Steadiness Training

Mt. Ararat Farm

Today, Gaby and a couple of bird-boys (her son Jim and a friend of his, Dave) helped me work on steadiness with Lumi and Laddie.

Although Lumi participated in every step of the work, her performance was too inconsistent for confident skill development. For example, she repeatedly tried to take the flyers to a shady error to spend time alone with them, rather than bringing them back to Gaby, who was handling Lumi.

Therefore, today was primarily for working on Laddie steadiness.

As an aside, I had also hoped to give Laddie practice with out-of-order flyers (that is, the flyer as memory-bird rather than as go-bird), but it turns out that, at least for my dogs, you can't have an active, clipped-wing duck at 50 yards and a dead duck at 30 yards and expect the dog to pick up the dead bird first no matter what order they were thrown in. I'm sure it can be taught, but it wasn't worth it to me, so after the third throw, we had the flyer thrown as the go-bird for the remaining doubles.

We ran a total of eight doubles, alternating Laddie (who ran first) and Lumi as working dog, with the other dog honoring the working dog. We used no honor dog for Laddie's first double, and Lumi did not honor after her last double.

I handled Laddie the entire time, and Gaby handled Lumi the entire time. Jim threw the live ducks, firing live ammo at the ground where the duck would land while the duck was still in the air. For the dead ducks, Dave blew a duck call, then threw and fired a blank pistol while the bird was in the air. We used three live ducks for the whole series.

Jim was positioned with the bird crate behind a holding blind. Dave was in the open, on an angle 60° to the left of Jim. Both gunners threw left to right. As mentioned above, Jim threw first for the first three doubles, Dave threw first after that.

Our SL was an LP, with a holding blind on the right. For maximum excitement, I had Laddie honor between the holding blind and Lumi (the working dog), a few steps forward so that he was closer to the clip-wing duck as it was being thrown than Lumi was, and so that Lumi would walk behind him when coming to the line, then run past him on the way to the duck.

Both dogs wore yard collars with tabs. For Laddie;s last series of working and honoring, I removed the collar and substituted a loose slip-lead. By that time, I was confident that he wouldn't break, but I wanted to make sure that he wasn't wise to the collar and tab.

From what Gaby told me, Lumi's steadiness steadily improved, but I'm not sure of the details.

Laddie was steady working on all four of the doubles he ran. He may have tried to break from honor on the first double that Lumi ran — unfortunately, I can't remember — but he was steady at honor for the other three. He may have even been steady on the first one.

Following the style I've used with both dogs for at least a year, when Laddie was honoring I stood at his right flank, facing away from the field, and I cued the honor with "Just watch".

However, I made several changes to the honor compared to previous training:

1. We did not run to the van to play after the honor. Instead, Laddie watched Lumi run to her clip-wing, and soon thereafter I walked Laddie to the holding blind to wait our turn to run again. While this is not the pattern that would occur in an event, I think it's high value reinforcement for a successful honor. We did go to throw some ducks away from Gaby and Wes after Lumi and Laddie completed their last series.
2. I did not repeat "Just watch" over and over again as Laddie was honoring. I said it more than once on some of his honors when his body language suggested he might need a reminder, but I want to move toward Laddie honoring without me talking to him and I felt we were building duration successfully.
3. I did not walk directly away from the field and call "Here" when releasing Laddie from his honor. Instead, I slowly turned, took a step toward the field, and crossed in front of him, saying "Here" while showing a target hand for him to follow as he turned away from the field. Those mechanics were based on a recommendation from another trainer some weeks ago, who had once had a dog break after being released. He told me that after that, he stepped in front of the dog after being released rather than stepping away and calling.

Water Work

Lakeside Boulevard

Today, Gaby and I again met at the Lakeside Boulevard pond in Edgewood. Gaby had Gus, her Chessie, who will be running in a Senior Hunt Test next weekend, and Buster, her yellow Lab, who will be running in his first Qualifying Stake next weekend. I had Laddie, who is not currently entered in any events but practices at about the same level as Buster.

For Gus, we ran him on two Senior-like water series — a double and a blind — and also ran a confidence drill on water with him at the end to work on his tendency to pop when the gun is retired and the fall is not visible from the start line.

For Buster, we had him run three shoreline marks of 100-150 yards, a 200-yard water blind, and a drill extracted from Alice Woodyard's Diversion drill to get Buster more comfortable with running to a long mark or blind behind the gunner for a shorter mark, since he had flared in that situation on the water blind.

Laddie ran two shoreline blinds similar to the lines he ran here yesterday, a 150-yard shoreline mark (one of the same ones Buster ran), a 200-yard water blind (the same one Buster ran).

Below, I provide additional detail on the long water blind. Since it's the only series I'll describe in detail, I'll call it Series A, though it was actually about the seventh setup of the day.

SERIES A. Water single plus blind

I've gradually come to realize that the art of creating a challenging retrieve is not only to place so that various factors come into play, but also to arrange for as many of those factors as possible to influence the dog in the same direction. This is called stacking factors, I believe.

The satellite view below shows Series A, a 200-yard water blind. It was actually combined in Series A with a short mark intended to add to the stacking. Here's a description of the series.

The single mark was thrown from a position close to the shoreline, on a sharp angle back right to left into open water at 50 yards. After the dog picked up the mark, the dog was sent on the blind shown in the satellite view.

I attempted to stack several factors all of which were intended to push the dog to the right:

1. To take the correct line into water, the dog had to run behind the gunner, who was seated facing to the left, coming within a a couple of yards. If the dog pushed off the gunner, it put the dog into the water on a line too far to the right.
2. If the dog squared the water entry, that would aim the dog too far to the right.
3. A light wind was blowing left to right.
4. Perhaps because of the wind, the water also seemed to be moving left to right.
5. The dog passed a point on the right a little more than halfway out.
6. The point became more of a problem because the water became shallow enough for the dog's feet to touch bottom several yards out from the point. When a dog touches bottom, that tends to draw the dog more strongly to nearby land.
7. Once the dog was past the point, a wide inlet opened up behind the point, with several patches of cattails to attract the dog, and several pieces of litter floating in the water acting as decoys.
8. As the dog got closer to shore, a tendency to square the shoreline also pulled the dog to the right.

Gaby's Lab Buster in fact succumbed to the stacked factors toward the right, flaring around the short gunner on the water entry, then ending up on the point, and almost getting lost behind the point. But Gaby was able to keep Buster within control and he ended up climbing onto shore at the perfect exit point, then easily handled thru the keyhole to the blind.

The first time I sent Laddie on the blind, he took a line on the short gunner's left. Although he was not that far off line and I could have handled him back onto the correct line, I wanted to see whether he would flare off the gunner if he took the correct line so I called him back, carefully lined him up and got him locked in, and sent him again.

This time he took the correct line and did not flare off the gunner. He then took a good entry into the water and swam the first half of the outrun on a good line. As he approached the area of the point, he began to veer slightly right. I blew WS and cast him on an angle back to the left, which he took and carried well. That took him past the point on a good line, which he held halfway thru the open water on the far side of the point. Then he began to veer left for some reason, and it took two or three WSCs on an angle back to the right to get him going in the correct direction again. He came up on shore further to the left than he should have, but had no trouble pushing thru the shoreline cover, running up the embankment, running thru the middle of the keyhole formed by two trees, and picking up the blind.

Gaby and I were reasonably pleased with the performance of both our dogs on this blind, and were also happy to have them get practice with a big-water swim.

View 20100718 Water blind in a larger map

Skimming Singles and Blinds

Edgewood, Maryland

This morning, Gaby with her Chessie Gus, and I with Laddie, explored an area between her place and mine, looking for places we could train today and also in the future. Gaby had heard of one location, which we were able to find after some driving around. In the course of driving around, we asked for directions at one point that took us to a completely different pond. We decided to continue looking until we found the planned destination, trained there, and then returned to the one that we had discovered by accident afterwards for some additional training.

At the first pond (Lakeside Boulevard), I ran Laddie on Series A, B, and C described below, while Gaby ran Gus on a completely different set-up, a water double and blind we set up to practice Gus for his Senior test next weekend.

At the second pond (Copenhaver Park), I ran Laddie on Series D described below, while Gaby ran Gus again on completely different set-ups, two water-double-plus-blind series again similar to what Gus might see in a Senior test.

