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.

Pushing-off-the-gunner Drill

Riggs Road

Because Laddie pushed off the gunner in our previous session, today we just worked on that issue.

SERIES A. Pushing-off-the-gunner Drill (Laddie, then Lumi)

With the dog watching, I placed an LP at the SL, and a stickman (retired gun rack wearing white coveralls) at 50 yards. At 100 yards, I placed an LP and a frozen duck 5 yards to the left of the point directly in line with the stickman, and another LP and frozen duck 5 yards to the right, so that the LPs were 10 yards apart, and the lines from the SL to the ducks passed within a couple of feet of the stickman.

I then ran the dog. First I sent the dog to the last bird placed, then to the first bird placed.

If the dog had attempted to push off the gunner, or run around the gunner on the other side, during the outrun, I'd have called the dog back and repositioned to make the outrun easier, then moved gradually back to the original test. Neither of my dogs did that on this particular day.

But both of the dogs did have difficulty making straight returns past the stickman, so I still ended up following the same sort of strategy. I allowed the dog to complete the first retrieve, but then I put the bird back out in the field for some easier lines and stopped the dog if she veered on her returns. After a few stops and improvements in performance, we gradually worked our way back to running the original lines without difficulty.

Interrupted Reverse Hip-pocket Doubles

Oaks Area 3

For today's work, RLs and weighted streamers pre-positioned frozen ducks for the marks, and ODs for the blinds.

Normally, a stickman (a retired gun rack wearing white overalls) makes marking easier for dogs, compared to having nothing near the RLs, but for hip-pockets and reverse hip-pockets, I believe a stickman near the shorter RL makes it more difficult for the dog to remember the longer fall. Therefore, to make today's series more useful, I placed a stickman near the shorter RL.

SERIES A. Interrupted reverse hip-pocket double (Laddie, then Lumi)

The first throw was on the right, right to left at 120 yards. The second throw was on the left, right to left at 50 yards. The thrower for the second throw was only a little to the left of the line to the first fall. In two dimensions, it would appear that the first thrower was throwing to a location just off the heels of the second thrower, though of course the bird landed 70 yards further out. When the long throw gives the illusion of nearly reaching the second thrower, that's called an "off-the-heels double", or a "reverse hip-pocket". (In a normal hip-pocket, the short throw gives the illusion of nearly reaching the first thrower.)

After both throws were down, the dog ran a 120-yard blind on a line to the left of the second throw. Then the dog picked up the second throw, and finally the first throw. When the dog is required to run a blind after the birds are thrown, but before they're picked up, that's called an "interrupted" series. It's an advanced skill, and the dog frequently has much greater difficulty handling on such blinds, if she can do it at all.

SERIES B. Interrupted reverse hip-pocket double (Laddie only)

Series B used the same SL, but was run in a different direction, and was a mirror image of Series A.

Notes on Performance

Lumi did well on Series A, so I rested her and didn't run her on Series B.

Laddie didn't have a fair test on Series A, because the first streamer didn't fire, so I had to handle him. He ran the difficult blind reasonably well.

On Series B, Laddie again ran the blind well, and this time ran immediately to each bird, but he veered away from the stickman and toward the RL on the long mark, then veered back on line once he was past the stickman. This is called "pushing off the gunner". It's a fault in competition and we'll need to work on it.

In retrospect, I think I should have stopped him with a WS and handled him back to the correct line. That's what we'll do when we train for this issue.

Convergent Marks

Cheltenham

Today, Lumi and Laddie again ran with Charlie and Milly's Field Trial group, made up today of ten dogs, though some did not run every series.

We ran three series on three different setups, but all based on the same "picture", or concept. Each series was a convergent land double arranged as follows:

First, the memory-bird was thrown toward the center at a distance of 200-300 yards. The line to this bird in each case included a descent into a marshy area, traversal thru unusually thick cover, and in most cases an additional traversal of standing water later on. In every series, the dog was out of the handler's sight, hidden below a ridge line or by cover, for part of the time. The second bird was also thrown toward center. The second bird, the go-bird, was angled back and thrown onto a higher elevation from the thrower (in one case onto a mound), at a distance of 70-90 yards, except for the third series, when the throw was "flat" and on the same elevation as the thrower.

LADDIE

In each case, I ran Laddie on the double, that is, the same series that most of the other dogs ran, though a few of the trainers had the long gun retire on one or more series, and I didn't do that with Laddie. On the first series, Laddie cheated around a patch of thick cover, and I (stupidly) didn't realize he was actually supposed to go thru it until I saw a later dog run. When the other dogs were done, I had him run the long mark again as a single, but first I moved up closer to the patch of cover, and this time he ran straight thru it.

