, Lumi did well.

LADDIE

Based on our training with Nate, I felt that Laddie could probably handle the distances that Bob had set up for this series, but I made the series easier for Laddie in other ways. The series he ran was as follows:

1. 70-yard mark (hand-thrown duck, with the crate of flyers behind the holding blind)
2. 130-yard mark (hand-thrown duck) with decoys on line to the fall

Laddie was steady on both marks, but crept forward several feet on #2. Before sending him, I called him back to my side, and he responded to "here" by backing up into heel position, without spinning around nor taking his eyes off the fall for an instant. Alice suggested recently that I train Laddie to do that, but we haven't started the training yet. It appears that under field conditions, Laddie does it naturally.

Laddie's pick-up and most of the return on both marks was excellent, as were his deliveries. But on #2, he dropped the bird 10 yards from home, then picked it up and completed the return when I cued "give it". We've stopped seeing that behavior much in training with Nate, so I assume that it returned in the more exciting context of group training. I gave some thought about how to prevent it on Series B, and watching Bob run his dogs first on Series B, I saw him swing a duck in a big loop for one of them when the dog was returning. I decided to do the same thing with Laddie when our turn came.

Series B. Once again, Lumi ran this series like most of the other dogs, while Laddie ran a modified version.

LUMI

Lumi ran Series B as a double, with both marks as ducks thrown by mechanical launchers:

1. 110-yard memory-bird (crate of live ducks still at this station)
   
2. 60-yard go-bird, with goose decoys on line to the fall
   

I had decided in advance that if Lumi turned away from #1 before the duck call sounded at #2, I'd send her to #1 immediately, whether she'd seen the throw or not.

Lumi did look away from #1 too soon, but the thrower at #2 blew her duck call thand threw the bird before I sent Lumi, so we had to go forward with the double.

Lumi picked up #2 without difficulty, but when I tried to line her up for #1, she kept looking back at the thrower for #2. "Uh, oh," I thought, "Lumi never saw the throw." Since I watch my dog rather than the throw, I hadn't been sure of the timing.

After several tries, I finally got Lumi to look toward #1 and then sent her. I was pleased that Bob remained in his chair behind the holding blind at #1, so that I knew that Lumi wasn't getting any help I hadn't requested. Lo and behold, Lumi ran straight to the fall, completing an excellent double.

I was pleased, but in the future I need to a better job of instructing the go-bird throwers not to throw until I call for it. Even though it came out all right, I feel it would have been better to send Lumi to #1 as soon as she looked away, since the way it went down, she learned in effect that she can make a thrower throw by looking in that direction, possibly without even waiting to watch the previous throw. I'd rather she learn that if she looks away, she gets sent and doesn't get to run the double she's apparently craving.

LADDIE

Laddie ran Series B as two singles, with both marks as hand-thrown ducks:

1. 60-yard mark, with goose decoys on line to the fall
2. 110-yard mark (crate of live ducks still at this station)

On #1, Laddie crept and I called him back, but he took "here" as a release and broke. I called "here here" but he ignored me, so he thrower picked up the bird per earlier instructions I had given her. When we ran #1 again, Laddie again crept, but this time backed up when I called "here". He didn't break again on either mark.

Following Bob's example, I swung a bird in a big loop as Laddie was about halfway back on both returns, and was pleased to see that he did not slow down or drop the bird either time.

Except for the creeping and the break, Laddie's performance in this series was excellent, from precision marking to solid deliveries.

Casting into Cover, Return Shaping, Marks and Blinds

This morning, we trained at the Fair Hill site across the road from our double-T course (Series A), and in the afternoon trained at the Oaks field (Series B, C, and D). The series were:

• Series A. A drill for casting into cover (both dogs)
• Series B. Return shaping drill (Laddie)
• Series C. Marks and blinds (Lumi)
• Series D. Another return shaping drill (Laddie)

Series A. For Lumi, then Laddie, with the other dog waiting in the van, I used five orange dummies and the following drill, intended to help them become comfortable and skillful at being cast into high grass:

1. With Dog at heel, I throw dummy into cover. I walk 10 yards away in opposite direction, turning Dog to face me. "Back."
2. Before bringing Dog out, I pre-position dummy (no lining pole) in cover. I walk Dog to edge of cover 5-10 yards from dummy, with dummy not visible to Dog. With dog in sit/stay, I walk 20 yards in opposite direction, turning Dog to face me. "Back."
3. I also pre-position three lining poles with three dummies and three SLs (or use the same SL if possible). The blinds are at 30-50-70 yards. Dog runs the blinds in that order, handling as needed.

Both dogs completed all five retrieves, but not smoothly. My intent is to repeat step (3) in successive morning sessions and eventually at longer distances until minimum, and highly responsive, casting is consisting displayed. I also plan to use step (3) as a remedial drill in the future if either dog begins to decline in this skill.

Series B. This was a series of single marks thrown for Laddie by Nate, intended to enable Laddie to practice high quality retrieves, especially returns and deliveries.

In previous sessions, we started at distances as short as 20 yards, then ran longer marks later in the series. For this series, I felt Laddie was ready to start at 50 yards.

The series was as follows:

1. 50 yards, dummy
   
2. 50 yards, dummy
3. 50 yards, bird
4. 70 yards, dummy
5. 90 yards, dummy
6. 110 yards, bird

The singles were thrown in two groups of three marks each. Stickmen marked the positions for #1, #2, #4, and #5. A chair marked the positions for #3 and #6.

Laddie had excellent deliveries on all marks, and excellent returns on all except #6. On #6, he briefly ran toward Nate, then turned and ran home as soon as I called "no here".

