Retrieving & Field Training Talk

[rubyroo]

Sounds like you are still getting a decent bit of training in TSD. I really need to do some dam work but it is getting really cold, feel so mean making him get in. We did a bit of bumper boy work today. Rocket went quite well. But definately need to do some backyard drills! Might go brave the cold and do that now!

[The Spotted Devil]

It's miserably cold here too rubyroo! The only upside is that there's less people out and about - Em and my Muck boots don't mind sloshing about in poorly drained training grounds :D

Found some moderate cover for marking practice yesterday. Mr TSD threw a heap of walking singles for us - started with longer ones landing in clear ground and finished with shorter ones landing in cover. One ended up in a tree and Mr TSD managed to hook another one up there trying to get the first one down Laughed so hard it hurt!

Today I started with 3 cold blinds. One across cheaty cover (yes she tried), one across clear ground, through a row of trees and over a pathway and the 3rd one up on a hill so a few different concepts to work through. Lining, stopping and handling was better. She also learnt that just because she turns the correct way doesn't mean she can then veer off at right angles :D Finished off with left/right backs to pile at increasing distances from the cheaty cover so she had to turn and attack the cover with real intent. That little drill was fantastic so I cued her to pick up the final dummy as a double rise.

[rubyroo]

I am also fantastic and landing dummies up trees, could b the only tree in the paddock, I rarely miss!,, rather funny watching the dog look for it!

[The Spotted Devil]

Never not funny

[Ptolomy]

[rubyroo]

Just waiting for a very windy day for today's brilliant effort!!!

[The Spotted Devil]

Just waiting for a very windy day for today's brilliant effort!!!

Bwahahahahaha

[The Spotted Devil]

Gah. Tough week with in-laws etc but have managed to squeeze in training most days. She's feeling super sexy at the moment so I'm fairly impressed with her work ethic.

Today I ran Em on 3 cold blinds. First one across cover. Took the line well but do you think she could take a left over???? A back would have sent her into the water (bad) but left over and she wanted to come in. Walked out when it was clear she had NO idea what I was asking her to do. Give me strength!!! On the upside her whistle stops were so much better than the last few days. Second one was over water. Took the line really well and stopped and cast left no problem. Wish I could get inside her head sometimes! Third one was over bare ground and next to cover. Handling was much better on this one - took a left over and right back really well.

Moved to 2 ponds to work on lining and cheating. Tossed a mark in the second pond to show her the line. Then tossed it again but heeled her to other side of the first pond and sent as a hot blind. Took 2 handles in water to keep her straight but pleased with her stops and casting. She entered the second pond, picked up the dummy and took a neat shortcut to cheat. As she came running back I met her and gave her a NRM. Heeled her back to the second pond (with her holding the dummy), received the dummy, threw it and sent her. Delivered to hand nicely. Threw the dummy again and heeled her back to the first pond and sent as a blind all over again. Perfect line out and back so very pleased and told her so as she entered the water. It was getting pretty chilly so warmed her up with some hand thrown marks into cover, an easy double and a two bird. Marking, hunting and concept understanding much improved. So much to train!!!

[The Spotted Devil]

Really concentrating on cold blinds and double marks at the moment. Have shortened the doubles up to help her out. Certainly improving on both counts but I suspect this weekend of trialling will be a donation to the club for a nice weekend in the country :D Albeit with predictions of heavy rainfall!!! Handling is pretty good but need to build confidence. About to head out with some game....

Had a funny thing happen last week - as she was coming back from a mark (courtesy of the BB) she spied a pond and took a lovely line straight across the middle before delivering to hand :laugh: All that anti-cheating training... she was so pleased with herself.

Edited May 30, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Blinds on game certainly livened things up! Really put the fun back into it. Was going to train locally but the heavy fog on the mountain meant I'd be lucky to see Em, let alone her see me or the marks! Low cover but I had water to work with instead. Double marks improved, especially when I hand threw the 2nd mark (1st pick up). A real confidence booster but I'll wait to see what tomorrow brings :D

[Ptolomy]

Good Luck this weekend TSD

[The Spotted Devil]

Thanks Ptolomy! Little Springer Devil completely exceeded all my expectations and scored 169 points for 2nd place! Only 1 point behind the winner - and that was with me getting pinged for forgetting to fire at the 2 bird. Dog doesn't need me at all :laugh: More on the runs when I get back to civilisation :D

[The Spotted Devil]

And a win today! 174 points. Heading home for an early night.