On the second series, I got on the radio beforehand and asked Charlie whether he thought I should move up again, or stop Laddie with a whistle and handle him if he started to cheat. Charlie said it was unlikely Laddie would be able to see the throw if I moved up, and that handling him would be better in any case, so that's what I did. Laddie did in fact start to cheat around the tough terrain on the second series, stopped on a dime when I whistled, took a nice angle-in cast, and responded perfectly on "back", running the rest of the difficult mark beautifully. One of the other handler commented on what a great marker he is.

On the third series, Laddie made no effort to cheat, but at 200 yards on the way up an embankment, he turned around and sat, apparently waiting for a cast. Charlie, who was again throwing the long mark, immediately called "hey-hey-hey" and Laddie completed the retrieve. Later I told Charlie I was glad he'd done that because I didn't feel it would have been appropriate to reinforce Laddie's pop by interacting with him, and Charlie said he knew that and that's why he'd done it. I asked Charlie why he thought Laddie might have popped and Charlie said he thought that Laddie might have heard a whistle from the other training group that was training on a different part of the property.

I was a bit worried when I saw the third series included a short water crossing thru an ice-cold channel, where I feared Laddie might stall on the return, but he didn't hesitate in either direction.

LUMI

For the first two series, I had Lumi run only the shorter mark as a single. For the third series, I asked another trainer to go out and throw a converging mark at 50 yards so that Lumi could run that one and the 80-yard mark from the Field Trial set-up as a double. Lumi nailed all her marks today and ran with great enthusiasm.

All of the marks were run with training dummies today.

A NOTE ON DELIVERY

Because of my current focus on the dogs' returns, especially water returns, I have gotten into the habit of taking the dog's article as soon as the dog arrives back at the start line, rather than having the dog come to heel and then cueing "out". I have the dog come to heel before taking the article only about 25% of the time now. Taking the article quickly seems to be more exciting for the dog, since it doesn't require the dog to execute the disciplined hold-heel-sit-out maneuver. Since I know both my dogs can do that, I don't feel we need to practice it, and I'm more interested in building motivation.

However, I hadn't thought about what it must look like to the other trainers. After today's session, we retired to Tony's place for sandwiches, and during the conversation at one point Charlie asked me, "What is that you're doing at the line?" At first I didn't know what he meant. He said that I seemed to be taking the bird as soon as the dog got to me.

I said, "Yeah, that seems to be more fun for the dogs than heeling them first."

Charlie didn't say he had a problem with it, but he had a thoughtful look on his face. He's a quiet guy and extremely nice. I can't even guess what he was thinking!

Land Retrieves

Mt. Ararat Farm

Today, Lumi and Laddie trained with three of Gaby's dogs, but only two per series. Gaby's three dogs are a yellow Lab named Buster, a Chessie named Gus, and a nine-year-old black Lab she just adopted named Zap. Buster and Gus have their JH and each is training for a first Senior ribbon. Zap is highly accomplished Field Trial dog with an FC that Gaby hopes to run in Master Hunt Tests when winter is over.

SERIES A. Triple

The first throw was in the center, thrown right to left at 70 yards. The second thrown was on the right, thrown left to right at 40 yards. The third throw was on the left, thrown left to right at 50 yards on a sharp angle back.

Series A was an easy, confidence-building drill. The primary beneficiaries were intended to be Gus, who was learning that if he runs straight to where he thinks he saw the bird fall, it will be there, and Zap, who was learning that sometimes a triple has no long (FT-style) marks.

SERIES B. Double blind, one with poison bird

First the thrower got in position at 40 yards in front of the dog, The thrower held a frozen duck and was equipped with duck call and pistol. Then the dog was brought to the SL and run on the first blind, 90 yards on the left of the thrower, diagonally across a road, and with a diagonal entry into a corn field. Next, the thrower threw the duck left to right at 40 yards. Next, the dog was expected to ignore the thrown bird (making it a "poison bird") and run a blind on a line to the right of the fall at 240 yard. The blind was at the seam between the meadow we were training on and a corn field, which, if the dog squared, would cause the dog to turn left toward the poison bird. After the dog ran the second blind, the dog was to be sent to pick up the poison bird.

Not one of the dogs was able to run the second blind; every one of them managed to pick up the poison bird without the handler being able to prevent it. I guess that test was a bit too difficult.

SERIES C. Blind with poison bird

Before we ran Series C, Gaby brought Zap back home and got Buster instead. Gus ran all three series.

For Series C, the thrower stood 40 yards from the SL and quietly threw a bird a few feet right to left. After letting the dog watch that throw, the handler turned the dog 90 ° to the right and ran the dog on a 120-yard blind up a hill. Then the handler sent the dog to pick up the poison bird on the left.