Series C. This was intended as a relatively easy blind-mark-blind series for Lumi:

1. 90-yard blind (orange dummy), surveyor's flag as marker
2. 70-yard mark (bird)
3. 100-yard blind (bird), no marker

One stickmen was placed at #2, another on a separate line 90 yards from the SL. The angles were:

• #2 was 30° to the right of #1.
• #3 was 30° to the right of #2.
• The extra stickman was 30° to the right of #3.

Lumi had no difficulty with the mark, but with no markers visible to Lumi, and so many visible diversions, Lumi required several WSs and casts on both blinds. That gave us ample opportunity to work on her recently deteriorating WSs. During this drill, whenever Lumi would slip a whistle, I'd immediately follow up by taking a few steps toward her while blowing three additional single whistles, then calling "Sit!" After that happened three times during the first blind, Lumi did not slip another whistle in completing the blind, and also did not slip any whistles while running the second blind.

Series D. This was another retrieve shaping drill for Laddie, consisting of three single marks thrown by Nate. After starting Series B at 50 yards, Series D increased the starting distance by another 20 yards. The series was as follows:

1. 70 yards (bird)
2. 90 yards (bird)
3. 130 yards (dummy)

Laddie's performance on each mark was excellent in every respect. I was particularly pleased to see that in each case, he picked up the mark and raced straight home.

Bird-in-Mouth Marking. As part of Series B and D, I tried one of Alice's recent suggestions. I had Laddie keep the article from one mark in his mouth while watching the next mark thrown, then took the article (in Series B always a dummy, in Series D always a bird) and sent him to the new mark.

We used used bird-in-mouth marking for #2, #3, #5, and #6 of Series B, and #2 and #3 of Series D. I felt that it was beneficial in further reducing anticipatory response for "out" of the article and would therefore help reinforce a high quality hold. It also seemed beneficial for conditioning Laddie's steadiness, since he neither crept nor seemed on the verge of breaking while holding the previous article.

Since Laddie was already showing a good hold and steadiness, it was difficult to measure how much difference bird-in-mouth marking made, but I believe it provided additional conditioning for both behaviors.

Holodeck Training

Holodeck Program
based on guidance from Alice Woodyard and Jody Baker

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• Bring birds for solo training.
  
• Bring high-value treats.
• Both dogs: Short poorman marks to two birds and two dummies over bird scent.
• A few poorman marks including walks-offs for Laddie.
• White jacket.
• Put collars on both dogs.
  
• Load pockets: pistol, ammo, slip cord.

RUNNING LUMI

• Key question: What is the best way to run each series in terms of benefit to Lumi's training?
  
• No triples until we have practiced triples in private training.
  
• Try Lumi on blinds that are not difficult, but only if she remains responsive. Not necessary yet to challenge the blind.
  
• Run long gun last.
  
• Use slip cord for flyers and honoring.
  
• Cue "sit, mark" before first throw of each series.
• Auto-whistle recall on the first two marks of each training day. Based on how Lumi does, consider switching to contingent whistle for the remaining marks of the day.

RUNNING LADDIE

• Key question: What is the best way to run each series in terms of benefit to Laddie's training?
• Do not run Laddie unless confident that he will not rehearse any incorrect responses.
• If running, auto-whistle early.

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Attempted break?
• Head swinging, before or after throws? Which throws?
• Could Lumi find the long gun?
  
• Did dog return uncued? Auto-whistle? Contingent whistle? Voice? Walk out?
• On blinds: Slipped whistles? Refused casts? Hunting by scent or sight?

AFTER GROUP TRAINING

• Pay for flyer if used.
• Purchase birds if available.

Conditions. When the dogs and I showed up at Cheltenham for training, a steady rain was falling and temperatures were in the 40s. The rain continued throughout the training session, while temperatures warmed into the 50s. Because we've had a lot of rain recently and because of the property's terrain, we had many pools of standing water, and the ground around the thick, clumpy grass cover was soft and muddy.

Although I had brought a duck along, I decided not to use it because of the wet conditions. All marks today were run with white dummies, and all blinds were orange dummies.

Two of the blinds for Series E, and one of the marks for Series F, included water crossings. I asked whether anyone had measured the water temperature and was told it was 51°, which made me think it was OK for Lumi to run those retrieves. But after seeing her behavior in the open water during the third blind in Series E, I realized that she was not comfortable swimming, so I suspect that the guy who said he had measured the water temp was joking, and that it was actually in the 40s or possibly even the 30s.

General Notes on Both Dogs' Performance. Both dogs were off lead the entire day, for moving to and from the start line (SL) as well as for running the marks. While Laddie did not heel with precision, both dogs remained in control for moving to and from the SL. Also, neither dog broke on any mark, though Laddie crept forward on some of them when the gunshot fired or while the dummy was in flight.

On every mark except one, both dogs ran straight to the fall. The exception was Lumi's double in Series F, where she never saw the memory-bird (dummy) thrown because she turned her focus to the second thrower too soon.

On every mark, both dogs picked up the dummy immediately and returned to the SL without hesitation, though on two of them Laddie looped around the thrower and the patch of cover in which the dummy had fallen before turning toward home.

Every delivery from both dogs was excellent, with no resource guarding behaviors (such as snaking, head tossing, or teasing), no anticipatatory loosening of grip, and no dropped dummies.

The comments above apply to all of the series described below, so only exceptions will be noted.

Warm Up. We arrived early and drove to an isolated part of the property to air the dogs and set up some warm-up drills. While I was setting up, another trainer pulled up to check out what was happening. I ran some quick poorman marks for Lumi and Laddie (Series A and B), and then the other trainer and I set up some Hunt Test-scale marks to warm up our dogs together (Series C and D).

SERIES A

One poorman single for Laddie with Lumi honoring, then one for Lumi with Laddie honoring.

