Sunday Steady!

Training alone does have its advantages, sometimes you come up with different ways to challenge dogs. This was the biggest challenge for Nugget. She was sure every release word was Nugget. Toscane is on a platform to give her clear boundries of where she should be. They all did pretty good. Reese was just being a good sport to humor me. But did like to have a turn like everyone else.

We are back @ it!

I'm back...... It's been a long time, but I've never stopped having fun just stopped posting about it.   Many things are topsy turvey right now because of the Covid 19 Pandemic.  People, including myself are finding new ways to keep playing and having fun.  I think that's worth posting about.

We are doing most of our retriever training alone.  But with some great resources, a place to play and some eager dogs we are having a lot of fun.  Here are some pictures and a video from this morning.  We are working on a 3 leg pattern.

Early spring training

This year spring came early, most of our snow was gone by the end of March so in early April, I started back with field work. We are working mostly on handling drills. Reese has done a fair amount of this, but I'm amazed at how fast Nugget is catching on to them all. Here are a few pictures taken by Lianne last night while we were doing a lining drill and 3 leg pattern drill.

2014 Training Group

Nugget~Reese~Danno~Tim~Torque~Emy

 

Two in 1 Day!

On the same day August 18, 2013, at the Regina Retriever Clubs Working Certificate Test,  Reese earned her WCI. I was most impressed with her heeling to the line, her steadiness, manners in the blind and her honoring.   She will be taking some lessons from Nugget on "HOLD" and recalls.  But overall it was a privledge to run both girls and have them earn new titles on the same day. 

Whiskey Creek's Precious Mettle WC

Nugget earned the title of Working Certificate at the Regina Retriever Clubs WC test on August 18, 2013.    I was nervous about the  WC land marks right off the hop and the water marks were not a gimmy either .  About 2 weeks ago Nugget was barely doing 40yd marks. So the 75 and 72 yd marks, the gallery and judges seemed to be a big challenge.

 I thought back to everything we had done this summer and remembered the day at Lianne’s when Heather and I did a few recalls with Nugget and tried throwing a bumper and she had Zero interest in it.  Then there was  Decoy Days in June and she wasn’t picking up anything,  but she walked through the decoys and took a turn honoring to a big dog. I remember Lianne and I spending the hottest part of a day in June with a duck on a leash.  Throwing it dragging it and having a big party when Nugget finally picked it up.  

I remember Jill and I setting up the bumper boy for Danno, Reese and Sonny and not being able to resist firing a bumper for Nugget, then me being thrilled with how she came alive even though she wouldn’t pick it up. Then at the picnic trial in July, she was in season, but came out last and tried a few retrieves with a bumper. Keith did everything under the sun to help her finally bring back one bumper. I remember feeling like we turned a corner when Nugget ran out and picked up a bird after Lianne and I had her watch Torque do some short retrieves. 

I am really pleased with all that Nugget did this year and at the Test, but I have to tell you there is no one happier than her breeder, and that is kind of cool.  In everything I have ever done with the dogs no one has been more proud then Kathy Case, yeah yeah it is a WC, Canadian at that, but she is very proud of her.  Good Girl Nugg!

Something on the Wind

Tonight , I trained in an old spot we frequented years ago. This is the spot where Kate, my first Chesapeakes ashes are spread. I could feel her on the wind, hear her in the rustle of the marsh grass and see her in the enthusiasm of the dogs,  retrieving for their people. She was a dog who loved life and her memory reminds of all the things in life to love.

This is a picture of Kate and Ardi in the field from years gone by.

Reese @ the Working Certificate Test - Saskatoon Retriever Club

Del Brave Flying Colours, RA, WC, CRAMCL
On June 17, 2011 Reese passed the Working Certificate Test at the Saskatoon Retriever Club. Reese ran in the lucky 13th spot in a field of 18 Retrievers.

