Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

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

SERIES A. Pinch blinds

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

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

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

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

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

SERIES B. Three water singles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Land and Water

Rolling Ridge

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

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

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

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

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

SERIES B. Land blind with poison bird (Lumi)

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

SERIES C. Land blind (Laddie)

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

SERIES D. Shoreline de-cheating (Laddie)

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

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

Interrupted Land Series

West of Zion Park

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

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

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

SERIES A. Interrupted single with blind (Lumi)

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

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

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

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

SERIES B. Interrupted single with double blind (Laddie)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Senior Hunt Test Tune-up

Cheltenham

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blinds

Mt. Ararat Farms

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

LUMI

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

Lumi's water blind

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

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

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

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

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

Lumi's land blind

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

LADDIE

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

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

Laddie's water blinds

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

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

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

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

Laddie's land blind

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

Steadiness training

Mt. Ararat Farms

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

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

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

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

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

SERIES B. Water single (Lumi, Laddie)

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

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

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

Land blinds

Oaks Area 2

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

SERIES A. Triple land blind (Lumi only)

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

SERIES B. Triple land blind (Laddie only)

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

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

Water blinds

Lake Frank

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

SERIES A. Water blind (Laddie only)

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

SERIES B. Water blind (Laddie, Lumi)

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

SERIES C. Water blind (Laddie)

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

Land blinds

Oaks Area 1

SERIES A. Double land blind (Laddie only)

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

Oaks Area 3

SERIES B. Keyhole land blind (Lumi only)

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

SERIES C. Keyhole land blind (Laddie only)

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

Steadiness training and long marks

Mt. Ararat Farms

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

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

SERIES A. Double blind (Laddie only)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SERIES D. Qualifying-style triple (Laddie only)

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

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

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

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

Notes on Laddie's performance

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

Laddie also nailed the second mark on the left.

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

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

Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

Today we only ran one series, consisting of a double blind followed by four singles all thrown by the same thrower, who used a 4-wheeler to move from position to position. We had a lot of dogs that single series pretty much killed the morning.

Lumi seems especially unsound lately so I brought her but didn't run her at all.

A description of the series follows. I didn't walk off the distances, so I've tried to make them conservative. Some or all of the retrieves may have been longer than indicated.

SERIES A. Two blinds, four single marks, all land (Laddie only)

The six retrieves were run left to right.

The first retrieve was a 150-yard blind (OD). The dog had to run diagonally over a mound, thru a field, diagonally across a dirt road, and to the right of a stand of trees.

The second retrieve was a 170-yard blind (OD). The dog had to run across the downslope of the same mound, thru a field, diagonally across the dirt road, and behind the gunner who stood in white coat positioned to throw for the third retrieve.

The third retrieve was a 180-yard mark (duck). The gunner threw left-to-right from the far side of the dirt road but across a 90-degree bend in the road. The dog had to run across a depression in the field and across the dirt road.

The fourth retrieve was a 170-yard mark (duck). The gunner threw right-to-left from in front of the dirt road, arcing the throw over the road. The dog had to run thru the left edge of an area of standing water (or cheat around it on the left), then cross the dirt road.

The fifth retrieve was a 230-yard mark (duck). The gunner threw left-to-right from the edge of a stand of trees.

The sixth and last retrieve was a 280-yard mark (duck). The gunner threw left-to-right from the bank of the large pond, across the dirt road and into an area behind a stand of trees, so that the fall was no visible from the SL.