While Gus's set-ups were intended as practice for Senior water series, all marks were thrown with visible falls to engender confidence in marking. I was pleased with Gus's performance, and I think Gaby was as well.

I haven't tried to describe Gus's series in detail in this post.

Lakeside Boulevard

This is the pond we originally looking for.

I've shown the three series Laddie ran today on this pond in the satellite views below. Gaby threw the marks. Note that I've attempted to show the arc of the throw for each mark with a small pink triangle.

SERIES A. Water single plus sight blind

For Series A, the mark was on the right, thrown right to left at 110 yards. On the mark, Laddie had to run thru cover at each water entry and exit, including a thick patch of high cattails on the final water exit. The sight blind was on a line 90° to the left of the line to the mark, an OB at 90 yards marked by an LP with a tape waving at the top. For the sight blind, I moved the start line to create the desired line to the LP and bumper. Laddie required handling on the mark, but no handling on the sight blind's shoreline swim.

View 20100717 Series A. Water single plus blind in a larger map

SERIES B. Water single

For Series B, Gaby threw a 70-yard mark right to left down the embankment to water's edge. As with the Series A mark, Laddie required handling on this mark. Here's a satellite view:

View 20100717 Series B. Water single in a larger map

SERIES C. Water single

For Series C, Gaby threw a 100-yard mark left to right down the embankment to water's edge. Here's a satellite view, showing that Laddie needed to take a sharp angle entry into water, then a sharp angle exit, then a second sharp angle entry into water again, before getting to the fall at the final shoreline. Laddie required no handling on this mark.

View 20100717 Series C. Water single in a larger map

Copenhaver Park

This is the pond someone directed us to when we were trying to find the other one. The pond was nestled in woods and covered with large patches of lily pads, one of the most picturesque venues Gaby and I have trained or tested at. In addition, the microclimate here was significantly cooler than the high 80s temps we were experiencing at Lakeside Boulevard.

SERIES D. Water blind

I've shown the 90-yard water blind Laddie ran here in the satellite view below (running from top to bottom in the view). The line to the blind required two sharp angle entries into water thru shoreline foliage. Based on Laddie's performance, it was evident that Laddie was taking a line based on the direction he was sent from the SL, and could not see the bumper until he had gotten up on the final shoreline.

View 20100717 Series D. Water blind in a larger map

Notes on Laddie's performance

Laddie's set-ups were all intended to challenge his ability to take difficult angle entries into water, one of the obstacles we've been working on with the Skimming Drill. Today was a great opportunity to try his skill out in new locations, and with Gaby and her dog present for added excitement and distraction proofing, rather than in private practice as we usually work. I would have preferred that Laddie take each water entry without handling, and in fact he did not require handling for either the shoreline sight blind in Series A nor for the water mark in Series C. However, he did require handling for the marks in Series A and B. I felt that the fact that he didn't require handling for Series C showed good short-term learning, which hopefully will continue to develop Laddie's long-term learning.

With Series D, the first time I sent Laddie, he tried to run the bank at the mid-point and handled poorly when I tried to get him back on a good line. So I called him all the way back and ran him from the SL again. This time he took an excellent line and got past all the trouble without handling, requiring only a minor adjustment in the open water in the last third of the outrun.

Gaby told me several times how pleased she was with Laddie's work on today's retrieves. That was great to hear.

Interrupted Single, Skimming Drill, Offline Drill

Fairhill

SERIES A. Interrupted Single (Lumi)

Since Lumi seemed interested in getting in some work, I set up the BB for a 50-yard angle-in into medium cover in open meadow. Then I had Lumi run a 90-yard blind (OB) 90° to the right, before sending her to pick up the mark. She ran the blind well, without any attempt to detour over to the mark, then nailed the mark. I thought it was a nice job on a pretty difficult memory-bird.

SERIES B. Land triple and blind (Laddie)

For Series B, the first mark was in the middle, thrown left to right on an angle-out at 140 yards. The second mark was on the right, thrown left to right on a sharp angle into medium cover in open meadow at 70 yards. The third mark was on the left, thrown right to left on an angle-in at 110 yards. All three marks were thrown by BBs. After Laddie picked up the three marks in the reverse order they were thrown, he ran a 180-yard blind (OB) on a line that ran just to the right of the line to the middle mark.

The third mark, the go-bird, was the kind of retrieve we've been practicing in the Skimming Drill, with a sharp angle entry into high cover to take a straight line to the fall. The second mark was challenging because it was an angle-in and because the dog had no reference points near the fall. The first mark was fairly easy. The challenge on the blind was that the dog had just run in that approximate direction to pick up the final memory-bird and dogs with Laddie's level of experience have learned not to return to old falls.

Laddie did marvelously on Series B. He took the angle entry into cover on the go-bird in both directions, and he nailed all the marks, including the second mark on the right, the location of which I had forgotten but Laddie had not. After picking up the marks, he then ran the blind without difficulty, taking WSCs to stay within a narrow corridor.

SERIES C. Offline Drill

For some time, Laddie has been running blinds successfully but has taken longer to stop on his WSs than I would like, so today I thought I'd break out a drill we trained with quite some time ago: the Offline Drill. Because Laddie is more advanced now, today's version was longer than we've trained with in the past, and the offline blinds were both further from the SL, rather than evenly spaced.

Here's a description of the drill:

• I placed B1 (WB) at an LP with a tape waving at the top, 210 yards from the SL.
• I placed B2 (OB) 30 yards to the right of the line to B1, 150 yards from the SL.
• I placed B3 (OB) 30 yards to the left of the line to B1, 120 yards from the SL.
• At the SL, I lined Laddie up on B1 and sent him with "Back". When he was out 120 yards on line to B1, I blew WS, then cast him over to B3.
• Again at the SL, I again lined Laddie up on B1 and sent him with "Back". When he was out 150 yards on line to B1, I blew WS, then cast him over to B2.
• Finally, I ran him to B1 without handling.

Laddie ran the drill perfectly, stopping quickly on each of the two WSs and taking each "Over" with enthusiasm and accuracy.

Skimming Drill, Cool-off Drill

Fairhill

Laddie ran four skimming drills with high cover, in four different directions, two with the cover on his left, two with the cover on his right. Each was a double, with the go-bird requiring a sharp angle entry into cover.

In terms of short-term learning, he did very well, running the second, third, and fourth drills perfectly.

In terms of long-term learning, he didn't do as well, because he tried to "cheat" around the cover on his first mark.

On the other hand, we haven't practiced skimming drills in some time, since I decided to stay away in the days before his Senior test last weekend. Now that that's out of the way, we're going to be running them again and hopefully get Laddie fluent with running them correctly.

Rolling Ridge

Although Laddie had had plenty of water during and after the work at Fairhill, it was a hot day and he was hot. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to try a Cool-off Drill, so we drove over to Rolling Ridge. I planted an LP with an orange tape waving from the top a couple of feet from the edge of the pond, and placed a white puppy bumper in front of it. Then I ran Laddie to it as a sight blind from the top of the embankment 40 yards from the LP, with Laddie to run almost parallel to the edge of the pond never more than a few yards from the edge.

The goal was for Laddie to pick up the bumper and bring it directly back to me rather than taking it into the pond first. If he did it correctly, I would throw it for him far out into the pond and send him even before the bumper landed, much more exciting than a mere dip.

This time, Laddie showed excellent long-term learning. Even though we haven't practiced the Cool-off Drill in several days, Laddie executed it perfectly. Great way to end the day's work.

Laddie's Senior Hunter Title

[Here's the republication of a post to DogTrek and PGD on July 11, 2010. Edits to the post for this republication are shown in blue to save reading time for those who may have already read the story once on the lists.]

Hi, everyone. Laddie here. Lumi, Daddy and I are back in Maryland this morning, since driving down from Newburgh, NY, after my final Senior Hunt Test yesterday. I say "final" because I qualified in the test and got my fourth Senior ribbon, which means now I have my Senior Hunter (SH) title. The next time I compete, it will be in either a Master test or a Field Trial Qualifying Stake.

Some people wrote to Daddy today and asked for details on the test, but he's got other things on his mind, so he said I could tell you about it. I'm sure you'd rather hear my perspective anyway.

As is usual in Senior tests, yesterday's test consisted of a land series followed by a water series. They had "callbacks" after the land series, so you had to do well enough in that series to get called back to water. With 25 entries, the test had two scratches, and 18 dogs were called back to water. Fourteen dogs qualified overall.