[Ptolomy]

And a win today! 174 points. Heading home for an early night.

Wow you will fly home tonight - well done to you and Em

[FHRP]

And a win today! 174 points. Heading home for an early night.

Awesome results TSD!! You must be over the moon :) Good girl Em!

[RubyStar]

Congrats, TSD and Em!!! Hope you're ready for All Age :D :D

[rubyroo]

Congrats TSD and Em!! What a great weekend :D

[Sayreovi]

Congrats TSD and Em!! Awesome weekend :D

[The Spotted Devil]

Thanks everyone! It was quite a weekend of consolidation and confidence building for us both. Really enjoyed catching up with everyone too, especially around the fire at night with a glass or two of red :D Picked up my new camp shower on Ebay for half price last week and it was so nice to have a hot, hassle free shower after a long, cold day

@ RubyStar....um. Nope.

Novice and Restricted were run by different judges but in tandem so stewarding could be shared around. On Saturday the Novice judge was also marking sheets in Restricted for judges training so that worked out well. Most people were entered in both stakes so I put my hand up more often than not to go out on the thrower. Lots of runs for the judges to choose from - not a whole lot of cover but decent enough water, gullies, trees etc to make the most of it.

Saturday - very overcast and a few showers.

Two runs of Novice first. I went out on the thrower for the first run and had a little trouble with game size vs thrower pouch size. The big ones were just spinning and falling out rather pathetically - once I realised the problem we put the big ones aside for Restricted blinds.

First run - Restricted: Double mark. Short mark left to right, landing in a "dip" rather than a gully. Long mark right to left at a decent angle. Pick up the long mark first, then the memory mark. In all honesty I was thinking we'd be lucky to get through this run as doubles have not been great in training. I figured she was handling pretty well though and I'd do what it took to get her through. She danced her way to the pegs and lined up nicely for the memory mark. Leave. Lined up for the 2nd mark. Watch. OK! She took off like a Springer bullet and absolutely nailed the mark - started pulling up in the exact area of the fall, picked it up and flew back. As I lined her up for the memory mark her ears pricked forward without a twitch of uncertainty. I sent her and she took a nice line - slightly to the left but judged the distance well and then methodically hunted until she found it. I was gobsmacked :laugh:

Second run - Restricted: Mark and a blind. Leave the dog at the start pegs, walk up the first firing point and shoot at the blind. Relocate to the second firing point and call the dog. Steady as a rock and I think she much prefers sprinting between the pegs than heeling :D Mark was over a fair sized dry gully and up on the crest. She overran it slightly but quickly came back and hunted. Once she delivered I lined her up for the mark again and said "leave". That helped her focus on the blind which was fairly short but our first one in a trial. I lined her up. Her ears were a bit twitchy in uncertainty. Blind. Yes. And she was off before I could say Back! The contours sent her left but I let her have a good run before stopping and casting right back. She stopped and turned smartly and I saw her put the breaks on as she ran past the blind and got a whiff. What a great reward for taking the correct cast

Final Novice run but someone else went on the thrower.

Third run - Restricted: Mark left to right and two bird left to right, both in the river. This was going to be a walk-up but even the judge was struggling to see the mark against the trees so he switched it to a mark. Sharp angle entry with thrower on our side of the river. I don't think Em saw this mark at all. She would have heard the thrower and the splash but has not enough experience to follow the splash. Instead she ran towards the thrower so I handled her into the water and to the (dark) game. Thank goodness I've been working on handling in water!!! I handled to keep her in the water on the way back - I was concentrating on that so much I completely forgot to close the gun and fire at the two bird - I did but I was very late Em came out of the water a bit further down than I'd like and you could see she wasn't sure if she'd done the wrong thing even though I was very calm. I called out "C'mon kiddo!" and she sprinted back happily....you could see she knew EXACTLY where the two bird was as she flipped around to heel position as soon as she'd delivered the first retrieve. Having learnt my lesson about the confident ear set I sent her without saying anything else and she was all over it.

169 points in the end which wasn't too shabby seeing as though I'd stuffed up the two bird. The winning dog (GSP) finished on 170. The NSW judge said some nice things about Em but also that the Novice judge who was marking sheets had both Em and the GSP finishing on 170 points - says a lot of good things about the consistency of judging

Sunday - breaks of sunshine but very windy and cold.

