Page's training update

EEeeekkkk! Where does time go to these days? I cannot believe it's been three weeks since my last post. Now to update Page's training.

Page -- agility

Page continues to shock and amaze me in agility. She learns incrementally from one lesson to the next. Weaves are a great example. I started training weave using the 2x2 method (I'll never use another method to train weaves). Page learned very quickly moving to 4 straight up poles. Then we trained at the kennel club one day, and I walked by the weave poles and Page dove in them and did 10 continuous poles on her own. Shocked, I asked her for the poles and she weaved all 12.

A week later at our lesson with Jenn at Incredipaws, she worked easily on two sets of 6 poles being rewarded in between the sets. Within a couple of days she was weaving all 12 poles. Here is a video of her last set of 6 poles before working 12:

I love her form in this video, and she looks even better today.

Our lesson with Jenn was great. Jenn started us with one jump to check on our foundation from the ground up, and we progressed to sequence 10 obstacles. I had already identified a few things to work on before the lesson, and I was very pleased that Jenn didn't find anything else I missed.

In addition to weave poles, I needed to work on Page's A frame contact. Over the winter I wasn't able to work that on a low A frame like I had her dogwalk and teeter contact performance. Once my equipment was outside, I was always forgetting to ask someone to help me lower the A frame. So I'd just work Page on the bottom of the A frame, wrapping her into her 2o2o performance.

A week after our lesson with Jenn, we were working at the kennel club when Page kept "asking" to do the A frame. She'd look at it and take a couple of steps to it, and then she'd look up at me like, "can I please??" Finally I said, "OK go do it." She ran to the A frame and I expected her to fly off the middle of the downside like she'd done before. Instead, she ran all the way down the A frame and straight off. I was so surprised she didn't fly off, but she still didn't do what I wanted so I just stood there and didn't react. Page looked at me and it was as if you could literally see the light bulb go off over her head and she said, "OH! Wait a minute!" She turned and wrapped herself back up on the A frame and gave me a perfect 2o2o with a chin touch and then looked back over her shoulder at me with a big smile on her face as if to say, "THAT'S what I was supposed to do, wasn't it!" Wow, talk about problem solving! From that time on, she has been sticking her A frame contact regularly.

The final thing we needed to work on was the rear cross on the flat. This is a tricky one for Page, and it continues to be a work in progress. The other thing that makes the rear cross on the flat tough for Page is how much she prefers her right lead. It makes turning right easier for her and turning left more difficult.

So with all her foundation under her belt, Page was ready to being sequencing. She started classing 8-weeks earlier than I expected. She's easily handling the challenges presented in her first two weeks of class, and I'm learning more things we need to work on as we go.

Page's latest list of homework includes reinforcing startline stays and contact performances. Page loves agility and she's quite fast. She's getting pushy on startlines and contacts. I haven't had a dog like this since Reece, but over the years I've sat on the sidelines and watched many good handlers let their contact and startline performances go for the sake of the almighty Q. Now that I'm the handler with the pushy dog, I can see how easy it is to let that criteria go when your dog is so fast. It's going to take a lot of willpower to make Page honest and hold her positions through proofing, but it's something I need to do for long-term success (versus the short-term rewards of early Qs).

Our other area of homework is becoming a team, which will be an ongoing process. I'm already pleased that Page does read my body language and motion. She is beginning to understand to take the obstacle in front of her, but she's not solely obstacle focused. Getting forward motion out of her isn't hard, but I can tell reading lateral motion will be a work in progress for some time.

In all, I'm very pleased with Page's agility training. She's easily 3 months ahead of my earliest predictions for her. Now it's up to me to keep working on handling drills and consistent criteria for startlines and contacts.

Page -- field

Page's field training has been intense during the spring. She has done lots and lots of pile work to build her worth ethic and deliver to hand. It's paid off! She now enjoys pile work, thinking it's fun. When she ran into trouble with large bumpers, she only worked large bumpers. She did pile work through heavy cover and changes of cover. She did pile work through lots of decoys. And she did pile work with ducks.

After a visit to Mitch's in late April, we did pile work on water. Page handled this very easily. In training she still wants to drop the bumper or duck at the edge of the water to shake off and then she'll come in to heel and deliver to hand. I've been working on this with a "hold" command and meeting her at the water's edge, but attrition hasn't totally fixed this. It's something we'll continue to work on.

Page is ready for transition, and I have sent her to more than one bucket once. Her lining is fantastic. However, with hunt tests coming up, I'm going to hold her where she is and not throw anything new at her. Page's water set ups looked great this month, and she lines her marks regardless of what is in her way. I'm pleased with her courage and marking ability.

December field training update

I want to take time to post about our field training this month. Yes, it’s December, and it’s been really, really cold. But training doesn’t stop in the winter; it just changes (and hopefully gets shorter in duration)!

In early December, five of us took our dogs to Gamekeepers Retrievers for a day and half of training. It was good timing, even though it was very cold (I don’t remember feeling my toes most of the two days; I have since bought insulated boots!). I gave Devon time off from field training since mid-October when she passed the WCX for the second time. She was fresh and ready to go after time off, and I needed guidance on how we should move forward for Master.

In Page’s case, I was on the fence about her training, and I wanted Mitch’s advice. Page had been a solid worker and breezed through her force fetch. But when she hit 7 months, she started having “puppy brain farts” when it came to field. Her tracking training held up, but when we worked field she acted at times like she’d never had any training and was just a puppy out for a play session.

I was at the point of doing pile work, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to push thru the pressure of pile work with her at this time. I wasn’t sure Page was mature enough to handle it; and if she wasn’t ready due to maturity, I didn’t want to push through it and have residuals later in her training. So because I wasn’t sure what direction to go, I also gave her time off from field during October and November.

In talking through this with Mitch before we started our lesson, he said (as I expected) he thought she just needed her “driver’s license taken away,” but that he would look at what she was doing and Page went on the list for pile work. We worked a pile at 40-50 yards. Page looked more solid than she had in October. But after about 4 bumpers, Page started doing a little of the head flicking and playing with the bumper I’d seen before.

Mitch gave interesting advice: “Stop praising her. Make your commands almost robotic.” I did, and instantly her work ethic got better. I saw immediate results, and I knew the dog training behind the advice: Page didn’t need my praise because retrieving was enough of a reward.

It wasn’t until the drive back to the hotel, that I processed the training session and it solidified in my mind. I always do the my best thinking about our training sessions after I leave when I can sit back and analyze what I’ve been told.

Page in field is like a high-drive Border Collie in agility. You know the ones who are wicked fast and higher than a kite wanting to do the job. The most successful handlers of these dogs are the most quiet, laid back people you ever met. They have to be. The minute one of these handlers starts to panic and emotionally ramp up, the dog’s energy and drive goes through the ceiling and the run is usually a train wreck! But the handlers who quietly and methodically drive their dogs through the course are the most successful.

So, the advice Mitch gave me makes total sense. Page is rewarded by the work. The minute I start my happy praise voice, she gets revved up and starts being goofy, flipping her head and the bumper around and acting silly and sloppy in her work. She doesn’t need my praise and it’s actually more distracting to her. If I calmly and methodically work her through the drills, she works very well.

The only other thing to work on with Page is going back to the force fetch table with real ducks. She wasn’t confident picking up the ducks like she is the bumpers. This was something I realized back in late-September/early October. It shouldn’t take too much time to revisit. And after that is complete, we’ll finish Page’s pile work this winter

As for Devon, she started angle back casting. We did a split cast drill, which she handled beautifully and even worked discipline casting on this drill. We also worked a poison bird drill, which she also did very well. The hardest part of this drill was when Mitch actually used ducks as the poison birds. Devon broke for the poison bird the very first time, but Mitch was fast and knocked it out of her mouth with a verbal correction. After this correction, even though she really wanted the poison bird, Devon had been convinced she should listen to mom and not get it until told to!

Getting There, A Retriever Trainers Symposium

On December 19, I went to a one-day symposium given my Mitch at Canine Sports in Vermillion, Ohio. This was a wonderful day of learning about Senior and Master Hunter tests. Mitch did a great job of describing the tests and the rules, as well as what we could expect at these tests.

In going through the requirements for the tests and various examples of tests, it hit home why I needed to work certain drills in preparing for Senior and Master. Devon and I were ready for Senior this fall, but there were several drills we didn’t do that would have helped her and I need to do for Page. Specifically, I need to work lining drills around and past gun stations. This is a weakness for Devon, since she’s so friendly she thinks the gunners need at least a smile and sometimes a wag. Running blinds between and near gunning stations during Master will be tough for Devon without this foundation.

I also got a better understanding of teaching marking concepts. I am blessed with extremely good marking dogs. But I can give them an advantage by actually training the concepts. Mitch did a great job of outlining these concepts and talking about how to teach them to the dogs and then move them to the field environment.