Notes on Laddie's Performance

• Laddie had excellent lines on every retrieve. For example, he ran over the mound both times on a perfect line in both directions, one of the best if not the best on that particular aspect of the series.
• He handled reasonably well, not slipping any whistles. However, sometimes his responses on WSs are too slow, letting him get too far out of the corridor to the blind. That's something we need to work on, but I didn't take up people's time for a WO in that situation, and his performance was still pretty good, I thought.
• Though he had a good line on the first mark, he hunted short for a few seconds before recovering and racing further out to pick up the bird without help. I asked Charlie (the group leader and in this case also the lone gunner) whether that was because of the depression and the road crossing, and he smiled and said, "That's why we practice that."
• On the second mark, Laddie ran thru the standing water on a perfect line in both directions with no need to handle.
• On the second and third marks, Laddie dropped the bird on the return, 20 yards from the SL, and actually seemed to lose interest in the retrieve. He responded well to me calling "fetch" and resumed his normal over-the-top level of motivation for the next retrieve. I was of course distressed by the behavior and asked Charlie about it later. He said that it was because Laddie was tired and was catching his breath. He knew that if he brought the bird straight back, he'd be sent right out again. By that time he'd run hundreds of yards non-stop. Charlie said Laddie's apparently not used to running so many long marks, especially in heat -- quite true -- and recommended a steady diet of long marks in the days to come as the remedy.
• On the last mark, Laddie ran a gorgeous line straight toward the invisible fall, swerving around the trees with perfect grace. All the dogs had to execute that maneuver -- none cut thru the woods -- but none performed it any better than Laddie had, and several had difficulty finding the bird.
• Unfortunately, after Laddie picked up the bird, he headed for the pond. As soon as I saw him disappear behind the ridge of the embankment, I rushed out and called "No, here". As I made the long sprint to the pond, I saw Laddie emerge after a few seconds, carrying the bird and running to meet me. I walked him back to the original fall, left him there in a sit with the bird at his feet as I walked 100 yards back toward the SL, turned and blew a CIW. He came perfectly, no hint of another detour to the pond. When he reached me, I broke into a run toward the SL and we ran together some distance further. Then I had him sit again, walked alone toward the SL again, turned and called him again, and as he came running I yelled, turned, and ran away from him, inviting a chase back to the SL, where we arrived about the same time. When Charlie and I talked later, Charlie said that the dip in the pond was part of the same issue as the earlier dropped birds, and that Laddie was cooling himself off as well as taking a breather from so many long runs. Charlie felt that the same prescription -- plenty of long marks -- would remedy the pool diversion as well. I hope he's right.

To that end, my plan is to purchase a couple of Bumper Boy Derby Doubles and use them to set up long marks in various venues when we're training alone or with insufficient throwers. One of the other trainers said he may be able to find some used Derby Doubles for me, explaining that people sometimes purchase that model and later want to trade up to quads or larger. Hopefully we'll have them soon.

Land blinds

Olney

Out driving with the dogs today, I noticed a field a few miles from home where we'd never trained before.

Leaving the dogs in the car, I set up a 100-yard blind for Lumi and a double blind for Laddie, 270 yards to the left, 300 yards to the right.

Lumi lined her blind but with such reluctance to set her feet down in the clumpy grass that several times I called "back" just to keep her from stopping entirely.

Laddie handled well on a narrow zig-zag route to the left blind, then lined the longer one on the right.

Land blinds

West of Zion Park

With highs in the low 50s today, I felt it would be counterproductive to swim the dogs. Besides, work left me short of time.

So went to a field and set up a double land blind for each of the dogs.

Lumi's set-up was 80-170 yards. The short blind was thru a tight keyhole, while the long blind converged on the treeline for a section of woods. Lumi required handling on both retrieves but was responsive on every WS and took every cast correctly, though she didn't carry them well on the long blind. Her feet seemed extremely uncomfortable coming back. I wonder if that's an indication that her thyroid Rx needs to be increased. Our holistic vet sent in blood earlier this week, so we should know in another few days.

Laddie's set-up was 80-400 yards. He had the same short blind as Lumi, while the long blind was unusually long even for Laddie. It carried thru several boggy areas of standing water, and between a pair of huge electrical towers.

I always felt that once a dog really understands a keyhole, the keyhole could actually make the retrieve easier by acting as gunsights. Laddie illustrated that idea today, taking a perfect line on both retrieves. He lined the first one, the popped just before a particularly swampy area at 300 yards. I'd rather he hadn't popped, and I'm not sure I should have risked reinforcing it by casting him instead of just staring at him. But I didn't think fast enough and ended up sending him with a straight back cast. He spun around and ran the rest of the way straight to the blind.

Water work, cheaters

Cheltenham

It's starting to cool off from the unseasonably high temps we've been getting lately, but it was still warm enough to run some water retrieves.

Both dogs readily re-entered the water on returns when no obvious opportunity to run the bank was available.

In addition, I ran both dogs on a few "cheating singles", such as channel swims where the line takes the dog close to a bank but the dog is to continue straight and not veer offline.