SERIES B

One poorman double for Laddie with Lumi honoring, then one for Lumi with Laddie honoring. Laddie broke when I first sent Lumi. I stopped them both and sat them with verbal cues, then walked to Lumi and sent her again from where she was sitting. Laddie did not break again.

SERIES C AND D

For both Series C and D, the other trainer wore white, fired a pistol, and threw from positions marked by stickmen.

SERIES C

For Laddie, I positioned the SL so that the marks were at 30 yards and 50 yards.

For Lumi, I positioned the SL on a mound so that the marks were at 50 yards and 70 yards.

SERIES D

For both dogs, the long mark was set up so that the thrower was seen thru a keyhole framed by trees, and the fall was in the middle of a patch of tall grass and was also seen thru a keyhole framed by trees.

For Laddie, I positioned the SL so the marks were at 60 yards and 80 yards. Laddie's only problem was that he ran the wrong way out of the longer mark, looped around the thrower, and ran to me without running thru the tall grass he had entered to pick up the dummy.

For Lumi and the other trainer's two Labs, I added a blind tight to the shorter mark by placing orange dummies on the ground just inside a nearby treeline, beside a tree and with no marker.

I then re-positioned the SL for Lumi onto the mound, so that she ran a mark at 90 yards, the blind at 90 yards, and the keyhole/high cover mark at 110 yards.

Series E. This was the first group training series, and consisted of three blinds run from a mound:

1. 120 yards thru a keyhole formed by two trees, across a field with standing water and strips of high cover, to a dummy placed to the left of one tree and to the front and right of another tree.
2. 200 yards onto another mound, with a 10-yard channel crossing at 70 yards from the blind.
3. 320 yards onto a hillside, with most of the distance across rolling, soaking, grassy field, then a 20-yard water crossing with an opportunity to cheat around the left, a point of land and high reeds, and a 30-yard channel crossing with no opportunity to cheat around but suction from land on the left.

The blinds were at widely spaced angles (more than 90°). No markers were used for any of them since the dummies were visible to the handler from the SL.

Lumi, running as the first dog, ran these blinds as shown in the sequence above, which turned out to be the opposite sequence that everyone else ran it. She started well, running #1 with a single cast.

For #2, I ran Lumi from the edge of the water at the channel crossing. She was somewhat hesitant to enter the water, but I thought at the time that the problem was discomfort with the steep, weedy embankment. Later I thought it might have been that the water was too cold. After she crossed the channel, she became fixated on some trees to the right of the line to the blind and began to slip whistles and refuse casts, though once I got her moved away from the trees, she was easily directed to the blind.

For #3, I tried to run Lumi from the edge of the first crossing but was unable to keep her away from the land to the left. So I called her back to me and ran around the left side with her at my side, then ran from the embankment of the channel crossing. She lined the blind from there and while she was swimming across, I ran back to the other side of the first water crossing. I whistled recall from there and then ran back to the SL while she was swimming back. She did not cheat around the water crossing on her return.

For both of the water blinds, I positioned Lumi initially at the original SL on the mound, then left Lumi there while I walked to the edge of the water and called "here". Lumi had good stays and excellent runs to me both times, showing high motivation.

In retrospect, #3 at the first water crossing was far too difficult for Lumi and if I had realized it, I would not have attempted it at this stage in her development. While she had the handling knowledge to understand my casts that were attempting to keep her in the water, she doesn't have the experience or behavioral conditioning for such a difficult configuration, resulting in a string of refused casts and a generally confused performance. I believe that the cold water made it even harder for her to accept the casts and hold the line I was trying to send her on.

I wasn't worried about moving Lumi's SL up on #2 and #3, though in the future, I might not move it up as far. I decided this week that I will probably never run Lumi in Field Trials, only in Hunt Tests, and in the latter, I believe she would never see such long blinds.

Of course, I didn't run Laddie on Series E.

Series F. This series was set up as a triple in pyramid configuration, with a long center mark that included a water crossing. I didn't have either dog run the long mark, and have not included it in the following descriptions.

LADDIE

For Laddie, I moved our SL to make this an easy pair of singles:

1. 60 yards with no crossings thru cover
2. 80 yards with the fall behind a patch of high cover

On #2, for the second time today, Laddie ran thru the cover and picked up the dummy without difficulty, but then looped back and around the thrower to return to me without going back thru the cover.

LUMI

Because I wanted Lumi to have more practice with marks and blinds combined in the same series, I asked the guy who had designed the series as a triple to help me add a blind for Lumi that had some factors but was not too difficult. The series Lumi ended up running was as follows:

1. 100-yard blind (orange dummy, no marker) positioned inside a small stand of trees and across a dirt road
2. 160-yard mark (first throw and memory-bird of a double) thrown from an alcove formed by the treeline, with the fall in a depression in front of a stand of trees and the line to the fall crossing two diagonal strips of high cover
3. 120-yard mark (second throw and go-bird of the double) with the fall on the far side of a patch of high cover and two other strips of cover to cross

#1 was 120° to the left of #3, and #2 was 90° to the right of #3.

The SL was atop a mound.

Lumi lined the blind and had no difficulty with #3, the go-bird of the double. But as I had suspected from watching her when the double was being thrown, she had never seen the first throw, and when I sent her to the memory-bird, she went hesitatingly and on an incorrect line. Since she was going the right general direction, since the thrower was visible, and since the thrower had woods behind him and to his right so that Lumi was more or less funneled into the area of the fall to the left, I let her continue. The thrower later told me that she stepped on the dummy on the way out but did not realize it, and eventually needed help to come back to the area of the fall, find the dummy, and complete the retrieve.

I feel that it is time to stop running Lumi on multiples until she has had a good number of series with all singles and has stopped looking away from the thrower prematurely.