The reason I like Mitch’s program is the amount of teaching he does. This teaching of foundation elements is parallel to the way I train agility, obedience and tracking. For example, many field trainers throw the dogs into the field and run set ups with various types of marks. They work the dogs in these situations until they think the dog “gets it” and then they test. A parallel to this type of training would be working a whole obedience exercise from start to finish or just running courses in agility. There is a time and place for doing this, but it’s during the “proofing” or “testing” phase of your training, not the teaching phase.

In the teaching phase of training, you break down the exercises into their component parts. This is obvious in obedience exercises and agility. And moving it to field, you can start teaching marking concepts on short grass with obvious gunners (even dressed in white) and shorter distances. Once the dog learns these concepts you can add hidden gunners and then field type factors for the “proofing” and “testing” phase.

I really appreciate the Gamekeeper’s program because it teaches first and then tests. It recognizes the dog’s ability to problems solve and appreciates that the dog is a responsible member of the team. You as the handler may be the coach of the team, but your dog has responsibilities as the key player on the team. And when you are both well trained, you step to the line as a team to be tested.

Where are the BIRDS???

Some friends met Thursday for field training in preparation for our club's WC/WCX test. Devon is entered in the WCX test to support the club and have a fun day since she passed her WCX last year. I had entered Page in the WC test, but I pulled her entry after last weekend's adventures. I didn't want to continue any bad habits in a test situation.

I arrived late, so I ran Devon quickly before going out to throw for everyone else. Devon got out of the truck and immediately stepped to the line to run a perfect triple. What a great girlie! At the end of the set-up, I decided to run Page on each mark as singles with bumpers. I hadn't planned on running her, again not wanting to continue bad habits. However, since it was a training session I knew I could make her mind and thought it might be a good idea.

Page flew out to the first mark, but had a long hunt for it. I expected it since the other dogs had searched for this mark due to the wind pushing scent over a little hill. However, my friends were quicker than I was to pick up on why her search was so long - Page didn't want any stupid old bumper when she could smell that the other dogs got BIRDS!!

Yep, I ran Page right after we threw real ducks for Archie on those marks! Poor Page. After she finally realized she wasn't going to find any birds out there, she did pick up her bumper. She did a super job retrieving the other marks. We changed the set-up and she again did a fantastic job of precision marking.

Being obedient to come back in heel position instead of returning to the general area she selects does need some work. I'm going to revisit walking fetch for a couple of days and then move back to pile work. Being consistent with pile work and drills this fall should work through her reluctance to play the game my way!

Page is going to be so much fun to run, but she will question me every step of the way! So different from Devon, but she will make me a better trainer!

Devon's final hunt test of the season

Devon was entered in a one-day Senior test on Sunday. I was very worried she would not be a good dog on Saturday when Page was running. One of Devon's very few bad habits is being destructive when I take another dog out to train or trial. Devon's specialty is pulling whatever is in a 12-inch radius of her crate into the crate and shredding it. I've done a good job of creating a dead zone around her crate, but she still manages to snag a poop bag every once in a while and I find it in pieces in the crate. It's amazing how many little pieces a 1-gallon bag can be shredded into.

However, Devon did a good job on Saturday maintaining control. I think the bark collar I put on her first thing Saturday morning had something to do with her positive attitude.

We woke up to more rain on Sunday, after it rained all day Saturday. UGH, I was sick of being wet. Even worse, there wasn't enough workers for the Senior test. Our judges had to set the test up by themselves. The test was supposed to start at 8 a.m., but by 8:30 a.m. we only had 10 handlers. I grabbed a catalog and started checking people in as Marshall, and the judges asked if anyone could run a gunning station since we needed one more worker.

We adjusted the running order to work around handlers working and suddenly no one wanted to go first. I decided what the heck and I wrote myself in first. It's a good test of the dog and handler to go first, and since we'd titled the week before, I had nothing on the line.

Our judges gave us a lovely doable Senior test. As the judges proved last week, you don't have to kill Senior dogs and handlers with near-master level tests to weed out the dogs who should pass and the ones who shouldn't. This was the same husband-wife judging team who had seen Page and I on Saturday, and I was determined to make sure they saw I could train a Golden since they also worked Goldens!

Devon was solid on the walk up. She lined her go bird and locked easily on her memory bird. The memory bird was in the same spot as one of the Junior marks the day before. Devon pulled up early and turned toward the gunning station. When she reached it, she did a 180 (not before giving them a tail wag) and went directly to her mark. She hadn't done that in ages, and I think she was just getting some ya-yas out being first on the line and being cooped up the day before.

We walked over to the blind. She locked pretty quickly and took a nice initial line. It was too bad she wasn't later in the running order, or she might have lined it. She went a little right of the line, I let her carry it, but then stopped her. She obeyed and took a nice left over. However, I stopped her a little late for the back. I had an epiphany here, realizing I have been waiting to whistle when she's on the line. I need to whistle earlier and stop her short of the line to prevent her overshooting to the opposite side.

She started working back, but now was a little to the left of the line. I gave her a whistle, but she ignored it. She was getting farther left and ignored a second whistle. The third whistle she obeyed, but by this time she had smelled the bird. She never looked at me but her head was turned in the correct direction and I knew she was going to go, so I gave her the over and she hunted up the bird.

It wasn't the prettiest land blind she's ever done, but it was good enough. We moved back for the honor. Devon is solid on honors, but she pounced her front feet like she was going to go when the memory bird hit. My heart stopped, but I didn't react (I think I was numb) and she was solid until we were released. Not a bad land series for the first dog!

I went back to work behind the judges bagging birds for the rest of the land series. I love doing this job, since you can see so much of the handling and the way the test runs. That being said, I was pretty tired after another 28 dogs! At least I got lunch!

They called 20 dogs back to water. Fortunately, the day had cleared, but the wind was continuing to swirl from all directions as it had on land. The judges worked to reset the water test, telling us we'd like it better than what they had originally planned.

I did like it. It was a straight-forward double with the go bird up on the opposite side of the bank and the memory bird visible in water. The blind was almost straight across the pond, where I had "suggested" the judge put it when he was setting up (I didn't think he'd listen!).

It was not a pond I expected Devon to like. It had stumps and lilies in it. It was dark; but it did have grass along the bank. She prefers grass to set her precious blond feathers on than mud. This time we ran "in order" which put me near the end.

We walked up to the line, and Devon was ready to go. She did a good job going down into the water, swimming across, pulling up on the opposite bank and giving a short hunt for her bird. She lined up a little buggy for her memory bird, and I kept pulling her to my right thinking I was giving her the best line. I figured she would be buggy and was ready for a handle into the water, but Devon surprised me by going straight in and straight to her bird.

Wow! That was an improvement. The judge even laughed and said the reason she was buggy was because she couldn't see the bird the more I pulled her to the right because of a bush. Gee, maybe I should give my dog more credit.

So she aced the marks, and now to the blind. Devon again surprised me by going straight into the water for the blind when she usually cheats the bank. Maybe that water work last week helped! She got halfway out and pulled to a point of land to the left. I whistled for a sit to give and over, and she ignored it. Four whistles later and she finally sat. I waited, then cast her right over and she went left! Devil! That was now five refusals! I gave her two more whistles to sit and she ignored them, getting farther away from her bird in her attempt to hunt it up because she thought she knew best.

That was it - I hated to do it, but it was time. I gave her a come in whistle and called her in. She didn't deserve to get the reward and in my mind we'd already failed with that many refusals. The devil ignored me and took off around the back of the pond. She was hunting! Even worse, she found the bird by cheating the bank and coming in behind it. She finally got wet and swam back to me with the bird.

The one judge came flying out of his chair, saying, "You couldn't get her to sit! You couldn't even get her to sit!" He couldn't believe I was calling my dog in. His wife and co-judge who had been standing behind me turned and answered for me. She said, "nope, there was no way!" He went on to tell me I didn't want to see the scores we had left in the book and that she was one of the best working dogs of the entire test. He couldn't believe I'd called her in and not tried to hack it out.

Now I know what Mitch feels like when he picks up one of his dogs. There are times he's done the same thing because he knew a dog wasn't working with him. He's rather sacrifice the pass than sacrifice the training. Frankly, that's the kind of trainer I want to be. I want to be more worried about my dog's training than a Q or a pass. It's a hard thing to do, but you have better dogs for it.

In the end, I explained we already had the title and we'd been testing four weekends in a row. The judges agreed that's why I saw what I did on the blind. She was getting test wise and needed a break.

So that's what we're doing this week - giving Devon a little break. She'll get set ups on Thursday and a WCX test in a couple of weeks. But now our focus turns to tracking and agility and obedience. We'll work on refining some skills this winter and then hit it again next spring. We're definitely headed to Master, so I still have work ahead of me!