All of the dogs were able to run this series successfully.

Land Work

Mt. Ararat Farm

Today, Gaby and I trained our dogs together at her farm. Gaby worked Gus and Zap, while I worked Lumi and Laddie. The weather was sunny with temps in the 40s, a pleasant winter day.

We didn't have any birds so we used training dummies for the entire session.

SERIES A. Delayed, interrupted land triple with double blind (Zap, Gus, Laddie, Lumi)

Series A was run in a similar form by all four dogs. I'll describe it the way Lumi and Laddie ran it first, then describe the modified version that Zap and Gus ran.

When the dog came to the SL, the dog was given an opportunity to settle down and locate the three throwers. Then the dog was lined up and sent on a 90-yard blind that ran a few feet to the left of the middle thrower. Next the throwers threw the triple, as follows: First, the thrower on the right threw right to left at 130 yards. Then the thrower in the center threw a converging mark left to right at 70 yards. Finally, the thrower on the left threw left to right at 40 yards. After all three marks were down, the dog was run on a 160-yard blind to the right of (behind) the rightmost thrower, over a ridge and across a bowl-shaped depression, with the blind almost at the top of the far embankment. The dog was then sent to pick up the three marks, though not in exact reverse order. Instead, the dog was sent to the 40-yard mark on the left first, then the 130-yard mark on the right, and finally the 70-yard mark in the center.

Zap and Gus ran almost the same series, but they picked up their three marks immediately after they were thrown, and before running the second blind.

SERIES B. Land blind (Zap, Gus, Laddie, Lumi)

This was a 110-yard blind into a wooded area and thru a narrow keyhole formed by two trees.

SERIES C. Land blind (Zap, Laddie)

This was a 240-yard blind thru a narrow keyhole formed by two trees and into a corn patch. Because of the distance, Gaby and I decided not to run Gus or Lumi, neither of whom are expected ever to run Field Trials. Zap already has his Field Championship (FC), so even at 9 years old, this seemed a pretty routine blind for him. As for 2-year-old Laddie, I hope to run him in Field Trials some day, so I continue train him accordingly, even though our immediate goal is to complete his Senior Hunter and then to begin competing in Master Hunt Tests.

Training with Field Trial Group

Cheltenham

Lumi, Laddie, and I trained with Charlie's group again today. We only had three other dogs, and the ponds and channels were frozen, so we were all able to run two land series, at two locations on the property, quite quickly.

All retrieves were with training dummies, and all blinds were marked with LPs.

SERIES A. Delayed, interrupted, converging land double with three blinds

Laddie, running as #2 dog, ran the same series as Charlie & Milly's three dogs, while Lumi, running as #4 dog, ran a shortened version.

The full version was as follows. (Note that I did not measure the distances, nor make a note of my estimates at that time, and my estimates as I write this from memory may be inaccurate.)

When we first came to the SL, the dog ran a blind to the far left at 90 yards. Then the converging double was thrown: The first throw was on the right, right to left and angled back with the fall at 150 yards. The second throw was on the left, inside the first blind, thrown left to right into high cover and a depression at 110 yards. After both throws, the dog ran a blind to the far right at 80 yards, then picked up both marks, the shorter mark on the left first. Finally, the dog ran a blind at 180 yards under the arc of the left mark.

Lumi's version used the same stations, but we moved up for the first blind, then moved sideways for the double and the second blind, and Lumi did not run the long blind.

SERIES B. Delayed land double with three blinds

Laddie, again running as #2 dog, again ran the same series as the other dogs, while Lumi again ran a shortened version.

The full version (note again that I'm not confident in my distance estimates):

When we first came to the line, the dog ran a 190-yard blind down the center of the course. Next came a double thrown in an unusual sequence, short/long: The first throw was on the left, thrown right to left at 40 yards. The second throw was on the right, thrown right to left at 130 yards. The dog was sent to the long mark first, then to the unusually short mark. After the dog picked up both marks, the dog ran a blind at 110 yards under the arc of the left mark. Finally, the dog ran a blind at 150 yards under the arc of the right mark.

The line to the first blind in the center was supposed to go over a ridge, which is how Laddie ran it. Some of the other dogs veered right into a swale, then veered back to the left after getting past the ridge. The line to the second blind, besides being under the arc of the short mark's throw, had as a second diversion an LP with a ribbon tied to it 10 yards to the left of the blind. I was able to keep Laddie from going to that LP first, but some of the other dogs went to that LP first, then had to be cast to the right to the blind. The line to the third blind, besides being under the arc of the longer mark's throw, was past a mulch mound and thru a stand of trees. Laddie ended up running on the wrong side of the thrower and the mulch mound, and had to be cast to the left to the blind.