In Lumi's case, I had her perform difficult entries but with her SL not too far from the water entry. For Laddie, the SLs were 50 to 100 yards from the entry. Both dogs did nicely at the level we were working.

Cheating singles

Cheltenham

Today's temps were again in the 70s. The FT group was training at Cheltenham again, but I needed to do some work at home, so I decided to take care of that first, and then bring the dogs to Cheltenham for some private work.

We worked for about two hours, with Laddie getting the lion's share of the work. Since I'm now confident in his ability to come back across channels without marooning, my focus was on difficult cheating situations, such as running across the corner of a pond when the dog could avoid water with a small veer to one side or the other. Several of the setups involved the requirement to get back in the water with the duck -- that is, they had no opportunity to run the bank on the return -- and Laddie was completely reliable on all of them.

When a bank-running opportunity was available, he sometimes took it, but he also sometimes came straight back across the water without any handling cues from me. In fact, at the end of the day, I sent him on a long retrieve thru an S-curve channel, and once he was safely thru the curve, I turned my back and started walking to the van, thinking that Laddie would probably pick up the burn and run around on the land route to get back to me. But when I glanced over my shoulder a few seconds later, I saw that he was in the water and swimming back thru the S-curve to return. I rushed back toward him and cheered, letting him know how proud I was of that return.

During the session, I gave Lumi a few retrieves over water where no obvious bank running opportunity was available, and she came back across the water without difficulty on all of them. I also gave her one long channel swim with a difficult angle entry and the fall in an area with underwater debris, and she swam it well. In any situation that had a bank-running opportunity, Lumi invariably took it. That's OK. I've decided that as long as she will swim back when necessary, I won't object when she runs the bank if that's available.

Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

With morning temps in the 70s, the weather seems to have gone straight from winter to summer this year, leaving spring out entirely.

For today's session, we ran a single triple, which one of the trainers characterized as an "all-age triple", as opposed to an easier "qualifying triple".

The triple run by advanced dogs was 280-220-170 yards from right to left, with difficult cheating opportunities on the outer marks and a deceptively difficult center mark.

I felt all the marks were too physically arduous for Lumi, and ran her on some water marks in a different part of the property when we had some spare time.

I felt that Laddie would require significant handling for the cheating situations, and even then I might not be able to keep him from running the banks, and if circumstances had been different, that might have been my primary focus.

But I wasn't at all concerned with cheating. Instead, my focus was on Laddie's returns. All three marks required the dog to come back on different lines over the same channel, and if the dog marooned on the far side, the handler would be unable to reach dog without a half-mile drive around the outer edge of the property. In addition, the throwers were all 100 yards or more from the channel, so it would be a major imposition for me to ask one of them to take the bird away from Laddie if he did stall.

In the past, Laddie has often marooned on far easier marks, so it was not easy making the decision to run him on this setup. But after a few of the dogs had run, I decided to run Laddie as well. I had him run the 280-yard on the right as a single, letting the throwers know that I would decide what to do next after I saw how he did on that one.

The single he ran to the right included a swim across the channel and then a run thru wetland with standing water. On the return, Laddie put the bird down to relieve himself 120 yards out, which I was unhappy about because a wounded bird ("cripple") could get away in that situation. When he was finished, I blew CIW and he started toward me without the bird. I called "Fetch" and he raced back, picked up the bird, and brought it across the channel to me.

While the return overall was unsatisfactory, it gave me confidence that Laddie could handle the returns across the channel, so I called for a double on the 220-yard center mark and the 170-yard mark on the left.

Laddie cheated on the difficult channel swim on the second half of the go-bird on the left, but I decided not to break his momentum by handling him. He hesitated slightly on the return across the channel, but quickly responded when I called "Here".

Then he ran the memory bird, which included not only the channel crossing but also a ditch crossing 200 yards out. I was pleased to see that when Laddie picked up that bird, he came back over both the ditch and the channel without hesitation.

Water work

Cheltenham

With daylight savings time in effect, the dogs and I made the hour drive to Cheltenham after work and still had an hour to practice before it got too dark.

I didn't use the long line with Laddie at all, and he had several returns across water that simply looked routine, with no hesitation on water re-entries.

Lumi had two retrieves with a line attached, then several with no line and no difficulty.