And even though I had two bad girls walking off the line this weekend, I smiled all the way to the car with both. Devon gave me a great hunt test season, and I know she loved getting her ducks. She works her guts out for me, and I can't ask for much more than that!

Page's first hunt test (and last for a while)

Ok, I know. Page is 7 months old. She's a baby! But she was doing really, really well with her training so since Devon was entered in Senior tests, I decided (with Mitch's reluctant blessing) to put her in two weekends of hunt tests.

About 10 days before the test, Page showed signs of going through a fear period. She got confused running an in and out of water mark and shied at a decoy which isn't like her at all. Then last week, she got totally confused running very simple water marks with a duck. This was enough for me to pull her from the test Oct. 3-4 since Devon was already pulled from that weekend and the test wasn't closed.

On the Thursday before the test, she ran very nice land marks, but on one land mark she stopped 12 ft. from me and didn't want to bring me back the bird. Page doesn't always want to come into heel, but she'd never just decided to keep the bird! We had a little discussion about it, and she saw it my way and gave me back the duck. Problem solved and it didn't come up again.

On water, she again got out of the water on the opposite bank on her water mark. She needed the gunner to help her back into the water. Things were not looking good for her first test!

On Saturday we were the first dog on the line. I wasn't nervous, which was good. Page went out for her first mark fast and straight as an arrow. Then she pulled up short and investigated every spot the test dog stopped to munch on the birds on the way back. After the judge reminded me to breathe, I just stood there and let her work it out. She finally did, and grabbed the bird and brought it back in.

On the way in, she tripped and dropped the bird. She was so shocked, she just stopped, looked at the bird then looked at me like, "Ooops! I didn't mean to do that!" I told her to fetch it up in a positive voice. She grabbed it and came in, but stopped 12 ft. away and didn't want to come it. The devil! After a few more commands from me, she did bring the duck to me and I caught it. Not pretty, but a pass.

The second land mark was better, but this time Page came to me with the bird then looped away and wanted to keep it. I got the bird much more quickly this time, but it still wasn't pretty. Our judges were a husband and wife team, and she said good job. He said nothing. Ooooh, I bet those scores weren't pretty!

On the way back to the car, several people said nice job and I just smiled. One woman, who I figured out was the judge for the next day, asked if I passed. I said yes but it wasn't pretty. She informed me it didn't have to be pretty. I smiled and said, "For me, it does." I decided to run her on water just to see what I had, but I knew then I was scratching her the next day. I wasn't seeing what I wanted to. My goal is more than a JH, so I want a solid dog that I didn't have.

The water test was very nice. Two splashy singles on a pond in the woods. The gunners were very hidden. I thought the bank wouldn't be appealing to run because it had a lot of brush around it. The first mark was 70ish yards and the second shorter.

Page was the second dog to the line for water, and she was beside herself. Waiting and self control are NOT her specialties. Our friend Jan with the girls' cousin Keeper said, "Oh she's so 7 months old!" At that point everyone in the gallery who was standing around said they couldn't believe she was 7 months old. I said, "yep, and I'm never doing this again!"

Then it was Page's turn. I had many visions of what she could do, but I didn't expect what she did do. When I released her, instead of going directly into the water by the path down the 2 ft. drop, she skirted along the bank a few feet and went right through the heavy cover to fling herself into the middle of an arrowhead plant. Instead of freaking her out, she clawed through this thing holding her back from her bird and once in open water, she swam straight as an arrow to her mark. Wow! The perseverance score must have been a 10!

When she reached the duck, she grabbed it, spun in the water and swam straight back to me. Wow! This was the dog I was used to watching! What a girl! Reaching the bank, she came up, dropped the bird to shake, then picked it back up and looking at me standing 4 ft away from her ... that's when she must have thought, "You know, I was the one who swam all the way out there for this bird. If momma wants one, SHE can swim out there and get one!" She took a right turn and walked 6 ft. away from me with her prize.

Nothing was going to get this puppy and her bird back to me. I knew it. The judge suggested I walk backwards, but all that did was give Page the permission to go farther from me. I apologized to the judges, got my dog and retrieved the wet duck. We were done!

There were a lot of good things about that water retrieve. She showed me what she can do and the drive she has to get the birds. I was very happy to see that water confidence. I was also happy she wasn't worried about any of the vegetation in that pond. It was a dark pond, and I can see how some young dogs wouldn't like it. Page didn't give it a second thought.

But in the end she showed me we have a lot more work to do. In talking with Mitch, we agreed she didn't transition smoothly between bumpers and real ducks. I need to get some real ducks and work back through some basics with her. From there, I plan to continue training and teaching drills.

I also want to focus on getting her steady. Just like her momma Bizzy, Page is going to struggle with self control. I saw too many awesome dogs break the honor in Senior the last two weekends not to realize I will have this problem with Page. It will be a new problem for me to work through, since Devon easily understood she was not to go unless sent.

So that's the story of Page's first and last hunt test for a very long while! Someone asked me if I was disappointed in her -- of course not! I was laughing walking off the line on Saturday. I love this little dog, and her only problem was her mother entering her too early. I'm not too proud to admit that, but I'm also smart enough not to repeat it either! We have a lot more work to do, and I'm willing to do it. She's an amazing little girl, and the next time we step to the line we're going to knock it out of the park with all 10s!

Agility Class: Get on your running shoes, Mom!

After a big weekend of hunt tests, Devon spent Monday sleeping and playing with her little sister. Tuesday morning we did some water pile work where she swam across a pond to a pile of bumpers on the opposite side. Mitch suggested revisiting this drill this week to straighten up her water entrances.

Tuesday afternoon I worked and Devon napped on the daybed. At one point I got a phone call and I sat down next to her on the daybed to talk. After a couple of minutes, Devon grumbled, got up and stalked over to a spot on the floor to continue her nap.

Apparently I had distrubed the princess during her nap! Geez! What a grumpy sleepyhead!! She's never grumped at me like that before! I realized she must be very, very tired. I worried about taking her to agility class, but I decided to go and just monitor her energy level.

We were the only big dog in the class last night, so I said I'd run at 16 inches instead of our usual 20 inches since Devon was so tired. I even told them the story of Devon grumping at me. We ran an excellent level course from last weekend's Hamilton Dog Training Club trial. I led out and released Devon from the startline, only to nearly collide with her after the second jump! She exploded off the startline and she was flying! I can't recall a time when I had to run so fast with her!

Needless to say, the entire class laughed pretty hard at me. Devon sure conned me last night! I doubt she will get to run 16 inches very often, because I can't run that fast!

Devon SH!!

Devon earned her AKC Senior Hunter title this weekend by passing both tests. I am just so proud of this dog for putting it together and passing four of six tests in a row. This title once again marks a first for me; Devon has the privilege (or the burden) of being my first certified and titled tracking dog and field dog. Oh the things we've learned together!

Saturday

We finally got a decent Senior test. This one was straight forward and challenging, but it wasn't a killer test that was near Master level. Both birds came from truly hidden gunning stations behind trees. The memory bird (60 yards) landed in a nice mowed path with lots of cover strips in between for the dog to break through. The live flier (80 yards) landed in cover behind a large circular area of light colored grass.

The blind (50 yards) was angled to the left of both marks off to the side and was 50 yards to a bush. The dogs had to drive between two trees then push straight over a mowed path in front of the blind.

We had to walk up to the line and sit the dog when the duck call started behind us. Several of the dogs were confused by the duck call from the line and turned almost missing the first mark down. We've practiced this so Devon only gave a head flick before turning to her mark.

She marked both birds down very well, but as soon as the second mark (the "go bird") hit the ground she immediately turned her head back to the fall of the memory bird. Hummm, now what to do?

You can pick the birds up in any order, and I knew that. However, I waited after the judges called my number (which releases me to work) to send Devon. The pause was enough to get her to swing her head back to the go bird. I gave her another split second to make sure she wouldn't swing back and sent her. Later the poor guy sitting on the honor said to me, "I thought you were never going to send your dog!" I gave him a heart attack and I felt really bad and apologized.

Devon picked up her marks beautifully. She lined up nicely for her blind. I wasn't sure how she'd handle going between the two trees. That's a lot of suction for her and I wondered if she'd power past them or get sucked to one of them. I was very pleased when she powered right between the trees. I could tell she caught the drag-back from the previous dogs and she was on a direct line.

I wondered for a split second if she was going to line the blind, but then she hit the mowed path in front of the blind and pulled right. I whistled and she sat and took one beautiful cast to the bird. Boy she made that look easy!

It was a good thing her land was picture perfect, because water was a little tense. We were in a mucky pond, which Devon hates. The water marks both splashed and were nice distances. Devon went out for the go bird, but once she got into the pond she reverted to being a princess and hating the mud.

