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Field February 2013

4K views 51 replies 14 participants last post by  K9-Design 
#1 ·
The days are getting longer, is anyone training?
 
#32 ·
Sorry - it is called Smart Fetch video. If I remember correctly it is on the second DVD, you are walking the puppy from one stick to another. I was planning to watch it again this weekend, Rose likes to watch it as well and I will pinpoint it.

Wouldn't it be nice if I can just play the video all day long while I am at work and let her learn on her own!

I am getting ready to get your Smartwork in the Field and Definitive Casting to get an idea of what to prepare in the future while we work on the fetch basics. I really like the way you explain everything before and while you are training. It makes it easier too, to combine with what has been read and say - ahhh this is what it means!
 
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#35 ·
You say DL Walters? I have the collection of RA Wolters. Would love to look both of them up. :) Such great info here!
Yes, D.L. Walters, the late Hall of Fame pro and winner of two Narional Open's. RA Wolters was a writer, but not within a mile of the dog man D.L. was. His books are well written though.

EvanG
 
#37 ·
Another master pass for Fisher today! He had a nearly flawless first series (pinned interrupted triple marks and 2 whistled the blind), and ran FIRST dog this morning for the 2nd series water, 8:00 a.m. and 31 degrees out!! No problem for Fishie he jumped in and got his birdies (2 whistled tricky over the point, out of sight blind), when he got out of the water each time, steam was coming off him! 3rd series was a mess but whatever, he brought back 3 birds and it sorta looked the same for everyone else (3 marks falling within about 30 yards of each other....). GOOOO Fishie!
Slater laid a rotten egg, no ribbon for him!
 
#39 ·
Good job Fisher!
31 degrees? You can get him to run when it's that warm? Tito likes it better a bit cooler. ;)
 
#40 ·
We haven't been training, 30" snow last weekend. Paw freeze temps.
Gladys went to field class last week allowed to make up missed sessions from puppy break.
She remembered "run by" albeit confused, she did better than the other dogs.
We kept a puppy, doing the fun throw the paint roller in the hallway stuff, shoot the capgun in the house (she actually came running to see what it was!) No more wing, too overexciting .. she will be going on the daycare bus soon. I've always had this thing about training them myself but I couldn't keep this puppy w/out help ..so .. I do trust our trainer to read the dog and be fair.
 
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#41 ·
We had a great time at Potter Marsh on Saturday. The puppies are now 8 months old. Only 3 from the litter could make it. I have noticed that the boys seem to be lagging in maturity, while the girls from the litter are maturing quicker. Anyone else notice that in litters? Maybe it's just this litter.

We used dead ducks and pigeons. My husband Cody threw for us for 2 hours. What a wonderful guy. Lucy did well on the duck, but after a few throws she found them a bit heavy & large So she picked them up by the neck instead of the body. Not exactly what I wanted, but it got her back to the platform. She was super great on marking and recalls. The snow was very settled, so we only sunk in about 6 inches. But the ducks hit hard and went into the snow a bit and forced the pups to work at finding them.The scent of duck was a bit overwhelming since we were on frozen marsh. Lucy is terrible behind the line. She wants to go. I really need to work on settling her. She will in the blind but otherwise she gets obnoxious. When on the line I don't need to touch her, she knows her business. We are working using body language not hand signals. So it's a little different. We did use 20' long lines just to make sure we wouldn't have any issues.

Reilly my 5 yr old boy started well. This was his first time with birds. He's only done bumpers. He was fabulous behind the line and very settled. At the line he was a pain and I had to hold him with 2 hands. Something we definitely need to work on.

Our trainer wants to have us in the JH and the WC this summer with all our dogs. I just hope Lucy doesn't go into heat. It would be nice if it was soon, rather than later.

The weather was perfect, it was 5F when we got there and 20F when we left. A warm sunny winter day in Anchorage. In the photos those are the Kenai Mountains in the background with the first hill being part of the Chugach Range.

Next week we are going back to work on doubles. We've done plenty with bumpers, so it should be an interesting transition.

I'm going to start Reilly on an e-collar. His re-calls need to be improved. Treats just don't work for him. He needs a little insentive to come back with the bird.
 

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#42 ·
Well, we didn't plan on field training this week, but plans got changed, in a good way :) We went to OB class Tuesday night, crashed with my training friend overnight, then got invited to train with a group in a private lesson with a pro. I was a little apprehensive, since Riot isn't very advanced, but he did GREAT!! We broke the set-ups into singles for him and he ran beautifully. I was delighted with him, and the pro was impressed that Riot didn't seem intimidated by the length of the marks. He lost a little confidence on the way out to the long mark (over 250 yds), but he got the mark without needing help.