Temperatures in New York had reached 104 degrees earlier in the week, but the day of the test was a radical change in weather. Rain came down in torrents throughout the land series, soaking everyone and, more relevant to us retrievers, virtually eliminating the scent cones which normally play such a helpful role in finding our birds. Though the rain finally stopped just about the time the first series ended, in this test, our sense of scent didn't help us very much.

Now in the descriptions that follow, I'm going to use some jargon. If anyone reading this doesn't know what a term means and would like to know, please ask and I'll be happy to explain it. Also, using Daddy's approach to writing distance estimates, all distances are approximate and conservative; that is, the distances were more likely longer than I've written than shorter.

OK, here goes:

SERIES A. Land double with land blind

For Series A, the first mark of the double was on the left, a duck thrown left to right on a sharp angle-back, and thrown from behind a holding blind and a hedgerow. The fall was at 80 yards. The second mark was 90 degrees to the right, a duck flyer thrown left to right from behind a holding blind, with the fall also at 80 yards. Both throws were preceded by duck calls from the judge and then the gunner's station, and both throws were accompanied by one or more shotgun blasts. A winger was used for both throws.

The field was covered in thick cover, varying from knee-high to chest-high on humans. The ground was uneven, and a depression ran across the entire field, so that we ran slightly downhill from the startline and then slightly uphill to the marks. A dirt road, invisible from the start line, ran up the left of the field and then across the back, so that both birds were thrown from inside the road and landed outside it, requiring us dogs to remember our training and push over the roads, rather than treating them as barriers as comes naturally.

Series A was run as a walk-up. The go-bird was the flyer, and although the flyers fell in a wide area, they all landed in thick, high cover. With no scent, some dogs, including me, ran good lines to the falls but missed the bird, and then had to run around and hunt for awhile before finding it. I was running #6, fairly early. For some reason, some of the later dogs seemed to have an easier time finding their birds. I don't know why, maybe that happens in other tests, too.

The memory-bird was the mark on the left. The line to the memory-bird was past the end of the hedgerow on the left, and I did the same thing almost every other dog did, again except for some dogs toward the end. As I ran thru past the point of the hedgerow and saw the gunner's station behind it, I was drawn to the station instead of continuing straight. It wasn't the station itself, but rather some strong attraction on the ground in that immediate area that got to so many dogs. So I began hunting short, but after a little while, I realized my mistake and went longer, got across the road, and there was the bird.

It's a good thing I didn't get too far to the left, because that was where the blind was. It was a hot blind, also at 80 yards, and also on the far side of the road. A hot blind isn't supposed to be in play unless the dog is really off course on the mark, but in this case, the suction on the line to the memory-bird was toward the blind, and in fact one dog (sadly, a Golden) did pick up the blind when she was hunting too far left for the memory-bird.

For the rest of us, the blind had enough factors to both left and right to require some handling for most dogs, but I and a few of the others lined it. When I was running back, I heard the judge say mournfully to the other judge, his wife, "He lined my blind, honey."

SERIES B. Water double with water blind

For Series B, the first mark of the converging double was on the right, a duck hand-thrown right to left at 50 yards down an embankment and a foot or two into the water, splashing among the lily pads growing there. The second mark was 75° to the left, a flyer duck thrown by a winger left to right so that it landed at 40 yards among lily pads on the left side of the pond. Both calls were preceded by duck calls from the gunner's station, and both throws were accompanied by one or more shotgun blasts.

The go-bird flyer on the left presented few problems other than having to find the bird among the lily pads. However, the memory-bird off the point on the right did cause problems. We dogs would start swimming out on a good line, but as we got closer and closer to the bird, we were also getting closer and closer to the point, and finally, for most of us including me, we would detour right and climb up on the point. Then we would hunt around on the point for awhile, however illogical that might sound, before finally getting back in the water to find the duck. Well, that's how it would go if things went reasonably well. Some dogs got out on the point and then ended up too far inland and needed help in the form of handling to get back in the water in the right place. Because of the high cover, the likelihood the dog would go out of sight on the far side of the point or in the nearby woods further up the embankment, and perhaps other factors, it was apparently quite difficult to handle dogs who needed to be handled off that point. I guess Daddy didn't want to have that happen to us after seeing it happen to several other teams who ran before us.

So Daddy made an error. I think it must have hurt my "trainability" scoring, but luckily, I still passed.

Here's what happened. When Daddy saw me veering right toward the point when running the memory-bird, he decided to handle me to the bird while I was still in the water. He had heard the judge commenting at a break that that's what he thought most Master handlers would have done, so Daddy thought he ought to do it. Actually, none of the other handlers ever did it, but of course Daddy didn't know that when he tried it. I guess it looked like a good idea, and besides, the judge had made the remark while Daddy was standing right there in earshot. I don't think Daddy wanted to look like he was blowing off the judge's expressed opinion.

Nothing wrong with handling me, and in fact I took Daddy's first cast correctly, but I didn't carry it very far, and before you knew it, I was headed back to the point.

Now I'm only a dog, so I can only guess at what happened next, but here's my best shot.

When Daddy saw me scallop back toward the point, he had a decision to make. On the one hand, he could handle me all the way to the bird. On the other hand, he could regret that he'd ever tried to handle me and let me find the bird the rest of the way myself.

The argument for taking the first option was, that's what you're supposed to do. Daddy was supposed to handle me all the way to the bird once he blew the whistle. However, when he saw me turn off from the first cast so quickly, he knew there was a good chance that the suction of the point, the poor handling conditions once I was on the point, and my accurate assessment that the bird was very close and could easily be hunted up without help from Daddy, all conspired to make it likely that I wouldn't be responsive to his attempts to handle me. So should Daddy attempt to handle me and make it obvious that I wasn't responsive in that situation, or should he just forget about it? Well, he didn't blow the whistle again until I had the bird, so I guess he felt that was the best course of action. Three people came over at separate times and lectured him about it later. :0)

After we dogs picked up both birds, we ran the second hot blind of the day, this time the water blind at 50 yards on a line 75° to the right of the memory-bird. The line to the blind cut a chord across a circular inlet, inviting the dog to run the bank on the right rather than staying in the water and swimming thru the thick patch of lily pads to the blind, and in fact some dogs were sucked to the right. Others veered left where the more open water was. As far as I know, only one dog took a good initial line and then followed it straight to the bird on the other side of the inlet, and that one dog was moi. Since this was my last Senior test, that was fitting. I don't know why, but Lumi and/or I were the only dogs to line our blinds in several of the Senior tests we've taken.

Believe it or not, now that I had run all three land retrieves and all three water retrieves, the hardest part of the test still lay before me. I had to honor the next dog, that is, I had to watch her work from a position a few yards off her right flank. I didn't have a great view of the marks, which believe it or not stoked my curiosity and actually made it more difficult for me to remain steady. But somehow I got thru it: The duck calls and shotguns sounded, the ducks splashed into the water, and the working dog was sent to pick up the go-bird. Then one of the judges said, "Honor dog released," and within the next few seconds, Daddy had my slip lead on me and we were racing thru the high cover back to the road that our van was parked on. I welcome any opportunity to run, and sometimes Daddy runs with me. This was one of those times. I think he was just too excited to walk. Since the judges had had me honor off-lead, Daddy was pretty sure I'd qualified and that I was now a Senior Hunter. We just had to wait for the formality of the ribbon ceremony later.

So that's it, that's the test, but I haven't told you the best part yet. Since we were coming from Daddy's work in New York, and would be heading back to Maryland when the test was over, naturally Lumi was in the van, too. But because she already had her SH, and isn't running in Master tests at least right now, she wasn't entered in any tests at this event. From the time we arrived in the morning, it looked like Lumi would just have to wait around all day while I took my turns running.

But when it was time for Series A to begin, the judges asked, "Does anyone have a test dog?" Daddy immediately volunteered Lumi, and they said, "Go get her, Lindsay," so Lumi got to run as test dog. Lumi hasn't been training very much and didn't do particularly well, but I was very happy for her, because she loves-loves-loves birds, and here she was getting to pick up three of them, including a flyer.

Later, when it was time for Series B to get started, Daddy brought Lumi up to the area where handlers were gathering, assuming that Lumi would be test dog for the water series, too. But they had decided to use that Golden who picked up the hot blind in Series A as the test dog for Series B, so Daddy shrugged and brought Lumi back to the van. When he came back to watch the beginning of the test, the judges told him, "We got another test dog, Lindsay, but if you like, Lumi could run as 'bye' dog. That will give the last entered dog a dog to honor."

