Hunt Test Training, Shore Handling

Today we trained with Bob Hux and other trainers at Park Heights. After the water series, I spent some time with Laddie on the problem he is having with shore handling, which is re-entering the water on the return from a land-water-land retrieve. Summary:

• Series A. Bob's land series (both dogs)
• Series B. Bob's water series (both dogs)
• Series C. Working with Laddie on water entries

Series A. Bob's land series set-up was within a 90° angle, and was made up of the following retrieves left-to-right:

• #2: 50-yard mark, a hand-thrown duck
• #1: 50-yard mark, a winger-thrown pheasant, with the fall in the shadow of a large tree
• #3: 120-yard blind, a pheasant marked by lining pole, with a large tree separating the lines to #1 and #3
  

Lumi ran #1-2 as a double, then ran the blind, lining it. Because Lumi seemed to have trouble remembering the memory mark on a previous double, I lined Lumi up on each station before calling for the first throw. Another trainer pointed out to me that while that would be legal in a Field Trial, it would not be legal in a Hunt Test. Once Lumi has had some success with multiples, I'll need to go back to not lining her up.

Laddie ran #1-2 as singles, then ran the blind, also lining it.

Both dogs ran off-lead and were steady all day.

Series B. Bob set up his water series at the end of the pond, where a triangular point juts out at midpoint along the shoreline that was on our right as we ran our dogs. We used white bumpers for the marks.

Lumi ran a double, consisting of a 60-yard mark to the far side of the point and a 30-yard mark to the near side of the point. She had no problem with the 30-yard mark (the go-bird), but I didn't line her up on the stations before calling for the first throw, and she forgot #1. I called Back at water's edge, then WS and Over when she veered toward the point. She responded correctly, then remembered (or saw) the long mark and swam to it.

To run Laddie on the longer mark while he was fresh, I asked for a long throw well into open water. When sent, Laddie ran to water's edge and popped. I called him back to me and sent him again, and this time he flew into the water and swam to the mark. By then, the dummy had floated too close to the shoreline to the right and Laddie squared the bank and swam to it. I made no effort to stop him, since I did not think it likely I'd be able to and didn't want him to rehearse ignoring my handling cues. Once ashore, Laddie ran along water's edge to the near side of the point, where the terrain became too difficult to continue bank running. There, he had great difficulty re-entering the water, and finally I asked the thrower to throw his dummy in the water. When she did so (calling him a "bad dog"), he swam to it and then delivered it to me. Laddie's second mark was in open water on the near side of the point and he had no difficulty with it, including a 20-yard land segment between the SL and the shoreline that he needed to run across in order to complete his delivery without dropping the dummy.

Series C. I remembered that some time ago, I had good luck working on Laddie's water entries while holding a dummy by getting into the water and throwing dummies for Laddie up onto the shore. At the time, he had no trouble entering the water while carrying the dummy if I was waiting for him in the water.

So today, I waded out a few feet at three locations along the edge of the pond, called Laddie into the water with me, and threw happy dummies several times from each location up onto shore varying distances. Laddie had no difficulty entering the water with the dummy during today's training, either.

I like this approach far better than driving away to get Laddie to return on land-water-land retrieves. Tomorrow, I plan to drive to Cheltenham and use a new channel, which I'll call the wading channel, that Charlie told me was shallow enough for me to stand in but still deep enough for the dogs to swim in. Hopefully I'll be able to start in the water close to the shore I'm throwing to, and gradually back up from one throw to the next until I'm up on the other shore.

It appears that Laddie has some aversion to water, or at least to entering water. If that becomes a permanent part of his make-up, it will ruin his field career. I can only hope that with practice and improved confidence, his aversion to entering water will be replaced with joyful entries.

Marks and Blinds, Shore Handling

This morning, we trained with Barbara and her Lab, Deuce, at Sundown (Series A). Then we drove to Cheltenham for continued work on shore handling (Series B). Summary:

• Series A. Marks and blinds (both dogs)
• Series B. Shore-handling toolkit: Lumi worked on Tool #5 Back-WTL-W, while I focused with Laddie on Tool #2 Here-LTW-W (no WS)

Series A. This was a series of marks and blinds run by Lumi, then Laddie. Both marks were ducks thrown right to left with gunshots, while all the blinds were orange dummies marked by surveyors flags. The set-up was relatively tight, with all five retrieves within a 60° angle, in the following arrangement left to right:

• #3: 110-yard blind
• #2: 70-yard mark TTL for #3 and marked by a chair
• #4: 100-yard mark TAL for #5 and marked by a stickman
• #5: 200-yard blind
• #1: 100-yard blind

Both dogs did well on both the marks and the blinds.

Series B. We worked on the shore-handling toolkit at the pines channel at Cheltenham, the work with Lumi and Laddie being considerably different.

LUMI

I felt that Lumi was ready to try Tool #5, Back-WTL-W:



This is an example of what's called disciplined casting, in which the dog takes casts after picking up the retrieval article. In this case, the cast she is a left or right Back.

To train this tool, I started with a water retrieve warm-up, having Lumi run two land-water-land retrieves across the channel. Then we rehearsed Tool #5 on land as follows:

1. I placed a lining pole on a road off to the side, 40 yards from our SL.
2. With Lumi sitting at heel, I threw a dummy onto the road, 20 yards toward the lining pole.
3. I sent Lumi, and when she picked up the dummy and turned back toward me, I blew WS.
4. I cued Back and Lumi spun 180° and ran to the lining pole.
5. I cued another WS and then recall.

The first time we ran this, Lumi took the disciplined cast in step #4 correctly, but dropped the dummy during step #5. So we ran it again, and when I blew WS in step #5, I immediately called Hold. Lumi then sat without dropping the dummy and I whistled recall, to which she responded with an enthusiastic delivery.

After the two land rehearsals, we then ran the same pattern twice more, but this time across the channel. Both times Lumi responded to the tool we were training correctly. That is, she retrieved the dummy in open water, then carried it up onto the far shore when I cued Back. As with the land version, Lumi dropped the dummy in step #5 the first time, taking the opportunity to shake off. And as with the land version, I was able to get Lumi not to drop the dummy by cueing Hold during step #5 the second time.

Except for a few land-water-land retrieves, that completed Lumi's training day.

LADDIE

Although at one point we tried Tool #5 and Laddie performed the Back correctly, today consistented primarily of about 15 land-water-land retrieves across the channel. My goal was to establish some consistency for an immediate return, but I was unsuccessful in accomplishing that goal.

On about half the retrieves, Laddie returned on whistle or voice recall. On the other half, he stalled, and I reacted by getting in the van with Lumi and driving away. That always resulted in Laddie immediately grabbing his dummy from the ground on the far shore, swimming across the channel, and chasing the van until he caught us. In addition, Laddie always responded correctly on the next retrieve. But he never responded correctly more than twice in a row, and began to show some variability in his behavior on the last couple of retrieves.

Because Alice had suggested that Laddie may have some trouble overcoming an obstacle — the water entry — while carrying a dummy, I had Laddie leap into the driver's seat of the van while still carrying the dummy each time he caught us. He had no difficulty doing that, but it did not seem to improve his water entries.

I am not certain how to interpret the data. It appeared that driving away punished the incorrect response, because Laddie always responded correctly on the next retrieve. But overall the incorrect response did not decline.

It appears that this is an especially difficult behavior for Laddie for some reason. The next time we train shore-handling at Cheltenham, I think we'll start with some retrieves across standing water, then across the narrow neck at the east channel where we've had success in the past, and finally move back to the pines channel. Perhaps establishing a pattern of success with the other water retrieves will enable Laddie to do better at the pines channel.

I also have some question about the correct number of retrieves to attempt. The variability in Laddie's behavior at the end of today's session suggested that he was becoming uncomfortable. Yet little enough was accomplished even with the number of retrieves we ran, and I'd be concerned that cutting that number to a smaller number would eliminate any progress at all, an expensive proposition considering the cost in time and money to train at Cheltenham.

Still, it's clear that we went too long today. Next session, I'll run Laddie on six retrieves across the pines channel, and if he is not successful on the last one, we'll run another one or two until he has a good retrieve. As soon as Laddie has a correct retrieve, we'll quit there.

It also seems that it's time to stop trying to keep Lumi and Laddie in sync on the toolkit training. Lumi is ready to go on to Tool #6, Over-WTL-W/O, whereas I need to continue to work with Laddie on Tool #2 until he is completely comfortable with land-water-land retrieves.

Hunt Test Training, Retrieve Shaping, Shore-handling

Today the dogs and I trained with Bob Hux's Tuesday Hunt Test group at Cheltenham (Series A and B). One of the other trainers then threw a couple of marks for Laddie (Series C). Finally, working alone, I continued training with both dogs on shore-handling, first at the west channel, then at a new location on the property. Summary:

• Series A. Bob's land series (both dogs)
• Series B. Bob's water series (both dogs)
• Series C. Retrieve shaping (Laddie)
• Series D. Shore-handling tool kit, Tool #4 Back-WTL-W/O (both dogs), and continued work with Laddie on Tool #2 Here-LTW-W

I ran both dogs off lead all day, and both dogs were steady, even on the flyer in Series A. Both dogs showed excellent motivation the entire day.

