Retrieving & Field Training Talk

[The Spotted Devil]

OK, so Monday/Tuesday was a complete right off with darn Uni getting in the way! On Wednesday I had a very narrow window between Mr TSD arriving home and getting to work in the evening so it was a mad dash to the same place as Sunday. Ran 2 sets of double marks again but Mr TSD swapped "ends" and I had him throw the opposite way. It was not easy getting a decent angle between the 2 retrieves but we did our best. First go to mark was at a testing angle through a pond - so, so pleased with her effort as the correct line was also a very difficult exit to the dummy but she dragged herself up the bank and through the heavy reeds and came back the same way. Second mark was through heavy cover so it threw her line a bit - when she came out the other side I did stop and cast as I really didn't want her going back to the old fall. Moved sideways so both marks were through the heavy cover. The go to mark was pretty good actually and the memory mark was a great learning curve. She again came out a bit wonky so I stopped and cast her - Mr TSD told me that she actually spied the dummy JUST before I whistled her but she stopped anyway so I was really pleased. She must have smashed through some prickly cover as by the time she got back to me her cute little liver nose was bleeding - we called it a day and the bleeding stopped soon enough. The wagging didn't though :laugh:

Thursday I could only manage agility with the dogs so today I struck something off my To Do list and did a series of drills - concentrated on left and right backs up a hill. Started by extending distance Em to the hill and then progressed it to "around the clock". That absolutely blew her mind initially but then she got it and was fine. For the last one I set her up on one side of the water, crossed to the other side and sent her back from there. Amazing how a change to the "picture" can really do their head in - she really wanted to swim across and show me how clever she was at not cheating! Got there eventually and ran a few more similar exercises through cover and over a small creek. Need to revisit today's session but they were much improved.

ETA: Forgot to say that the little smart @r$e know-it-all got so super impatient the third time I set her up and walked away that she gave an almighty excited BARK as if to say "hurry up dammit!" I was laughing so hard on the inside but quietly walked back, gave her a NRM and slipped her lead on. She was SO shocked it was hilarious :laugh: I let her stew for a few minutes and then asked if she'd like to "try again". Dead silence for the rest of the training session

Edited August 2, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Mad dogs and retrieving folk train out in the pouring rain...

A visit to several ESS aficionados started with a flat tyre (gah!) and finished with a brief but productive training session on game. Did I mention it was pouring with rain :laugh:

3 cold blinds. See how she runs....first one was pretty straightforward - a nice confidence builder straight out and straight back. She hesitated at one point and nearly popped (we've been doing a lot of control work) but quickly realised I wasn't going to help and flew off on the correct line again. The second one was set up to work distance and the line was through contours that helped drive her onwards. Looking back I now realise she was getting a good whiff of the third blind as she veered right twice. Stopped and took left backs cleanly though and picked it up no problem. Third blind was harder - land, down a small hill then a super cheaty pond that she'd never seen before. She pulled to the right and it took a couple of handles to get her in the water but then she was fine. I wasn't overly impressed but I had meant it to be challenging so broke it down a bit. Replaced the game, set her up in a sit facing me and cast her back into the pond. Again she took a bit of convincing. Ran it again and it was heaps better. Ran it one last time, she was spot on and I whooped with delight. She was so pleased with herself - I threw the game as a reward, let her have a good shake and then returned it so she could carry it back to the car. Fortunately the water was reasonably warm despite the miserable conditions so it didn't take much to warm her up. I had a nip of single malt with my back to the fire :D

[The Spotted Devil]

This morning I dragged Mr TSD away from his coffee for long enough to throw some single marks (on game) for Miss E. We used the abandoned golf course as it's heavily treed with small patches of sky as a background....it took some careful planning and lots of explanation to ensure we had a sighted mark but it was worth it. Lots of hard running, good depth perception and efficient hunting....hopefully I don't ruin her marking again!!! I let her carry the last retrieve back to the car - I don't think I have ever seen her trot so calmly!

[rubyroo]

Great weekend TSD. Rain is just no fun. We had Icey cold winds and also no fun. Rocket is also starting to pop on memory blinds, I wasn't happy and had to keep calling him back and re sending him, I think my fault as he hadn't had a good run first and obviously a few roos had been through over night, the 3 of them were going crazy. But I asked him to do a job and he didn't want to, and I wasn't going to let him give me the bird! I've found another property nearby which I've been given access to so I must make the most of it before it warms up. I'm very excited to try some new exercises! It's not easy trying to find clear sky at times, I still manage to hit most trees, luck they have been coming down! Also enjoying a glass of red in front of the fire, love winter!!