Sure enough, Lumi, who had been the first dog to run that morning, was also the last dog to run that afternoon. They didn't need her to run the blind, but she still got to pick up two ducks, including her second flyer of the day. She was a happy dog.

Now for the best part of the best part. Lumi has only run one other test in her life in lily pads, and in that test she picked up the short go-bird, then flat refused to swim thru another patch of lily pads to get to the memory-bird. It turns out that swimming thru lily pads can be painful for a dog with arthritic hips and an arthritic wrist like Lumi.

So when Daddy saw that the water Lumi had been invited to run as bye dog on was covered in lily pads, he wondered whether the same thing would happen again. Sure enough, when she started out for the memory-bird and reached the first patch of lily pads in her way, she started to come around in a circle. Uh, oh, she's giving up, she's coming back in. But then, without any cue from Daddy, she righted her direction again and plunged thru the lily pads right back on line. Brave girl, braver than I needed to be. It doesn't hurt me to swim thru lily pads.

Now remember how I said that almost every dog had been sucked onto the point once they got close to the bird? Well, as far as I know only one dog stayed on a good line, pushed thru the last patch of lily pads, never touched the point, and swam straight to the location where the bird had splashed down. Guess which dog that was? That's right, it was the bye-dog, gentle Lumi.

I don't know which made Daddy happier: me getting my fourth Senior ribbon, or Lumi getting a chance to run all those retrieves when he'd expected her to have to spend the whole day in the van.

Sometimes fortune comes in waves. It was a good day for all of us.

Feathery wags and play bows,

Topbrass Lad of the Lakes SH WCX (Laddie)

Land Series, Cool-off Drills

Rolling Ridge

Today's focus was on tuning Laddie up for his Senior Hunt Test on Saturday. I wanted to exercise his memory for multiples, and I wanted to add reinforcement history for bringing me the retrieval article quickly even when tempted to cool off in nearby water.

In scorching 94° heat, we ran a land double and a land triple each combined with a Cool-off Drill retrieve, plus we ran a water blind with the double, and a land blind with the triple. I didn't let Laddie in the water until after the first Cool-off Drill, but after that, Laddie spent most of his spare minutes in the pond.

SERIES A. Land double, Cool-off Drill, and water blind

For Series A, I used a BB to throw one mark on a sharp angle-in at 40 yards, the other on a sharp angle-back at 100 yards, so that the two throws were almost in line with one another. Although such a set-up would not be likely to occur in a Senior test, it seems that for two marks on the same line, the closer mark tends to make it more difficult to remember the longer one. Challenging memory tests hopefully improve the dog's concentration and marking performance over time.

Laddie nailed the short mark, then took a line too far to the left for the long mark and needed a short hunt to find it. When he returned with the second mark, I ran him to a 40-yard sight blind (LP and white puppy bumper) next to the pond as a Cool-off Drill. Since he'd been out in the field walking with me while I was setting up the course, and had just run two marks in the parched field, I knew he'd be in need of cooling off, but hoped he'd come straight back with the bumper. Unfortunately, he picked up and carried it into the water. However, he came running back immediately when I called "Here", so I still threw the bumper out in the middle of the pond for him. I may have been unintentionally reinforcing his cooling-off detour, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to reinforce his prompt response to the recall.

Finally, I ran him on a 110-yard blind (OB) diagonally across the pond. He needed two handles, an angle-back-left and an over-right, and was responsive for both WSCs.

SERIES B. Interrupted land triple and blind, Cool-off Drill

For Series B, I did everything I could think of to make the long mark difficult to remember. Here's a description of the set-up:

The first mark was on the right, thrown right to left by the BB on a long arc angling in, with the fall at 130 yards in open meadow away from any distinctive features. The bumper was not visible once it landed in the medium cover. In addition, I had loaded the BB with only one bumper so that it was nearly invisible and "retired" after the throw.

The second mark and third marks were thrown by a second BB on the left, with a stickman (retired gun rack and white overalls) placed just behind it. The second mark was thrown left to right an an angle back so that it landed at 60 yards almost inline with the first mark. The third mark was thrown right to left on an angle in at 40 yards.

Although even the second and third marks were invisible lying in middle cover in featureless areas of the field, Laddie nailed both of them. He then ran an 80-yard blind (OB) through a diagonal keyhole formed by a shrub on the left and a metal fence pole a bit further back on the right. Laddie had no difficulty with the keyhole and lined this blind, his only problem being that he was racing past it until I whistled, since we usually practice on longer blinds.

Finally, I lined Laddie up for the long mark and sent him. He nailed it, running an almost perfect line despite my best efforts to challenge his memory.

With four land retrieves under his belt, I again ran him to his puppy bumper, which I had tossed next to water's edge. This time, he ran to the bumper, picked it up, and flew back to me on my CIW, turning away from the pond as soon as I whistled. Of course, we had a rousing game of water fetch after that excellent recall, to say nothing of the superb series he'd just run.

Steadiness Training

Warrenton, Virginia

Yesterday, I made some phone calls and arranged for my old friend Dave Altman to get some birds for Lumi and Laddie to train with, and for a neighborhood kid named Austin to join us once again for a training session. I picked him up at 7:15 AM, we drove an hour and a half to a farm near Warrenton, VA, to meet Dave, and there we ran two series designed to help prepare Laddie for his Senior test next week.

SERIES A. Land double and blind

For Series A, Dave threw a duck I had brought in a cooler right to left as the memory-bird, then shot a pheasant which he had thrown left to right as the go-bird. Both falls were at 40 yards. After the dog picked up both birds, the dog ran a blind (unmarked OB) to the right of the line to the flyer. Although a light wind may have pushed the dog somewhat right to left, a steep downward slope ran left to right. In addition, the line to the blind passed a large tree with a wide-open field behind it on the right, the line passing thru the tree's dark shadow. Finally, the dog honored the next dog.

Laddie ran Series A as described above. Lumi, who is not currently in training, came after Laddie and ran only the two marks, acting as a bye-dog so that Laddie had a dog to honor. I handled Laddie, while Austin handled Lumi.

Both dogs were on yard collars and slackly-held tabs to assist with steadiness. Laddie did not try to break when he was working, but he did make a faint-hearted attempt to break on honor when Lumi was released. The tab came taught and held him in place.

This was the primary goal of today's work: Either Laddie would remain steady at honor, giving both him and me confidence in his steadiness in that situation, or he would try to break and learn that it wouldn't work.

The next series might give us information on whether any learning had taken place.

SERIES B. Land triple and blind

Series B was set up across the field from Series A, and in a different orientation.

With the dog at the SL, Dave, standing at the bottom of a depression, threw a pheasant left to right on an angle back with the fall uphill from Dave and at 60 yards from the SL. Next, the handler at the line threw a duck 20 yards to the right, on a line that ran behind the honoring dog. Then Dave shot a pheasant, throwing it left to right on angle in with the fall also uphill from Dave and at 30 yards from the SL. The dog was sent to pick up the flyer, then the short throw the handler had thrown, and finally the longer memory-bird on the same line as the flyer but further back. After the dog picked up all three birds, the dog ran a 200-yard blind (OB) on a line a little to the right of the line to the flyer, with the blind planted just before the crest of a hill, so that if the dog went too far, she'd be lost to sight for the handler. After picking up the blind, the dog honored the next dog from a position to the right of the SL and a little forward, so that the working dog would create an additional challenge to the honoring dog by running right across the honoring dog's line of sight when sent to the go-bird flyer.

With me handling, Laddie ran Series B as described above. He nailed all the marks, but I made a handling error and tried to cast him "Over" when he was level with the blind but too far to the left. He interpreted the cast as an angle back and in a flash was over the crest and out of sight. I blew a CIW and after a moment Laddie did come back into sight on the other side of the blind, then, without sitting on my immediate WS, ran to the blind and picked up the bumper. It wasn't a good job of running the blind, but fortunately this blind was probably harder than any Laddie would see in a Senior Hunt Test.

After Laddie completed his retrieves and we took our position to honor, me cueing "just watch" while standing off Laddie's right flank and facing backwards as I do when I have Laddie honor, Austin brought Lumi to the line. Lumi watched the three throws and then ran to pick up her flyer, but unfortunately the shotgun had opened the bird up and instead of Lumi picking the bird up and delivering it, she began to eat it.