Series A. Bob's land series was set up as follows:

1. 70-yard mark, hand-thrown duck with line to the fall through a large pool of standing water
2. 80-yard mark, winger-thrown pheasant, with the bird landing in high cover and a pool of standing water
3. 50-yard mark, duck flyer, thrown and shot so that dog had to run around the station's holding blind to get to the fall
4. 140-yard blind, pheasant marked with a lining pole, seen from the SL as between two trees; the tree on the left was actually closer to the SL than the blind, and the one on the right was actually further back

LUMI

I planned to have Lumi run this as a triple and a blind, with the throws #1-2-3, to be run #3-1-2. Lumi retrieved #3 without difficulty, but did not seem to remember #1 when I sent her. I asked the thrower to help, but calling hey-hey and blowing the duck call didn't draw Lumi away from the SL.

Next I tried to run #1-2 as a double. Lumi retrieved #2, but again did not remember #1 the first time I sent her. I lined her up again, sent her, and this time she remembered the fall and marked it well.

Lumi ran the blind about the same as most of the other five dogs who ran it, with 3-4 casts.

LADDIE

Laddie ran the series as singles in the order suggested by Bob, #3-2-1, and then ran the blind. Laddie brought picked up and returned with all the birds, including the flyer. I tried no auto-whistle on #1 (Laddie's third single) and he still had a fast pick-up and came running back. However, I turned my back to because of a dispute with another trainer who was trying to force unsolicited advice about Lumi's multiples on me, and when I looked back again, Laddie had dropped the bird in the water and was standing over it looking at me. I called Here and he completed the delivery.

Laddie then lined the blind, the only one of six dog running the blind to line it.

Series B. Bob's water series was run in a stickpond with lots of decoys, was run with hand-thrown white dummies, and was set up as follows:

1. 20 yards into open water
   
2. 30 yards past an island into an small inlet

Lumi ran the series as a double, which Bob said made it about the equivalent of a Senior water double. Lumi did great. She even completed a diagonal swim back from #2 instead of squaring to the bank, which was inviting on that mark.

Remembering Lumi's difficulty with the multiples in Series A, I realized that I had not had her check out all the stations before having the first bird thrown, in either the triple or the double. When we ran Series B, I turned to face both stations back and forth several times, and Lumi turned her head to look at whichever one I was facing, before I called for the first bird. Perhaps that's one reason she had no difficulty with the double on Series B.

Laddie ran the series as two singles, in the order #2-1. After picking up #2, he got stranded on the island for a little while, but finally found his way into the water and swam back well. He had no problem with #1.

When Laddie was stranded on the island, running back and forth but not entering the water, one of the other trainers commented, "He's just screwing around over there." I disagree. Going by Laddie's body languate, Laddie was not acting playful. He wasn't throwing his head or prancing. To me, he appeared to be earnestly trying to figure out how to get in the water while carrying his dummy.

Series C. Because Laddie had dropped a bird in the standing water in Bob's land series, I asked one of the other trainers to throw a couple of marks for Laddie at that same location, though changing both the SL and the falls from the marks we had run in Series A.

I asked her to throw on 90-yard mark and one 180-yard mark, both ducks, gunshots but no duck calls. The first fall was just beyond the pool of standing water, while for the second mark, the pool was at the mid-point of the line from the SL to the fall. The second mark was also thrown over a dirt road.

Both of Laddie's retrieves in this series were excellent, with no problems of any kind. His send out, pick up, and return were all exuberant — I didn't use a whistle on the second one — and in addition, he did not drop the bird, he didn't look around during his returns, and his deliveries were solid.

Series D. The intent of this series was to begin work on SHTK Tool #4, Back-WTL-W/O:



Working at the west channnel, Lumi did it correctly the first time, so that was the end of Lumi's training day.

Laddie, however, did it poorly: He only turned halfway to me, and not on "tweet", but only when I prompted with "sit". So we tried it a second time.

This time, Laddie became so spooked by the woods behind the embankment — he's stared into them on previous days for some reason — that I decided we needed to move to a different channel for our training to be productive.

I'll call the new channel "the pines channel" because there's a pine tree on both sides of the narrowest point of crossing.

At the pines channel, Laddie once again beached when we tried a simple land-water-land retrieve, and I reacted by driving the van away, which once again brought him across with the dummy and chasing me.

At Alice's suggestion, I tried throwing a tennis ball and then a smaller, puppy dummy. Laddie beached with both of them, also. Since the article didn't seem to matter, I switched back to our 3" white dummies.

We then did another dozen poorman singles across the channel. About 75% of the time, Laddie beached when he first got to the other side. Each time he did not respond immediately to Here, I got in the van with Lumi and drove away, stopping 200 yards down the road. When Laddie caught up, I silently took the dummy and gestured for Laddie to jump in the van, and then we drove back to the pines channel. On those times that he did respond immediately to Here, I reinforced with bites of cheese and cheerful praise.

Finally, we had two correct responses in a row. Tomorrow, I hope we'll have time to train at the pines channel again, and we'll see if the beaching problem stays fixed. If so, we can work some more on Tool #4.

Shore Handling, Marks and Blinds

It was raining all day today, with morning temps in the 40s and 50s. In the morning, we made a trip to Cheltenham's west channel for work on shore-handling toolkit (Series A). In the afternoon, we trained with Nate at Sundown Road Park (Series B). Summary:

• Series A. Toolkit Tool #3, Back-LTW-W/O (no WS) (both dogs)
• Series B. Marks and blinds (both dogs)

Series A. Today, I tried both dogs on Tool #3, Back-LTW-W/O (no WS):



We trained in two sessions, Lumi first in each session, Laddie second, with the other dog waiting in the van.

In each session, I ran the dog from heel first, then placed the dog eight yards in front of me, facing me, and sent with a series of left or right Backs.

Session 1:

1. Back from left heel (simple open-water retrieve)
2. Right back from front
3. Left back from front

Session 2:

1. Back from right heel
2. Left back from front
3. Right back from front

We had no problem with Tool #3, left and rightt Backs from front with either dog. In addition, for Lumi, I used no auto-whistle on Session 2, #2-3, and she came back automatically without the whistle.

For Laddie, after the six retrieves shown above, we practiced Tool #2 (land-water-land retrieves) five times. The first four times, he started to cheat to the left, with the apparent intent of running all the way around the channel, and I called him. The fifth time, he came directly back uncued.

Series B. After days of rain, I decided to run a session of three marks and four blinds with Nate at Sundown, where the grass is shorter than at our other nearby training areas. Rather than ruining birds in the wet conditions, we used white dummies for all marks and orange dummies marked by surveyors flags for all blinds. This was a tight course, with all retrieves within a total of 120°, set up left to right in the following order:

• #7, a 120-yard blind
• #6, a 100-yard mark thrown toward the line for #7, marked by a stickman
• #5, a 120-yard blind
• #4, an 80-yard mark thrown over the line for #5, maked by a stickman
  
• #1, a 110-yard blind
• #2, a 70-yard mark thrown away from the line for #3, marked by a chair
• #3, a 100-yard blind

Both dogs did fine, adding easy mileage to their experience with blinds tight to marks.

Retrieve Shaping, Shore-handling

This morning the dogs and I drove to Cheltenham, not to train with the FT group, but to take advantage of the technical ponds there for continued work on the shore-handling toolkit (SHTK). I believe that we could probably run the kind of land series the FT group was sometimes setting up during the cold weather, but until we have developed our shore-handling skills, trying to run land-water series with more advanced dogs would be counterproductive. In three separate areas of the property, we had three groups of sessions:

• Series A. Retrieve shaping (both dogs)
• Series B. SHTK tool #2, stage #1 (both dogs)
• Series C. SHTK tool #2, stages #1-2 (both dogs)
  

Series A. As usual lately, we ran some short poorman marks with ducks to see if any problems in the dogs' retrieves showed up.

Both dogs did fine with simple land retrieves, but when I threw the ducks to the other side of a large pool of standing water, both dogs showed some discomfort. Lumi displayed it by slowing down in her pick-up of the duck, while Laddie picked up the duck but then dawdled rather than coming straight back.

I didn't need to walk or drive away, nor to take the bird away, to repair the problems for either dog. In both cases, as soon as I waded out into the water (I wore high, rubber boots), and the dog realized that I was about to take the bird away, the dog immediately entered the water. I would then turn and race the dog to the SL. On subsequent throws, the dog would then pick up the duck and come back immediately.

Both dogs were in high spirits during this game and all day.

Series B. We started our shore-handling work with retrieves across the neck of the pond on the east side of the property where we worked previously. Laddie showed excellent progress since last time, and came back immediately on three retrieves in a row, without any beaching. Lumi continued to perform on this simple retrieve as well as before, perhaps showing more confidence entering the water than previously for some reason.

Series C. For this series, we moved to the channel at the west side of the developed area of the property. Alternating between first Lumi, then Laddie, while the other waited in the van, we ran three sessions of Tool #2 (Here-LTW-W).