[The Spotted Devil]

So did he give you the bird literally or figuratively? :laugh:

Lucky you having another property to train on!

[rubyroo]

That just doesn't make any sense at all! :laugh: (Let him get away with it). Stoopid auto correct! May be I was on my second glass of red!

[The Spotted Devil]

Far be it from me to accuse someone of making no sense after a couple of glasses of wine! It would be a clear case of Pot. Kettle. Black :D

[The Spotted Devil]

Still cold and drizzly today but we made the most of it.

3 cold blinds on game....not too bad all up and I threw a mark after the first one. I am taking more time to line her - she's coping with that better but I'm still learning to read her. Em thought she knew better than I once or twice but it's always a balance as there was not a hint of popping. I put the 3rd one up on a small log and that confused her a bit so I finished with a hot blind that she watched me place but didn't realise was on an even higher log. She pulled up right in the area, I could see she smelt it but was a bit confused and bolted on when she couldn't find it. Called her in and told her to find it. She kept hunting and then looked up. She had to find a way to scramble up on the log but was certainly rewarded for her efforts. The whole session was on a very steep hill so she worked hard.

She was so unimpressed when I did some weaving back at home with Zig that I let her have a session too. A mad gallop up the back and an on leash impatient bounce through the forest to finish her off. Zig gets to run free because he will call off kangaroos. Em's not quite there yet, especially at dusk.

Edited August 6, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Mr TSD had an early day at work so grabbed him on my "lunch break" for a good session on game.

Drove to a local tourist spot on the mountain and, fortunately, it was deserted. I set out pegs for Mr TSD so he could throw a double exactly where I wanted him to - saves yelling :laugh: Took the cap gun with me as well and used an agility jump as a gun. Both those additions sent Em through the roof! Tested steadiness first - left her in a hide, walked out, fired the gun, mucked around a lot replacing the cap, walked back to her and rewarded. She bounced all the way to the firing pegs. Watch the short mark (right). Leave. Wait for Mr TSD to get in position. Watch the long mark (left). Get the long mark. Get the short memory mark. Long mark was a bit average - suspect it was all the waiting around at the pegs but it is good experience. Memory mark was really good. Did the same thing again but reversed our positions so Em and I were at the bottom of the slope looking up. Long mark was SO much better - I thought she marked it spot on but she took a little longer to pick it up than I expected. Turns out it landed in heavier cover than planned so it took a bit of hunting out. Memory mark was good. Packed up and drove 150m down the road....set up a rather long cold blind and had Mr TSD all lined up to throw a 2 bird on her way back. Tested for steadiness in the hide first as before. The line to the blind wasn't brilliant to begin with and she's so quick I barely had time to get her heading in the right direction. Whistle sits were a bit sloppy today and I notice her backs are much better than her rights/left.....guess what I've been practicing! Wasn't too bad in the end but I know what I need to tighten up. As she came back, the mark went up and I "shot" at it. She had a very good look, came running back and really, really wanted to deliver whilst sitting at heel as she didn't want to take her eye off it. I asked her to deliver correctly, then lined her up and sent her. It wasn't a tough mark at all - just a concept but it did what I had intended it to do.

Back to work now :)

Edited August 7, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[rubyroo]

Great TSD! You just can't neglect a concept can you? She is a smart little girl! Waiting is good, teaches patience I was watching my training DVD today whilst ironing (damn magic fairy just never seems to show her head around here!). And decided that I need to start work on my double T before the weather warms up and can concentrate on water. So I started with some obedience, 'what's that, says rocket, I'd much rather watch what the cows are doing because I know there are rabbits where they are! Talk about being back to square one! we did nothing but heel, and a few fetch from the ground. But it was a start and sort of good, he didn't give me 100% but did, unwillingly, do as he was told. So tomorrow we will do same again, and try for a little more compliance. On our walk he found a dead bird in the paddock and thought he won the best prize ever, took some convincing for him to hand it over but once he did I just set him up for some blinds, and he had a ball. Must go back and do some work on hold he didn't mark the bird but was getting rather rough rolling it. Till tomorrow!