Water work

Cheltenham

Although today was a work day, the dogs and I made the drive to Cheltenham so that we could work on returns for water retrieves. It wasn't the most efficient use of time: an hour to drive there, almost two hours to drive back in traffic, and only 45 minutes of actual training time. I couldn't afford to stay away from my home office and work longer than that.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, with air temp of 65° and water temp of 58°.

SERIES A. Water work (Lumi, then Laddie)

Today we moved our water work to a wider channel than the one we've been using. This one is nearly 30 yards wide, my 100' line barely long enough for the exercise.

Instead of a duck, I used a canvas training dummy. Leaving the dog with line attached at the SL, I walked across the foot bridge, threw the dummy with a gunshot, returned to the SL, and sent the dog. Once the dog had picked up the dummy and re-entered the water for the return, I fired the pistol again and threw an OD high in the air and inland behind the SL. As the dog climbed on shore, I took the dummy the dog was carrying, removed the line, and sent the excited dog to pick up the OD. When the dog brought back the OD, we had a rousing game of tug.

Lumi

It was a good thing that Lumi had a line on her, because for some reason such as the extra distance or change of location, she initially stalled after picking up the dummy. She responded instantly when I lightly tugged on the line and we completed the exercise.

We then reran the exercise on a nearby section of the same channel, and this time Lumi didn't stall on the far side. I threw a double for her with two ODs while she was swimming back.

Then I brought her back to the van, running little retrieves and playing tug as we walked, dried her thoroughly, let her into the van, and gave her some bites of string cheese.

Laddie

Laddie showed no hesitation at all on his return after picking up the canvas dummy. In fact, he used a style of looping pick-up so that he was on his way back as he was picking up the article. He ran to the water, jumped in, and immediately began swimming.

I was so encouraged that I decided to run him on another nearby water retrieve that was next to the end of a channel, giving him a temptation to run the bank on his way out or on his return. The distance was also longer than we've been doing lately, too long for my 100' line. It was 35 yards of swimming and another 10 yards from the water to the fall. Although I couldn't use the line, I would have been able to run to Laddie and prevent him from completing the retrieve if he had stalled.

As I expected, that turned out to be unnecessary. Again he grabbed the dummy off the ground while spinning back toward the SL and ran to the water, where he immediately entered and began swimming.

Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

SERIES A. Double land blind (Laddie and Lumi)

This was a double blind set up by one of the group members: 130 yards to the right, 280 yards to the left. As an added diversion, a bird crate with a couple of ducks in it was sitting 50 yards to the right of the line to the longer blind 200 yards out.

I ran Laddie on the set-up first. Then I ran Lumi, but only on the shorter blind to the right.

SERIES B. Triple (Laddie and Lumi)

The set up was a 400-yard mark down the middle, with much shorter marks on either side. Running as the first team, I planned to run Laddie on the long mark as a single, but when I saw that the gunshot was barely audible, the thrower was barely visible, and the throw itself was entirely visible, I decided not to run Laddie on that mark. We then ran the other two marks as a double.

I ran Lumi on the shorter of the two marks as a single.

SERIES C. Triple (Laddie and Lumi)

The set-up was a 230-yard mark down the center, a 180-yard mark slanting uphill on the left, and an 80-yard mark angle back into a cluster of trees on the right, with the line to the mark across a bowl down to the property's big pond. All throws were left to right, which was downhill toward the pond.

I ran Laddie on the set-up as a triple. He did OK on the first two marks, though he had some confusion on the mark on the left when he found a training dummy left behind by someone in the past, then the bird that had been thrown. He picked up the dummy, but dropped it and picked up the bird before returning.

After Laddie returned the second time, I asked the center thrower to wave a little, but my radio was broken and he didn't hear. I should have gotten someone else to call for the waving, but Laddie seemed to be looking the correct direction so I sent him. Unfortunately, he veered down the bowl and into the water and reeds to play instead of staying on line to the mark. I ran toward him and called and he immediately came out of the water and ran to him. I then ran with him 50 yards forward of the SL, this time called back to the other trainers to request that the thrower wave, and sent Laddie, and his retrieve was fine. As he returned, I raced back to the SL, arriving just a few seconds before he caught me.

When it was Lumi's turn, I ran her on the double made up of the two outer marks. She nailed the go-bird, as had Laddie. When I sent Lumi to the memory bird, she became distracted by the center gun and needed help from the thrower on the left to get back on line, but then she did fine.