The memory bird was near the bank in the shade so it was hard to see. She knew where the memory bird was, but she flared and stayed on the bank when I sent her. I had to whistle her to get into the water, which meant I had to "handle her to the bird." Once she was in the water, she remembered the mark, but I still had to whistle her and cast her to it. She looked quite confused, but I think our discipline casting got us through it.

Now we only had the water blind to get. It was tight to the bank, which is a struggle for Devon. She didn't want to sit on the bank with all the mud, so I had a hard time lining her up. Once sent she stayed on the bank as I expected. I had to put her over into the water, then she locked on the far shore where the "go bird" had landed. I let her swim, but then whistled her back left to the line of the blind.

Once Devon was back on the line I whistled her and had a difficult decision to make. A left back would have spun her toward the shore which I knew would make her shore up. A right back would likely have sent her back out toward where the water mark had been and where she had just come from. I didn't like either option.

I chose a left back, and she did just what I expected and got back on the shore. Three casts later and she still was on the shore but now one over gave her the blind. It was very, very ugly. All positive comments from the judges stopped when she was working the blind. I knew we were on the bubble as far as passing, but I also knew her land work had been very solid and we had the wiggle room.

The other dogs that had run late also struggled with the shore on the blind. Mitch was the last to run and he came down with two Flat-Coated Retrievers. On the way down he asked how I did and I said I wasn't sure but we'd talk later. His first dog Vince did exactly what Devon did, so I got to see the pro work and I "went to school."

Mitch kept Vince out to the right of the blind in more open water. He wasn't on the line of the blind, but it kept Vince out of trouble on the bank until he winded the bird and was cast back left for it. He did the same with his next dog, a younger and less experienced Flat Coat named Louie (who I love). Louie had more cast refusals but still got the bird. I figured his performance was on par with Devon's.

The judges told Mitch Louie did about what most of the last four dogs did. I thought that comment was interesting, because they indicated the last four dogs ran the blind differently and not as well as the first four dogs (only 10 dogs went to water). Obviously they saw a trend as they judged and took it into consideration.

In talking with Mitch later, he said the mud and muck in that pond held a lot of scent which is why the later dogs were pulling to it. This explained why Devon did what she did because she's a tracking dog and follows scent. It was a really good lesson for me to learn, and I was really glad I got to watch Mitch run his two dogs.

That night at the banquet, I was rewarded with our 3rd orange ribbon (Devon already had her reward of six ducks for the day). I'm not sure it was the prettiest pass we had, but it was a pass! In the end 10 of 15 dogs passed, with all the dogs going to water passing.

Sunday

This was another very nice Senior test. The straight forward land test was double with a memory bird of 50 yards and a go bird of 70 yards. The blind was off to the right and about 45 yards. We had a silent walk up and an honor.

I ended up helping as bird boy collecting birds behind the judges for all but four dogs when I ran Devon. It is one of the best ways to watch and learn during a test, and it really helped the time pass. The dogs were wired Sunday morning, and the honor was very tough. We lost about 5-6 dogs when they broke the honor. The way the test mechanics worked, the honor dog had to wait for one gunning station to reset after the blind was run. The dogs who were high got even higher waiting and watching that gunner reset and knowing more birds were coming down.

Devon was wired Sunday morning. She came out of the truck bouncing straight up and down. In the blinds she's usually quiet and leans against me for pets. In the last blind when I took of her leash she was really sassy (see the next post for more details). I knew we were in for a ride, but I wasn't sure if I'd be driving or she would be!

Devon was controlled walking to the line. She marked both birds well and only flicked her head back to the memory bird for an instant before locking on the go bird. Luckily our honor dog held. Devon took a beautiful line to the go bird, and an equally great line to the memory bird. Because she was so wired, I had her hold the bird while they planted the blind and this kept her sane.

Devon three whistled the blind and did a lovely job. She held her honor and made the land test look easy. I knew we once again had very solid marks on land, and once again we needed them for water.

Ok, I'll admit it. I was pretty tense for land. I wasn't nervous, but I really, really wanted that title so tense would be a good way to describe me. Water was tough. It was a deep pond with dead trees and stumps. There was some debris under the water, but not much. I knew Devon wouldn't like this pond any better than the one the day before.

The water double was tight, maybe 45 degrees. The go bird was longer than the memory bird, which was tucked back into a cove on the right; that meant the dogs had to swim past the memory bird for the go bird. If the dogs got the memory bird first, it was a very difficult handle to the go bird in the middle of stumps and dead trees. I knew if Devon didn't get that go bird first on her own, we were sunk.

I lined Devon up differently than every other dog. I lined her up to the far right on the only remaining grass. I had her lined squarely up on the go bird, knowing it was the most important; I could handle to the memory bird. I also knew if she was sitting on grass she wouldn't be worried about her precious princess cream colored butt sitting in the mud.

The birds went down and I sent her on the go bird. My total concentration was having my body indicate the far bird; I even took two steps to the left behind her to make sure she swam that direction when she flicked her head right to the memory bird. Devon was an awesome dog and swam right to the bird. The first step was accomplished.

As I suspected, she once again didn't want to go back into the water for the memory bird and I had to handle her. UGH! She got to the memory bird, so we had two birds down and one more to go. Devon also made me crazy by sneaking up the bank on the way back with the memory bird and coming down the roadway through the gallery and down the path to the line behind us with the bird. I was so proud. At least she didn't set it down to shake on her wayward journey!

As I was lining her up for the blind, the little princess didn't want to sit her butt in the mud again. UGH! My stress level was going up by the second. I finally got her sent, and she flared on the bank needing two overs before I got her into the water. Once in the water she took a line to the left of the blind. I worked to push her right, but it was only slightly successful. She shored up 20 yards to the left of the blind, ignored my last sit whistle and took right directly to the blind along the shore. She knew where it was, the stinker!

Once again, the judges were quiet after the blind. Goodness she made me crazy this weekend. Talk about sweating it out! She has the judges raving about her land work and her marking, and then she does ugly water blinds and makes them start calculating cast refusals! I knew we had done a better job than Saturday and I knew we had lots of room on the water blind, so fingers and toes were crossed for the orange ribbon. And once again Devon had her reward of six ducks for the day. She was thrilled!

Well, the end of the story was at the beginning of the post. Devon passed, and the judges said we earned it. One judge said she was a great little dog (pretty good compliment since he's a Lab guy); and the other said we had to clean up some little things (gee, flaring on the bank and being a princess about mud) but we should definitely go onto Master. Of the 21 dogs who started on Saturday, 12 went to water and eight passed.

As I have said throughout this journey, I have a great dog. She works her guts out for me and we're a good team. This weekend I think she was rewarding herself a little more than listening to me, but we got the passes and we now have another first, a Senior Hunter. Now it's time to get this girl a bath -- she kind of smells!

Training this week

Both girls have had some good training sessions this week. Page did a couple of TD tracks, and she just looks awesome. I can't wait to test her.

Page's marking has also continued to improve. She's retrieving real ducks on marks. Today she had a hill to fight on a long mark, and she let it push her off her line. We repeated the mark to give her a second throw to help her learn to fight the factor. Amazingly, she didn't need the second throw. She fought the factor herself and took a straight line to the bumper.

Page's water marks are beautiful. She even did a mark high on the opposite bank with ease. On both land and water, she's working really hard to bring the duck into my side and sit. It's almost like you can see the wheels turning in her head as she comes in and she's saying to herself, "Must go to Mom's side and sit; must go to Mom's side and sit..." I'm glad to see her effort, because I know it will degrade a bit at a test.

Devon has had as many marks this week as drills. That concerned me until today. Before running set-ups, I did three land blinds in a completely new area. We had several whistles on the long, harder blind when she was distracted with other things out in the field. I didn't give her birds, which she found disappointing.

However, she handled like a dream on the other two blinds. This was the best blind session we've ever had. I threw marks for her to wipe out the blinds. Even so she ran them again to near perfection, even lining the longest one with a flock of birds taking off behind the blind to distract her.

Last weekend's test really took our game to a new, higher level. We're handling as a team now, and I'm thrilled with where we are. This weekend we're off to another hunt test, with Senior both days. The entry is very high, so I expect land to be tough and judging to be tight. They can't carry too many dogs to water, or we will run out of daylight. I'm not worried. We'll work these tests one duck at a time just like we did last weekend!

Lessons learned at our first hunt test (part 2)

Here's some of the random things I learned this weekend. I feel like I had "book" knowledge until this weekend, and now I have the practical experience to go along with it!