[The Spotted Devil]

Smart @r$e sometimes :laugh: When I returned to reward for steadiness in the hide yesterday I noticed that she had cleared a path with her tail wagging that went about an inch deep. Funniest thing

rubyroo - you're so right about the concepts!!! Good work on modifying your training session. It's great to have a plan but it's even better to be flexible when things go pear shaped.

I'm fitting a lot of life in at the moment - working some nights, some days, study and training! Today I ran Em on a mix of hot, luke warm and cold blinds (game) just for lining and confidence. First was easy across shallow water/heavy cover and second was through heavy, cheaty cover. Both were great although she took quite a tumble on the way to the second one - a serious Evil Kinevil effort that made my heart skip a beat but she just rolled through it and kept running flat out on the same line Third was a short channel swim through a lot of live birds (tough!!!!) and took a few handles going out and the last was across a half run/half swim kind of river-ish bit, on the top of a hill. She was rather feral but we had a lot of fun. The game racked up a lot of frequent flyer points this week so it was time to bid it farewell. Drove to agility training and Em was a bit wet still so warmed her up with a quick game of walking baseball. Both dogs did agility and then on to my puppy games class as demo dogs. Boy did they earn their chicken frames tonight!

[rubyroo]

Well we finally had a great arvo session! :D took all 3 for a run around to get the sting out of them. The 2old farts got locked in the back of the truck, and surprise, no screaming, no jumping over fences, finally peace and quiet rocket and I went back to the front paddock with a long rope and 3 dummies. Just did some walking fetch, here,sit. He got a few fun ones for being good, and a reminder when he thought he would go water the trees. I think he has decided that he will come and sit first then he can go pee on what he wants providing there isn't a dummy in his mouth. We did a few repeats of this and he was really enthusiastic, so that was great. I then threw 3 marks and lined him up and he nailed every one of them, came and sat. It really made such a difference without the other dogs there, we had a lot of fun together, I really need to build on this relationship. While I was getting their dinner he had to sit with a frozen pigeon in his mouth, I want him to realise which he can eat and which he can't, he wasn't to fussed on the bird, but did hold and got rewarded. A successful afternoon! Cheers!

[The Spotted Devil]

Wonderful to hear rubyroo! Build on that relationship

We are camping and Em has stolen my bed already :laugh:

[rubyroo]

It's too cold to camp

[The Spotted Devil]

Cold and BLOODY WINDY

Having fun though :D 2nd place today. Beaten by a point. Again :laugh: 3 tough runs but we really enjoyed the challenge! Just what we needed to expose us to the "real world"

[Ptolomy]

Cold and BLOODY WINDY

Having fun though :D 2nd place today. Beaten by a point. Again :laugh: 3 tough runs but we really enjoyed the challenge! Just what we needed to expose us to the "real world"

is that 2nd place in AA? Wow raising a glass to you and Em - well done

[The Spotted Devil]

No freaking way Although thanks for the confidence vote!

[rubyroo]

Congrats to you both!,

[The Spotted Devil]

Thanks rubyroo! Another great day today - 3rd place, 1 point behind 2nd place and 4 points off 1st place. It suits us very well NOT to win at this stage and just get more experience in Restricted.

Friday night, the wind whipped up at 1am and no-one at the campsite got much sleep. I was very impressed with how my tent and shower tent stood up to the battering but was looking forward to the "wind easing" forecast at 5am Saturday. Unfortunately it didn't ease until about 8pm Saturday night!!!! Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day and the usual late night chat and drinks didn't take off at all. I had dinner by 6pm and was asleep before 9pm which is unheard of :laugh: Sunday was much more pleasant fortunately.

Absolutely beautiful property - we could have 3 runs without moving the vehicles as there was just so much to choose from. Oh to have a week of training there!

Saturday - runs were much tougher than either of the 2 Restricted trials we've finished but I was delighted by the challenges. Em and I learnt so much.

Run 1 - shoot at the mark right to left. Leave. Pick up the blind. Pick up the mark. We lost several dogs on this run as it was a pretty tight angle and the suction to the mark was too much, particularly with the wind blowing the scent of the mark right at then. Em got sucked in once or twice but I stopped her quickly enough to get out of trouble. My handling could have been better but she was quick to stop and cast well. At one point I cast her left back, she took a right instead, immediately realised it was wrong and stopped before I could blow my whistle - very funny stuff - I didn't mind what I called the "thoughtful pop". Picked up the blind ok and then did a super job on the memory mark - up and down contours and hunted right in the area. We got pinged for some over exuberance in this first run....I lined her for the blind, said "blind" and before I could say "back" she was off! Pulled herself up very quickly and I called her back to heel. Did the same on the memory mark but was fine after that....just a bit edgy on the first few retrieves of the weekend!