NOTES ON PERFORMANCE

Laddie's had excellent accuracy on all his marks, except that he needed to hunt on the short mark in the depression in the first series, as did most or all of the other dogs. I felt he handled well on all blinds, though it may not have been to Master Hunt Test or Field Trial standards, I'm not sure about that. He ran with his usual stylish exuberance.

Laddie's greatest weakness at this time seems to be his returns, and on the last retrieve of Series A, he diverted toward the frozen pond whose shoreline runs parallel with that retrieve on his return. He has done the same thing on that field, once in a Super Singles competition resulting in his being disqualified, and once, with the retrieve in the opposite direction, during group training, resulting in great annoyance to the other members of the group.

Lumi seemed uncomfortable the entire day. It could have been her hips, her wrist, or her back. In addition, it could also have been her feet, which at times seem to be more sensitive to ground surface than other retrievers. Though she ran three of the marks with excellent accuracy, she needed help on the short mark in the depression in Series A.

I was pleased to see that neither dog had any difficulty running a blind either before the doubles had been thrown, nor after the doubles had been thrown but before they'd been picked up. They also both had good memory for all marks despite the complexity of the sequences, with the exception of the short mark in Series A, which four of the five dogs need a hunt for.

Practice with Field Trial Group

Cheltenham

After a hiatus of several months, the dogs and I once again trained with Charlie and Milly, the owners of the property where we often train in Cheltenham, MD. Besides Charlie and Milly, some other trainers we've trained with in the past were also there.

Before the others arrived, I ran each dog on a triple blind, 90-140-190 yards. Laddie had an easy time with all of them. Lumi did well on the first two but went OOC on the long one, apparently becoming distracted by the nearby icy water and a decoy, or perhaps a live bird. By that time others had begun to arrive, so I walked halfway out and handled Lumi from that distance to the blind.

With temps in the high teens and gusty wind, and with ice covering most of the ponds and channels, water training was out of the question, so the group ran two land series, each with a duck flyer in the center and two longer retrieves with previously shot ducks to either side. Both of the set-ups were tight, and keeping the dogs attention on the throws to the flanks, with the flyer station in the center, proved to be a challenge for most of the teams. I was the only person who honored his dogs, and I did so with the dogs on lead just in case, though neither came close to breaking while honoring.

I think we had a total of nine dogs. One trainer had both of his dogs run the first series as a triple, and ran his younger dog on the second series as a triple while resting his older dog. Aside from that, every other dog ran both series as singles with one other exception: for the second series, I had Laddie run a double with the flyer and the shorter station, then a single with the long bird, and I had Lumi run just the double to preserve her soundness.

Another modification I made was to move up our SL on all the retrieves except the flyer on the first series. The retrieves were still long by HT standards, and Laddie's long single was still over 200 yards.

But my focus was not primarily on challenging Lumi and Laddie. My main concern was that my dogs would make high quality pick-ups and returns, and I felt the original SLs made that somewhat riskier.

As it turned out, Laddie's pickups were all excellent and the only problem with his returns was his stopping to mark. Lumi was slow on picking up the two flyers, spending some alone time with them first, but her pickups on the dead birds were fine and all her returns were solid, if slower in the second series than the first.

I was pleased with our return to training with the group.

Pickup Distraction-proofing

Mt. Ararat

Before starting our training session today, Gaby and I reviewed a TO DO list we'd made up a few weeks ago of what we wanted to work on this winter. Given the limited time and frigid conditions, we decided to work on distraction-proofing the pickup for our four dogs.

Gaby ran all four dogs, while I did all the throwing.

This describes the drill we ran each dog on:

1. I call hey-hey and throw a frozen duck at 50 yards.
2. I walk the opposite direction 30 yards.
3. Gaby sends the dog.
4. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw a WD 10-yards in the direction of the dog, so that it lands about 20 yards from the dog.
   
5. If the dog drops the bird and heads for the WD, I run to the WD and say "no, go get your bird". Gaby calls the dog to heel and we run the mark again.
6. If the dog is successful on the first retrieve, I walk 20 yards toward my first throwing position, call hey-hey, and throw another frozen duck.
7. I return to the same position I threw the first WD and Gaby sends the dog.
8. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw the WD as before, so that this time it lands about 10 yards from the dog.
9. Again, the dog is not permitted to pick up the dummy.
10. Once the dog is successful on the second retrieve, I walk 10 yards toward my first throwing position, call hey-hey, and throw a frozen chukar.
11. I return to the same position I threw the first and second WDs and Gaby sends the dog.
12. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw the WD as before, so that this time it lands close to the dog.
13. Again, if the dog drops the bird and attempts to pick up the WD, I call "no, get your bird," and when the dog gets back to Gaby, we re-run the mark.