• Scalloping isn't a cast refusal. If they take the cast for a few steps then get sucked back on their bad line, you just need to tell them again. A cast refusal is literally turning the wrong way or refusing to sit.
• You can receive a mark back into the holding blind so the bird boy can plant a bird.
• If you've received the bird in the holding blind and they're planting a bird AND you have a very wired dog, leave the bird in her mouth. She's not going to be thinking about going out and getting another duck when she has one in her mouth.
• You cannot repeat verbal casts; you can only give a verbal cast once. In training, learn to break this habit.
• The judges don't judge the return from the mark.
• Don't point out mistakes with your dog. Devon took a huge looping return on a mark and did a fly by of the blind planter. I didn't expect this and still don't know why she did it. I whistled her several times, then gave her big voice "HERE!" commands. Someone in the gallery who is a judge said I was pointing out a weakness where the judges could mark me down in trainability. I should have just continued to whistle her and not call so much attention to it.
• You can only send the dog once on a blind. If the dog no-gos, you can step back and handle the dog from there.

And the biggest lesson: hunt test folks are generally really great people. I didn't travel with anyone this weekend and only knew a few folks at the test mostly in other stakes. I had a great time chatting with the other handlers during the test and made some really good friends. We were all rooting for each other, and it was really nice to get smiles and cheers from the gallery.

Our first Senior Hunt Test weekend was a success (part 1)

Wow, if I could have scripted this weekend, I wouldn't have done much better than how it turned out. Ok, a "perfect" weekend would have been two Senior Hunter passes, but I was way more realistic than that!

The short version is we came out with one orange qualifying ribbon on Sunday. I couldn't be more proud of us for that! But, this blog is about the journey, so this post is about the long version of the story!

I had several goals for this weekend. The biggest and #1 goal was for us to look like we belonged in Senior. I've been around the dog training world long enough to know when a team isn't ready for whatever level they're competing in. It's ugly, and you hear comments like, "Nice dog ... too bad about the handler." I didn't want us to be THAT team.

My next goal was to make it to water on the first day. In Junior and Senior tests, you usually have a land "series" and a water "series." You have to pass the first series, usually land, to get invited to continue to play the game. I didn't really expect to pass our first test, but I wanted to play the game as long as we could. I didn't want to go out early.

From there, my goal was to pass. I really wanted to finish the weekend with one pass, but I would not have been disappointed if we didn't have a pass if the other two goals were met.

In addition to those three big picture goals, I also had some training goals I wanted to meet during these tests. First was a goal for me: I wanted to handle slowly and deliberately. I wanted to be confident at the line, give Devon lots of time to lock into her blinds, and take my time handling.

The second training goal was much harder. I didn't think going into this weekend that Devon truly understood the concept of blinds. I know she understood handling, and I think she was getting to understand there were sometimes birds at blinds. But I didn't really think she "got" the whole picture. I think she thought blinds were just more drills and not about finding birds.

My goal was that Devon come out of the weekend better understanding that there were two ways to get birds. First there are marks where she sees them fall from the sky. Then there are blinds where I show her how to get to a bird she doesn't know is there.

I think you can kind of call this goal "understanding the test." I know last year during her first day of her first Junior test, she learned about waiting in holding blinds and walking up to the lines and watching the marks fall. The next day and in all future tests she was calm and quiet in the holding blinds until we got to the last blind, and then she was ready to go. She learned how tests worked, and understanding the concepts of blinds was part of understanding the test.

So, with those goals in mind, I'll tell you how we met all of them successfully! First and absolutely most importantly, I kept my head in the right place this weekend. I viewed the whole thing as one big training session. I "worked the test" from the time I took Devon out to potty before going to the hold blinds to walking off the line. I relaxed my shoulders, took deep breaths and just focused on working my dog.

The result was only a few nerves on land on Saturday, which went away the minute I released her for her first mark. I didn't have a single set of nerves the rest of the weekend. It's amazing how you can really think better without being nervous. As a trainer, this is a fantastic place to be. I'm that way with agility and all my other sports, so it's nice to get to this place so quickly in field work.

When I lined Devon up for a very tough blind, I took all the time I needed to get her to lock. Once sent, when I had to handle her, I acted like I was in slow motion which helped my handling be smooth. Devon got the blind in three whistles, allowing us to pass land and go onto water (another goal met for our first test!).

My first test taught me that there are advantages anywhere in the running order. Lots of trialing in other dog sports has taught me that's the way competing works. Sometimes you get a bad break, and that's the way it is. On land on Saturday, the advantage was for the later running dogs. On water, the advantage was for the earlier dogs.

The gunner on the memory bird on water was getting tired and his throws weren't going in the right place. Instead of landing in open water, the birds were dropping deep in the lily pads. Devon couldn't find her memory bird, and I waited a bit too long to handle her and she got into trouble. (This was ultimately another lesson learned for me. When you have a handle on a mark left and the last mark is bad, pull that handle out early and use it!)

Even though we had too many cast refusals on that handle, Devon eventually got the bird. She did fight me on the handles, because marking has always been "her job" to figure out. By eventually getting the "prize" of the now wet by still very fluffy duck, I hoped Devon had a light bulb moment that maybe Mom knew where those ducks were hiding. This was exactly the kind of "teachable moment" I figured only a test could give us and I hoped she learned from it to get my training goal. When she came back with the bird, I told her she was brilliant and never let her guess we had just failed the test.

As we were waiting to run water, I mentioned to the marshal that this was our first Senior test and Devon was my first field dog. The marshal was shocked. She said she actually thought I did the best job of any handler on land lining my dog up for the blind. She complimented me on my patience in lining and waiting until Devon was really sure before sending her. Hummm, sounds like I met another goal! We didn't have "NEWBIE" written on our foreheads!

I thought Sunday's land test was harder than Saturday's test. This put me in a good frame of mind to continue in my "work the test" attitude. I admit, I wanted to walk away with a pass on Sunday. But the goal of working the test and coming out a better team overshadowed my desire for an orange ribbon -- really, I must be maturing!

Devon was more wired than the day before. She loves this game! She tried to come out of the holding blind three times after she heard the diversion shot that signaled the bird boy to plant the blind. I'll get to a solution to that in my next post, because I learned one. However, at the time, it really frazzled me.

On route to the land blind, the dogs had to go through suction in both directions from drag back scent from the marks and the line where we received the birds. I thought Devon was locked, but when I sent her she went 6 ft. then stopped. I had a clear enough mind to whistle her and give her a back.

That cast drove her into the scent area, and she pulled left. I gave her three right overs, which she took for a couple of steps then sucked back left. I now know this is "scalloping" and not a true cast refusal because she did take my cast initially. However, this is usually where I get frustrated with her and we start to spiral out of control and down the drain. I was NOT going to allow us to spiral out of control on this one. I was going to handle her to the bird.

At that point I whistled her for a sit, and I let her sit there and we stared at each other for about three seconds. I wanted to break the pattern. I thought, "I don't care if we fail this test right here right now. We ARE getting this bird!" Then I gave Devon an over with a big voice "over!" It worked. I broke her out of the suction to the left and she worked back to the line.

When she got close, I gave her another whistle to sit. I again let her sit there and look at me for 2-3 seconds before giving her a big right "BACK!" She hesitated for only a split second, long enough to tell me with her eye contact and body language, "GOT it, Mom!" She drove straight back and got the blind!

It was right there that I knew Devon learned the lessons she needed to from the handling the day before. She figured out the test and learned that once I blow that whistle, I know more about where the bird is than she does. We were also rewarded by going to the next series!

On water, Devon did a lovely job on her marks (although she did cheat the bank coming back from the memory bird). All we had to do was get that water blind, and our orange ribbon was in sight. However, just when I think these things, everything goes down hill.

Devon had a hard time locking on the blind. She finally locked and I sent her, only to have her "lie" to me. The stinker bolted to my right in front of me staying on land going down the path. Sorry girl, you have to get in the water! So she got two immediate whistles pushing her into the water. She did go and picked the hardest route in over a tree branch.

Once in the water, I gave her another over and she finally locked on a decoy on the opposite bank and started swimming. She was swimming a line to the right of the blind (pesky decoys), but she was swimming. I let her get momentum, then once again stopped her, waited for a 3 count, then gave her a big "over!" It worked again! The look on her face told me she had it, and she swam right to the blind and the bird.

So all my training goals were accomplished. We ran in both the land and the water series both days. We got our first Senior pass. We didn't look like newbies but hung with the big dogs (ok, the medium dogs). I worked the test and stayed calm and relaxed. And best of all, Devon learned the concept behind handling to get the birds. Oh yeah, and we got our first pass!

Today we worked some discipline casting, and Devon has never casted so well. I'm working on silent casting, so I can use my voice only when I really need it for impact. She just did everything perfectly. We've really come to a new level in our teamwork and training, and I'm so glad I kept my head and worked us to that level. We need three more passes, and we have six more tests this fall. Here's hoping I can add some more letters after Devon's name this year!