2nd run - no-one did much good on this run and we all scored pretty dismally. Very tight double mark. Short mark right to left landing in very cheaty run/swim water. Long mark left to right angled back landing on the 2nd small hill. Pick up the short mark. Pick up the long mark. Every dog desperately wanted the 2nd bird down (long mark) and we all had to handle. I was pleased that I got Em right in front of the water entry then cast her back into the water. She took it which meant that the training had paid off!!! Went into Spaniel quatering mode in the water which tells me she was a bit unsure. She ran quite wide on the long mark - not really sure why - maybe a combination of my lining at the pegs and the contours. I cast her left and she took that straight to the bird.

3rd run - long-ish mark landing on the face of a hill (several contours away). Reload. Send. Em took a great line, attacked the face of the hill, slightly over ran but quickly hunted it up and flew back. Fire at the 2 bird (into water) as she's returning. Em stopped and sat when I fired, watched the bird all the way down and I didn't quite trust her body language so gave a come in whistle as a precaution. She really knew where that one was and tried to deliver at heel. Nope - sorry kiddo! I sent her for the 2 bird and she went like a rocket - at the point where she had sighted it she turned sharply and went straight into the water (it had gone a lot deeper than the others) but she had no problem. Thrilled to bits with this run.

2nd place on 140 one point behind 1st place. Score looks dismal but that probably reflects the 2nd run!

Sunday - another much more challenging day but some simply stunning water to work with.

1st run - double mark. Long mark right to left (land). Moderate mark over water on the upside of the hill. Pick up in any order. Selection was excellent on this run. I sent her for the 2nd mark first - she attacked the water really well until half way over when she spied an easier way out. Decided not to handle. She got out of the water and went straight to the bird and took the same route back. Memory mark, she went a bit wide but seemed to realise and went straight to the area of the fall without a command.

2nd run - long mark left to right requiring the dogs to cross 3 creeks (deep and swimming water). As it's something difficult to train for some of the dogs did the first one or two and then struggled to push past the third one. Em took a nice line across the first two, hesitated briefly and then attacked the third one without any mucking around. As they returned we had a short two bird coming towards us - I had trouble with the gun but got it firing just before the bird hit the ground. Em sat and had a good look. No-one thought she had seen it but I knew she had. She delivered to front (yay) and then took the line angled across the first creek directly to it. Delighted with this run.

3rd run - was certainly our downfall but I would run it the same way if I could do it again. Leave dog at peg. Shoot at the blind. Reload. Call the dog. Moderate mark right to left landing in tussocks. Em grew wings on this one...as soon as she hit the tussocks I couldn't see a thing. I knew she hadn't suctioned to the blind but she was taking too long. Caught a glimpse of her on the exact line but she had run too far. Whistled her in and she picked it up no problem. She was a lot wetter than she should have been :laugh: Blind took more handles than I would have liked but partly due to the initial line. One of my mentors said I did the right thing by not holding too long and asking for momentum rather than the perfect line at her level of experience.

3rd place on 170 points. 2nd place was 171, 1st place (very well deserved) was 174. Judge said how much he enjoyed watching her run - said her focus at the pegs is amazing (that's Em saying "hurry up! hurry up!") Watched the last run of AA, packed up and headed home. Em won't leave me alone tonight....thinks I'll produce another bird for her :D

Edited August 11, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[rubyroo]

You girls have had a great season trialling!! Your re-cap of the weekend is always fantastic, I can just imagine being there. I really enjoy watching the springers work, they have so much enthusiasm, and boy can they run. I'm impressed that she pulls herself up when she knows she isn't on track. She is a smarty pants.

It was a nice weekend here but the wind was just awful. We did a few sessions on a long line, fetch, here, sit. I think is starting to sink in. I used the rabbit skinned dummies, they are his favourite. Holding a pigeon while I'm getting dinner is getting better, he didn't drop it today, I gave it to him when I walked outside and he bought it over and waited. Blasted bunnies keep popping up on our walks, and we just can't help ourselves. I'm having a dreadful time with his ears at the moment, I've finally got one to stop bleeding and now the other has started. I've even covered his collar up to stop it hitting it. Maybe I should tie his ears up!!