Meanwhile, Laddie, who had remained steady when his birds were being thrown, also remained steady at honor. I was very pleased, and Dave, who's a professional trainer and an AKC Hunt Test judge, later said that Series B was harder than Series A and if a dog was going to break, the dog would have done so on Series B.

This makes me optimistic that Laddie learned something from being held by the tab on Series A, and applied his new skill on Series B. I should say "re-learned" and "renewed skill", since Laddie had similar steadiness training last summer and was steady in several tests last fall. Steadiness appears to be a skill that deteriorates over time if not practiced, at least for a 2Q dog, or at least for my 2Q dogs.

After Laddie had honored and I had taken him back to the van to play, I saw what Lumi was up to and sent Austin to take the pheasant away from Lumi. I decided that her retrieving was best ended for the day at that point, and sent Laddie to pick up the short bird that had been thrown behind him and the longer memory-bird, saving me from having to go out and pick them up. I hadn't set up a blind for Lumi, so that completed the retrieves.

Although I felt good about Laddie's restored honoring steadiness as exhibited in Series B, I'm not confident he's quite ready for a test that would require honoring a flyer, which may come up in his test next weekend. So I arranged with Dave and Austin for a repeat of today's agenda tomorrow morning. It will be interesting to see how Laddie does at that time, especially on the first series, since of course we won't get a do-over in the test if he breaks.

Land Series, Cool-off Drill

Rolling Ridge

For today's session with temps in low 80s, I started by taking Laddie to a field away from the water and set up a short double and longer blind, using a BB for the double. The go-bird required Laddie to make a difficult angle entry into the end section of an area of high cover, the sort of picture we've been practicing in our Skimming Drill. The memory-bird was in thigh-high cover but otherwise undistinguished. The blind was diagonally across rolling hills and over a dry ditch filled with underbrush, on a line just outside the line to the memory-bird.

Laddie did nicely. He required no handling to take the sharp angle entry into the high cover on the go-bird, he nailed both marks, and he was responsive on the three routine WSCs needed for the blind because of the hills and the ditch.

Although I wanted Laddie to run the double to some extent as preparation for his Senior test next weekend in New York, and also as a practical application of our Skimming Drill, I also wanted him to be ready for a swim after running a land series in warm weather. That set us up for the Cool-off Drill, which we ran next.

For the Cool-off Drill, I had Laddie run another reasonably long land blind at a 30° angle away from the pond, then, using the same SL, had him run to an LP with a length of tape attached at the top for maximum visibility, to pick up a puppy WB, his favorite. The LP was right next to the pond, and was 60 yards from the SL, representing a raise in criteria from the two previous times we've run the Cool-off Drill. Laddie's tendency would be to pick up the puppy bumper and take it into the water to cool off before completing his return. Our goal has been to get him to bring the bumper to me first, and then I'd immediately throw it for him into the water.

Laddie performed well on this second series, also. After running the long blind, he took the easy line to the LP and grabbed the WB. I had no sense of it crossing his mind to go for a swim before returning the bumper to me, but he happily welcomed the reward — the bumper thrown into the pond — that he'd earned.

It's the Gallery

Cheltenham

This afternoon I drove Lumi and Laddie to Cheltenham with the intent of using our BBs for a private practice session.

But when I got there, Charlie had a group that was just starting, and he said Laddie could run with them. I felt optimistic that Laddie would do reasonably well, since he had done well running with the group on Sunday. Boy was I wrong.

Charlie set up three water singles:

• The first required the dog to take a narrow strip of the edge of an inlet (the sort of thing we practice in our Skimming Drill), then a long swim missing a point by a few yards.
• The second was an angle in, thrown across the corner of another inlet, with the outrun featuring a channel swim before hitting the open water.
• The third was another skimming line, then across the open water again, then over a peninsula a couple of yards behind the gunner from the second mark, then across a channel, then up an embankment to a dirt road.

All of the marks were WBs.

Here's how Laddie did:

• On the first mark, he tried to run the bank on the angle entry, but responded well to a WSC into the water. However, he then pushed too far from the shoreline he was supposed to be swimming close to, which brought him up on the peninsula well off line. As he crossed the peninsula, he ran around in two little circles with his head down at one point, something I've never seen him do before on an outrun and don't understand why he did it. Then he got going again and leapt into the second, bigger water, still well off line. This allowed him to easily miss the point in the second water, but he wasn't that close to it. In fact, he was the only dog all day who did not veer with the strong wind and current to the point and touch it. He easily found the WB, but instead of getting right back in the water with it, he carried it along the shoreline. I think he may have even dropped it at one point, I'm not sure. Rather than let him run the shoreline all the way to the end of the far inlet, I called "Here" and he entered the water, but now he was behind the point he was supposed to be swimming clear again coming back. I moved laterally quite a long way trying to catch sight of him and then handle him clear of the point, but without success. He probably put the bumper down and shook there, I'm not sure. He may have done the same when he got to the second peninsula. By staying way to the side, I got him to take the last water coming back, but of course that made it easier.
• On the second mark, Laddie squared the water entry which put him in the center of the channel and made it easy for him to stay clear of the points on either side, but it also put him off line to mark, aiming him to come up on shore too soon. After he was in the open water, I handled him onto the correct line. When he reached shore, he overran the mark, which was the intent of the angle-in throw. I believe every dog did the same thing. He was able to double back and find it, but when he picked it up, instead of getting back in the water, he ran over to the thrower with it, then continued onto the peninsula. I don't remember all his shenanigans. He did respond when I called "Here" and if anything else bad happened on the return I don't remember it. By now I was in shock.
• On the third mark, Laddie took a good line (I think) most of the way to the peninsula where the gunner for the second mark was sitting, but as he approached her, he began to veer to the wrong side of her. I handled him back on line and he had little trouble getting over the peninsula, back into the water on line, and to the bird. But once again, he picked up and ran with it to the gunner, plus I believe some other capers I don't remember. Again, I was able to call him back with "Here".

My friend Tony was the only trainer who had been both at the Sunday session with Laddie, and today's session. He joked, "You sure don't have very good luck on this pond," referring to the fact that Laddie hadn't behaved badly at all at Timmy's place on Sunday, but that he has behaved badly at this pond on other occasions before. Laddie has also behaved well on this pond before, even at this same location, and today, after the session with the group, I ran Laddie on half-a-dozen skimming marks on the same pond using our BB, some of which were just as tight and/or long as the marks Charlie had set up, and Laddie ran them without difficulty.

For Charlie's set up, Laddie's mind seemed to be blown. He needed handling on the first skimming line, he made those little circles on the first outrun, and screwed after every pick-up before getting back into the water. Why? What was special about the session with Charlie? It wasn't the location alone, because of the information I mentioned in the previous paragraph. And it wasn't the presence of people in the field, because there were five people in the field in the first series on Sunday and two in the second series.

The one difference that I can see is that in today's session with Charlie, there was a "gallery", that is, a number of trainers, and at least one on-looker, near the SL. That hadn't happened on Sunday because we only had enough trainers to man the gun stations while one trainer handled his dog or dogs at the SL.

It's unfortunate that this happened today. I felt that Charlie was beginning to see some potential in Laddie, but I'm afraid today's session did some serious damage to that assessment. Naturally I'm disappointed.

Triples, Blinds, and Cool-off Drill

Rolling Ridge

In about two weeks, Laddie is scheduled to run in his next Senior test, and I have two concerns in preparing him. First, his marking on recent land multiples has not been as dead-on as it has been at times in the past, and second the heat has triggered a detour to water during returns from land retrieves several times this year.

Thinking about the latter issue, today I invented the Cool-off drill (click here to read a description), and with temps in the 80s, today's session was our first attempt to try it. I used a batch of nine fairly long retrieves on dry land (Series A, B and C) to get Laddie yearning for a swim, and then ran a single Cool-off drill retrieve (Series D).

After that, we did one small skimming retrieve near the pond (Series E) and a few more happy throws (open water retrieves) in the pond.

Here's a sketch of the work:

• Series A. Land triple using two BBs, followed by a blind under the arc of the longest mark.
• Series B. Land triple using two BBs, followed by a blind thru a keyhole and "behind" the BB used for the longest mark.
• Series C. 300-yard land single thru a gap in a treeline, diagonally over rolling hills, and diagonally across a dry ditch.
• Series D. Cool-off drill at 30 yards.
• Series E. 40-yard skimming drill with SL at water entry.