2-day field training trip to Ohio

Last week the girls and I went with two friends, Sheree and Laurie, and their dogs to train at Mitch White's in Ohio. We had a wonderful time learning more about our dogs and watching Mitch and others train.

On the first day, we did one set up in Mitch's big field. Devon is so goofy when she sees Mitch. She's like a school girl with a crush around him. Plus, he has a Thunder Launcher that Devon is equally in love with! She wants to take this thing home with her! Mitch uses this launcher for memory birds, and it almost always makes Devon break -- and Devon never breaks!

So, Devon's double was goofy. She broke because of the Thunder and the short breaky go bird. At least I got to practice what a controlled break would look like. She got a diversion bird, and it was up by a blind. When I sent her for the diversion bird, she charged the hill and got into the blind and wouldn't handle off of it. All this made me an absolute wreck! I need to keep my head during a trial, and this set up was no where near that stressful and I fell apart!

So, Devon got to run a blind through a woods. We've never done THAT before! I thought it was really rocky, and it didn't help to have Mitch and two other Master trainers get up and and sit behind me to watch us run this blind. Geez! In retrospect, I think she did better than I thought, and I got some good tips from those looking over my shoulder.

Page was really good on all three marks run as singles. The only thing I forgot to do was show her the Thunder bumpers, which are different from other bumpers. She got out to the mark, but then didn't know WHAT to do with these weird things. My failure earned me a trip out to the Thunder to "help" Page pick up the bumpers.

On her short mark, Page thought she'd launch herself at it before I released her. All four of her feet came off the ground and she flipped backwards, losing the mark. One of the gals in the gallery couldn't believe this kangaroo leap from my crazy girl. She loves her marks!

Later that afternoon, the three of us and our dogs headed to some water near Coshocton. Laurie and I ran some blinds with Dusty and Devon. Both dogs did an outstanding job, and Devon ran a difficult cold blind on two whistles. We had Ellie and Page run progressives up onto the shore, and both girls did really well. Page swims exact lines, and even though her marks were cheaty, she didn't even think about it!

Day 2 started with drills to see where everyone was. I was really pleased with Devon on Mitch's difficult lining drill. She really nailed it, and she looked lots better than she did the month before. Page did a great job on walking fetch. Mitch gave me some tips on helping with her hold when she wanted to get sloppy.

We ended the day with another set up. This set up was designed as a Senior set up with another mark and a second blind for the Master dogs. Devon did a lovely job on her marks, even getting a very long and challenging memory bird.

The blind was about 70-80 yards up a hill with a cover change. I thought she was locked, so I sent her. She angled right, and I stopped her and gave her a left over. That worked for about 4 steps and she was back to the right again. I won't bore you with details, but envision Devon ping ponging back and forth on the top of the hill halfway between me and the blind and me very frustrated.

Finally, I called her back in. I set her back up and suddenly she locked. I knew it. She sat back like a mark had fallen, and I sent her. She cleared the top of the hill on a straight line and lined the blind. Amazing!

Later in our wrap up session, Mitch told me I needed to relax, breathe and work my dog. When she starts spiraling down the drain, my job is not to go with her but to reach in and pull her out. Yeah, that's easier said than done. We're ready for Senior, but our weakness like all Senior dogs is our blind work.

Page got special permission to run a couple of Junior tests this fall. She still needs some work on marks, including progressives to learn to drive past old falls and breaking cover. Her retrieving to hand is getting better all the time as she learns the game. For a 6 month old pup, she's really amazing.

So we all headed home with our "to do" list. I'm really proud of my girls. We've worked hard this summer, and it's nice when it comes together and looks good.

Field training update

Most of Devon and Page's training for the last 2 weeks has focused on field training. Devon has been focusing on lining and blinds for the last few days. Not only are we working from Mitch White's training manual, but we're also working drills from Carol Cassity's book Building a Retriever.

Devon has thrilled me with some great lining drills. We added work through suction by having her go to piles of orange bumpers she can't see past flags, chairs and even people in chairs that she can see (and really wants to investigate). I can see her fighting that suction as she goes out, so I know she's working hard! She also worked on a walk-up scenario and got the concept really well.

Devon works very hard to be perfect, and because she does she internalizes pressure. I work hard not to put a lot of pressure on her, but she feels it anyway from me. Since I'm really green at this field stuff (Devon is my first field dog), I accidentally put pressure on when I don't mean to. It is for this reason that I'm so grateful to Gayle and Pam. They've been so encouraging with advice and helpful hints. Honestly, I've been blessed beyond measure to have this talented village of people interested in our field work!

After a disheartening session of land blinds on Sunday, Gayle came to the rescue with personal advice from her experiences. So today (Tuesday), Devon and I had the best blind session ever! Putting birds at the blinds gave Devon an over-the-top reward. You should have seen her tail go 100 mph when she found her first bird!

Knowing there was a high value prize out there, gave Devon confidence and drive I hadn't seen before. On the water blinds, this confidence continued and she worked through suction that had tanked a session just 2 weeks ago. As Carol Cassity says, "Leave something in it for the dog." I guess I learned Devon needed some higher value rewards than just the retrieve.

Page is also coming along nicely. She's such a smart girl and a very quick learner. She's moved through most aspects of the force fetch and is working on walking fetch. In addition, she's walking in heel and sitting when she retrieves the bird. Even more exciting, she's now bringing thrown marks to me and sitting. It's still a little rocky and she sits in my area and not in heel, but she's also still 6 months old. I don't expect the finished product yet!

Field training: land set-ups

Devon has been concentrating solely on field work these days (along with her weekly agility class). Page is also doing field training, but more focused on her table work for force fetch.

During the week we do mostly drills, but both girls have enjoyed weekly set-ups with a field training group. This week because Agile Gold came to visit, I was able to get stuff on video. Sorry about the quality of the video. It was set on manual and overexposed, but I think you can see it well enough.

Here is the second land set-up that Devon ran. It was a simple double, but I was very pleased with her marking.

Devon's land blind was also very nice. I'll have to confess this was the second time she'd been to this blind, but this time it was from a different and longer line. I was pleased she lined it; she got it the first time on two whistles.

Page is doing a really great job for not even being 6 months old! Here is the first set-up we did with Page running. On the first mark she's looking over her shoulder coming back because the bumper had a long rope and it was hitting her in the butt! You can see we don't have a return to hand, but we're working on that.

The second mark is the longest she's ever done at about 100 yards. She pulled up about 15-20 yards too early and needed help. We reran the mark and I think she was much better the second time. Of course, that big bumper is REALLY heavy and she thought about taking it back to Janet who was the gunner sitting closer. I'm glad she figured out to come back to me!

It was really fun to get these video clips. I can't wait to see how much progress each girl makes in the coming weeks and months!

Chiggers and back aches and training, oh my!

I see it's been about 2 weeks since I've posted! Goodness time flies! We've been up to a lot of training lately and too busy to spend much time blogging.

We have had beautiful cool weather to train in this summer. July has been the second coolest on record. The down side has been chiggers. I really hate these little devils and never remember being so affected by them! They really love my feet and ankles when I'm doing so much field work and tracking!

The other down side of the last two weeks has been back spasms. I think after two weeks I'm finally over the worst of them. Thanks to my good friend Sheree who is a master at releasing muscles, I could actually walk again last Wednesday and I was able to travel to Ohio for some field training.

Field training

Speaking of field training, it's going really well. Devon and I have worked hard, and last week it really showed when we visited Mitch. Devon did a really hard lining drill, which worked suction from buckets that were closer when sending to farther buckets. You were only allowed to handle to each bucket once, then the dog had to line it.

The next day we did an over into the water drill, which is done before swim by. I was really proud of Devon for looking great and nailing this drill. Mitch said all our hard work on land showed with how well she did on this drill.

Page is officially field training now. She started her hold work on the table and was collar conditioned. She did a marking drill in the big field. Even though she was distracted by all the great smells, she did mark each throw and step on the bumper going out. We can fix bringing it back with her force fetch.

Tracking

Our tracking continues with mixed success for both girls. After doing a fantastic job on a blind track one evening, Devon has been loosing confidence over the last few tracks. We've increased the difficulty by no chalk or hand prints. I also haven't been working pieces of tracking through the week; I've only been working tracks laid by someone else on the weekends. Put this lack of "training" together with "testing" on the weekends and a lot of field training, and Devon's lacking confidence. We're going to solve that by putting her back on fresher veg tracks and really getting tracking again.

Page is continuing to learn VST and retain TD tracking. She's doing a good job on her VST tracks, putting a lot of information in her "Rolodex" for future tracks. She's a fantastic problem solver, and leaving her to it is my best option.

Agility

I have to put a note in here about Devon's agility. She is really looking fantastic in her weekly class. Because of our emphasis on field and tracking, this is all the agility training Devon has each week, and it seems to be a nice balance.