First run - Restricted: Double mark. I was feeling much more comfortable and ready to trust that Em knew what she was doing. Memory mark was moderate distance and I let her watch that from the left peg. Leave. Moved to right side of firing point. Watch. Looooong mark - right on 150 metres. Springer Devil focussed and nailed it in her bouncy, ear flapping fashion that apparently has the gallery in stitches :laugh: Every now and then she puts in a little SPRING! Lined her up for the memory mark and didn't stuff around at all. Ears were forward and she was confident as hell so I just sent her. She pulled up in the area of the fall, again judging depth really well, and hunted methodically - I was really, really pleased with this balance of eyes and nose.

Second run - Restricted: Mark and blind out in the open. Mark was throwing right to left from a heap of fallen timber. Blind was to the right of the thrower behind a tree and much longer than Saturday's blind. Leave your dog behind the judge's vehicle. Shoot at the blind. Call your dog. Pick up the mark. Pick up the blind. Em picked up the mark no problem. Again I lined her up for the mark and said 'leave' before relocating to the right peg for the blind. No twitchy ears. I decided not leave her too long so simply said. Blind. Back. And she went! I had purposely aimed her to run between the fallen timber and the tree as she needed to be on the left hand side of the tree to get some help from the breeze. I let her run a good way but she was pulling to the left too hard and was going to end up the wrong side of the fallen timber. I stopped her and cast right back. She took a left back so I stopped her immediately and cast right over. Much better. Stopped and cast right back. She took it and as she ran full tilt past the tree she must have got a whiff as the brakes went on and her nose did the rest. Absolutely thrilled with her confidence.

First Novice run - I went out on the thrower and this time it was the small, lightweights that were the problem!!!

Second Novice run - this was a water run and I offered to help out again. Threw a test mark for the judge/competitors but judge wasn't happy with it so we made some adjustments to the thrower before trying again. Then we needed a pick up dog as the marks were beginning to float downstream. I asked someone to get Em out of my car and let her loose. Poor little thing had no idea what was going on until she saw it was ME who was whistling her to swim across to me :laugh: Sent her out as a blind - lots of heavy timber to push through, water was cold and the wind was colder but I've never seen a dog have more fun. Sent her back for the second blind, having been told it had floated into the reeds. Someone else spotted it a good way down stream so I stopped her again and cast left - big channel swim but she just powered down and back. Meanwhile a couple of kind people had fetched a leash, towel and warm coat from my car so I could warm her up. Her teeth were literally chattering but that may have just been impatience! I saw the judge's clipboard go up so I threw the first mark for the run. Em was SO UNIMPRESSED that it wasn't her turn. The competing dog wasn't actually ready as it turned out so Em got to fetch that one up too :D It wasn't an easy run for the Novice dogs and she got to pick up a few more.....fortunately someone else joined us on the thrower so I could concentrate on keeping Em's mouth shut when another dog was picking up HER retrieve and keeping her warm.There were some light hearted suggestions that she should have taken bonus points into the final Restricted run.

Third run - Restricted: Mark right to left in the river and a land blind up near the track. Shoot at the blind as the dog returns from the mark. Similarly to Saturday, I don't think Em saw the mark at all against the trees. I suspect she heard the splash and the thrower so took a wonky line to the water. She was out of sight down the bank so I thought I'd play it safe and just yelled out "Swim!" Next thing I saw her powering through the water to the mark, picked it up and headed back. Fired at the blind. Delivered. Leave. Lined her up for the blind so she was running on the other side (not the track) as I suspected the track was going to pull her too far right. She had to get beyond the blind to get a whiff as the wind was behind her. She ran out hard, veered left with the contours so I stopped and cast right back. She took off but veered left again and was out of sight so I called her in. Stop. Cast right back and she took a much better line. Again, I saw the brakes come on as picked it up on the strong wind.

Ended up on 174 points, 22 points ahead of 2nd place. It's nice to win BUT even better to see a dog's confidence go through the roof. The judge just described her as a "crazy little bugger!" :laugh: No trials (except an AA) until August now so will mix in some agility again.

[Tassie]

Way to go TSD and Miss Em. I still have no idea what you're talking abouit (well, almost none) but a 2nd followed by a win has got to be super good!!!!

(And no RS - it still doesn't tempt me to get a gundog .