Retrieving & Field Training Talk

[RubyStar]

Tassie :p

Lovely to read about, TSD. I shall live out my retrieving dreams through your posts, as we won't be heading back :)

I'd love to see any videos of Em's runs if you ever get any filmed!

[Sayreovi]

Wow! Awesome runs!

She is going great guns :D

[The Spotted Devil]

Thanks Tassie....she's such a rascal...will retrieve in freezing conditions but do you think I could get her to toilet on wet grass this morning?

RS - I'm glad you enjoyed the read although I'm sorry to hear you won't be returning to trialling. I hope you will continue with RATG at least?

TO - yes, she seemed to have just the right balance of drive vs control and eyes vs nose. I will have to start stretching her on more advanced work so I may have to find that balance all afresh. Rooster, feather duster and all that :laugh:

[aussielover]

Mindy had her first retrieving lesson today!

At first she wasn't interested in the dummy at all when the instructor was waving it around in front of her and throwing it a short distance. But then she watched a few dogs retrieve when the bungee thingy had thrown it and she seemed quite interested.

Then we decided to give her a go with the bungee thrower thingy and she was really interested and retrieved the dummy really enthusiastically and dropped it right at my feet :laugh: Apparently she's meant to put it in my hand so thats something we need to work on. I've spent heaps of time teaching her to drop a ball at my feet and now it seems like I shouldn't have done that!!! She was pretty much doing 50m retrieves by the end of the session which I thought wasn't too bad (especially considering we'd just come from agility training)

Anyway it was heaps of fun and I hope to work towards entering her in a RATG towards the end of the year or early next year. Is anyone else here doing or aining to do the RATG?

Also, where do people get the retrieving dummies from?

[rubyroo]

Hi Aussielover! Welcome to retrieving. Glad Mindy enjoyed herself, it is a lot of fun! You can buy super cheap dummies on line from, eBay, cabelas or huntemup. Just google them and you can get websites from there. There is a really nice guy in VIC who also sells training equipment,

http://www.specdog.com.au/dummies,_pegs_&_vests.html

We had an interesting morning training. Decided to venture into another paddock to change scenery, smells and location!! After chasing 50 odd roos out of the paddock (before we even got out of the car). I set the bumper boy up and a few blinds. The smell of roos was just too much to handle, so after a few attempts rocket got sent back into the truck and thought I would tease him and let stinger have a turn! That worked, he paid attention the next time he was allowed out, only for about 2 runs. The next run fell to pieces. He was half way out to the dummy and decided the quail in the paddock were more fun. After that one took off I told him there was 'one more', he couldn't get there quick enough. He was so not interested in retreiving now!! So i put the long rope on and decided to got hunting for the birds again, no luck with birds but we did find a hare!! He was rock solid on point, and we just watched him bounce away! Back to the retreiving drawing board tomorrow.

[RallyValley]

Not much happening for me but I went out weekend before last as a spectator at the Inaugural Pointer and Setter ANKC trial in WA.

[RubyStar]

Welcome Aussielover and Mindy! Glad she enjoys it :) We do RATG's, they are a lot of fun.

Yep TSD, we will continue with some training and the RATG's as the dogs think retrieving is the best fun ever, so even if we won't ever trial, we will still have some fun doing some training. I'd like to trial again, but the likelihood of that happening is extremely slim due to the hard mouth. Such a shame, Ruby loves it. Now if only I could rent a dog or 2! Or fake some papers for Millie because she goes nuts for retrieving

Great photos, RV!!

rubyroo, good luck with your next training session DOGS!! That's all I can say! :p

[The Spotted Devil]

Good to see some more interest in the RATG - welcome aussielover......you will have to change your DOL name to retrieverlover....... :D

rubyroo - now that is one crazy training session :laugh: How old are Stinger and Rocket now?

I can't see the pics at all RV Might be because I'm on a mobile device. Will check back later on the laptop.

RS - yeh, it's a tough one and you're no Robinson Crusoe unfortunately. Relax and enjoy RATG - plenty to learn for all of you and you just never know!

I've had a bit of a slack week with Em....gave her a day off, did a bit of agility and used her as my demo dog for the Puppy Games class (OT but I have THE cutest mini Schnozz puppy in my class RS!) I took her out yesterday for a brief session on the old heavily treed golf course - decided to keep it light so just set up 3 cold blinds (using yellow jump uprights to mark the spot for me). Lining from my leg was much more confident and whistle sits were snappy. First one was long and the line was kind of in the middle of nowhere - she wanted to follow the tree line so it took a couple of right overs to get her away from that. Took a couple of nice backs to the dummy. Threw a mark to mix things up a bit. Second blind was through the tree line/cover and beyond some fallen timber. Let her have a good run off my leg and she pulled hard right (because of the way I had lined her up but didn't want to hold her too long) so I had to stop and cast left for quite a way. She took that well - stop and cast right back was enough to get her in the area. Third one was a moderate distance and she was rewarded for running off my leg really well to pick this one up without a whistle. I let her have a good gallop as the sun set and called it a day. Today was ET for Ziggy so she's missed out again. She'll be fresh tomorrow

Edited June 8, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Lovely day yesterday so I ventured out with the BB. Unfortunately I seem to be having trouble with the transmitter so it was a lot of lugging for no result. Did some maintenance on it today so it's looking good but need to find a helpful electronics store to work out the problem with recharging...