Series G. After the group training was complete, I asked one of the other trainers to throw some singles for Laddie that involved a cover configuration similar to the two where he had run around the thrower and the cover on his returns. We selected a long strip of cover, and the thrower positioned himself behind the cover at various points along the length of it and threw a total of four marks on the same side of the cover as he was, simulating the configuration where Laddie had diverted earlier in the day. Meanwhile, I ran Laddie from a series of four SLs, gradually lengthening the marks. The series was as follows:

1. 30 yards, one strip of cover
2. 60 yards, one strip of cover
3. 90 yards, two strips of cover
4. 120 yards, two strips of cover

Laddie performed flawlessly and with his usual exuberance on all of these marks. In each case, he pinned the mark, picked the dummy up at the fall, and immediately turned back toward me, running back thru the cover on a direct line to the SL, swinging to heel, and delivering with a firm hold.

My intent in designing this series was that the graded distances would enable Laddie to handle the cover correctly without a repetition of his looping back around the thrower. It appeared to work, and I'll look for an opportunity or two to repeat something similar with Laddie in the coming week, including a series using birds instead of dummies.

Marks, Salience Drill

This afternoon, DW Renee and Gabriel, her Golden, joined Lumi, Laddie, and me at Sundown Park and assisted us with our training. First Renee, with Gabriel accompanying her on lead, threw nine maqrks for Laddie. Then Renee took Laddie to the van so that Lumi could run her first salience drill, a new drill I invented to help Lumi in running blinds. Today's series:

• Series A. Marks (Laddie)
• Series B. Salience drill (Lumi)

Series A. Because Renee is not willing to throw birds, we took this opportunity for Laddie to run nine marks using exclusively white dummies. The distances were:

1. 20 yards
2. 20 yards
3. 20 yards
4. 40 yards
5. 40 yards
6. 40 yards
7. 60 yards
8. 90 yards
9. 120 yards

Because Renee was accompanied by Gabriel on lead, she did not fire a pistol when throwing, but instead called out "hey-hey-hey" before each throw. Lumi honored from behind the SL and received occasional treats as she sat or lay watching.

Laddie's performance on all nine marks was excellent in all elements. It was good to reestablish this baseline for us to build upon. In future sessions, we'll add birds, gunfire, stickmen for distractions, and more distance, but we'll add them gradually, being careful not to exceed Laddie's ability to perform under those conditions with the same quality of work as he exhibited today.

This work seems so important that I've decided to suspend all other drills with Laddie until he is able to perform a flawless retrieve with a duck at 150 yards without any warm-up on shorter marks for three sessions in a row. At that time, we will resume work on the diversion drill (DD), beginning with Laddie's second TOL session.

Series B. After Renee took Gabriel and Laddie to the van, and with Lumi lounging at one end of the large field at Sundown Park, I set up a new drill for her that I call the "salience drill".

SALIENCE DRILL

Concept — The salience drill is intended to enable the dog to learn the concept of selecting a distant landmark when sent in a particular direction, and lining to that landmark until the planted blind is encountered or a handling cue is given from the SL.

Instructions —

• The salience drill is run in a different location each session, either at different fields or from new positions on old fields.
• At each session, the trainer selects a location to use as a start line (SL), and then selects a number of salient features visible from the SL, such as trees, poles, buildings, or boulders.
• With the dog not watching, the trainer next sets out an orange dummy or bird on the field as a blind placed in the sightline from the SL to each of the salient features.
  
• If the feature is itself on the field, the blind is placed well in front of the feature, since the concept being taught is that the dog is to go in the direction of the feature, not that the blind is to be found at the feature.
• The article should not be visible to the dog until the dog is reasonably close.
• If the trainer is able to see where the blind is positioned from the SL without any additional marking, that is ideal. If that is not possible, the trainer should mark the location of the blind as inconspicuously as possible.
  
• The trainer should not walk the line from the SL to the blind in either direction, because we do not want the dog to be able to follow a scent trail.
• Finally, the dog is sent to each blind, hopefully lining all or most of them. If the dog is unable to line all or most of them, easier blinds are set up for the next session.
  
• The drill is gradually made more difficult from one session to another by selecting more complex features, such as a distinctive fenceline or shadow pattern, and in addition, increased distance and diversions such as stickmen are gradually introduced.

TODAY'S SALIENCE DRILL

For today's drill, I selected a white sign on a metal pole, a prominent tree, and a white and red pole used for sporting events as the salient features. I used orange dummies for the three blinds, and placed each one in a natural depression in the ground so that they would not be visible to Lumi until she got close to them. I was able to see where each dummy was positioned either because I could see the shadows from the depression, or because the dummy was partially visible to me even though Lumi couldn't see it because of my higher sightline.

The three dummies were 50-80-110 yards from the SL. They were each 30-50 yards from the feature each was in line with.

Lumi took excellent lines on all three blinds, and lined two of them. On the middle one, she caught side of one of the other dummies and started to divert toward it. I quickly blew a WS and cast her on an angle back to the blind she was on, and soon after taking the cast, she spotted the dummy and ran to it.

Lumi's body language suggested that she was surprised to find each dummy as she happened to come across it so far in front of the feature she had targeted, which I count as an indication that she was learning the concept that the salience drill is intended to train.

My intent is to continue running Lumi on salience drills each morning. Then in the afternoon, Lumi can continue to run combination pictures of marks and blinds. Hopefully in time, the lessons of the salience drill will begin to inform Lumi's performance on the blinds in the afternoons.