Training with Field Trial group

Park Heights

Lumi, Laddie, and I used to train with Bob Hux at Timmy's property in Park Heights quite often, but in the year and half since Bob retired to Florida, we've only been to Timmy's property once, when Bob came back for a visit. Since Bob's groups were HT-oriented, we've never run FT set-ups at Park Heights.

But last night, Tony, one of the trainer's in Charlie's Cheltenham group, called me to let me know that several of the trainers were going to meet at Park Heights in the morning to train on grounds where the hay had just been cut, providing practice for that kind of terrain for the dogs.

We're in the middle of a heat wave and temps would reach the mid-90s, so we met at 8:00 AM, ran two series with the dogs swimming on every retrieve, and finished by noon.

SERIES A. Five singles

All of the dogs ran this set-up the same way, as five singles all within a 30° angle:

1. 110 yards to far right, a pheasant thrown right to left on a sharp angle back
2. 120 yards to far left, a pheasant thrown right to left behind a tree
3. 230 yards to middle right, a pheasant thrown right to left on an angle back
4. 230 yards to middle left, a duck thrown left to right
5. 270 yards center, a duck thrown right to left on an angle back

A busy rural road ran less than 50 yards to the right of #1 and #3, so if any dog got too far behind the throwers on those marks, the gunners immediately began to help them as a matter of safety.

The property's technical pond lay between the SL and all five marks. #1 and #3 had suction for the dog to run the bank to the right. #2 required the dog to go on-and-off a point.

The lines to #4 and #5 involved going past several trees on either side.

I think that for most dogs, the primary challenges of Series A were the size of the set-up (given the hot weather), and the fact that the dog would lose sight of the falls while crossing the pond, losing sight of the fall twice on #2, where the fall was already obscure because it was behind a tree. Another challenge was the suction to run the bank on #1, #2 (second water crossing), and #3. I believe that the Skimming Drill we have run nearly every day for several weeks in a variety of locations benefited Laddie on today's work, since he required no handling to get in the water and stay on line for any of these marks.

From what I saw, only three dogs ran all five marks without requiring help or handling on any of them. They were Timmy's dog; another dog who regularly trains on FT set-ups on Timmy's property; and Laddie, who pinned every mark with little or no hunting.

Tony told me later that Laddie had done a nice job. Tony is an AKC HT and FT judge as well as an experienced hunter and trainer, so that was nice to hear.

However, Laddie exhibited one behavior pattern that could get us into trouble in an event. On the positive side, as he entered the water with the birds on three of his returns, he simply swam across the pond, climbed out, and delivered the birds. But on two of the returns, he dropped the birds at the far side of the pond and began floating around and lapping water. In each case he responded to "Fetch" by picking up the bird and completing his return, but a bird might have escaped if he'd done that with a "cripple". The good news was that he entered the water without hesitation, something we struggled with for much of Laddie's life, but the bad news was those two delays completing his returns once he was in.

Here's a satellite view of Series A:

View 20100627 Series A in a larger map

SERIES B. Two water singles

After watching how tired some of the dogs had gotten running Series A, the guys setting up Series B decided to limit it to two retrieves, after which we would quit for the day.

The ten or so dogs that ran Series B did so in a wide variety of ways, using several different start lines. Most of them ran it as two singles, but at least one ran it as a double. I'll describe the series as Laddie ran it. I believe he was one of only two dogs who ran it with a retired gun.

The first mark was on the right, thrown right to left across the end of the pond into a clump of high grass at 120 yards. The entry was on a very sharp angle that invited the dog to run the right side of the pond, and several of the dogs tried to do so, but Laddie entered the water on line to the bird and completed the swim to the end of the pond without handling. When he reached the end of the pond, he came out where the thrower was rather than where the bird had been thrown, but he immediately darted left, picked the bird up, and re-entered the water. During his return, I had to repeatedly handle him to the left to keep him from getting out of the water, the only time all day I handled him.

The second mark was on the left, thrown right to left from in front of a tree onto the grassy area past the pond at 140 yards. I used a different SL for this mark, such that Laddie had a shorter swim compared to the first mark but a longer run before entering water. The run from the SL to the water entry was down into a depression and then back up over the dike at the edge of the pond, and the gunner retired behind a camouflage umbrella as the dog traversed that depression.

Thick, 8' high grass grew in a large clump at the edge of the water and lay on the line for the second mark, but until the end of the series, none of the dogs, including Laddie, tried to run thru it, instead skirting it by detouring a little to the right, or in one case skirting it to the left. Finally, Timmy ran his dog next to last and handled his dog to run thru the cover, and at that point I realized I should have done the same thing with Laddie. The cover looked impenetrable, but Timmy's dog had no trouble running thru it, so if this kind of situation comes up again, I'll check out the cover before assuming that Laddie can't run thru it.

Here's a satellite view of Series B:

View 20100627 Series B in a larger map

Land Triple

Rolling Ridge

I had originally planned to run a land triple and a water triple with both dogs today at Hunt Test distances, just for the fun of it. But the gnats were so bad during the land triple that I just decided to throw some bumpers in the pond for them afterwards and then call it a day.

Temps were in the high 80s. The fields at Rolling Ridge have not been mowed in several weeks, so all the cover is at least waist high. For the triple, all three throws were made with our two BBs.

SERIES A. Interrupted triple with blind (Lumi, then Laddie)

The first throw was on the left, right to left at 100 yards. The BB was behind a fallen tree, and the throw was into a large area of shoulder-high cover the edge of which ran roughly parallel to the line to the fall, creating a uniform wall of cover difficult to see differences in along its length. The throw was made after I cued "Sit, mark," but without any other information until the gunshot went off and launched the bumper across the somewhat lower cover and into the higher stuff.

The second throw was in the middle, right to left at 60 yards, again from an area of somewhat lower cover into an area of shoulder-high cover. I sounded the BB's duck call before firing this mark. The line to the mark was thru the corner of an area of higher cover, which the dog could skirt by veering slightly to the right. I allowed Lumi to do so, whereas I called Laddie back when he tried to and had him go thru the triangle of high cover.

The third throw was on the right, thrown left to right at 20 yards and behind a large tree. The dog had to run well around to the left to get to the fall.

After all the dog had watched all three throws, I sent the dog to pick up the 20-yard mark on the right. Next, I had the dog run an 80-yard blind under the arc of the mark the dog had just picked up. Then I had the dog pick up the 60-yard middle mark. And finally, we turned in the direction of the 100-yard mark, which was 120° to the left of the middle mark, and I sent the dog to pick up the last mark, which had been the first mark down.

I had done everything I could think of to make the last mark difficult for the dog to remember. However, both dogs seemed to have a clear memory of it when I sent them to it, running out to the area of the fall at full speed. At that stage, both dogs had a moderate-length hunt, trying to find the correct place to enter the high cover and then trying to find the bumper inside. However, both dogs had the necessary persistence and eventually emerged from the high cover with the bumper without any attempt to interact with me.

Challenging Lines

Cheltenham

I'd hoped to get some group training in with Laddie today, but only one other guy showed up at the property, and he was doing different things with his dog than I wanted to work on with Laddie.

So instead, I set up a series of single retrieves, sometimes a WB or OB planted, sometimes a WB thrown. Some of them are shown in the satellite view below. Because temps reached the high 80s, most of the work included some swimming.

I ran Lumi on a few retrieves as well, just for fun.

If you click the blue link at the bottom of the map, you'll see a page that gives the approximate sequence Laddie ran the retrieves, the distances, and an indication of which direction the retrieve went. You can also click the blue lines on the map to see which line is which.

Notes on Laddie's Performance

[I'm referring to these as blinds, but I made the WB or OB clearly visible on all of them. In today's drills, I was interested in Laddie's lines, not in control for situations where he doesn't know where the bird is.]

A (200-yard channel blind). Laddie has run this blind from shorter distances several times before. This was the first time we've run it from the mound near the barn. Laddie stayed away from the points on both sides on his own, without handling.

B (220-yard land blind). Laddie has also run this blind before. It goes from the mound near the barn, down into a depression, across a swim-depth ditch that narrows to the left, uphill across another wet area, and further uphill to the blind near the crest. If the dog gets off line to the right or goes too far, she can get out of sight. In the past, Laddie has required multiple casts to prevent him from cheating around the big ditch to the left. Today, I only needed a single cast "back", just as he started to veer left.