The land marks were back to back singles using ducks. The marks were fairly straight forward at more then a 90 degree angle apart. The first mark was to the right of the line and was the shorter of the two. I would be hard pressed to say what the lengths were. But they seemed to be on the shorter side of the requirements. As you can see in the picture the grass was fairly long and this did cause a few problems for some of the dogs.

The water marks had to be adjusted after the test dog ran as they were 40 and 70 yds and had the dogs swimming into a very strong wind for the long bird. The marks were changed so that the shortest and the first bird thrown was thrown from the right so that it would stick on a point rather then drift out and was about 40 yards. The long mark was changed to be thrown out into the open water and would drift towards the dog.
Neither mark seemed too difficult and the throwers gave every dog a good throw. The only factor that made the long mark difficult was that the dogs were swimming into a very strong wind. The wind caused white caps on the water and when the dogs swam low to fight the wind they seemd to loose sight of the bird. You could see many of the dogs push themselves high up from the water and stretch their necks to see the bird. When they did this it made swimming into the wind difficult.
When the ribbons were handed out 11 of the 18 came away with a pass.

Mind your manners

In Working Certificate and Hunt Tests, the dog is under judgment from the time it leaves the holding blind to the time it returns to the holding blind. This means the walk to the line, while waiting for the birds to go down in the field, while honoring and between marks. You can also be guaranteed that if your dog is whining, barking or digging in the holding blind the judges will not be amused. Poor line manners, not only put a dog into the judge’s bad books, but detract from the dogs’ ability to focus on the job at hand. If you hear someone say the dog had the line manners of a” goat” or that the dog “ate the judges lunch”, you know the dog was out of control.

I’ve found that, sometimes I’m so caught up in getting Reese doing marks or drills that I forget about the importance of line manners. If I allow her to drag me to the line, whine in the blind, cruise the duck pail in training, why would I expect anything different come test day.

It only stands to reason that training sessions aren’t the only place that manners come into play. Poor field or line manners can be traced to poor manners at home. Rushing the door, jumping on people, charging the food bowl or barging out of the crate the minute the door opens, are all signs of little or no self control. If the dog shows little self control in the home environment, how can they be expected to exercise control in the stimulating environment of birds, duck calls and gun shots?

At home I’ve taken a look at the little things that I’ve let slip and have decided to pay closer attention to them. At feeding time Reese is now waiting in a sit for her food bowl to be put down. She is asked to go to her designated spot to lie down when company comes or when I get home, rather then spinning in a frenzy. If she charges the gate or the crate door, I close it. We have gone back to working one of the 1st exercises she learned as a puppy called “Puppy Zen” Puppy zen is puppy self control. In the beginning we just worked at leaving a treat in my hand until invited to take it. It has all kinds of implications for everyday living. So now we are extending it to highly stimulating situations and things of high value, like the duck pail and bumper bag.

We often forget about the basics or the foundation things our dogs learned. When things go wrong in the field, it is a great time to reflect on what’s happening at home.

Training group at Duckweed Pond

Retriever testing season for the group I train with is done and training is winding down. We had a very laid back night, where we took some pictures and did a few marks. Here is a picture of our training group, posed with our coveted pink bumpers. The picture was taken at a spot I call Duck weed Pond. This spring the area was nothing but splash water. With all the rain this summer this area is now a pond. It is green because it is covered in duck weed.

Missing from this picture are Heather with Haylee and Reg and Abby. Patti & Reese, Jill and Sonny, Lianne and TeeJay, Gail and Jack

This night was a great opportuniity to bring Ardi along. We shortened up the marks and gave her the whole nine yards of calls and guns. Ardi was the happiest I have seen in a long time. She even brought her signature move out of retirement, where she pounced on the bird from about 6 feet away. We left her out while everyone got pictures taken and she went from vehicle to vehicle grabbing dokkens and bumpers presenting them to anyone who would throw for her. She always liked to shake dokkens after picking them up, but after whacking herself a few times , she learned how to shake them gently, she pulled this move out as well . Ardi made us all laugh and hammed it up for more attention. Thanks Yo for the pictures.