The first two sessions were intended to exercise Stage 1 (no WS) of the tool:

1. Throw two dummies onto the far embankment.
   
2. Send the dog from heel.
   
3. As the dog comes out of the water at the far shoreline, call the trained cue "shake". The idea is that if the dog is going to shake off, I want him/her to do so before picking up the dummy, because I don't want the dog to pick up the dummy, then put it down again to shake off. As the dogs become more comfortable with turning and immediately re-entering the water, I may drop this step in the future.
   
4. As the dog picks up the dummy, auto-whistle recall. Intermittently, I omit this step, with the objective of being able to increasingly rely on the recall as an automatic behavior.
5. Take delivery of the dummy at heel.
6. Reinforce with high-value treat (cheeseburger for Lumi, liverwurst and turkey dogs for Laddie).
7. Repeat steps 2-6 so that dog gets two retrieves per session.
   

The dogs both did so well with Stage 1 even in this new location that I decided to try them out on Stage 2 (whistling sit, then recall). Therefore, the third session was identical to the first two, except that we did three retrieves:

1. Start by throwing three dummies onto the road beyond the far embankment.
2. Run one retrieve without a stop, as described above.
   
3. After the first retrieve, again send the dog.
4. Dog picks up dummy, turns back toward water.
5. Blow WS, dog sits while holding dummy.
6. Call "here". I believe I could also whistle recall here. I'm not sure which is preferred at this stage in our training.
   
7. Reinforce with jackpot, several high-value treats.
8. Run one more retrieve without a stop as described above.
   

Both dogs performed the stopped version of Tool #2 correctly the first time, which pleased me.

Simply the Trained Retrieve over Water? Despite the cryptic notation of the SHTK tools, what we were practicing today was nothing more than a trained retrieve over water. For a dog with a sufficiently reliable recall, no training for Tool #2 would be required. You'd simply throw the dummy across the channel, and the dog would retrieve the dummy.

Nonetheless, for both of my dogs — Lumi several months ago, Laddie in the immediate past — it just wasn't that simple. For my dogs, the first time I sent them on a land-water-land retrieve, or even to a dummy in the water at the far shoreline, the dog would become trapped on the far shore no matter how insistently I cued recall.

I cannot say whether this is because my dogs have an unusually weak recall, or because water would present a significant barrier for any dog's recall. Another way to say this is that any dog requires the recall to be proofed, but perhaps some dogs do not require any specific proofing for recall during a land-water-land retrieve.

In the future perhaps I, or some other trainer working without an ecollar, will begin training Tool #2 using a dog with an unquestionably well-established recall. If the dog still has a problem with beaching on the far shore in the early training, we'll know that this is a problem for any dog being trained without an ecollar. If the dog doesn't have the problem, we'll know that the problem wasn't the lack of an ecollar, but an inadequately trained recall for my particular dogs at the time that Tool #2 training was begun.

Hunt Test (Lumi's Junior Hunter Title)

Today we travelled to Remington, VA, so that Lumi could take the Junior-level test at the Rappahannock River Retriever Club 2008 Spring Hunt Test. Summary:

• Series A. Land series
• Series B. Water series

Series A. The land series was set up in an agricultural field as follows:

1. 50-yard mark (duck) thrown into a large patch of high, wet cover with a diagonal entry less than 10 yards from the fall, so that the dog ran thru low cover most of the way to the mark and then encountered the diagonal entry
2. 70-yard mark (duck) thrown into a smaller patch of high, wet cover, past a ring of decoys on the left 50 yards from the SL

#2 was 90° to the left of #1.

Of the 31 entries, all of whom ran, 20 passed this test. Most of the drops came on #1, when the unsuccessful dog would follow the line of the entry into the high cover too far before entering and then begin a wide-ranging hunt, sometimes eventually switching to the other Gun, the decoys, or the woods even further to the left.

Several dogs also failed the test on #2, generally because they were diverted to the odd circle of decoys, pulling them off the line to the fall, and were then unable to find the mark.

Apparently because of the wet conditions and the falls occurring in high cover, the scent from the ducks was too widely dispersed to enable some of the dogs to find the birds by scent.

With Lumi's marking ability, experience with high cover, and experience with diversions including decoys, she had no difficulty with this series.

Series B. The judges called the water series a "wood duck hunt". The series was set up in densely wooded stickpond, with the two marks arranged as follows:

1. 20-yard mark (duck), thrown right-to-left from shore by a winger, into a circle of dead trees at a 45° angle toward the right from the SL
2. 40-yard mark (duck), hand thrown left-to-right, in front of a wood pile at the back edge of the pond, at a 45° toward the left from the SL, the line to the fall edged with trees on both sides and a large, dead log, mostly submerged, floating freely in the path

The appearance of this course worried several of the handlers that a dog might be spooked or even injured by underwater debris, but the judges assured us that this series was safe, and easier than the land series. They turned out to be correct, with 19 of the 20 dogs passing, only the last dog getting offline to the left on the last mark and then being separated from the mark by a maze of floating debris and unable to complete the retrieve.

Lumi diverted to the right on #1 and entered the circle of trees thru a wider space than from in front. On #2, she skirted the floating log rather than swimming over it. Although the retrieves therefore weren't perfect, they were more than adequate to pass the series and complete the test.

This was Lumi's fourth Junior ribbon, completing the requirements for her Junior Hunter title. Lumi's name is now:

Lumiere-du-Soleil JH WC

Snapshot: TO DO List/Guidelines for Training Day

TO DO List

• Daily
• – Wagon wheels with birds to shape the retrieve using silent handling
• – Build motivation with dummies and tug
• Dinner
• – Multiples: abort retrieve if dog looks away
  
• – Backing up at heel
• Hikes
• – WS shaping
• Solo/Land
• – Angle-in (70-90-110-yard backlines)
  
• – Triple blind:
• >> Salience drill
• >> Short/longer/longest
• >> Pyramid
• >> Indent
  
• >> Keyholes
• >> Diagonals across roads
• >> Diagonals across ditches
  
• – Holding blind and SL approach
  
• Solo/Water
  
• – Shore-handling toolkit (no shaking off after picking up dummy)
• – Swim-by (including left and right back from WS both at shoreline and in water)
• Study
  
• – Review Lardy's de-cheating fundamentals
• Thrower:
• – Creeping
• – Marks and blinds, including returning thru cover and dealing with other factors
• – Occasional hip-pocket and other picture drills
• – Looking to long gun
• – Drills to prepare for triples in group work
• – Practice walk-ups
• – Practice with line gun

Guidelines for Training Day

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• Bring:
• – Birds for solo training
  
• – High-value treats
• – Clippies
• – boots
  
• White jacket
• Put collars on dogs if needed
  
• Load pockets: pistol, ammo, slip cord if needed
• Daily TO DO items for each dog

RUNNING THE DOG

• Key question: What is the best way to run each series in terms of benefit to the dog's training?
• Do not run the dog unless confident that he will not rehearse any incorrect responses
• If running:
• – No multiples until dog completes JH
• – Cue "sit, mark" before first throw of each series
• – Occasional bird-in-mouth marking
• – First train that high sit triggers send, then build duration for long count before sending
  
• – Require retrieve of dummy(ies) as -P for creeping
• – In FT series, run long gun last
• – Auto-whistle early
• – Run only blinds within dog's capability, and only if dog remains responsive; don't challenge early blinds
  

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Creeping?
  
• Attempted break?
• Head swinging, before or after throws? Which throws?
• Could the dog 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

Distraction-Proofing, Remote Send and Delivery

On a rainy day before Lumi's Hunt Test tomorrow, the dogs and I had a light session of training at the neighborhood lacrosse field. Renee and Gabriel helped Laddie and me with our distraction-proofing drill, and then Lumi learned to complete a retrieve with me as the handler remaining in a remote location. Summary:

• Series A. Distraction-proofing (Laddie)
• Series B. Remote send and delivery (Lumi)

Series A. Today's drill was a continuation of Wednesday's distraction-proofing drill. In today's version, Renee stood at one place on the field throwing a tennis ball for Gabriel and intermittently giving him treats when he retrieved it.

That was a distracting situation because typically, Laddie would be highly drawn to any activity that involved R&G, would race Gabriel to the tennis ball whenever Renee would throw it, would try to take the ball away from Gabe if he already had it, and would try sitting in front of Renee to get a share of the treats being distributed. In addition, Laddie would typically ignore recall in such a situation unless I was at close range and used an insistent tone of voice.

With R&G playing on one part of the field, I played with Laddie about 50 yards away. A typical cycle would be as follows:

1. Daddy throws white dummy
2. Laddie runs to dummy
3. Daddy says "here" just as Laddie pounces
4. Laddie runs back to Daddy with dummy
5. Daddy takes dummy and tosses a treat (a chunk of turkey dog or liverwurst) about 6' away
6. Laddie runs to get treat
7. Daddy again says "here" just as Laddie pounces
8. Laddie runs back to Daddy

We also used abbreviated versions of that cycle. In addition, if Laddie turned to look at R&G as he ran, I called "no" and did not give him a treat. I made the next throw of the dummy much shorter.

