Well, this COVID stuff has changed our hunt testing and field trialing plans BIG TIME! It has also changed the way that I train ... pre-COVID, I was training with a group (a really good group, I must admit) on both Saturday and Sunday, plus 1 - 2 days training alone; but now, I'm training alone 5 - 6 days a week. I have a couple launchers and a couple wingers, so I can get in "electronic marks," but it's not like having gunners in the field.
My current training adventure is getting the mutts to learn in-line triples with the middle gun retired. I consider it to be largely a "go where sent" training tool and not necessarily a set-up that I see very often at weekend trials ... although it does show up on occasion. Started out running the set-up as singles (long-short-middle); on Saturday I ran it as a very wide triple and they did okay on it; on Sunday I retired the long and middle "gunners" and they did pretty well on it (it's a significantly different test when retiring the long and the middle gunners, but I did it anyway). [I made a rookie mistake when I set up the long mark, but both dogs made up for my misgivings.] I'll work on the triple a couple times this week, as well as retiring a long gunner ... maybe short retireds again next week.
I rewound my Training Retrievers Alone DVD and picked up a couple things from it; and I've started Voight's other DVD, 25 Essential Retriever Training Drills for Handling. By the latter, although I've barely gotten started on it, I have already been reminded of a couple drills that I've simply ignored, namely the Two Tier Wagon Wheel Lining Drill and the Wagon Wheel Casting Drill. I must admit, I much prefer running marks, which probably explains why my dogs are typically better markers than blind-running dogs ....
So, that said, I'm working on handling drills to the extent I can stand them! Notably, both of my dogs absolutely love drills, so it's just me.
FTGoldens
My current training adventure is getting the mutts to learn in-line triples with the middle gun retired. I consider it to be largely a "go where sent" training tool and not necessarily a set-up that I see very often at weekend trials ... although it does show up on occasion. Started out running the set-up as singles (long-short-middle); on Saturday I ran it as a very wide triple and they did okay on it; on Sunday I retired the long and middle "gunners" and they did pretty well on it (it's a significantly different test when retiring the long and the middle gunners, but I did it anyway). [I made a rookie mistake when I set up the long mark, but both dogs made up for my misgivings.] I'll work on the triple a couple times this week, as well as retiring a long gunner ... maybe short retireds again next week.
I rewound my Training Retrievers Alone DVD and picked up a couple things from it; and I've started Voight's other DVD, 25 Essential Retriever Training Drills for Handling. By the latter, although I've barely gotten started on it, I have already been reminded of a couple drills that I've simply ignored, namely the Two Tier Wagon Wheel Lining Drill and the Wagon Wheel Casting Drill. I must admit, I much prefer running marks, which probably explains why my dogs are typically better markers than blind-running dogs ....
So, that said, I'm working on handling drills to the extent I can stand them! Notably, both of my dogs absolutely love drills, so it's just me.
FTGoldens