Gaby's first dog, a Lab named Buster, did great on the first two retrieves, but tried to get the WD on the third retrieve. He had no difficulty on the re-try.

Gaby's second dog, a Chessie named Gus, had difficulty with all three retrieves, so I used more distance for him and he didn't have to deal with one WD thrown right next to him.

Lumi did exactly the same as Buster.

Laddie had no difficulty with any of the retrieves, barely even glancing at the WD even when it landed right next to him.

In the few minutes before I had to leave, we used a new location and ran Gus on the same drill again, this time throwing in the opposite direction. He had made improvement during the first series, and continued to make improvement in the second one.

Interrupted Triple with Wiper

Oaks Area 2

After a major snowstorm a few days ago, the ground has been too treacherous for training. But a couple of days of rain, followed by a beautiful, sunny, and relatively warm day today, gave the dogs and me an opportunity to get out for some training day.

Today's series was almost a mirror image of the last triple we ran, though today with only one blind.

SERIES A. Interrupted land triple (Laddie, then Lumi)

While the dogs waited in the van, I placed an LP as our SL and planted two ODs as a blind. I brought Laddie out to run the series first, then put him in his crate and ran Lumi. That used up the time we had available. Here's how I ran each dog.

With the dog waiting at the SL, I walked 100 yards to the left of the line to the blind and threw a frozen duck left to right. I walked across the line to the blind, over to the right side, and threw a second frozen duck left to right at 90 yards into an area of widely spaced trees, the bird landing in a shallow pool of standing water five yards behind a tree. I walked across the line to the blind again, back to the left side, and threw a frozen chukar left to right at 50 yards, so that the line to the first mark was under the arc of the third throw. For all throws, I blew a duck call and fired a pistol. After throwing all three marks, I returned to the SL to run the dog.

First, I ran the dog on the blind, between the first and third marks on the left and the second mark on the right. The blind was an OD at 190 yards, thru a break in the treeline and up a hill. Next, I sent the dog to the go-bird, the 50-yard mark on the left. Then, to the second mark, the 90-yard mark on the right. Finally, to the first mark that was thrown, the 100-yard mark on the left.

Both dogs handled well on the blind, apparently comfortable with the idea of running blind before picking up the marks. Laddie's casts were more accurate, but both dogs were responsive on all WSs and stayed within a fairly narrow channel. Both dogs also picked up all three birds without difficulty, though Laddie's routes were straight to each fall, while Lumi bowed left on the two longer marks, as though she were running toward where she remembered me throwing from and then veering right when she got close. Another explanation is that she might have been avoiding some of the large areas of standing water.

Both dogs showed great enthusiasm on their outruns, and Laddie also raced back on every retrieve. Lumi's returns were more leisurely for some reason; one possibility is that she may be having some discomfort in her hips and wrist from the cold.

A Tight Triple

Oaks Area 3

As the winter solstice approaches and every day is shorter, today we arrived at our field with the sun already disappearing behind the horizon. I rushed out and planted an LP as our SL, planned a series I'd been thinking about, planted two blinds for each dog, got Laddie out of the van, ran him on the series (he did great, though my poor planning resulted in one out-of-sequence event), put him in his crate to avoid van-destruction, got Lumi out of the van, ran her on the series (she ran with nice enthusiasm and control, but her marking wasn't quite as good as she's capable of), let Laddie out so the two of them could play while I put all the gear away, and finally we packed up and headed home.

It was a compact session and a compact course. Here's a description.

SERIES A. Interrupted poorman triple with wiper and two blinds (Laddie, then Lumi)

First I walked out and threw the rightmost mark, a frozen duck right to left at 110 yards. Next I crossed toward the left and threw the leftmost mark, a frozen duck thrown from in front of a tree right to left at a 100 yards, with the fall on the far side of a low crest traversing the left side of the field. Then I crossed back and from beside another tree that was to the right of line to the first mark, threw the center mark, a frozen chukar thrown right to left at 60 yards, in an arc over the line to the first mark so that it landed on the left of the line to the first mark. Such a throw is called a wiper bird perhaps because the throw resembles a windshield wiper, perhaps because the mark tends to wipe out the dog's memory of the earlier, longer mark in the same general direction.

