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.
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