C and D (two skimming blinds). Our work on the Skimming Drill is paying off! Laddie required no handling on either of these retrieves.

E (180-yard channel blind). I had Laddie run (swim) this retrieve twice. The first time he got out of the water on the left 30 yards from the blind. The second time, he still required some handling, but he stayed in the water the whole way out.

F (340 yard land/water blind). Laddie has swum the water portion of this retrieve before, but that was from inside the road. Today, we ran it from the top of the hill near the barn. Laddie required handling to get past the first point, and also to get onto the second point, but he responded in both cases, which I think was good work at those distances.

G (180-yard land blind over a mound). For this retrieve, the dog runs from one mound near the barn, down a hill, across a road, over a second mound, and then picks up the blind on a third mound, all in a straight line. Laddie had considerable difficulty with this retrieve, repeatedly trying to round the middle mound to the left or right. After several tries, I shortened it up enough for him to succeed, and then had him rerun it from increasing distances till he finally ran the full route. However, I am not happy with how many times I expected him to be able to take the middle mound on his own when he wasn't ready, and had to call him back to try again. As a result, on the last retrieve he popped three times, clearly not confident in his understanding of what was required to avoid being called back. Hopefully we can work on this or something similar soon, and rebuild his confidence on this picture.

View 20100613 Challenging lines in a larger map

Cheating singles at Rebel Ridge

Rebel Ridge Farm

Today the dogs and I needed to travel to New York for my biweekly on-site work schedule. As we did a couple of weeks ago, I planned to stop at Rebel Ridge Farm, about halfway between home and my place in Brooklyn, to train with Patty's FT group, including Gaby.

However, when I arrived at Rebel Ridge, no other trainers were there, so I took the opportunity to work with Laddie on some of the retrieves we'd had the last time we trained with Patty, which was at this same location. Lumi, who's been with me instead of my daughter the last week, was "pick-up dog" for a couple of retrieves I didn't want Laddie to do, but mostly I was concerned with continued preparation of Laddie to run in Qualifying Stakes some day.

SERIES A. Swim-by pond

For Series A, Laddie ran four retrieves, two to an LP with a WB placed at the base, then two more thrown by a BB left to right from the corner of the last pond, angling back to the same position where the LP had been.

Series A was run at a pair of small rectangular ponds referred to as the swim-by ponds by some of the other trainers. The first retrieve to the LP was run from a point between the two ponds. The second retrieve to the LP was run over both ponds. The first retrieve with the BB was run from the same point between the two ponds. And the last retrieve, also with the BB, was run across a road and then over both ponds.

Here's a satellite view of Series A (the marks were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series A in a larger map

SERIES B. Cheater with bridge concept

Series B was based on a set-up Patty had used for one of the marks in a triple the last time we trained together. The throw was a "bridge" mark, left to right across a neck in a technical pond, with the thrower on the left point and the fall on the right point. The position of the SL required the dog to take a sharp angle entering a pond, assuming the dog didn't run the bank. If the dog squared the entry, she would be swimming toward the thrower. Bridges are a difficult concept for many dogs anyway, and this entry made it even more likely that the dog would swim to the left point instead of the right one. To make it even worse, two decoys were floating near the left point.

For the version that Laddie ran today, I tried a BB with a stickman on the left bank, but the BB was not able to launch either of the bumpers all the way across to the right bank. After launching both of the BB bumpers, I let Laddie pick up one of them and sent Lumi for the other.

I then put Laddie in a stay at the same SL, walked to the left point, fired a pistol, threw a WB across to the right point, and walked back to the SL to run Laddie.

Laddie did so well on the earlier water entries that I decided to have him run it again, but raising criteria on the skimming picture. We walked to a new SL across the road and past a hay bale, left him at the new SL so I could throw for him again, and returned to run him. Again he took the water entry well. This time, although he did not square the bank on his water entry, he swam to one of the decoys near the left point. He then began a hunt which took in the left point and the water near that point, but he never crossed to the right point on his own. After letting him hunt unsuccessfully for some time, I blew a WS and cast him toward the right point, and he went almost directly to the WB without the need for further handling.

Here's a satellite view of Series B (the marks were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series B in a larger map

SERIES C. Past a point, cheater on second pond

Series C was a 240-yard mark based on one Patty had used for one of the triples during our previous session training with her group. Today I used a BB with a stickman as our thrower. The BB was set near the top of a rise, and as with Patty's version, was aimed to throw left to right on a diagonal to the slope of the hill so that it landed at a low point in the terrain. The line to the fall was across one section of a technical pond that included swimming past a point on the left, then onto land, then across a second section of the pond, and finally back onto land to the fall.

I had Laddie ran this single twice. The first time, he started to run around the second section of the pond on the left. I stopped him with a WS, cast him right so that he was back on his original line, and then cast him "back", which took him across the water. He needed a hunt but soon found the bumper and brought it back. He ran around the far section of the pond on his return and I decided not to stop him, since most of Patty's dogs, even if they took the far section of water on their outrun — some did, some ran around it — they nearly all ran around it on their returns.

The second time Laddie ran this single, he took the second section of the pond on his own and also ran straight to the bumper. I was pleased to see that he had learned from the first time and didn't need to be handled to stay on his line and get into the second section of water.

Laddie made no attempt to swim to the point in the first section of pond either time.

Here's a satellite view of Series C (the marks were run top to bottom in this view):

View 20100607 Series C in a larger map

SERIES D. Two blinds

I decided not to run Laddie on the blind that Patty had set up for a few of her dogs last time, because I felt the blind would be less interesting this time because it wouldn't have the influence of flyers from a previous series that the dog had run earlier the same day last time. I decided instead to set up two of my own blinds intended to exercise skills Laddie has been working on lately.

The line for the first blind, 120 yards, was at a slight diagonal thru both of the swim-by ponds. Laddie didn't swim them on a diagonal but squared up when swimming inside each of them. The only time he needed to be handled was on the small strip of land between the two ponds, where he started to run around to the right before I blew WS, cast him over to the left, then quickly stopped him again and cast him into the second pond. He lined the blind from there.

The line for the second blind, 170 yards, was into the technical pond, past a point on the right, then on and off a second point to the blind on the far bank. Laddie needed a little handling to get past the first point, but lined the blind from there, taking the on-and-off without handling. He also needed handling past the closer point on the return, because I wanted him to return on the same line he'd taken out.

Here's a satellite view of Series D (the blinds were run right to left in this view):

View 20100607 Series D in a larger map

Skimming Drills with Time-outs

Rolling Ridge

For the last three days, Laddie and I have continued to work on the Skimming Drill, using our Bumper Boy for setups with both high cover and water as obstacles.

Each day, I've experimented with increasing distance to the entry point of the obstacle, and narrowing the width of the section cut off, the two factors that seem to have the most effect on difficulty. Laddie has been making steady progress for both kinds of increase in criteria.

I've done little handling. If Laddie attempts to skirt the obstacle, in most cases I call him back. Today, for example, I used no handling at all.

In today's Series A, Laddie did a great job on two retrieves running thru a corner of high cover. The distance to the entry was relatively short compared to some of our earlier set-ups, but the amount of cover to be cut off was smaller. In other words, I relaxed one criterion while raising another.

For Series B, we moved to the pond. Again, our distance was a little shorter than yesterday's at the pond (50 yards to the entry versus 70 yards yesterday), but today's slice of water was narrower than yesterday's.

As Series B progressed, I ended up making one change to our procedure that I had not planned in advance.

For the first three throws of Series B, Laddie tried to run the bank the first time I sent him, then took a good entry when I called him back and sent him again. When he tried that two-try pattern again and attempted to run the bank on the first send-out of the fourth throw, I called him back and made the snap decision not to give him a second opportunity to perform that particular retrieve. Instead, I walked him quietly to the van, put him in his crate, and closed the back gate. All the windows and a side door were still open for ventilation, but I wanted him to have a clear sense of a time-out, a procedure with which he has almost no experience, but which seemed appropriate in these circumstances.

After reloading the BB, I brought Laddie back out and we ran the same challenging retrieve again. This time he took the correct entry the first time I sent him after the throw, breaking the chain at last. Yay!

However, when I fired another bumper and sent him again, he again tried to run the bank. So for the second time today, I called him back, we walked to the van together, I had him get in his crate, and I closed the back gate of the van.