By the end of the session, we were able to continue this drill in immediate proximity to R&G. In fact, after throwing the dummy and watching Laddie run to it, I would position myself so that R&G were right between Laddie and me. In the last half-dozen reps, Laddie showed that whether the tennis ball was just being thrown, or Gabriel was in the middle of a retrieve, or Renee was dispensing treats, Laddie would pointedly ignore their activity and return to me on every call.

That was the success I was hoping for.

Series B. During this series, I trained Lumi to perform as follows: I set her up at a pole acting as an SL, positioned myself 20 yards away to make a throw of the dummy, released Lumi on her name to run to the dummy and pick it up, and directed her back to the original SL without moving myself. When she arrived at the SL, I called "sit" and she turned to face me and sat while continuing to hold the dummy. I then ran to her, took the dummy, and gave her a high-value treat.

It turned out that this was a relatively easy trick for Lumi to learn.

Hunt Test Training

Today we trained with Bob Hux and other trainers at Park Heights. Summary:

• Series A. Bob's land series (both dogs)
• Series B. Bob's water series (both dogs)

Series A. Bob set our land series up within a 120° angle, left to right:

• #4: 100-yard blind (black dummies), with a large tree on either side of the line to the blind, the closer tree on the right
  
• #3: 90-yard mark (pheasant), hand-thrown
  
• #2: 50-yard mark (pheasant), hand-thrown
  
• #1: 30-yard mark (pheasant), winger-thrown

LUMI

Lumi ran the series as three singles followed by the blind. She had no difficulty with the marks, but she slipped the first whistle running the blind, so I called her all the way back to heel. She then lined the blind, so I didn't find out whether she would slip another whistle.

LADDIE

Laddie crept on #1 and #2. In each case, instead of sending him, I brought him behind the holding blind, waited 10 seconds, then brought him back out and sent him. I'm not sure it taught him anything.

After noticing yesterday that Laddie tends to look all around him during his returns, even when he is returning on a direct line, today I decided to try to improve his focus on his returns. Whenever Laddie glanced away from me during a return, I whistled sit, then recall. This seemed to be effective, because Laddie's glancing away distinctly declined while running the series.

Laddie had no trouble getting to the blind, but he did not like carrying the soft, black dummy. I borrowed it so that we could practice with it at home.

Series B. Since Bob's water series required shore-handling skills that neither of my dogs has been trained in yet, but Lumi is more experienced with shore handling than Laddie, I modified the set-up separately for both dogs.

One thing I didn't need to change was the retrieval article: All the dogs retrieved white dummies.

For Lumi, #1 was a 30-yard land-water-land retrieve, and #2 was an 80-yard swim to a fall at the far edge of the pond. She performed well on both of them, including not attempting to run the bank on the return from #1.

For Laddie, both marks were open-water retrieves. #1 was 30 yards and #2 was 60 yards.

On #1, Laddie picked up the dummy, swam toward the thrower, and played with the dummy in the water. At my request, the thrower took it and threw it back into open water. Laddie swam to it and delivered it to me.

On #2, Laddie kept trying to square the nearest bank during his return, but each time he looked at it, I called "no here" and he continued to swim toward me.

Steadiness, Retrieve Shaping, Shore Handling

In the morning, Ray joined the dogs and me for training at Sundown Park (Series A and B). After dropping Ray off at home, the dogs and I then returned to the creek at Brink for continued work on shore handling (Series C). In the late afternoon, Nate joined us for some additional retrieve shaping (Series D) at Oaks, where the fresh thick grass is now thigh high. Summary:

• Series A. Steadiness training with tosser (Laddie)
• Series B. Retrieve shaping with Ray throwing marks (both dogs)
• Series C. Shore training, Tool #2 (Here-LTW-W), Stage 1 (uncued) (both dogs)
  
• Series D. Retrieve shaping with Nate throwing marks (both dogs)

Series A. This was a continuation of last week's practice with a borrowed winger. With Ray operating the winger, Laddie had four retrieves with ducks thrown to the left, four to the right. I was pleased to see that he did not creep on any of them.

However, Laddie's retrieve fell apart in Series A. At the first retrieve, he wouldn't even pick up the bird. On the next 2-3 retrieves, he tried to carry the bird to the shade of a tree near the fall. I ran to him and had him return with all the birds to the SL, and his deliveries were good, no drops. But even by the eigth throw, I could see that Laddie was still feeling temptation not to return to the SL after the pick-up.

Lumi is already steady and doesn't creep, so I had her sit out Series A.

Series B. I've been trying to make it a practice to have a session of retrieve shaping every morning. I usually don't have the luxury of a thrower and need to use poorman marks, but this morning, Ray was there to help.

LUMI

Ray threw three marks (ducks) for Lumi:

1. 20 yards
2. 20 yards
3. 140 yards
   

Lumi had a slow pick-up on the first mark, so I ran out and took the bird away. She had excellent pick-ups on the next two marks. Everything else about all three marks was also excellent.

Instead of putting Laddie in the van, I had him lie on the grass in the shade of a tree. He made no effort to get up while Lumi was working, an unprecedented behavior from Laddie. I think it partially reflects improved understanding of how to honor, partially reflects that he was uncomfortable in the warm sunlight.

LADDIE

Ray threw five marks (ducks) for Laddie:

1. 20 yards
2. 20 yards
3. 40 yards
4. 90 yards
5. 140 yards

Laddie's marks, pick-ups, and deliveries were all excellent. He repeatedly tried to veer during his returns, perhaps seeking shade, but was instantly responsive to "no here".

Series C. Today's training at Brink creek went significantly better tha yesterday's. One reason was that my expectations were lower, so I did a better job of setting appropriate criteria. Another was that I kept one dog in the van while training the other.

I worked on Laddie's water handling first, then Lumi's. We made good progress. However, both dogs still want to cheat over to the shallow crossing. Also, Laddie plays with the dummy if it's not in deep water, possibly a delaying tactic because he doesn't feel comfortable re-entering the water.

I spent much of the time with both dogs thigh deep in the water. Even though the temp was in the 70s, the water was ice cold, which may have had a negative impact on our training.

In the evening, I found that I had a fever and chills all night, was better the next morning. I wonder if working in the cold water made me ill.

Series D. Working with Nate at Oaks, I ran each dog on three marks at 20-90-90 yards, #2 thrown from a mound. I ran Lumi first, Laddie next, watching for any flaws in their retrieves.

Lumi had one slowish pick-up on #2, but had an instant pick-up again on #3.

Laddie got distracted by something (I don't know what) and detoured on return from #3, but responded well to "no here".

It seems that our steadiness training with the tosser has also helped Laddie's creeping for hand throws. He was remained in place for the first of Nate's throws. On #2, Laddie crept a couple of inches and I called "pick it up" to Nate and pulled Laddie back from the SL. Nate then re-threw #2, and then #3. Laddie was steady as a rock on both of them.

Salience Drill, Angle-in, Retrieve Shaping

Since the property our FT group uses on Sundays was leased to the Lab club for a Hunt Test this weekend, I dropped Renee off at the club where she teaches, worked with the dogs at three locations on various skills, and returned to pick Renee up a couple of hours later. We worked on the following:

• Series A. Salience drill, at Homecrest soccer field (both dogs).
• Series B. Angle-in drill, also at soccer field (both dogs).
• Series C. Retrieve shaping, at Fair Hill Area 3 (both dogs).
• Series D. Salience drill, at Norbeck ballfield (Lumi only).

Series A. I placed a lining pole as an SL and ran each dog on three blinds separated by 30&deg angles. This was the salience drill I devised, not a handling drill, so the dogs were expected to line each blind. The blinds were all orange dummies lain endwise at varying distances from the SL, and with prominent landmarks 20+ yards behind them, as follows:

1. One dummy out 40 yards in the direction of a large, light-green tree.
2. One dummy out 60 yards in the direction of a small wooden structure.
3. One dummy out 80 yards in the direction of a white sign on a silvery metal pole.

I ran Lumi first, then Laddie. Both dogs ran toward the landmark, did a double-take as they came upon the dummy, pounced on it, and responded to my recall whistle by enthusiastically delivering their discovered dummy.

Hopefully the dogs were learning the intended lesson of the salience drill: When Daddy sends you in a particular direction, find a target in the distance with your eyes, run toward it, and eventually you'll come upon the blind as you run.

Series B. This was our second angle-in drill of the sequence started a couple of days ago, and today we used a 70-yard backline rather than a 50-yard one. Today's series was as follows:

1. Send from right heel, thru to pile
2. Send from left heel, thru to pile
3. Send from right heel, WS, angle-in right
   
4. Send from left heel, thru to pile
5. Send from right heel, WS, angle-in left
   
6. Send from left heel, thru to pile
7. Send from right heel, thru to pile
8. Send from left heel, WS, angle-in right
   
9. Send from right heel, thru to pile
10. Send from left heel, WS, angle-in left

The pile was white dummies, and the angle-in was to an orange dummy that I threw while the dog was running toward the pile.

I ran Lumi on this drill first, then Laddie. Neither dog slipped a whistle nor refused a cast. Hopefully, both dogs (especially Lumi) are developing confidence in the angle-in cast.