Angle-in, Diversion Drill, Marks and Blinds, Marks

This morning, both dogs had another session of training on the angle-in on our double-T course at Fair Hill. In the afternoon, we returned to Fair Hill for some training with Nate as helper and Bryan as videographer. Today's series were as follows:

• Series A. Angle-in with ducks (both dogs)
• Series B. Diversion drill (DD), throw over the line (TOL), left-to-right (Laddie)
• Series C. Blind-double-blind-single-blind (Lumi)
• Series D. Delivery shaping (Laddie)

Series A. This series was a sequence of eight angle-ins on our double-T course, in each case consisting of a send-out with a thrown article while the dog was running out, a WS at P, and an angle-in to the left or right. Although dummies were distributed to Q1, P1, P2 (two dummies), P3, and Q3, none of those dummies were retrieved during the entire drill. The only lining poles on the course were at P2 and the SL.

For today's training, I came up with a special version of the angle-in drill. While the diversions at the points of the double-T course were white dummies, the retrieval articles that I threw while the dogs were running to P were ducks. The intended lesson was, "You may think you can find something to retrieve by yourself, Puppy, but do what Daddy says and you'll get to retrieve something even better."

I used no other +R for this series — no food, no happy throws, no WSOR, just one sequence of "sit, dead bird, back" after another. Both dogs seemed to thrive on the quick work and showed great motivation on every send-out.

Assuming I receive no guidance to the contrary from Alice and Jody, today's session was our last work on the double-T course, and our last work specifically focused on the angle-in.

LUMI

Lumi balked on the first 3-4 recall whistles, the balking gradually decreasing in obstinacy. By the fifth send-out, and from that time on, Lumi would leap out of her sit and come charging in as soon as I whistled. I attribute her improvement to becoming confident in the meaning of the angle-in cue ("Yes, there really is something for you to retrieve in this direction") and to the fact that the retrieval articles were high-value birds.

An interesting note: Lumi had wrong initial lines (WILs) on her first 4-5 send-outs, so that I had to stop her before she reached a dummy rather than waiting for her to get to P. I decided to ignore the fact that she wasn't where I planned for her to be, since it didn't seem to matter for the purpose of practicing the angle-in. Sometimes she erred to the left, sometimes to the right. I'd just blow a WS when she got close to whatever target she had selected, then called for an angle-in.

But on the fourth or fifth send-out, Lumi took a correct line to P2, and thereafter, she never had another WIL, even though I'd done nothing to discourage the WILs. I don't have an explanation.

LADDIE

After the WS on the first send-out, Laddie flash-casted on the angle-in as though I had cued "over". I blew a second WS, then re-cued the angle-in. He took that cast correctly and never made another mistake on any of the remaining retrieves, all of which he ran with his usual over-the-top exuberance. He also did not have a single WIL the whole day, nor a single slipped whistle on any of his send-outs.

Series B. This series was the next step in Laddie's DD sequence: throws over the line to the pile (TOL), in this case left to right. This was Laddie's first try with TOL, and he wasn't quite as reliable on his send-outs to the pile as he was on the previous two or three DD sessions. Once he diverted to the fall of the previous throw, and once he diverted toward the thrower.

While that meant his lining wasn't as good as it has been lately, it had the advantage of giving us a chance to exercise Laddie's handling. His two WSs were not crisp, but he didn't slip either whistle and took both casts well.

Although Laddie's recently improved delivery remains on track, for some reason his returns with birds backslid from the last few days, causing me to change my plans for Series D later on in the session.

Here's a video of Series B, including the disastrous bird-return from 60 yards, as well as a leaping "crash" after the drill is completed, and "get your bird" as we head back to the van:



Series C. I designed this series to work on several specific areas I want Lumi to have experience in:

• Running a blind first even with throwers and other diversions in the field
• Running a double and a blind in the same series
• Running a blind tight to the line of a recent mark
• Using a single to focus Lumi on the first throw until some possible next thrower signals that another throw is coming, rather than having her turn her head in the belief that it's always going to be a multiple

I also wanted to use shorter blinds than I have been, in the hope of staying in range where Lumi would be responsive to every WS.

Following those criteria, I came up with the following sequence:

1. 80-yard blind (orange dummy at orange flagging)
2. Double (two birds), 60-yards (the memory bird) and 100 yards (the go bird)
3. 110-yard blind (orange dummy at an orange lining pole)
4. 120-yard single (bird)
5. 140-yard blind (orange dummy at a surveyor's flag)

All of these retrieves were within a tight 90° arc, an arrangement that turned out to be too difficult for Lumi to do well on. Her WSs and casts fell apart, and I had to choose between using insistent voice cues or terminating the drill. I don't know which was the better choice. By continuing, Lumi may have learned that if she follows my instructions, she gets to complete her retrieve, which would be a good lesson. On the other hand, she may have learned that there is no significant difference in outcome between following some of my cues versus following all of them, which would be a bad lesso. Should I have terminated the series prematurely once I saw that Lumi was not responsing to the whistle? I don't know.

Anyway, here's a video of Series C. It's not easy to watch:



Series D. For this series, I had originally planned to repeat the distances of 50-150 yards that Laddie ran so well on Wednesday, but based on his poor returns with birds in Series B, I used Series D as a delivery shaping session instead. I moved Nate around at distances in the range of 20-80 yards, avoided having him throw to any old falls, mixed up dummies and birds, and sought a distance zone where Laddie would become comfortable, confident, and competent on his returns with birds. For some reason, I had little success in finding that zone.

Here's a video of Series D. Of the retrieves with a bird, I think that despite the creeping at the begining, the best retrieve here is the one at 3:47:

Hunt Test Training

Today, Lumi, Laddie, and I met with Bob Hux and a small Hunt Test group at the Park Heights property where we used to train once or twice a week last year. With temperatures in the 40s, Bob felt it was still too cold for water retrieves, so he set up two land series. As he had on Tuesday, he placed the holding blinds in the field once, and then we ran from one side of them for Series A, and the other side for Series B.