Another fun part of the afternoon: I got a run a few blinds with my friend's lab, who is a retired AFC. It was like driving a race car. So much fun!! I need to work on blowing my whistle louder and making my casts crisper, but I have a while to work on that since Riot probably needs to go back to FTP before we can start moving forward on blind work.

Oh, and the pro ended up being Pat Burns, who was really nice and very encouraging. I could not have asked for a better afternoon! I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can get out more.
 
#43 ·
mlopez,
I'm glad I'm not the only needing to work on whistling louder. I guess it goes back to when we were kids and our parents kept us quiet!
We went out earlier this winter with John (AKGOLD forum member). His dogs are professionally trained. It was like a sports car. Plus they are very serious field breeding (Topbrass like yours) while my puppy is definitely a show breeding.
 
#44 ·
OMGosh Marie--that was fortuitous! Drop in training with Pat Burns!!
 
#45 ·
I know!! That's what I thought too! I was just following my friend and then I saw that we were turning onto "Paddle Creek." It was too funny!
 
#46 ·
Wooo hooo we FINALLY got to Dan's today for the first time in a month. It was cold (20 degrees with 20 mph winds, wind chill of about 0 F) and cloudy, with the snow storm looming this evening.
We did all single marks. Dan had said we were going to do 5 consecutive sessions of just singles, and this was the 5th, so we will add the multiples back next time. The singles had some interesting factors, some nice long ones with multiple cover changes, some short ones that he had to check back for, and some where the bird boy hopped on the 4 wheeler before I sent Tito, or while he was running, and drove around the field a bit. Sometimes he whooped and hollered, too. Tito stayed true to his line regardless, and we were very pleased.
Did some casting drills, still haven't run any blinds with him in months. The casting drills were great, so we both feel his blinds will come back quickly even after our hiatus from them. He is a very willing teammate on blinds, which is something I thought I would NEVER say about Tito, LOL.
We finished the session with a "flight encumbered" duck, which Dan released into the field (heavy cover) while Tito was still in the box. Heeled Tito around (in the other direction) for about 5 minutes, then sent him to hunt up the duck from the upwind direction. This is the stuff the T-man lives for. He tracked it down, chased it thru the cover, and then the duck broke out of the cover onto the mowed path and Tito POUNCED on it like a cat. He was so darned pleased with himself. Ah, where is the video camera when you need it?
A good time was had by all.
 
#47 ·
I been throwing a lot of singles to improve marking and really like what I have gotten. I will again start throwing simple triples and work our way into more complex setups.
The most exciting thing is that I think Winter is starting to see "pictures" in water blind work. Last week we had some warm days so we ran water. On a shoreline splashing blind she stayed in the water all the way to the blind even though the going was tough. You could see she knew to stay in water. Another day there was a short swim across open water that then picked up a U shaped channel where the blind was up on the land at the back of the U. To the right there was a small island before you entered the U. Winter's line took her very close to the island and she popped as she approached it. I whistled and gave her a left back cast. Winter took it, placed herself in the middle of the channel and carried that line to the blind. I think the pop was because she wasn't sure if she was to get up on the island or swim past it. When I gave her the whistle and cast she was sure of the picture and swam down the middle of the channel climbed out and headed straight back to the blind.
I'm working on doing a better job "controlling the line" in an effort to get a hold of my creeping and breaking issues. Test season is just around the corner but I need to get the breaking under control before we try for that final Senior leg.
 
#49 ·
Dan does that with all of his dogs, even his GRHRCH dogs, every so often. He will do 5-7 consecutive sessions (which is only a week for those dogs, 2 months for Tito, LOL) of nothing but singles.
It really tunes up their marking and lots of concepts.
At first I was afraid it was holding Tito back to do nothing but singles. I fell into the "I want to do lots of multiples! Triples! Quads!" mindset trap.
But now I can see that it's really the best way to teach so many things. De-cheating comes to mind. In-line marks taught as singles. Multiple cover changes. Pretty much everything.
I love doing singles now.

I been throwing a lot of singles to improve marking and really like what I have gotten. I will again start throwing simple triples and work our way into more complex setups.
.
 
#50 ·
That is a trap a lot of us fal into when our dogs start doing multiples. My friend Sandie who is a pro with whom I daytrain sometimes and who I stay with when I go to Alabama for a winter training trip emphasized the importance of a steady diet of complex singles to build marking skills. With the dogs she is training, they are running singles most of the time. When she has a test or trial, the entered dogs will get a big mulitple on Thursday, but the lead-up is all singles building the concepts she wants them to be confident on.
 
#52 ·
Yay well perfect training today -- Mitch White came and trained with myself, Kristin and two other of our friends at Lazy J -- quick land setup then we played with Fisher/Sophie puppies who are 7 weeks old today! Perfect cold, sunny weather. Yay! More days like this, please!!!!
 
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