Series C. Next we drove to Fair Hill Area 3 for a short session of retrieve shaping. We used a large depression in the ground, about the size of a future basement but with sloping sides, in the shape of a rectangle roughly 50' x 150'.

For both dogs, I used an unusual duck, which one of the trainers had called a "Black Head". I think that's what some people call a Ring-Necked Duck, but I believe this one was a Lesser Scaup. In any case, both dogs had previously shown some discomfort carrying this particular bird.

I ran Lumi first on a single 20-yard retrieve, with the SL on the high ground near the center of one of the long sides, and the fall near the right corner of the high ground on the opposite side. Lumi's retrieve was so good, including a lightning fast pick-up, that I simply rewarded her and ended the session.

I then ran Laddie on the same retrieve. Everything was excellent except that Laddie's hold on the delivery was a little weak. I used some walk-offs to strengthen the hold, and then ran a second retrieve of 40 yards: With the SL on the high ground at one end of one of the long sides, the fall was on the high ground behind the corner diagonally opposite. This time, Laddie's entire retrieve was excellent, including a firm hold on the delivery.

I had not before noticed that the sloping sides of the depression in the ground make this location a possibility for beginning to train the dogs an important concept: not to square up when crossing a ditch or road. They may have gotten some of that lesson today, but I think the lesson would be more emphatic on a send out to a cold blind, rather than on a mark as we were using today when the dogs may not have paid as much attention to the topography of the ground surface as they might when running a blind. Perhaps we'll return to this location to try the idea out in the future.

Series D. Finally, we drove to the Norbeck ballfield for a final single-blind salience drill. It turned out that I only ran Lumi, because as we worked, a softball team began warming up in one direction and picnickers showed up in another, making it too risky to run Laddie with such nearby diversions.

The drill consisted of an orange dummy lain endwise 100 yards from our SL, with a large tree standing alone in the field, 50 yards further back in the same line of sight as the blind. As before, Lumi took the line toward the tree, presumably assuming that the dummy was at the base of the trunk, and was then surprised and excited when she ran across the dummy earlier while running in that direction. She delivered the dummy, and we returned to the van and drove to pick up Renee.

Work Ethic? During Series A and B today, people and dogs on the fringes of the soccer field repeatedly distracted Laddie. While I tried to make sure that playing our games (that is, drills) were rewarding both intrinsically and extrinsically, I also moved quickly toward Laddie a couple of times, calling "no HERE," if he started to divert. I hope he was learning that working with me is both highly rewarding as well as not optional.

Perhaps the lesson is similar to what Alice Woodyard calls "work ethic". I only understand the term vaguely as it applies to dogs, but in private correspondence, Alice once wrote: "Work ethic, to me, is a dog who wants to learn and believes in learning, believes in his own power in controlling outcomes if only he tries . . . AND believes, also, that even if he does not enjoy something 100% of the time, the nonenjoyability is temporary and enjoyment is on its way. Therefore he perseveres when he does not enjoy something at the moment."

Hunt Test: Labrador Retriever Club of the Potomac

This morning, we made an early start and spent a few minutes at the neighborhood lacrosse field with me throwing a duck for Lumi, then Laddie. Lumi was too slow on her first pick-up, so I came out and took the duck away from her. Then I made several more throws, and she did great. Laddie did fine on all of his throws from first to last.

When we were done, we went to Cheltenham for Lumi's Junior Hunt Test given by the Labrador Retriever Club of the Potomac. I gave Laddie a couple of walks, and while waiting to run Lumi in the water series, I worked on "no bird" with him off to the side of the flyer Gun. Aside from that, Laddie spent the entire time in the van.

I think Laddie could have passed today's test, but my focus with Laddie is on Field Trials, not Hunt Tests. If he gets to the point where I have high confidence in his ability to run a Hunt Test at a particular level, I may run him, but otherwise, I don't plan to have Laddie compete until he's ready to try a Derby or Qualifying stake.

Every Junior-level Hunt Test I've been to, including today's, was made up of two series:

• Series A. Land series
• Series B. Water series

Today's was unusual in my experience in that the judges called for a flyer to be shot in both series.

Series A was neither the hardest nor the easiest I've seen, with a pass rate of about 75%. Series B was made up of two open water retrieves, and as easy as any I've seen, with a pass rate of 100%.

Lumi, who's been training for about a year on the same set-ups as Senior and Master dogs in group training, had no difficulty with today's Junior series. She had pinpoint marks as well as high quality returns and deliveries. I learned later that the judges had given her scores of all 10s.

I used a loose slipcord with Lumi on all four marks, because I didn't want to assume she would be steady, and then have her break and be disqualified. But the cord was unnecessary. Lumi was steady as a rock on every throw.

When the test was over, Lumi received an orange ribbon, completing ¾ths of the qualifying scores needed for her Junior Hunter title. When we got home, I entered her in another Hunt Test next Saturday, and we'll see how we do then.

Angle-in, Shore Training

This morning, I went with the dogs to the neighborhood lacrosse field to run a drill focused specifically on the angle-in (Series A), which Lumi has had problems with at times, including at yesterday's Hunt Test training group. While we were training, a man parked next to our van and walked out to introduce himself. The man turned out to be a guy named Nunzio, an event field trainer with Labs and Chessies and a judge for a variety of field events and venues. He had been passing by and was attracted by the sound of our training whistle.

In addition to providing interesting conversation and some training tips, Nunzio was also kind enough to mention that he lives nearby on a five-acre property with a small pond, suitable for training the swim-by as well as land-water-land retrieves. Amazingly, he invited us to train there any time we wished! So in the afternoon, the dogs and I drove to Nunzio's property for a session of shore training (Series B).

Summary:

• Series A. Angle-in drill (both dogs)
• Series B. Shore training, Tool #2, Here-LTW-W, Stage 1 (uncued) (both dogs)

Series A. I designed this drill as the first of a sequence intended to strengthen the dogs' comfort level with the angle-in cast. That doesn't seem to be a weakness for Laddie, but it is for Lumi, and I see no disadvantage to giving Laddie additional mileage on it.

For the drill I came up with, I placed two lining poles 50 yards apart. I used one of the poles as the SL, the other to mark a pile of eight white dummies.

I then trained Lumi first, then Laddie, with the other dog waiting in the van each time.

The sequence was as follows:

1. Straight thru to the pile
2. Straight thru to the pile
3. WS, angle-in to the left
4. Straight thru to the pile
5. Straight thru to the pile
6. WS, angle-in to the right
7. Straight thru to the pile
8. Straight thru to the pile
9. WS, angle-in to the left
10. Straight thru to the pile
11. Straight thru to the pile
12. WS, angle-in to the right

I randomized which side I sent the dog from, and for the angle-in casts, I threw an orange dummy while the dog was on the way to the pile, then blew WS before the dog reached the pile.

In addition, to increase the randomization of the sequence, I had Lumi skip #11 and Laddie skip both #8 and #11.

It was clear that the orange dummies were not visible to the dogs until they got close, because neither dog ran straight to any of the dummies. Instead, both came forward in the general direction cued, then veered to the dummy when they got close. Both dogs seemed in high spirits throughout the drill and performed well.

In subsequent sessions, I plan to increase the distance from the SL to the pile by 20 yards per session, so that we repeat this drill at 70-90-110 yards.

Series B. The dogs and I used Nunzio's pond to work on shore training, Tool #2, Here-LTW-W, Stage 1 (uncued). I ran a few reps with Lumi and Laddie alternating, but it was soon clear that Laddie needed more work than Lumi, and I was happy to rest Lumi anyway since she'll be in a Hunt Test tomorrow.

This was a shaping session with no pre-planned structure. I'd say the most productive thing I tried was when I waded into the water, called Laddie to me, and then repeatedly made happy throws onto the bank and further inland. Laddie had much less difficulty re-entering the water with the dummy while I was standing there in front of him, than when he faced a swim to the opposite shore of the pond.

At the end of the session, I had Laddie make one retrieve all the way across the pond, land-water-land. I decided to end Laddie's retrieves on that note of success.

For reinforcement, I used happy throws for both dogs, plus food for Lumi, clippies for Laddie.

Marks and Blinds

This morning, we trained with Barbara and Deuce, her yellow Lab, at Fair Hill Area 1 (Series A). In the afternoon, we trained with Nate at Oaks (Series B), with Bryan videotaping. Summary:

• Series A. Blind-mark-blind (both dogs)
• Series B. Blind-mark-blind-mark-blind-mark (both dogs)

Series A. The set-up:

1. 100-yard blind (orange dummy at lining pole)
2. 80-yard mark (duck, thrown toward the line of #3)
3. 100-yard blind (orange dummy at lining pole)

#2 was 22° to the right of #1. #3 was 15° to the right of #2.

LUMI

Lumi has not been running blinds in private training for awhile, and had no-gos on both #1 and #3.

On #1, even when she went out, she was tentative and required several WSs and casts. Unfortunately, she also slipped 2-3 of the early whistles.

On #3, she was much better. Once she went out, she went fast, then responded immediately when I blew a WS and took a single cast to the blind.