I had both dogs honor the next dog in both Series B and C.

SERIES D. Water work (Lumi and Laddie)

Series D was a repetition of yesterday's water work, just on a different and slightly wider section of the channel. In this case, I didn't put any tension on the line for either dog, and both dogs immediately got back in the water as soon as they picked up the bird.

I think it's possible that one or both dogs are line wise and that they might not return so readily without the line. But I feel that that does not necessarily mean that they are not gradually learning a good water return that in the future will work just as well without the line. I can imagine a situation where the dogs are aware of the line during the current series of water retrieves, but that over a period of time, they become habituated to the line and don't really pay attention to it. Meanwhile, they're getting into the water of their own volition. Perhaps at this time it's an avoidance behavior so they don't have to feel any tension on the line, but the behavior could gradually become habitual with the dogs gradually forgetting why it is that they're performing the behavior in that particular way.

It's also possible that the dogs are not line wise and even now would be getting back in the water immediately on most occasions. However, other than the inconvenience and psychological barrier (for me) of setting up the line each session, I see no reason to run them on these water retrieves without a line at this time. They'll have occasion to run water retrieves without a line in group work, and even competition, soon enough.

Rolling Ridge

SERIES E. Double land blind (Laddie only)

On the way home, I thought I'd get a little more work in for Laddie, since he still seemed full of energy. I set up a double blind, 160 yards to the right, then 300 yards to the left.

Training with field trial group

Cheltenham

After weeks of snow-covered fields preventing Charlie's field trial group from any meaningful training, this morning we trained. Apparently some of the trainers arrived early and ran blinds, but my dogs and I missed that.

I ran Laddie in the two triples set-ups that the group ran. I felt both were two physically demanding for Lumi, but afterwards, I did additional training with both dogs and included Lumi in some of that.

For both Series A and B, I had Laddie honor the next dog with me holding his tab, which was good because he made a half-hearted attempt to break both times. Laddie was the only dog to honor all day.

SERIES A. Three singles (Laddie only)

One or two of the dogs in the group ran this as a triple, but given our lack of recent training, I felt it best to run this as three singles. That's how most of the dogs ran it.

The first mark was on the right, a dummy thrown left to right along a treeline at 180 yards. The second mark was on the left, a dummy thrown right to left and angled back over a shallow creek at 90 yards. The third mark was in the middle, a flyer thrown right to left across a dirt road at 160 yards.

All three marks were thru low wetland and involved running thru sections of ice-cold, running-depth water.

Notes on Laddie's performance. On the long mark to the left, Laddie took an excellent line but found himself in a valley with a ridge in front of him, blocking his view of the thrower. This apparently confused him and he turned to face me. Unfortunately, I cast him back, realizing too late that I was reinforcing the popping behavior, something I don't want to reinforce. I should have gotten on the radio and asked the thrower to call hey-hey.

Laddie had no difficulty with the short second mark, unlike some of the other dogs who apparently found it a confusing picture.

Laddie nailed the flyer, making it one of the best marks of the day on that bird. Unfortunately, he stalled on the way back when he got to the creek at 100 yards from the SL, dropping the bird and looking at me. I called "here" and, when he didn't come immediately, I started to walk toward him. Then he picked up the bird and came running to me.

SERIES B. Indent land triple (Laddie only)

The first mark was on the right, a dummy thrown right to left along a tree line and slightly in among the trees at 280 yards. The second mark was on the left, a dummy thrown right to left along a different tree line, angled sharply back at 190 yards. The third mark was in the center, a duck thrown right to left, across a road and up a hill at 90 yards.

All three marks were thru hilly terrain with slopes that tended to misdirect the dog. In addition, the mark on the left was thru at 50 yards, so that when the dog got past the conifer on the right, the center station with the ducks suddenly appeared on the dog's right. When taking a direct line to the long mark on the right, the dog went thru a valley losing sight of the thrower, who was poorly visible anyway in the shade of the trees, and then the dog had a line thru a large area of running depth water to the fall.

Later in the day, when I mentioned that I hoped to run Laddie in Qualifying events in the future, the other trainers immediately pointed out that today's marks were much more technical, and longer, than typical qualifying marks.