Ended up doing some water handling - asked for quite a bit of effort from the girl so kept it super light and fun. She had a great time but it was cold so I let her run around to warm up. Next thing she was hunting in the reeds, soaked to the skin (head and all!) with teeth chattering. Bloody lunatic :laugh: Rubbed her dry, rugged her up and it was all I could do to convince her it really was time to go home.

Agility today :)

Edited June 10, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[rubyroo]

Lovely day yesterday so I ventured out with the BB. Unfortunately I seem to be having trouble with the transmitter so it was a lot of lugging for no result. Did some maintenance on it today so it's looking good but need to find a helpful electronics store to work out the problem with recharging...

Ended up doing some water handling - asked for quite a bit of effort from the girl so kept it super light and fun. She had a great time but it was cold so I let her run around to warm up. Next thing she was hunting in the reeds, soaked to the skin (head and all!) with teeth chattering. Bloody lunatic :laugh: Rubbed her dry, rugged her up and it was all I could do to convince her it really was time to go home.

Agility today :)

Hope u sort out the BB issue. I find if I let mine sit for a week, especially in winter the charge drains pretty quick, so I just give it a little top up for about a hour before I head out. Probably shouldn't but it drives me nuts if u lug it around for ,nothing.

Yes the water is so cold at the moment, I keep sending rocket into the water on our walks and make it fun, no pressure till spring as I don't want him to sour. The last trial he really didn't want to get in, lucky his drive for the bird overcome it. But will turn around at minus 4 and chase ducks!

TSD, rocket is 19mths and stinger is almost 10, old girl ruby is 12.

RV I can't see your photos either.

Aussielover where a outs in NSW are you? I'm just out of ACT.

[RubyStar]

Ruby and Millie got a pass each today in the novice RATG, earning Millie her NRA title I guess I have some training to do to enter her in the Open one in October!

[FHRP]

:thumbsup: Congrats RubyStar!!

[Ptolomy]

Ruby and Millie got a pass each today in the novice RATG, earning Millie her NRA title I guess I have some training to do to enter her in the Open one in October!

Fantastic Rubystar and I got to see both girls work. Ruby was a little star today.

Livertreats also passed with her borrowed red boy Strauss - best bit was I got to see it all - thanks Livertreats - a little red handbag really suits you

[RubyStar]

I was very chuffed with Ruby. Her first retrieve was just gorgeous. Marked it beautifully, was straight there and back, nice delivery Her second took a little hunting but again found it and delivered nicely. Nice to see her enjoying it :)

Millie's first retrieve she marked quite well, but decided to play with it by tossing it into the air a few times as she approached me. Some convincing words got her to stop being a twat and delivered to hand :laugh: Second retrieve she hunted a bit short, came back to me empty mouthed, so I sent her off again and she got it. Delivered beautifully this time

Ruby needs one more pass. Not sure if I'll enter Millie in the open test yet, depends if I can get a chance to take her training! She's had some training for it already, but lots to be done still.

Strauss did fantastically! All the dogs today did, all getting passes

[The Spotted Devil]

Fantastic! Congratulations to you all - RubyStar, Livertreats and Ptolomy

I have been a bit slack in here but have been keeping the training up.....mixing up single marks, cold blinds, handling drills and agility! Bumper Boy transmitter battery is stuffed and I have someone working on a solution for me as it is specifically made for the BB and difficult to replace. I really want to do some water work with Em but it is just freezing!!! We have been training in as many different environments as I can think of with trees, cover etc to keep her thinking. Confidence in cold blinds has gone through the roof - I set up 3 yesterday....first was over bare ground and up on a small mound and she did that without a command. Second was through quite a bit of thick cover and on bare ground and the little bugger did that in one go as well - she took a much, much better line through the heavy cover than she normally does and consequently came out in a really good spot. Third blind was on the edge of cover - she nearly ran straight past but one right back got her in there. No popping, no hesitation - just lots of flapping ears :laugh: There were LOTS of water birds and rabbits around too so I'm really pleased with her enthusiasm to pick up boring old dummies.

The other thing I've noticed when I'm handling her in heavily treed areas is that, when she stops to the whistle, she immediately turns around but if she's behind a tree for example shuffles before sitting so that she can see me. Quite clever I reckon!

Edited June 24, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Started on some angle water entries on Tuesday....it went pretty well although I must remember to take a special something out of the freezer to use as a reward next time :D Didn't do too much as it was bloody cold when the wind whipped up!