The series were as follows:

• Series A. Marks of 50 and 80 yards, and an 80-yard blind (Laddie ran in modified form as singles, Lumi ran as two singles and the blind)
• Series B. Marks of 50 and 90 yards, and a 90-yard blind (Laddie ran in modified form as singles, Lumi ran as a double and the blind)

Chasing Canadas. The dogs and I arrived first, and I let them out of the van to plan and air while I loaded the pistol and completed other preparatory details. After some playing in the field, Lumi and Laddie ran to inspect the pond, and Laddie became interested in the small flock of Canadas on the water. The next moment, he dived in and began swimming toward one of the geese, who of course had no trouble evading him. I watched as he continued to swim after it for another few seconds, and then I called "here". I was pleased to see that he instantly turned and began swimming toward me. He became distracted by other geese as he came in and I had to call "here" twice more, but again, he was immediately responsive each time I did so. When he got out of the water, I towel dried him and sent him into his crate, then started the van and turned up the heat for the rear compartment. He was shivering at first, but soon stopped, and by the time he ran his second series a couple of hours later, he had dried off entirely.

I measured the surface temperature at the edge of the pond at 51°, warmer than I would have thought. Perhaps it was colder in the middle and deeper.

Series A. I had Laddie run a modified version, while Lumi ran the series the way Bob designed it.

LADDIE

Running as second dog, two single marks:

1. 30 yards (dummy)
2. 40 yards thru decoys (duck)

Rather than shadowing Laddie, which I decided has an undesirable franticness to it, I just ran him on a short mark for #1, then a slightly longer one for #2. His performance was excellent, from the marks to the pick-ups to the returns to the deliveries. He was calm, confident, fast, alert, and solid.

LUMI

Two single marks and a blind:

1. 50 yards (duck)
2. 80 yards thru decoys (duck thrown by mechanical tosser)

• Blind: 80 yards to a lightly wooded stand of trees (camo lining pole and bird)
  

Lumi started the series with flawless marks. On the blind, she stopped to go to the bathroom at 60 yards. When she finished, I called "here", blew a WS after three loping steps, then cast her on angle back and she lined the remainder of the blind.

Lumi finished by honoring the next dog's first single without difficulty. I gave her a treat, said "get your bird", and we walked back to the van.

Series B. Again, I had Laddie run a modified version, while Lumi ran the series the way Bob designed it.

LADDIE

Again running as second dog, two single marks:

1. 50 yards thru decoys (dummy)
2. 70 yards (duck)

Laddie had excellent marks, pick-ups, and deliveries on both marks. His return on #1 was also excellent. His return on #2 was excellent till three yards from the SL. Then Laddie suddenly dropped the duck and stared at it. Noting that he did not try to play with it, roll on it, or chew on it, I did not see this as a recurrence of old difficulties but something different.

I cued "give it", and with some visible reluctance, Laddie picked up the bird and delivered it nicely. Inspecting it, I saw that it was in pretty bad shape. I've noticed that Laddie isn't that fond of carrying birds by their smooth skin, after a lot of the feathers are gone from repeated use. Hopefully Laddie won't be required to retrieve birds in that bad shape in competition.

LUMI

A double and a blind:

1. 90 yards, the memory bird (duck)
2. 50 yards thru decoys, the go bird (duck thrown by mechanical tosser)

• Blind: 90 yards to a camo lining pole and duck next to a large tree

The double was fairly tight — 30° — and the blind was even tighter to line to #2 — 15°.

Lumi had a controlled break on #1, which wasn't surprising since we haven't practiced doubles in some time. Otherwise, her series was gorgeous, including lining the blind. She also honored the next dog's single without difficulty.

Laddie's Steadiness. I had attached a slip cord to my belt before the other trainers arrived so that I could use it with Laddie, but once Series A was set up, I decided it would be more convenient to have Laddie steady as he is in our private training, so I wouldn't have to bother with the slip cord and we could concentrate on other things. Therefore, I asked the throwers on Series A to not throw their articles too far, and to step on them or pick them up if they heard me say "here" and Laddie didn't come back to me.

On #1, that's exactly what happened. Laddie broke, ignored "here", the thrower stepped on the dummy, Laddie took a brief look at the situation and came running back to me, and that completed his steadiness training. He didn't try another break the rest of the day.

Soon, though, we need to work on his creeping.

Decoys. After checking out the decoys on Tuesday, neither Lumi nor Laddie seems to be paying any attention to decoys any more. Unless we have an exception to that in the future, I won't mention it again.

"Get Your Bird". When Laddie finished each series, I said "get your bird" and we walked back to the van together. As with Lumi, "get your bird" is now becoming a tradition with Laddie that I expect to continue. Both dogs seem to enjoy walking along next to me carrying their birds, rather than trying to interact with other dogs or people, going off to sniff, or being otherwise distracted on the way back to the van. I think that instead of just being "put up", it's something for them to look forward to.

Delivery Shaping, Angle In, Diversion Drill, Marks and Blinds

This morning, training partner Barbara and I worked with Deuce, Barbara's Lab, and Laddie at Fair Hill (Series A), and then after Barbara and Deuce left, I worked with Lumi and Laddie (Series B). In the afternoon, I worked with Lumi and Laddie at Sundown Park (Series C, D, and E). The series were as follows:

• Series A. Delivery shaping using short marks (Deuce and Laddie)
• Series B. Practicing the angle in on our old double-T course (Lumi and Laddie)
  
• Series C. Diversion drill (DD), throw away from line (TAL), left to right (Laddie)
• Series D. Marks and blinds (Lumi)
• Series E. More delivery shaping working up to longer marks (Laddie)

Series A. This wasn't a formal series, but rather a couple of loosely structured drills for Deuce and Laddie intended to strengthen each dog's particular weaknesses in their deliveries. I won't detail Deuce's training here, but for Laddie, this consisted of first poorman marks, then marks thrown by Barbara with a pistol shot, varying in distance from 20 yards to 150 yards.