Notes on Laddie's performance. Laddie nailed the go-bird, the short center mark. He then also nailed the mark on the left thru the keyhole, except that amusingly, he grabbed a dummy from the thrower's pile rather than making it all the way to the actual fall. Since Laddie ran as the first dog, the thrower hadn't realized that the dog would have to go right past his pile to get to the fall, and moved the pile to a more protected location after Laddie. Laddie took an excellent line to the long mark on the right, but when he lost sight of the thrower, he again popped. This time, I didn't help and the thrower called to him. Laddie then did a great job completing the retrieve.

When I later mentioned my concern about his popping, Charlie seemed less concerned about it than I was. He attributed the pops to Laddie's lack of group experience with such long marks, and pointed out that when Laddie popped, it was with at least one other station nearby and in clear view. Apparently Charlie felt it was to Laddie's credit that he knew not to go to the other station, but just wasn't sure what to do instead.

Despite the pop, one of the other trainers, who we've trained with in the past but not recently, commented that Laddie had done a good job. The people in this group do not give compliments lightly, so of course I was pleased.

SERIES C. Wet land double (Lumi only)

I asked for two of the ducks from earlier training and used them for continued work with both dogs, starting with a poorman land double for Lumi.

I positioned Lumi on a mound, then walked to the edge of the running-depth creek and threw the first duck across at 70 yards. I then walked to the right and threw a second duck across a section of shallow water, also at 70 yards. For Lumi, the line to the second bird was thru a diagonal key-hole formed by two trees. I used a pistol when making both throws.

After throwing both birds, I walked back to Lumi and sent her thru the key-hole to the bird on the right, then to the first bird down on the left. She moved slowly thru the water each time, but she maintained momentum and did a nice job on both retrieves.

SERIES D. Single land blind (Laddie only)

I left one of the ducks on the mound from which Lumi had been running, packed up both dogs in the van, and drove around the outer edge of the property and around a section of woods to an area 150 yards from the mound. I then ran Laddie on that as a blind.

SERIES E. Lining practice (both dogs, mostly Laddie)

For this drill, I would leave the dog in a sit, then walk some distance away and throw a duck so that the line to the duck required the dog to take a very sharp angle into water and mud, run a few yards, and come right back out again, a configuration which presented a strong temptation to "cheat" around the water. I set this up with the dog at various distances from the angle entry and with the bird thrown at various distances past the water. The easiest was with the entry and the duck both close to the water, while the hardest was with the slight water crossing in the center of an otherwise relatively long line.

Although I haven't written it up as an entry in this blog, I worked on a similar drill with both dogs yesterday at Oaks Area 2.

SERIES F. Water crossing (Lumi, then Laddie)

Since the outside temperature had risen to 60°, from a morning low of 20°, I felt that no one would object if I gave each dog a little water work away from some of the other trainers who hadn't left yet.

For Series F, I left the dogs in the van and laid out a 100-yard line, getting out the tangles. Then I gave first Lumi, then Laddie, a turn.

I brought the dog to the edge of a swim-depth channel, no doubt ice-cold. I fired a pistol and threw a duck across the channel. I sent the dog and picked up the line to feed it out so that it wouldn't catch on the ground. When the dog reached the bird at the other side, I was prepared to gently draw the dog back toward me if necessary. After the dog re-entered the water and was swimming back, I dropped the line and fired another shot with the pistol, then threw the other duck in the opposite direction, on land. As soon as the dog was ashore, I grabbed the duck the dog was carrying and sent the dog racing happily off to retrieve the second duck.

For Lumi, I didn't give her a chance to see whether she would dawdle on the first retrieve, but immediately began to draw her toward me and into the water as soon as she had bent down to pick up the duck. After she had brought me the second duck, I set everything up again and ran her a second time, this time not putting any tension on the line as she bent to pick up the first duck after swimming the channel. I was pleased to see that she quickly picked the duck up and got back into the water, without any need for me to draw her to me with the line.

For Laddie, I decided to see whether I needed to draw him to me with the line before putting any tension on it. I was pleased to see that he quickly picked the bird up and was back in the water in a flash.

After each dog had completed the series, I dried the dog thoroughly and put the dog in the warm van.

I felt good about this drill. I wish we could have been doing something similar all winter, but this particular winter, with record snowfalls, was just too severe.