It used to be if we did any type of field drill in the morning, Devon would melt during agility that evening. However, that doesn't seem to be the case these days. I'm not sure if Devon's new attitude has anything to do with Page having a class right before hers or not, but whatever the reason, I'm really enjoying the fun times!

People, dogs and discipline casting!

Well, when you train at a new place, you must be ready for new things. At first glance this new park was a great place to train. It was quiet and big with open flat spaces to lay out a nice double T. In fact, there was a mound for a driving range where I could handle from and Devon could see me easily. It's so cool to look down on a perfect double T drill ... ok, I'm a field nerd.

Devon did a good job with this double T, except for her overs. After two days of blinds, she started coming in on her overs again. This is going to be life-long maintenance. I see double T drills every Monday after tests in Devon's future.

At one point I had sent Devon to the back pile set at 100 yards. Sat her on the back over intersection which was 70 yards out and looked to the right over bucket only to see a man and woman walking hand in hand directly for that over bucket. Huh, guess she was getting a left over instead! I sent her to her left, and she easily took it. The couple realized they were about to walk through my training drill and changed course.

In the meantime, Devon got her bumper and came running back into me, clueless about the two walkers. At least she's focused on me! When I asked her to mark her back pile, Devon sat straight up when she watched these two walk right behind her back pile! She went straight back and never missed a beat.

Next we worked discipline casting. We had to work through some no sits on whistles. This was frustrating, but I learned if I walked out to her and told her she must sit, it fixed the problem.

The next thing she did was refuse to go back with a bumper in her mouth. This was quickly fixed with a collar correction when I sent her back. This correction worked because it's one she understands. After one correction, Devon repeatedly drove straight back without turning around until I whistled.

Finally, the coming in on overs came out again with the discipline casting. I had to walk out and tap on the over buckets to get her to go straight. It was during this time that we had or second distraction session.

I looked up and a woman who had parked near my vehicle rolled out of her car with three dogs and no leashes. She had two medium sized dogs and a small dog. She saw me and I stood near Devon (who had a bumper in her mouth) and watched as the woman did her best to call the dogs in another direction. Once I thought she had them out of range, I left Devon and walked toward the over bucket.

Unfortunately, this is when the youngest of the group saw me and started running to me. I know he wanted to say hello, but I didn't know what he'd do when he saw Devon. I told the woman to call her dog and get him under control. She tried, but he wasn't coming. I headed back to Devon, who was still sitting perfectly with the bumper in her mouth. The dog kept coming and was coming fast. I ran the last few feet to get to Devon first. Thankfully 10 ft. short of Devon, the dog broke off and returned to his owner.

Whew! I was relived. And for some reason I took the bumper out of Devon's mouth. This was a mistake. Devon thought she was released from work, and she took off after the retreating dog. I yelled and she came right back. That bumper went back in her mouth so fast! Lesson learned: when Devon has a bumper in her mouth she's working and she's under command. No bumper, not working!

That little break in action must have given Devon time to think about her overs, because she did them well. I sent her to the back pile one more time, and she did three perfect casts and she was done!

I think the session was a great one for Devon. I learned how to correct her with a couple of different methods, and she respected the corrections and stepped up to the task. I don't use corrections unless I believe she knows her job. On this day she improved her performance, leading me to believe they were the right choices.

I doubt I'll use this park again during the summer. It has too much doggie activity for me even before I set up the drill. I can tell it's a place people let their dogs run, and I'm not comfortable with that. The three off leash dogs invaded the playground area on the other side of the park as I was cleaning up our drill. As much as this woman probably believes she has control of her dogs, she proved to me she really didn't. I'm going to seek out other places to train for a while!

Devon and blinds

After the break throughs from last week, I was anxious to get to more blinds this week. On Sunday, I gave Devon her first truly cold blinds. We were at a fellow Golden Retriever club member's home, and there was a lovely tree standing alone 80+ yards out in a field. A perfect target! We put orange bumpers under it and a bird house about 60 yards away on another line.

Devon was incredible! She lined both of these cold blinds the first try! I was jumping up and down I was so excited and proud of Devon!

Of course, I couldn't just let the training session go with a perfect blind. I asked Steve to take a white bumper and throw a "wipe out" mark across the line of the blind. He did and Devon retrieved it. They aren't called "wipe out" marks for nothing! Sure enough, the mark completely wiped out Devon's memory of the line of the blind and caused suction when I sent her.

On both blinds, the second time I had to handle Devon to the blinds. Once she handled, she lined them the third time out without the wipe out mark. I was really pleased with this session.

On Monday, I went to another location where I could set out blinds at a distance. I set one at 125 yards, one at 140 yards and a third at 130 yards. I marked all three with a black post with bright pink streamers. I know from experience I can see these posts and Devon cannot until she's right up on them. However, they gave me a good target to send to.

Before I got Devon out, I got my "fairway" to each blind, so I knew how far to let her drift. I lined her up for the 125 yard blind, sent her, and she went out in a straight direct line just as she had the night before. I was thrilled! She definitely has learned what she's to do on blinds!

She ran straight for 90 yards before she broke down and drifted left and I had to whistle sit her. She turned and sat like a dream. Awesome, one over and one back and she'd have it. I carefully put my over cast out and yelled "over" and walked to my right. Devon sat like a beautiful statue and watched me walk. Nothing. No movement at all. HUH? I've never seen that!

So I repeated my over command and again nothing. Three times and I knew I'd have to do something different. I'm not sure if she had never handled that far away from me, or what. I walked up closer, about 30 yards, and said, "Devon! Over!" Well, on her name, Devon came it. Darn it!

So I had to resend her to the blind because she wouldn't sit on her way in. This time it wasn't quite as pretty, but she handled to it. The next time she lined it. Good girl!

The other two blinds were much harder because of the suction from the previous blind. The middle blind she got on several handles the first time, two handles the second time and lined it the third time. We had quite the battle on the first send because of the suction from the first blind.

The third blind was a repeat of the middle one with extreme suction from the previous blind. On the third send, I got her to two whistle the third blind and I knew that was the best I would get.

Overall, I was pleased with Devon's blind work this week. She's really getting her job and we're starting to handle pretty well as a team. I think I'm going to stop marking the blinds with sticks and just do cold blinds the next time we train. I do think the blind markers made the suction worse because once she knew they were there, she looked for them.

Update on Devon's field training

This week I've given Devon a variety of field drills and blinds. Not only am I really pleased with how she's doing, I am seeing lots of break throughs for both of us. I am starting to see this goal of running Senior tests take shape!

We started the week with a double T in a large field. It went really well, so I threw in some discipline casting only on a back. Unfortunately the stress of something new and the distraction of kids screaming on the nearby playground frazzled Devon a little. She started pulling up short on her back pile, leading me to give her a couple of corrections.

It was also getting very warm, and ultimately I let Devon end with a successful (but not entirely "clean") run to the back pile. I realized she was getting truly hot and there was nothing to be accomplished by beating this issue into the ground. I again go back to the fact that Devon is an honest dog who gives me everything she has each time we train. I just pushed things a little too far on Monday, so I learned and we ended avoiding a no-win battle.

On Wednesday, I changed things up and gave Devon a wagon wheel. I kept the piles tight at only 8 yards apart. Devon did a very good job on the piles she could see. However, there was one pile she couldn't see; because of the cover I could only see the top half of the orange cone which identified it.

Devon sucked right to the pile next to it. However, she stopped when I gave her a whistle. I tried an "angle back" because this situation set up the "split cast" drill Mitch showed us at his seminar. Although I had never done this with Devon, she read it beautifully and turned right to the hidden pile. I tempted fate and sent Devon there a second time. She did the same thing, and she took the same cast correctly. Although it worked, I'm not going to test that one again until I talk with Mitch!

Thursday we had a really great session. I decided to break down the discipline casting on a back pile only. Devon learns best when you break things down for her, and I didn't want her double T and all handling to fall apart because of the discipline casting. I set out a 60 yard back pile and just worked discipline casting back to it. This worked like a charm and she handled it confidently. I threw in a couple of over casts even though there were no buckets, and she also did those well.

I also set up three blinds for Devon in the fields. The first blind was to a large round hay bale that we had used as a blind for marks the previous week. It was set at 60 yards, and Devon lined this blind on the first attempt.

The second blind was at a tree 80 yards away. When I walked up and asked her where her dead bird was, Devon's head flicked right and left but never straight out. Immediately I realized what I did . I set this blind between and behind two large round hay bales. The previous blind and two blinds we ran last week were to large round hay bales. She would have to push in between these two pieces of suction to get the blind. Wow, did I ever set up a challenge!

I knew she was pulling right, but I sent her anyway when she gave me something that wasn't a dead lock on the hay bales. She indeed sucked right immediately. I let her have some momentum, and then blew my sit whistle. She sat. I gave her an over cast, and while she looked confused, she took it.