Laddie's delivery has improved immensely, and most of his returns were also excellent. Unfortunately, as I was working up Laddie's distances, I asked Barbara to throw first from 100 yards (where Laddie did fine), and then from 150 yards, where Laddie freelanced for a few seconds before turning toward home for an excellent delivery. I realized after the fact that that 50-yard jump in distance was too much for Laddie on this day, especially with a high wind and a large community of raucous birds making a racket elsewhere on the field.

Series B. Using our permanent double-T course with the 110-yard backline, I put a single dummy at P1, P2 and P3, then ran each dog repeatedly to P. As the dog had his or her back turned while running out, I would throw a white dummy to my left or right. When the dog reached P, I would stop the dog with a WS (whistle sit), then cue an angle-in with a recall whistle and pointing to the ground with my left or right arm. I would reinforce the delivery with a happy throw, then line the dog up and send the dog again. I did about ten send-outs with Lumi (Laddie waiting in the van), then about ten more with Laddie (Lumi waiting in the van).

For both dogs, I also sometimes let the dog see me throw the white dummy, either because I waited until the dog was already sitting, or because the dog looked back over his or her shoulder while running out.

LUMI

Lumi had no difficulty with this drill as long as she had seen the dummy thrown. She was not at all confused by the dummies at P1, P2, or P3, and didn't seem to be at all demotivated by the WSs, none of which she slipped.

However, Lumi was resistant to the angle-in cue if she had not seen the dummy thrown and could not see it from where she was sitting. She would simply sit there and not move. Eventually, I would say "here", and then she'd start toward me, and then while she was moving I'd whistle recall and cue with my arm. That would make her veer slightly in the direction I was cueing, and once she saw the dummy, she'd turn on the afterburners and complete her retrieve.

You'd think that after a time or two, Lumi would begin to believe that a dummy really was waiting for her, but even after a fairly large number of reps, she continued to ignore my initial angle-in cue. "I know what whistle-recall means, Daddy, and I can't do it if I haven't retrieved anything." By the very end, she did have one correct initial response without the extra prompt of "here", so I'm hopeful that with another session or two, Lumi will become reasonably fluent in the angle-in.

LADDIE

Unlike Lumi, Laddie initially confused the angle-in with an "over", but fortunately, he was responsive whenever I had to stop him with a WS to prevent him from retrieving P1 or P3, and would then always correctly interpret my second attempt at an angle-in. Those mistakes only happened twice.

Laddie quickly caught onto the idea that when I whistled angle-in, there really was a dummy waiting for him even though he couldn't see it. We may practice again to solidify the lesson, but I think Laddie pretty much has it now.

Series C. With all the progress Laddie has made on his delivery form, I felt it was now time to resume his work on the diversion drill series. Today, with Nate throwing, Laddie ran the second throw-away-from-line series, as usual with four runs to the 80-yard pile of white bumpers alternating with three marks with birds at 30-45-60 yards from the SL. For today's drill, Nate was on the right side of the backline throwing left to right.

Laddie lined every send-out to the pile, so no WSs were needed. Every mark, return, and delivery was also solid.

Series D. Today Lumi ran another blind-mark-blind series, my goal being to get her comfortable with the idea that even if throwers are in the field, she may be asked to run a blind at any time. The series was as follows:

1. 80-yard blind (orange lining pole, orange dummy)
2. 60-yard mark thrown over the line (TOL) to #3
3. 240-yard blind (orange dummy lying under a tree)

#3 was 30° to the left of the #1, and #2 was thrown left to right from just to the left of the line to #3. Nate, throwing #2, had a chair and a stickman with him. A second stickman was positioned just to the right of #1.

Lumi had no difficulty with #1 or #2, and performed well on #3 most of the time. But at a distance of 150 yards, she became unresponsive to the whistle for some time and would only respond to verbal and hand cues. I've seen this starting to happen for several days now, and I believe it may be worsening. We'll try to repair it by using shorter blinds, and if Lumi remains 100% responsive on those, add distance back gradually over a period of time.

Series E. With Lumi in the van, we ended the day by Laddie running six marks at gradually increasing distances, working back to the 150-yard distance that Laddie had a problem with this morning. The series was as follows:

1. 50 yards (dummy, thrown left to right)
2. 70 yards (dummy, thrown left to right)
3. 90 yards (bird, thrown left to right)
4. 110 yards (dummy, thrown right to left)
5. 130 yards (dummy, thrown right to left)
6. 170 yards (bird, thrown right to left)

To run this series, Nate threw from three stations, laid out in advance with a chair at #1/#4, a stickman at #2/#5, and another stickman at #3/#6. #1, #2, and #3 were run from a close-in SL, then #4, #5, and #6 were run from a second SL further back.

Run in the most distracting venue of all the local fields where we train, this may have been Laddie's most remarkable series ever. Not only did he nail every mark, with the articles landing and burying in thick, clumpy cover and the lines to the articles crossing one or more probable deer nesting sites, but his pick-ups, returns, and deliveries were equally direct, devoid of the playful RG behaviors Laddie has used in the past. Following suggestions from Alice and Jody, I have now reduced my interaction, previously intended to provide reinforcement for Laddie's returns, to a great extent, limiting myself to a recall whistle timed just before Laddie pounces on the article, "good job" and perhaps some slow applause during Laddie's return, some quiet petting before taking the article, and finally some quiet praise before setting up for the next mark. After a week of delivery shaping, Laddie looks like a new dog, closely resembling Lumi in his form except for his faster gait.