After reloading the BB one more time, I brought Laddie out and we ran the retrieve once more. Again he took the correct entry the first time I sent him after the throw. And then I fired the other bumper and sent him again, the only difference that I ran him from my other side, the more difficult side. It did no harm. This time, too, he took the correct entry.

I was pleased with the results of using the time-out for this situation. I think I could have taken a different approach, which would have been to move closer once I saw that he wasn't ready to run the first send out correctly four times in a row.

However, the fact that Laddie ran correctly the second time in each case seemed significant to me, as though he were learning a behavior chain of running the obstacle incorrectly on his first try, and then running it correctly after being called back. Not efficient, but not so easy for him to fix himself because of his strong impulse to run the bank and get to the fall that much faster. I felt that showing him a specific undesirable outcome for the two-try pattern, the lost opportunity to complete that retrieve at all, might be more appropriate in this case than simply lowering criteria by backing off on distance or increasing the width of the slice.

Why? Because I sensed a risk that if I didn't show him an undesirable outcome, the two-try pattern would remain in his system only to reappear in less convenient circumstances, such as group training or an event. In group training, the chain would probably be reinforced because I'd be reluctant to give up the entire series, and would be more likely to call him back and run him again. In an event, I wouldn't take any action at all and would hope that he could correct his line and complete the mark despite running the bank. If I was going to try to put an end to the two-try pattern, this seemed to be the right time to do it.

I don't know whether making it easier would have been better in this case, or if the time-out was better. I would not want to use time-outs very often. I can imagine undesirable side-effects of a time-out, such as Laddie someday intentionally running a bank if he was tired and wanted a break. But today, as a novel procedure, it seemed to work well.

Postscript

It occurred to me later that perhaps another way of addressing the two-try chain would have been to use a Walk Out rather than calling him back. WOs have been quite effective for other difficulties in the past, and they appeal to me much more than using a time-out. I think that's what I'll try if it comes up again in the future.

Perhaps I shied away from it today because I'm currently suffering with a gout attack, which makes walking difficult. It's just something I'll have to deal with.

Skimming Drill with Remote Launcher

Rolling Ridge

Once again, Laddie and I worked at Rolling Ridge today on the Skimming Drill.

Since the drill is intended eventually to make skimming automatic for marks, I thought I'd try using our Bumper Boy as a "gunner". In addition, since I hope the drill will promote ease of handling in the same picture, I also ran a couple of blinds thru a corner of high cover without an LP at the blind.

As we have in most of our other Skimming Drill practice sessions, we trained both with corners of high cover, and with the curved sections of a pond. I'd have preferred an easier water picture, such as an angular corner, but curved shorelines are what we have available at this location.

As I usually try to, I used set-ups we've never used before on this property.

We ran six marks thru corners of high cover with the BB, six marks across a curved shoreline with the BB, two blinds thru a corner of high cover with WBs, and four more marks across a curved shoreline with the BB. For the first and second series with the BB, the BB was behind the obstacle and launching toward the open edge. For the last series, the BB was at the open edge and launching behind the obstacle. I didn't realize it until I tried it, but I thought the latter set-up turned out to present an easier picture.

Laddie continued to improve despite the addition of the BB, and also despite the removal of the LP for blinds. That is, he was able to take the edges of obstacles without handling from greater distance than in any previous session.

Actually, I used no handling today. If Laddie didn't take the obstacle correctly, I called him back.

Altogether, he needed to be called back only once on land and only twice on water. For the rest of his retrieves, he took the obstacle automatically. He lined both blinds.

Another area of improvement is that as recently as yesterday, he was taking the edges of water too fat. That is, he would square the entry and veer off line too far into the pond. From the standpoint of getting off line and possibly ending up lost, that would seem to be just as much a problem as running the bank. I worked with him extensively on not doing it the last few sessions, and today it was a non-issue.

It's possible that, prior training aside, the excitement caused by the BB helped pull Laddie into a straighter line. He always practices with great enthusiasm, but I still sensed that the BB — with its duck call, gunfire, and flying bumper — made the Skimming Drill even more fun for him.

Based on correspondence with Alice, one issue I've become concerned with is that the Skimming Drill could, in theory, cause a dog's marking to deteriorate, specifically if the dog became more concerned with taking the obstacles than with getting to the area of the fall and to the retrieval article itself. Several things made me think that that isn't happening with Laddie, at least not yet:

1. He tried to cheat the obstacles those three times.
2. When the bumper fell in mid-high cover on the land marks, he had no hesitation to dive in and hunt it up.
3. When the bumper fell behind the embankment on the water marks, he flew over the embankment and disappeared from sight, then appeared a moment later, tail high and the bumper in hand.

In summary, to me he didn't seem to have lost any keenness for the mark.

One additional side note: I noticed today that Laddie doesn't merely race into high cover, he leaps and pounces on it as he enters. What style! :0)

Skimming Drills

Rolling Ridge

Like every day the last few days, today was a continuation of running Laddie on the Skimming Drill, first on land, then on water.

He's making good progress.

Skimming Drills

Rolling Ridge

In the morning, Laddie and I trained on a field in the Rolling Ridge subdivision near home on Brink Road.

Series A and B were mirror images of one another. In each series, I used three LPs and four WBs. I placed one LP at the SL, a second LP and two WBs on a line that went near but not thru a point of high cover, and the last LP and two WBs on a line that went thru the high cover a few feet from the point.

I then sent Laddie from one side to pick up all four of the bumpers, in this sequence: past the cover, thru the cover, past the cover, thru the cover. Then I put the bumpers back out and ran him to the same locations but from my other side.

Seeing the difficulty Laddie had with this drill, and the importance of this skill in FT competition, I wonder why I've never heard of anyone running this drill before. I've given it a name: the Skimming Drill. I can see many ways to vary it and to increase performance criteria:

• With a point of high cover to skim
• With a rounded edge of high cover to skim
• With a pond's squared corner to skim
• With a pond's rounded shoreline to skim
• In water with a point of land to skim
• In water with a rounded edge of land to skim
• With white, orange or black bumpers
• With or without a lining pole
• From near the entry point to increasing distances back from the entry point
• With the target near the exit point to increasing distances beyond the exit point

The goal is to get the point where the dog is able to run all of those pictures without handling.

Black Hills Regional Park

Series C was another skimming drill with high cover.

Series D was another skimming drill, but this time at a rounded edge of shoreline. Laddie made progress during Series D, but for the water retrieves, he never got to the point where he could cut straight across the curve of the pond without handling. In addition, he never got to the point where he could take the sharply angled entry without either running the bank or squaring the shoreline, so we needed to run every water retrieve for Series D from water's edge.

Skimming Cover

Liberty State Park

After a 2-1/2 hour drive to go 9.2 miles, thru first the Battery Tunnel and then the Holland Tunnel, Laddie and I finally arrived at lovely Liberty State Park on the New Jersey shore just a short, scenic view from the Statue of Liberty.

The sun was nearly on the horizon, but we still had a few minutes of sun and then twilight to work on a large, slightly domed field of low cover adjoining an area of high cover on one side.

The area of high cover took a curved shape, creating a perfect opportunity for Laddie to work on the difficult lining picture I call "skimming". The dog must enter the high cover at a very sharp angle, run thru it for some distance, and then emerge again to continue in a straight line from the original SL. A similar challenge occurs when the dog is sent toward a rounded shoreline, and rather than veering slightly to run the bank, must enter the water and swim just a few feet from shore till reaching the far edge of the curve.

Although Laddie learned to run into cover, rather than around it, long ago, I learned in today's work that he does not yet understand these very sharp angles of entry. Instead, he repeatedly attempted to run just outside of the cover, curving around in the low cover rather than cutting into and thru the high cover.

I had several unsuccessful attempts to elicit the correct behavior by calling him back and sending him again, each time moving closer and closer to the entry point. I then put him at the SL in a sit and entered the cover myself, carrying a bumper with me. I pushed thru the high cover on the line I wanted Laddie to take, walked nearly to the far edge, and thru the bumper straight forward and high, so that Laddie could see it from where he was waiting. I was then able to send him and have him take the correct line.

After that breakthrough, we ran the same thing a few more times, the only difference being that I moved the SL further and further back away from the entry point into the high cover.

We had enough time for several successful retrieves. By then, Laddie was panting hard in the hot, muggy air, so we got back in the van and drove back to our room in Brooklyn.