After throwing the three marks, I returned to the dog, who had been watching at the SL, and ran the dog on all five retrieves in the following order:

1. The first blind, an OD at a 100 yards on a line between the second and third marks, sitting atop the low crest mentioned earlier, and just to the left of a hedgerow.
2. The go-bird, that is, the last bird down at 60 yards in the center.
3. The shorter memory-bird, that is, the bird on the left at 100 yards on the far side of the low crest.
4. The second blind, an OD at 160 yards on a line over the same low crest, a little to the left of the left mark, 15 yards past a stand of trees on the right and in front of the line of trees that separates this field from Oaks Area 2. Running this blind also required the dog to run across a hill sloping downward from left to right most of the way to the blind.
5. The longer memory bird, that is, the first mark on the right at 110 yards.

CHALLENGES

Here are some of the challenges intended by this series, in intended order of difficulty, most difficult first:

• The first mark at 110 yards was intended to be difficult to remember. It was in an open area with no nearby visual markers, it was retrieved after two other throws and four other retrieves, and a wiper bird was thrown over its arc as the go-bird. However, neither dog seemed to have any trouble with this supposed challenge, both dogs running straight to the fall when finally sent.
• The first blind at 100 yards, run before the go-bird and on a line between the go-bird and the shorter memory-bird, was intended to be difficult to control the dog on. This challenge worked better than I intended, as Laddie raced in the correct direction when sent but at the last moment veered off to the memory-bird on the left, getting to it before I could stop him with a WS. I don't try to discourage my dogs once the dog has gotten to a bird, even if it's not the bird I intended, so I cheerfully blew a CIW, and when he delivered that bird, then I ran him on the first blind. At least I was able to keep him to the left of the go-bird, which he had to run past on both the first two retrieves.
  
• The 160-yard blind was also intended to be somewhat difficult. All three marks, two of which had already been picked up, were to the right, one of them on a particularly tight angle. The blind involved running across a downslope and crossing over the low crest, and it risked losing the dog behind the stand of trees at 145 yards, especially because the earlier blind was planted right next to a similar formation. However, neither dog had any difficulty with this blind.
• I intended that the dog would have some difficulty remembering the left memory-bird at 100 yards, which was to be run after two other retrieves and was on the far side of the low crest. Laddie had no difficulty with this mark (he picked it up when I was trying to run him on the first blind), and Lumi seemed by her demeanor to remember it. But she overran it and I took the opportunity to switch her to handling and practice an angle-in cast to bring her back in.
• Any mark can be a problem, and I thought it possible that the dogs might have a little trouble with the go-bird in the center at 60 yards, since the dog had first run the blind on a line slightly to the left of the go-bird, and in Laddie's case he had also run the left mark at 100 yards. But both dogs easily pinned the go-bird when sent to it.
• Because these were poorman marks, they were all in effect retired guns. My dogs have often retrieved under those conditions, however, and didn't seem to have a problem with it in this series.
  
• All five retrieves were within a 75° angle, a tight course that could have caused some confusion of the different lines but didn't seem to.
  
• The SL was in the midst of a dozen or so widely-spaced trees, so every line had additional distractions on both sides as the dog started each send-out.

Water Return in Cold Water

Cheltenham

With time extremely tight, all we had time for was to drive to Cheltenham, run our water drill, and drive back. I had hoped to get in some land work locally, but work interfered and now its too dark.

So here's a description of today's water return drill. Per Alice Woodyard's suggestion from her original description of a drill along these lines, I ran Lumi first, while Laddie waited in the warm and running van, specifically in his crate where he could bark like crazy but not tear up any more roofing or chew thru any more seatbelts. When I'd let Lumi back into the van after her turn, I ran Laddie on the same series.

LUMI

The steps we followed:

1. I put Lumi in sit/stay at SL near water's edge with 100' line attached to collar.
2. I walk across road in opposite direction from water, fire pistol, throw a frozen duck into field.
3. I walk to Lumi, use hand cues to turn her around to face water, fire pistol, throw frozen chukar across 10- yard channel.
4. I carefully observe Lumi. Is she showing reluctance to get in water? Not at all, she is her usual self at the line after bird has been thrown, hardly able to contain herself. She is coiled and ready to go.
5. I send Lumi. She gets right into water, swims across, picks up bird.
6. I do not need to use line to bring her back. As soon as she picks up the bird, she gets back into the water and swims back.
   
7. As soon as she starts to swim back, I fire pistol a third time.
   
8. When Lumi arrives, I take chukar and give her a large chunk of fried chicken liver. She gobbles that down, while bouncing around looking toward the duck I threw earlier.
9. I call "Lumi". She races to the duck and races back with it.
   