LADDIE

Laddie line #1. On #2, he responded instantly to a WS, but my cast accidentally took him out of sight (I didn't realize the land dropped off behind a ridge). He returned on a whistle recall and found the dummy on the way back.

Although I didn't bring clippies to this session, Laddie's performance was full of energy and purpose, and his pick-up, return, and delivery with the bird as well as the dummies were fabulous.

Series B. Series B was run at the Oaks field, the most distracting of our local venues. The set-up:

1. 100-yard blind (orange dummy at lining pole)
2. 50-yard mark (duck) thrown away from line for #3, position marked with a chair
   
3. 120-yard blind (orange dummy at lining pole)
4. 80-yard mark (duck) thrown toward line for #5, position marked with a stickman
   
5. 120-yard blind (orange dummy at lining pole)

LADDIE

Laddie ran the course first. Although I was pleased with his overall performance — good enthusiasm, pinpoint marking, no drops of either bird — there was, of course, room for improvement:

• On #1, Laddie temporarily diverted toward something during his return.
• He then dropped the dummy before completing his delivery.
• On #3, he slipped a whistle as he approached Nate.
• On #5, he took a line wide to the left, apparently diverted by a white pole in the distance.

Nonetheless, considering that this was only the second series he's ever run combining marks and blinds — the first was this morning — I thought he did reasonably well.

Here's a video of Laddie running Series B:



LUMI

I thought Lumi ran Series B pretty nicely. I saw two flaws:

• On #1, she slipped a whistle, and I responded with tweet-tweet-tweet-sit, which Lumi doesn't like. As it turns out, we didn't need another whistle sit today, but from previous experience using tweet-tweet-tweet-sit, I would guess that she would not have slipped the next one.
• On the send-out for #5, Lumi had an initial no-go. It seems that Lumi does not yet fully grasp the concept of mixing marks and blinds, nor our cue for blinds ("dead bird") in that context, and she was waiting for Nate to throw another mark. She seemed to figure out what was called for when I took a few steps forward and then called her to join me, a sequence we've often used after a wrong initial line and no-here on drills that involved lining such as the double-T.
  

On the positive side, I was pleased by Lumi's response when, based on a suggestion from Alice some time back, I called "back" as Lumi was trotting with what looked like some uncertainty on her send out for #5. Lumi immediately broke into a gallop.

Here's a video of Lumi running Series B:

Snapshot: TO DO List/Guidelines for Training Day

TO DO List

• Daily
• – Wagon wheels with birds to shape the retrieve using silent handling
• – Build motivation with dummies and tug
• Dinner
• – Multiples: abort retrieve if dog looks away
  
• – Backing up at heel
• Hikes
• – WS shaping
• Solo/Land
  
• – Salience drill
• – Holding blind and SL approach
  
• Solo/Water
  
• – Shore-handling toolkit (no shaking off after picking up dummy)
• – Swim-by (including left and right back from WS both at shoreline and in water)
• – Not squaring ditches
  
• Study
  
• – Obtain, then study “Four Looks at Two Down the Shore” from HTKH
• – Review Lardy's de-cheating fundamentals
• Thrower:
• – DD combination picture (one more session)
• – Marks and blinds, including returning thru cover and dealing with other factors
• – Occasional hip-pocket and other picture drills
• – Looking to long gun
• – Drills to prepare for triples in group work
• – Practice walk-ups
• – Practice with line gun

Guidelines for Training Day

BEFORE OTHER TRAINERS ARRIVE

• Bring:
• – Birds for solo training
  
• – High-value treats
• – Clippies
  
• White jacket
• Put collars on dogs if needed
  
• Load pockets: pistol, ammo, slip cord if needed
• Daily TO DO items for each dog

RUNNING THE DOG

• Key question: What is the best way to run each series in terms of benefit to the dog's training?
• Do not run the dog unless confident that he will not rehearse any incorrect responses
• If running:
• – No multiples until dog completes JH
• – Cue "sit, mark" before first throw of each series
• – Occasional bird-in-mouth marking
• – First train that high sit triggers send, then build duration for long count before sending
  
• – Require retrieve of dummy(ies) as -P for creeping
• – In FT series, run long gun last
• – Auto-whistle early
• – Run only blinds within dog's capability, and only if dog remains responsive; don't challenge early blinds
  

RECORD KEEPING PER MARK

• Creeping?
  
• Attempted break?
• Head swinging, before or after throws? Which throws?
• Could the dog 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

Hunt Test Training, Diversion Drill, Marks

This morning, we trained with Bob Hux and others at Cheltenham in the morning (Series A and B), then went out with Nate for additional training at Fair Hill Area 1 in the afternoon (Series C and D). Summary:

• Series A. Group land series, but with a large pool of standing water that effectively made this a land/water series (both dogs)
• Series B. Group water series (both dogs)
  
• Series C. Laddie's final diversion drill session, a combination picture with the marks thrown right to left (Laddie only)
• Series D. Three land retrieves at Hunt Test distances (both dogs)

Series A.

Series B.

Series C. This was Laddie's final diversion drill session. The course was set up as follows:

• Three lining poles were placed 80 yards from the SL, at 30° angles from one another, acting as sight-blinds. Two white dummies were placed at the foot of each pole. Ideally, the dummies would have been visible to the dog from the SL, but we were working in knee-high grass so only the lining pole was visible until Laddie was right at the pole.
  
• Nate, with his chair, pistol, and three birds (one each duck, pigeon, pheasant), were positioned 60 yards from the SL and midway between the lines to the center and right poles. Each of his throws was right-to-left to the same fall, midway between the lines to the left and center poles.
  

Laddie was run on the course in the following sequence:

1. Left sight-blind
2. Right sight-blind
3. Center sight-blind
4. Thrown mark
5. Left sight-blind
6. Thrown mark
7. Right sight-blind
8. Thrown mark
9. Center sight-blind

Laddie ran excellent marks, and lined sight-blinds #1, #5, and #7. Laddie went offline on #2, #3, and #9, but had excellent responsiveness to all WSs and casts.

Although I was pleased by Laddie's performance and the fact that we are now ready to move on to marks-and-blinds, including those Laddie will run in group training and events, I was most pleased by the fact that Laddie did not drop a single article during the drill. Given the mixture of articles and the challenging terrain, this was a nice demonstration of Laddie's success in overcoming that flaw.

Series D. Although I generally want to be stretching Laddie's now excellent retrieves out to longer distances, Lumi will be running in a Hunt Test next Saturday, so this week I'm focusing on shorter distances. I could have had the dogs run separate courses, but I think a few more easy sessions for Laddie won't hurt. Here's the set-up I used for this series:

1. 60-yard mark (duck), position marked with a chair
2. 80-yard mark (duck), position marked with a stickman
3. 120-yard mark (duck), position marked with a stickman

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

LUMI

For Lumi, I had the throws angled in, to prepare Lumi for the possibility that she will tend to overrun the marks in the test because of elevated excitement level. I gave Lumi a bite of food after #1, had her pick up bird ("get your bird") after #3 for the walk to the van.

Lumi showed good motivation during the session, and had excellent pick ups, the area we've recently been focusing her retrieve shaping on.

LADDIE

For Laddie, the falls were the same distance from the SL as the thrower, as in our usual training.

Laddie's performance was over-the-top exuberant as is normal for him, and most importantly, he didn't drop any of the birds. I had a carrier of clippies near the SL, and after #3, I tossed a clippie for him to retrieve and we ran around together for a few moments with him carrying it in his mouth.

Alternation Drill

I had to work at my client's office today, so the dogs and I only had time for a morning session. I decided that the highest priority was retrieve shaping for both dogs, using an alternation drill.

We went to a section of the Fair Hill new home construction site that we haven't used much before, one with extensive grading, including several foundation depressions and large mounds. Fair Hill is where we also had our double-T course and, across the road, a smaller area with several large patches of high cover we've used for retrieve shaping with that terrain factor. In future blog entries, I will refer to these areas as:

• Fair Hill Area 1 (the area where we had our double-T course)
• Fair Hill Area 2 (the area with the high cover)
• Fair Hill Area 3 (the area with all the grading)
  

All the Fair Hill sites are covered in grass that has not been mowed this year, and with all the rain we've been getting the last few weeks, it is now knee high and thick.

Today, we worked in a driving rain. We ran off a large mound, with the lines to the falls thru small pools of standing water and mud.

While the dogs aired and played, I set up a series of throwing targets, placing lining poles at 40, 80, and 120 yards from our SL in a zig-zag pattern in front of the mound.

LUMI

With Laddie back in the van, I ran Lumi first, using the following "alternation drill" sequence:

1. Short throw(s) with pigeon
2. 40-yard poorman mark with pheasant and gunshot
3. Short throw(s) with pigeon
4. 80-yard poorman mark with pheasant and gunshot
5. Short throw(s) with pigeon
6. 120-yard poorman mark with pheasant and gunshot

I reinforced each correct response, which in Lumi's case was focused on an instant pick up.

I reinforced with food and, at the end, "get your bird" with the pigeon I'd been using for the short throws. "Get your bird" seems to have become quite important to Lumi, judging by her body language as she searches for a bird on the ground and pounces on it as soon as she perceives her series is over, even before I say, "Get your bird."

