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!
2 comments:
It's interesting that "distractions" have a special name in field work: suction. Obstacles or people (bar setters) act as "suction" on the agility course--we just don't use that term!
I meant off-course obstacles in that comment--probably should have made that clear.
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