10. I throw the duck maybe three more times for her, not requiring her to sit before throwing, just happy throws.
11. I dry her thoroughly with a dry towel, let her into the warm, running van, and give her a little cheese as her usual reinforcement for hopping in the van.
    

LADDIE

The description for Laddie is identical to the description above for Lumi with one exception:

The throw across the pond was right next to a wooden footbridge. I haven't used the long line with Laddie before on this drill, but because he dawdled a little on his return last time we ran this, I decided to use the long line today.

When Laddie got to the other side and picked up the bird, I wasn't fast enough taking up the slack and he ran the two yards to the footbridge and came across that way.

So I put him back in a sit, fired the pistol again, threw the bird again, and sent him again. This time, the moment he picked up the bird, I took up the slack on the line. As soon as he pulled against it and realized he couldn't go any direction but back toward me, he got right into the water again and swam back.

BOTH DOGS

I recognize that retriever trainers in general are adamently opposed to training in cold water. I understand that Mike Lardy has a water thermometer and won't train in water if it reads below 56°. I got myself a water thermometer, too, and had planned to follow that same policy.

But Alice's suggestions a few days ago reminded me of some things. First, my own dogs often swim spontaneously in ice cold water. Just a couple of days ago, when I let the dogs out to air when we first arrived at Cheltenham, Laddie jumped in the stickpond and swam across to the little island. He explored for a few moments and then swam back. I had nothing to do with it. Similarly, Lumi used to go swimming at Black Hill when we'd go for a hike along the lake there. I remember one time that her leg cramped up when she came out. I rubbed it and helped her warm up, and soon her leg relaxed and she could walk normally again. Then she jumped back in the water to swim some more.

Secondly, this isn't just my own dogs. As I understand it, hunting dogs often swim in water so cold that they break ice. Competition dogs sometimes encounter events with icy cold water, including the event we attended in South Carolina a few days ago. I'm not aware of anyone saying that hunting or competing in ice cold water makes dogs dislike swimming.

I understand that my dogs would rather not enter water on their returns if the alternatives including eating the duck or running a bank. But I don't think that necessarily means that if I take those alternatives away by using a long line, and their only choices are to get back in the water with the duck or get back in the water without the duck, that that means they're going to learn to hate water. They may just decide that it's more fun to get back in the water with the duck and stop considering any other alternative. That's certainly what I hope and expect to happen.

Considering that we've run this drill on three icy days so far, and they are as enthusiastic as ever when I line them up for their water retrieve, I honestly feel that Alice's advice was right on the money.

Switch to Handling Mode, Carrying Casts

Oaks Area 3

With darkness falling around 4:30 PM and my work preventing me from getting out during the day today, I thought we'd work on a short course with a reasonably difficult job for the dog: when running a mark, to switch instantly to handling mode and carry a cast in a completely different direction.

We ran two series, mirror images of one another. In each case, the sequence was as follows:

1. With dogs in the van, I planted two frozen ducks at the blind location, 100 yards from SL.
2. I brought dog to SL and left dog there.
3. I walked out, threw a poorman mark with a frozen chukar to about 50 yards. Threw it high so dog could see it against the sky in the twilight.
4. Walked back to SL. Dog was focused on chukar. With whistle in mouth, I sent dog, who raced toward chukar. Halfway out, I blew WS.
5. If dog didn't stop, I called out SIT and went out to pick the dog up, then sent the dog again.
6. Once dog stopped, I cast the dog to the blind, 30° to the left or right of the line to the chukar.
7. If the dog didn't carry the cast, I intended to use a WO for that also, but it didn't come up today.
8. When the dog got back with the blind, I sent the dog to pick up the chukar.
9. Walking back to the van, I gave happy throws with the chukar several times.

For Series A, the 100-yard blind was to the right and the chukar was thrown toward the left. Series B had a completely different SL, the 100-yard blind was to the left, and the chukar was thrown toward the right.

Water Retrieve, Double Land Blinds

Cheltenham

On a cold, wet day, with intermittent rain and a thin sheet of ice covering the ponds and channels, I took the dogs to Cheltenham with the intent of training with Charlie's group, but we had the place to ourselves. I found out later they had moved the training day to Saturday to beat the bad weather front that rolled in last night.

SERIES A. Water retrieve (Laddie, then Lumi)

Series A was an attempt to execute an idea that Alice Woodward suggested to me: Instead of giving up on water entirely during the winter, run occasional water retrieves no more than one per day, even in cold water, then create a highly reinforcing outcome (combinations of gunfire, land retrieves, happy throws, tug). Finally, dry the dog and putting the dog in a nice, warm vehicle.

Today's Series A was our first attempt to carry that plan out.