If Lumi was slow on one of the short throws — I required instant pick-up — I said gently "no no no" and went out to take the pigeon away, then ran with Lumi back to the SL. This only happened once or twice, and the subsequent short pick-up, plus the pheasant pick-ups, were all fast.

LADDIE

With Lumi dried and back in the van, I ran the same drill for Lumi with minor differences. Laddie's retrieves were all letter perfect and filled with exuberance, like the old Laddie (see below), so I didn't need to mark any incorrect responses or re-throw any of the short throws.

The minor differences in Laddie's version of the alternation drill versus Lumi's:

• I used a different pigeon for the short throws, and a duck instead of the pheasant for the poorman marks, because Lumi's birds were soaked.
• In addition to food and "get your bird", I reinforced with a wing-clipped pigeon for the last mark:
• I kept the clippie carrier sitting next to the SL lining pole, and after the last short throw, I took a clippie out of the carrier and walked with the clippie, the duck I was going to throw, and the pistol out to the 120-yard pole while Laddie waited at the SL.
• I fired and threw the duck, then ran back to Laddie still carrying the white, highly visible clippie in my hand.
  
• I sent Laddie for another of his exceptional retrieves, ending with an equally fine delivery.
  
• I put down the duck and walked to a back area of our mound to toss the clippie for Laddie.
• As Laddie ran to the clippie, I was confident enough in his behavior that I didn't stay to watch him pick it up but darted down the mound, and in a flash Laddie was at my heels.
• We ran back and forth a few times, then charged back up the mound.
• Finally, I reached out and Laddie put the clippie in my hands. It seems that Laddie enjoys carrying the clippie, but he also seems glad to give it up. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's my imagination.
  

We ended the series with "get your bird" with the pigeon I'd been using for the short throws and a triumphant walk back to the van together.

I dried Laddie with our chamois, and when he jumped into his crate, as is our ritual at the end of our morning training sessions, I gave both dogs their breakfast, raw buffalo mix in metal bowls, and we drove home.

The "Old" Laddie. For the last few days, Laddie has not been his old self. Most of the differences were subtle — running up the stairs rather than sprinting, a distracted expression when I'd expect intense concentration, tentative taking of food rather than his usual shark attack. The most discrete change was that Laddie has recently begun to drop birds during his retrieval returns on marks thru long or difficult terrain. The drops have seemed intentional, and may be a behavioral phenomenon unrelated to the other changes.

In any case, I interpreted these changes as to some extent an inevitable, if surprisingly precipitous, mellowing from puppihood, the exchange of wild instinct for a more deliberate comprehension of our activities.

But Laddie has not been eating for more than a week, apparently because Sophie, a BC who lives with one of our kids in the house, has been in heat. Considering that Laddie is now back on his feed, maybe Sophie is going out of heat and it was affecting Laddie more than I realized.

Today, as mentioned above, I saw none of the "mellowness", nor dropped birds, either. It is difficult to put my happiness into words, but if I could transfer what I saw today to event conditions, I think I'd have the finest retriever on the planet.

Lab Club Training Day

When we arrived at Cheltenham this morning planning to train with the FT group, I learned that the property had been leased to a Lab club for a training day with about 30 dogs, mostly Labs but a few other breeds including our holistic vet's Bernese Mountain Dog. I knew several of the club members and we were able to join the training. On a dreary, drizzly day in the 50s, the group ran two land series and a water series. In addition, I interspersed several private series with my dogs. The result was a long day of training — we left home at 7:30 AM and returned ten hours later. Summary:

• Series A. Retrieve shaping (both dogs)
• Series B. Group land series (both dogs)
• Series C. Retrieve shaping (both dogs)
• Series D. Group land series (both dogs)
• Series E. Retrieve shaping with Carole Lundquist, our holistic vet, throwing birds for us (Laddie)
• Series F. Group water series (Lumi)

The two group land series, which I'm calling Series B and D, were actually set up simultaneously, with people breaking up into two groups. When each group finished its series, we swapped set-ups and ran the other one. Most people left at that point, but a few of us remained from both groups and ran a group water series (herein called Series F).

For all group series, marks were thrown as ducks, while blinds were orange dummies. Lining poles were used for all blinds except the water blind in Series F, where the blind was unmarked.

Series A. Poorman single and double with dummies, happy throws.

Series B. Set-up as run by Lumi:

1. 100-yard blind in open terrain except for a tree on the left of the line to the blind
2. 80-yard mark thrown across a road into standing water
3. 90-yard mark thrown into thick, unmowed grass
4. 90-yard blind set 10 yards inside a treeline, thru a strip of cover near the SL and another strip of cover inside the treeline just in front of the dummies, past a tree at the midpoint on the left with the blind inside a triangle of closely-spaced trees
5. 120-yard mark thru a large pool of standing water

#5 was 90° to the right of #1. #2 was 45° to the right of #5. #4 was 30° to the right of #2. #3 was 15° to the right of #4.

#4 was referred to by the guy who set the series up as a Master blind. Besides the factors listed above with the description of #4, the line passed only a few yards to the left of the holding blind for #3. The factor that proved most distracting for several dogs, including Lumi, was a string of trees stumps at the treeline still white from fresh felling of the trees, stumps which apparently looked like articles to be retrieved to the dogs.

With Lumi running the three marks as singles, we were the only team to run this series in the order I chose. Several other sequences were used by various trainers. For Laddie, we just ran the three marks, #2-3-5, as singles.

Once Lumi got close to the treeline, I realized from her loss of responsiveness that #4 was too hard for her. But one of the leaders was adamant that once we started it, we needed to finish it, so I ended up getting quite close to her to complete the retrieve. In addition, Lumi's pick-ups on every blind and mark were too slow and deliberate. Aside from that, she ran an excellent series and we received many compliments on Lumi's progress from trainers we have trained with in the past.

Laddie's performance on #2 and #3 was excellent except that he dropped the bird midway back on #2. His performance on #5 was poor, as he dropped the bird in the standing water and was unresponsive to verbal and whistle recall. I ran out, put Laddie on a lead and picked up the bird, walked Laddie clear of the water, and threw the bird for Laddie to pick up and retrieve as we raced back to the SL together. I realized immediately that I should not have thrown a bird in the middle of the field that way, but no one said anything, perhaps because they were left speechless by my making such a huge mistake.

I ran both dogs without slipcords. Lumi was completely steady, while Laddie crept but did not break. Actually, Lumi did break on #5, when a male voice simulating a judge called a number, but it was not an illegal break. Lumi also honored the next dog, as a triple was thrown and the dog was sent to the go-bird. Lumi was edgy, but she did not break.

When I took Laddie from the van, I placed the carrier of wing-clipped pigeons on the walk between the van and the group training area. When we returned, I picked up the carrier as we walked, and when we arrived at the van, I let Laddie retrieve a clippie from more distance than in the past, 10 yards. He raced excitedly to the bird, picked it up, and brought it directly to me when I called "here", making no attempt to resource guard it. I felt that represented progress in his ability to deal with clippies and used it as the foundation for more exciting experiences with clippies later in the day.

Series C. After Series B, I took the dogs to an isolated area for a short retrieve-shaping session.

In Lumi's case, I focused on a fast pick-up. I used food, happy throws, and tug for reinforcement.

In Laddie's case, I focused on completing the retrieve without dropping the article. I held a clippie in my hand while throwing three ducks, which Laddie retrieved perfectly. After the last, I put the clippie down for Laddie at a distance of 10 yards, and when he got to it, called "here". He brought it straight to me, and I rewarded that by running back in the direction of the throw, then back again, with Laddie chasing me. At last, back at the carrier, I took delivery of the clippie and returned it to its carrier.

Series D. This was the second group series we ran. The set-up was:

1. 40-yard mark, with the fall at the end of a large patch of cover that the dog, if on a straight line, entered at the other end
   
2. 60-yard mark, with line thru cover and over a small ridge
3. 80-yard mark, with line thru several patches of cover and over a small ridge
4. 80-yard blind
5. 80-yard blind, with line thru patch of cover with fall from #1, then across road and up onto a hillside beside the property's barn

The lines to the various marks and blinds were separated by 30° angles. Left to right, the order was #4-2-3-1-5.

LADDIE

Laddie ran marks #1-3 as singles. He ran good marks but dropped the bird during the return on #1 and #3.

LUMI

Lumi ran #1-3 as singles, then each blind. She had great pick-ups on #1-2, a little slower on #3. She "lined" #4 in the sense of no casts, but she was the last dog to run, so with all the scent from previous dogs, she put her nose down and hunted. She handled readily to the dummies at #5 but did not pick one up at first, instead looking for something else in the area. Her response to WSs also showed deterioration from recent work together.

One of the leaders of the group commented during Lumi's laser mark on #3 that it was the best mark of the day.

Series E. I had thought that Laddie's basic retrieve pattern was now set and that we could focus, for the remainder of his career, on retrieving concepts like multiples and shore training. It does seem true that several problems — his resource guarding behaviors, running toward the thrower, poor holds during delivery — are solved, at least for now. But Laddie has now developed a new problem: dropping birds during the return. From a rarity in his previous behavior pattern, this behavior has now become common, occurring almost every time he is retrieving a bird from distance or thru difficult terrain.