Yesterday was a short but effective session with my helper throwing dummies for us. Started with a couple of doubles which went perfectly fine. Then moved on to a 2 bird - as is her new habit Em sat when I fired at the dummy with my stick and then I had to call her in. Happy with that as she had a very good look at it. Left her sitting in a "hide", walked out and placed a cold blind, returned, rewarded, left her in the hide, walked the opposite direction, fired at the blind with my stick, called her up, had Mr TSD throw a mark, send for mark, send for blind. Took a very nice line through cover and over a log and needed 2 left overs to get her to the dummy. She wanted to hunt in cover so it took some convincing that it was much easier than that! On her return she purposely attacked the cover when she could have easily cheated so I was really happy.

[rubyroo]

Hi all! We hit a problem trialling last week, the water was too cold and rocket wanted to run banks and not get in! We were told we would get hit more (losing points) if we let the dog run the bank, so should stop them and get them to go in we're they are supposed to (this is novice, lucky I can stop him!). So after lots of stopping and overs and backs he got in the water where he was supposed to, so that was great. The next day I'm not sure if he saw the bird fall, I know he heard it but was very focused on the thrower. He ran the bank looked over, I'm sure he knew it was there. And just kept fart arsing around. SO what do you do? Do you go down and make him get in at a 90* angle (this run has a very big angle but enoughh scrub and trees around to justify it) and just not let him get away with it. Or do you retire him for the retreive no reward no bird? I made him get in, when he finally got in he found a nest of ducks, fat chance he was picking the bird up, ignored every 'here' and come in whistle. After holding everyone up for some time, I thought I was going to have to go swimming, a dog was sent across to pick up the bird. Rocket was not impressed and decided to fisty cuff him for it, what a disaster, no one was hurt, very embarrassed.

[The Spotted Devil]

Hi rubyroo - it's a tough call in a trial. There have been times when I've handled to keep Em in the water and other times when I've realised the situation was beyond what I've trained for and just taken the points hit. The last trial made me realise we hadn't done much on angle entries - didn't worry about it at the time but now I'm training for it. You don't want to put pressure on them in a trial when they don't understand what you're asking. There's a chance you will end up with a dog that mouthes the game too. It's bloody cold now so it's a big ask for a youngster to choose the more difficult correct line. You want to make training sessions in this situation super short, clear and rewarding.

I think it's a judgement call you have to make - you know the dog and understand where his training is at. After each trial I think about the things we did really well (keep revising and stretching her on these eg longer, quicker, cover, distractions), the things that weren't that great (break these down into their smallest parts and build up) and the things we weren't asked to do (breathe a sigh of relief and double check we know them).

Fisticuffs with another dog is not good but, personally, I would never send Em as pick up unless the other dog was under control. Just too much room for error.

[rubyroo]

Thanks TSD. You make sense of it all nice to have another opinion. Definitely trying to eliminate all pressure as I've had the disappointment of a bird chomper and don't want to go down that road again. I am up to water work in training but it was just getting to cold to push the issue. He will still go in in the morning chasing ducks or fun dummies, but too cold for drills just want to make it as pleasant as possible. No more trialling for us this year I don't want him to learn he can't do whatever he wants come trial day. Like you said short and fun sessions, he really gets excited about it all. Totally agree on the last point, he has always been a little too confident and will take anything out of anyone's mouth if he thinks he should have it!

His blind work is coming along nicely I have several spots (,memory blinds) we do every other day and he gets so excited when I call him in for them, he knows what's coming, makes me happy he gets so much enjoyment out of it. His overs are getting a little better moved to a different location today, it went well.

Have a great weekend!

[The Spotted Devil]

Sounds like he is coming along well - different dogs mature at different rates too :)

I had a very productive day out yesterday at different grounds. Very open so it was a good opportunity to stretch her on distance and work on concepts. Started with 3 cold blinds. Picked them up from right to left. First one in the reeds on the edge of a small body of water - set up so tackling the water wasn't part of the equation. About 100m, this went pretty well - she was as fresh as a daisy after a relatively quiet Saturday so momentum was high and control was not quite as tight - whistle stops were a bit slow. A nice warm up for the next one which was looong for us - about 150m up on a slope near a tree. She took a super line for about 80m before the contours started to kick her off to the right. It was hard work getting her to take a straight back up the hill so that's now on my To Do list! As it was such a long blind I walked after her so as not to lump. Eventually she got it but it took quite a few casts - very pleased though as her attitude was great and she didn't give up at any point. Third blind was about 80m and, whilst I didn't send her on a very good line, she picked it up with a couple of casts. All in all, she was challenged, I stayed relaxed and I think we both felt pretty good about it!

After a good rest we did a bit of pile work to check on 2 birds and introduce the double fall. Funny little thing is so used to doing cold blinds that pile work confused her all over again :laugh: Didn't do too much - will concentrate on that and relocations another day. The sun came out (for a change) so I finished off with some angle water entries. That is tough for her so I kept it super simple seeing as it was on a different pond. Dried her off, gave her a good run around, threw a coat on her and gave her a pig's ear....I reckon that made it all worth doing :D

Had a lovely lunch and then cuddled some puppies - Em less than impressed with the latter....except when she got to clean out their dinner bowls :D