Once on the correct line, I sat her and gave her a left back ... she turned left, but then sucked right again. We repeated what I just did and I walked up. Once back on the line I gave her a left back ... and she went left over - must be at the other hay bale!

I kept working this, walking closer to her until I was right in front of her for the left back. Finally, even though she didn't really believe it, she took the left back and held the line! Oh happy day! When she found that blind, she was surprised and I was excited!

I tried this blind again, and this time she really fought me to the hay bale. I let her get closer before I gave her the sit whistle, and she blew it off to hunt the hay bale. That earned her a correct of me walking out and firmly insisting using the tab on her collar that she get her butt back to where I told her to sit the first time. She also decided she didn't want to sit after my left over, again earning me walking back out and putting her where she needed to be. This was all the correction she needed, and she pushed back to the blind.

On the third time, we had several whistles, but she did eventually push back to the blind. At this point, I gave her a break, got her some water and worked Page. I then reloaded the blind with 6 bumpers. I wanted to get this one better. We had such success with her learning to push back, but she was still fighting the factors a lot.

After a water break, Devon came out strong. She nailed the blind in two whistles: she pulled right, but sat and took the over cast; then she nailed the left back to the pile. She got great praise and a fun bumper for that one. She repeated it on the next time, and I ended that blind with a success. I wasn't going to get her to line this blind with all the suction to the right, so two whistles and her obeying my casts was good enough!

The third blind proved challenging because of suction again to the right with trees and on the left with a house. I walked up during my handling and we worked through it. Then she lined it the next two times.

Even though these blinds weren't "perfect," I think we both learned a lot. Devon learned to trust me, that I knew where the blind was and she'd get her bumper if she followed my casts. I learned how it felt to give her momentum off the line, but how and when to whistle her and cast her. I also learned how to read the "fairway" and how she really would get the blind if I let her go on it versus trying to make her perfect right now.

This morning, we again revisited the double T. I didn't want her overs to get sloppy with the handling we'd done on the blinds. I think the double T will be a staple in our maintenance plan throughout her career to keep those over casts strong. The cover in the field was getting pretty tall, and I realized as I set the drill the farther left over pile was hard to see and the nearer left over pile would be impossible for her to see until she was almost on it. Devon did an absolutely fantastic job with this double T. She ran it to perfection! She didn't miss a cast or a whistle. It was amazing! And even when she couldn't see the over piles, she took the cast correctly until she saw the piles.

Because Devon did so well, I decided to throw in more discipline casting. I walked up on her to do it, using only the back over pile so it was really a "T" drill. She acted really confused, but she did a great job of obeying my casts. I had to give her a couple of back casts when she wanted to pull up early a few times. She reverted back to her old habit of coming in on the overs, so I had to correct that and identify the over pile for her once. However, all in all I'd say it was a really good job for only her second try at discipline casting. Mitch warned me it would be rough, and it was. But she generally did a really good job.

As I said at the beginning of the post, I'm really pleased with our work this week. I think Devon and I have reached a new level of teamwork. I know I learned so much this week about how factors work on Devon on blinds and how to overcome them. Devon learned that I really do know where those bumpers (or birdies) are, and if she does what I say, she'll get them. Seeing her finally push thru that wall of suction on her left back will be sight I don't think I'll ever forget. It was the picture of success for us this week!

Page's "field" training

Right now Page is in the pre-force fetch puppy fun marks stage of field training. I throw marks for her on land and water whenever Devon trains. On land I keep the 40 ft. tracking line on her just in case she decides to "trieve" (and keep the bumper) instead of "REtrieve." So far she's been very good about bringing the bumpers back in my general area. I make sure I praise her a lot and pet her with the bumper in her mouth.

This week Janet has been nice enough to throw some bumpers for us, and Page has done well with that. On Friday when we got together as a group and did marks, I walked Page over to where she could hear the duck calls and gun shot, get a good view of the duck in the air and see Zoe and Archie explode out for their retrieves. Page watched intently the first couple of times, but then fell back into the 4 month old puppy ways of finding something more interesting to do (like tearing grass up by the roots).

After the "big dogs" ran, I walked Page very close and had Janet step out from the blind and throw Page a mark. She got the complete duck call, gun and bumper, and she loved it! She flew out to get the bumper! And when she picked it and we cheered, she decided to go see that fun lady that threw for her! Ah well, puppies! I threw the bumper and she got interested in it again. And a second throw by Janet went much better as Page went out, grabbed it and came back to me with the mark.

I'm sure this is just the beginning of a great field career!

Double T

Even though Devon's ready for it, Double T is hard and a big jump. Devon's handling weakness is coming in on "over," so when you add two over piles she wants to come in to the nearest one.

Steve cut a Double T into some cover in the back of his yard, so we gave it a try on Wednesday. A lot of trainers teach the T drill and Double T with mowed paths so the dogs can easily see alleyways to the buckets and piles. I think this is a great way to teach if you can, because it gives the dog a defined path to run and probably prevents some of the coming in and "banana" shaped overs I get.

Devon has been taught T drills on short cut grass at schools and soccer fields, so her first time on this mowed Double T was interesting! She was determined to come in on her first overs, even if it meant jumping the cover to do it. As in the past, her right over is more difficult than left over.

We hacked through it and were successful, but it wasn't pretty! At one point I looked at Janet, who is just starting down the transition road with Zoe, and said, "Isn't transition fun?" She didn't think it looked like fun at all! Transition may be a test of patience, but at least it isn't as dull as pile work!

On Wednesday, I gave Devon a break from handling drills to do some sight blinds. I was pleased she worked through the shorter, 60-yard blind. After seemingly indicating and lining the longer blind when sent from 130 yards, Devon broke off her line for some cover that was close by. I'm getting better at anticipating suction, because I knew this would be enticing. I gave Devon a whistle and she sat. When I gave her an over out of the cover, she didn't take it. When I resat her she did sit, but when I called her in she blew me off again and earned a correction for it. She was diving into an unknown woods line, and I'd seen evidence of coyotes in the area. That correction was for her safety, and she obeyed it.

I set Devon up closer to the blind at 100 yards and taught it to her in two, 50-yard pieces. Once taught, Devon lined it twice. I thought we got out of that training session on a positive note!

On Friday, we ended up with an impromptu field training group, complete with carry out Chinese lunch! How many people can boast that during field training? We got together with the Ripleys for drill sessions in a new location at my parents' old home. At the last minute, Beth joined us with Reba and Denver. Lysiane from the Westie Report decided to hang out and watch the retrievers, too, after a tracking session. It was fun to have an outside perspective on what we were doing and explain how we train the retrievers to reliably do their work so far away from us.

Drills may not be fun, but when they're done well they are worth it and take your training to a higher level. Archie was very successful on his proximity pile with ducks. Zoe did a lovely walking fetch, as did Reba. Zoe did a fantastic job with only her second session on pile work! We were all excited for Janet! Denver, who is in the middle of force fetch, did some progressive marks.

Devon got to do a small Double T in short grass. At first I worked just the back part of the T, getting her confident there first. As I expected, we had problems on the first right over because she wanted to come in to the nearer over pile. I identified the over pile on two different times for her before she was running it well.

When I backed up and added in the second set of over piles, things went really well. I did have to stop Devon on her first right over, identify the correct over pile and resend her. But she got it clean the next time, and she got both left piles clean on the first try.

The other good thing about this drill was Devon's focus. She had four people watching her and talking off to the side, but she worked through that. And as she started her full Double T, two guys brought in a hay trailer for unloading into the barn in the other field. This was a lot of distraction for her to work through, and I was really proud of her for doing so well with it.

My mom was a great "host" and offered to run into town and get carryout Chinese food. How many training groups get food delivered into the field? What a great Mom I have!

After a lunch break, we did a "Mom and Pop" double mark concept. We used a big round bale of hay as our blind. Zoe just nailed the marks, and Archie and Reba ran them as singles and did a very nice job. Devon struggled on her memory bird and wanted to search the first fall location. I reran the memory bird as a single, and she lined it the next time as a double.

Later Zoe and Devon ran it again as a walk-up. Zoe again did a fantastic job. Devon again struggled with her memory bird. This time I tried to handle her to the mark, but it was a disaster. I finally called her in because she was so confused and she wasn't handling.

The only good thing was she came in knowing there was a duck out there. I've been worried if I have to pick her up at a test I couldn't call her in from the field when she knows there's a mark down. I don't want to have to do that, but I want to have the tool if I do have to.

After re-running the memory bird as a single, Devon nailed it on the double again, and I ended the session with that success. I think Devon's struggle was how close the Mom and Pop double marks were, so that's a concept we'll be running a couple of more times in the future!

This week's field sessions have gone very well. I'm really proud of the hard work Devon gives me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we progress in the next two months!