By observation, Laddie's dropping behavior does not look like the bird is slipping from his mouth, nor do the drops appear to be a side effect of some other phenomenon such as excited head-throwing. Rather, it seems that Laddie is intentionally opening his mouth and dropping the bird.

My theory about why this is happening is that when, in the past, I have reinforced a retrieve that was otherwise of high quality, but in which Laddie happens to have dropped a bird, he accidentally learned that the drop was part of the behavior being rewarded. That theory is consistent with the fact that the problem is worsening, though other theories might also apply. Alice suggested, for example, that Laddie may have an internal need to freelance, and since he's been trained over the last few weeks not to freelance in other ways, dropping the bird could be a new outlet for that need.

In any case, because an incremental approach was successful in addressing the previous issues, I decided to once again work our way thru a graded series of retrieves, in this case focused on eliminating the dropping behavior. So in the interval between the last two group series, I used what I'm calling Series E to start that graded series. With Lumi sitting this series out in the van, I enlisted Carole's help as a thrower, gave her a pistol along with two ducks and a pheasant, and placed a lining pole as a starting line on a slight rise in an isolated field at the property with thick, mid-length, unmowed grass.

We ran two sequences: 20-20-20 yards, with Carole moving along an arc around our SL as she threw, and 40-80 yards, with Carole moving diagonally back. The last throw was from a mound. In all cases the throw was invisible on the ground until Laddie was right on top of it.

For each sequence, I held a clippie in my hand while sending Laddie to all the marks, and at the end of each sequence, I put the clippied down and let Laddie retrieve it, then chase me a bit before I took delivery. After the second sequence, I added a new element to the reward. I asked Carole, whom both my dogs know well and adore, to come toward us while Laddie had the clippie, and then I ran around her, saying "Show Carole your birdie," before we ran back to the carrier. Laddie seemed to delight in holding the bird up for Carole to see, yet did not go out of control, staying with me and bringing the bird right to me when we arrived at the carrier.

Laddie's performance on Series E was gratifying. He pinned every mark, picked up every bird instantly, flew back to me with them on a perfectly straight line without hesitation (and of course without any drops), and delivered every bird with a firm hold.

Laddie didn't have any drops in Series E, but if he had, I would have gone to him and picked up the bird, denying him the opportunity to complete the retrieve. It is my hope that that action on my part, in combination with the availability of the clippie as a reward, in the context of a gradually lengthening sequence of retrieves in difficult terrain, will enable Laddie to develop the appropriate reinforcement history for retrieving without dropping the bird. It is my hope that Laddie's breeding as a retriever, and the resulting self-reinforcing quality of a correct retrieve, will also work in our favor.

Series F. Most of the trainers went home after Series D, but a few stayed to set up and run a group water series. This was the set-up:

1. 50-yard mark down a channel from the SL
   
2. 20-yard mark across a stick pond to an island covered with reeds
3. 40-yard lind obscured by dead tree trunks in the water, small points of land, reeds, decoys, and trees

I saw no modification to this series that was suitable for Laddie, so he waited in the van while I ran Lumi and then took over one of the stations to throw for the other trainers.

On #1, Lumi ran the bank both ways but had a good pick-up. She had no problem with #2. On #3, she was responsive to WSs in the water, but became unresponsive on land, eventually far over-running the blind. The other trainers seem to believe that once the dog starts a blind, it's essential that she finish it, so I kept working with Lumi to complete #3. But my honest feeling was that it was not good dog training, because she could not be learning a good lesson when I would blow a WS and she'd ignore it. My strong preference after one or two slipped whistles would have been to walk out to her, slip on her lead, and walk her back to the van. She might or might not learn something from that outcome to her slipped whistles, but at least she would not have continued rehearsing incorrect responses.

Holding Focus on Multiples

Although I usually don't record it in these blog entries, I often work with one or both dogs in the evening on various skills. For example, for the last several evenings, I've placed the dogs' dinner (raw buffalo mix) in bowls and taken them, one at a time, into the living room to work on keeping their focus on each mark of a multiple.

The drill I've been using with each dog is as follows:

1. With dog at heel, I show her an article (typically, a plush toy) and say "sit, mark". Then I throw the toy into the adjoining room.
2. If the dog looks away from the article before I move, I say "nope" and retrieve the article myself.
3. If the dog holds her focus for several seconds, I turn to one side or the other and show her a second article, which I then throw at a 45° angle to the first article.
4. Again, if the dog looks away from the second article, I say "nope" and retrieve both articles.
5. Finally, I turn to the other side, show the dog a third article, and throw it at a 45° angle to the first article on the other side.
6. I send the dog to retrieve all three articles in the reverse order that I threw them.
7. When the dog has delivered the last article, I feed her a portion of her dinner.
   

That sequence is repeated 2-4 times, depending on factors such as how much other work the dogs have had that day. I alternate sides for both sending and delivering, so that the dog learns both a push and a pull turn.

Although my waiting dog is in the office and so is not present as a distraction to the working dog, other dogs in the household, as well as other people, are often moving around as we're working, so the dogs are also gaining experience keeping their focus in the presence of distractions.

Retrieve Shaping, Shore Training

This morning, we drove to Cheltenham for a brief session of retrieve shaping and then continuation of building our shore training toolkit. Summary:

• Series A. Retrieve shaping (both dogs)
• Series B. Continuation of my shore training plan step (2), Here-LTW-W (both dogs)

Series A. Once the dogs had had a few minutes to air, I threw a poorman single and double for each dog, using a pheasant for the single and one of the birds of the double, a duck for the other bird. I also used a gunshot with each throw.

For Lumi, I used food and play as extrinsic reinforcers. For Laddie, I used those as well as the opportunity, at the end of the session, to retrieve a wing-clipped pigeon (clippie), which I brought to the SL in a carrier.

My objectives are pretty broad for our retrieve shaping sessions, which I plan to conduct every morning for the foreseeable future. Initially, I want to build distance for silent handling. As we progress, I'll just watch for any problems in the dogs' retrieve form and try to fix them as they arise.

Series B. Our primary reason for going to Cheltenham this morning was for access to technical ponds. For today's work on Here-LTW-W, I chose a channel with a narrow, 7-yard neck (for Laddie) that opened into a wide, 20-yard pond crossing (for Lumi, and also for Laddie at the end). Clusters of reeds fringed both shores, and duck decoys dotted the surface. No opportunity for cheating around the water was visible.

To practice, I worked with each dog alternately while the other waited in the van. We did a total of three sets with each dog, 2-6 retrieves per set.

LUMI

For Lumi, I only sent her across the wide area, and rewarded retrieves with happy throws on land and in the water, short games of tug, and bites of food.

Since Lumi has been retrieving across water for some months, today's work was primarily practice for her. One thing we did work on is that she sometimes picks up the article, takes a step, drops it, shakes, and then picks it up again. I don't want her putting down the article once she's picked it up. Today, I called "shake" as soon as she got out of the water on the far side, then "here" as soon as she picked up the article. That worked, and if we keep practicing that way, Lumi may develop a habit of shaking off before she picks up.

LADDIE

For Laddie, the first two sets were at the narrow neck, and that's where we started the third set. I sent him sometimes partially across, sometimes to the shoreline, and sometimes all the way across. When Laddie did well on his last land-water-land retrieve at the neck, I brought him over to the wide area and threw a dummy onto the far shore with a 20-yard swim, the same area where Lumi and I had been working.

Laddie did not beach, though he did "cheat": He picked up the dummy and instead of taking a straight route to me, he ran diagonally over to the neck of the pond, swam across there, then ran diagonally over to me. I chalked up that incorrect route to my own mistake for trying Laddie on that configuration prematurely, and reinforced that retrieve, which in terms of not beaching represented remarkable progress for Laddie, just as enthusiastically as the others.

For our next session, we'll find a channel that's wider across the neck, but that doesn't offer a nearby narrow crossing. When both dogs are fluent with that, we have two more objectives for Here-LTW-W:

• To send the dog repeatedly to a pile on the far shore, with no shopping or other delays in their pick-up and return.
• To stop the dog after the pick-up, then use "here" or a recall whistle to bring the dogs into the water and across.
  

Training with the Clippie. For most of Laddie's retrieves, I rewarded with play and food, but for the last retrieve across the wide section of water, I carried the clippie while throwing, and when Laddie returned with the dummy, I gave him the most playful reward with a clippie we've used yet:

• With Laddie in a sit, I placed the clippie ten yards away, a bit further than we've used in the past.
• I returned to Laddie and sent him, then waited until he'd picked the pigeon up.
• As soon as he started toward me with the bird, I then ran away from him, and together we ran to the carrier, giving Laddie a longer time to carry the clippie than he's had in the past.
• As we arrived, I kneeled down in front of Laddie and he placed the bird in my hands.
• We then returned to the van and Laddie received a treat for crating up.

While Laddie is not cautious with how he bends the clippies' wings when he's picking them up and could no doubt injure one, he seems to be reasonably gentle in how he carries them and has not yet caused an internal injury.