With the dog waiting at the SL, I walked 50 yards to a mound, fired a gunshot, and placed a frozen duck, white feathers up, on the face of the mound. I returned to the dog, fired another gunshot, and threw a frozen chukar across a 10-yard wide channel in the opposite direction as the mound. I sent the dog, and when the dog re-entered the water on the return, I fired a third pistol shot. When the dog delivered the chukar, I lined the dog up and sent him/her to the duck at the mound. When the dog raced back with the duck, I threw the chukar as a happy throw, ran with the dog to the van, throwing the bird a few more times. I then dried the dog with a dry towel and put the dog in the van, which I'd left running with the heat turned up.

The above description worked great with Laddie, exactly as described.

With Lumi, the first time I tried it, she stalled at the far side so I cued "over", directing her to cheat around the channel for her return. I wouldn't object to her doing that in a test, but I still wanted a water return as well.

So I put on her collar and attached a 100-foot line, then threw the chukar again. Lumi swam across but again wanted to cheat on her return. I used the line to draw her back into the water, and she swam back to me, leaving the chukar behind. I then sent her back for it, and this time she picked it up and came straight back to me. Then I sent her to the duck on the mound, which she was thrilled to retrieve.

SERIES B. Double land blind (Laddie, then Lumi)

For both dogs, the first blind was 90 yards thru a narrow keyhole into a cluster of trees, using the chukar as the blind. Laddie lined it. Lumi slipped her first whistle, but then I realized she needed to go to the bathroom. After she was done, I sent her again. She veered a little right, I blew WS, she sat nicely, then took a good cast to the bird.

For Laddie, the second blind was thru a wet, boggy depression, thru high cover, and across a road to the frozen duck at 180 yards. Laddie ran it on a single cast.

For Lumi, the second blind was across a different section of the road to the frozen duck at 120 yards. Lumi overran it and while responding nicely to every WS, had difficulty with the CIWs. So that's something we need to work on.

Poison Bird Land Blinds

Oaks Area 2

With Austin along as my only helper, I thought today would be a good opportunity to work with both dogs on running a blind after a bird has been thrown, but before the bird has been retrieved. I believe such throws are called poison birds (PBs). I don't know whether PB would be picked up in a test; I always have my dogs pick them up after they've run the blind.

First I put out two ODs at one location, and two ODs at another location 20 yards away. That was a mistake, I should have set them further apart. No harm was done, I just needed to alter how I ran Series B a little.

SERIES A. Land blind with poison bird (Laddie, then Lumi)

The throw was on the right, a WD thrown left to right at 60 yard. After letting the dog watch the throw, I had the dog move to my other side as information to the dog that we were not going to run the bird that had just been thrown at this time. I then ran the dog behind the thrower, that is, just to Austin's left, on a 120-yard blind. When the dog returned with that dummy, I sent the dog to pick up the one that had been thrown.

Laddie veered slightly right when sent on the blind. I blew WS, and he took a nice angle-back left cast. Running full-blast as usual, he ran past the intended blind, ignoring my WS, and picked up an OD from the other blind, another 20 yards further along the same line. I viewed that as a set-up error, since both the dogs interpret a whistle near a blind as a cue to pick up the bird rather than sit, and that's all Laddie was doing. He did a great job of ignoring the PB when running the blind, then pinned the mark when sent on the second retrieve.

Lumi needed several WSs and angle-back-left casts to keep her away from the PB, but she remained responsive and enthusiastic the entire time and eventually was far enough along that she was able to get on a good line and stay on it. She had no trouble finding the intended blind and bringing me one of those ODs. Then she, too, pinned the mark that had been thrown as a PB when sent on it.

SERIES B. Land blind with poison bird (Laddie, then Lumi)

Series B was intended as a mirror image of Series A, and somewhat shorter. The mark thrown right to left as a PB was at 50 yards, and the blind run behind the thrower to his right was at 120 yards.

Two notes on Series B:

• Laddie apparently remembered where he had picked up the blind from Series A, and that another OD was still there. As a result he tried to veer left to that blind when sent to the blind for Series B. But when I blew an insistent WS and cast him to the right, he took the cast and seemed excited to discover that another OD was also waiting for him in that direction. Of course, Laddie always seems excited.
• Lumi ran her blind nicely, but overran her mark, which was thrown in the shadows. It looked like she would need a long hunt, and I know many trainers would have let her find the dummy that way. I have seen her hunt and I felt confident that she would find it eventually, but I decided instead to use one of my pet theories: That it's good once in awhile to have the thrower help, even if the dog could have found it herself, because it reminds the dog that throwers don't throw their articles very far, so there's no point in ranging 200 yards away on hunts.

PHOTOS

[to be uploaded]