Hunt Test Training

Today we resumed training with professional trainer Bob Hux, who takes off from dog training during the winter months. Lumi and Laddie each ran the two series that Bob set up for our small group, and then Laddie had a third series by himself. The series were as follows:

• Series A. Two land retrieves in the style of a Hunt Test (HT) (both dogs).
  
• Series B. Another HT-style land series with two marks (both dogs).
  
• Series C. Three single marks (Laddie).

Because this was HT-style training rather than Field Trial-style, all throws were preceded by duck calls from both me as handler (simulating the line judge using a duck call to call for the throw) and the thrower sounding a duck call before throwing. In addition, the throwers wore dark clothing rather than white, threw from behind holding blinds rather than in the open, and fired a pistol while the article was in the air rather than before the throw, and the SL was just an area of ground rather than a rubber mat.

Series A. Bob set this series up with two marks:

1. 40 yards (duck thrown with mechanical tosser, goose decoys en route to the fall)
2. 80 yards (duck flyer)

LADDIE

I ran Laddie before the other dogs because I wanted him to retrieve a dummy and a duck rather than two ducks, and I thought it would be best if he didn't have to deal with a dummy over duck scent. Ideally, I would have had him run #1 first with a dummy, then #2 with a duck, but the woman at station #1 had a sore arm and could not throw a dummy. So instead, I had Laddie run #2 first with a dummy, then #1 with a duck.

For Laddie's first retrieve (#2 with a dummy), I moved our SL to 50 yards from where the fall would be, called for the throw, and sent him. As he sprinted to the fall, I ran behind him and whistled recall the moment he started his pounce onto the dummy. This brought him running toward me rather than visiting the thrower and crate of ducks, which I was pleased to see, and as he ran toward me, I turned and ran away from him.

Unfortunately, Laddie then caught sight of the goose decoys to his right, and with me running away from him with my back turned, he diverted to check out the decoys out. When I turned back to see how he was doing and saw what was happening, I called and whistled until he quit the diversion and completed his run with me to the SL.

His delivery with the dummy was excellent. Taking a suggestion from Jody, I petted him while he was holding the dummy, then took it away from him at an unexpected moment. That enabled him to maintain a solid grip until the moment I grasped the dummy.

For Laddie's second mark (#1 as listed above), we again walked partially into the field, but this time only 20 yards. Laddie ran this mark well, and when we arrived at the SL together, his delivery was also good.

Laddie ran both marks on a slip cord and tried to break both times.

LUMI

I brought Lumi to the line on a lead and ran the series as two singles, using a slip cord for the flyer. She made no effort to break on either mark and I later removed her collar and didn't use a leash or slip cord the rest of the day.

Lumi's performance on both marks was nearly flawless. The only problem was that she stopped to sniff the decoys running out on #1.

Series B. To set up this series, Bob used the same positions of the holding blinds, but the throwers moved to the other side of the blinds, and we ran from the other side of the field. The resulting two marks were:

1. 50 yards (pheasant, crate of live ducks with thrower behind the blind, goose decoys en route to the fall)
2. 100 yards (pheasant)

LADDIE

I again ran Laddie as the first dog, and again ran #1 with a dummy and #2 with a bird, in this case a pheasant. I knew that #1 presented a challenge because the crate of ducks was near the fall, and sure enough, Laddie did turn toward them after picking up the dummy. But since I had shadowed him, I was able to quickly regain control of him and race with him back to the original SL.

Although #2 was the longest mark of the day and although Laddie has had few experiences with pheasants, I somehow knew that he would have no difficulty with it, so we walked up 20 yards and I didn't shadow him. As I expected, he dashed to the fall, picked up the pheasant, and raced back with it, delivering it without any of the problems he was having until we recently began shaping his delivery.

Laddie again ran both marks on a slip cord and tried to break both times.

LUMI

Lumi came and left the SL off lead and ran without a collar or slip cord. She didn't flinch on either mark, nor when I had her honor the next dog running the short mark as a single. Her performance on the marks themselves made them look simple: She kept her eye on the fall after each throw, and when released, she pinned each one, ran back, swung to heel and delivered. After she ran both marks, I pointed at the pheasants on the ground and said "Get your bird," and together we walked to the van, where she hopped in and got some treats.

Series C. Because of the difficulty Laddie had on Series B #1, I asked one of the other trainer to throw three more marks from that holding blind for Laddie, with the crate of live ducks still there behind the holding blind. I ran Laddie from three different distances:

1. 30 yards
2. 60 yards
3. 120 yards
   

In addition, I asked the thrower not to throw the dummy too far, and to pick it up if Laddie broke. Then I ran him without a slip cord all three times.

It's odd that I expected Laddie to have trouble with #1 when we ran it the first time, and indeed he did, yet for Series C, I expected that he would not have trouble on any of the three marks, and indeed he did not.

Just in case I was wrong, I shadowed Laddie on #1, but I then saw with his pick-up and return that it was unnecessary. He never even glanced at the holding blind, the crate of ducks, or the thrower. He just grabbed the dummy and raced back to me. For #2 and #3, I didn't bother to shadow him, and I was right, it was unnecessary. Nor did he break on any of the three marks, nor did he have any problem with the strip of high cover he had to cross for #3. In addition, he didn't get side-tracked or freelance on any of his returns, and all three of his deliveries were excellent.

I don't know what it means that Laddie had a problem with Series B #1, but did not have a problem with any of the marks in Series C. I'd like to think that it was because he learned something while running Series B and then in Series C he exhibited that learning. But perhaps there's another explanation.

We'll be training with Bob again at another location on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how Laddie does at that time.

Note on the Decoys. Neither dog has seen a decoy in several months. As a result, both dogs were distracted by them on the first mark of the day, but neither dog was distracted by them again thereafter.