Ardi

TeeJay

Sonny

Jack Reese

When it was all done we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Decoy Days Pay off in Reese's Hunt Test Debut

On July 24th and 25th, 2010, Reese ran in her first CKC Hunt Tests. The tests were hosted bythe Brandon Retriever Club in Brandon Manitoba. We travelled with our training partner Lianne who is running her Golden, TeeJay in Senior and Aimee, a pup of her breeding in Junior.
The Brandon grounds are fantastic and the Brandon people very friendly and supportive.

The morning of the test it was warm and wet as a thunder storm moved through the night before and left a few puddles . The judges set up some very nice marks that were fairly simple compared to some Reese had seen in training. She came through land and water with only a few delivery glitches and qualified in her 1st Junior Hunt Test.

On Sunday our land marks were thrown around a snow goose spread. The Junior dogs had some fairly wide marks that had them run the perimeter of the spread. All though it seemed daunting to the handlers who had not seen them before, the marks were well outside of the spread and did not cause many problems with the dogs ability to find them. Water marks were a different story, both were very similar in that they both landed on land, but had the dog enter the water, go over a finger of land, re-enter the water and then find the bird on land. The water entry from the line had a row of duck decoys about 5 feet in front of the line, all facing the dog and handler.
Reese cracking the decoy's defensive line.

The decoys caused problems for half the dogs as they tried to skirt the decoys and enter further down the bank, this of course put them off the marks or caused them to shore run.
Two dogs completely shore ran to the mark. One other shore ran on the way back. Of the remaining 3, two of the dogs Reese and Trip entered right at the line and were not phased by the decoys. Both these dogs had the benifit of training at Decoy Days set up by two of the or club members Red Wilkinson and Wayne Nessett. So a big thank you to both of them for setting up decoy day and providing such a great training opportunity, Reese came away with her 2nd pass in this Junior Hunt Test.

Decoy Days 2010 & Picnic Trial

This year the Retriever Club held 2 great training events. On June 12th and 13th we held Decoy Days, with land marks being run on Saturday and water marks being run on Sunday.

The land marks consisted of 5 different marks run through different spreads of decoys. The organizers and volunteers were up early to set up the decoys. We had a Robo duck at the line and wind sock decoys, Texas rags, silhouette, goose shells, 3d goose decoys spread through out the field. We took the time to walk a few of the young dogs through the field before we sent them on marks. Most dogs were unfazed by the many decoys in the field and the majority blazed their ways through the decoys to the marks



Reese bring back the bird.

Decoy Days - 2009

Each year, the Retriever club holds a Decoy Day. Decoys are set and marks planned to expose and train dogs in various elements of field work. The event is run like a trial,with holding blinds, dead birds, shots and duck calls.

The decoys are always the highlight and this year we had, 3D Goose silhouettes, wind socks, Canada Goose shells, Snow Goose shells, Texas rags and a couple of Robo-Ducks.The weather was cold and windy, great for the dogs, but not so much for the handlers.

After the big dogs ran, we brought out the puppies and a few of the older dogs, shortened up the marks and had a blast.

Spring Tune Up - Marking

Did you ever wonder how to improve your dogs marking ability? The first thing that comes to mind is to have them do many marks of varying lengths and in all kinds of cover.
A lot of my training is done in a training group. We work varying set ups to expose the dogs to a wide variety of elements. By the time we set marks up and run multiple dogs, the number of marks each dog gets is minimal. So when someone offered this tip to our training group, I hopped on it.

Get an $8.00 ball-launching toy. Some brand names are Chuck-it or Launch-a-Ball. They can be found in places like Wal-Mart or other stores with pet sections.

Start by taking the launcher , a couple of balls, and your dog to a field; the cover type and terrain would depend on your dog’s experience. For a young dog you would want to take them someplace that has little cover, like a ball diamond or mown field. The more experienced dog could be taken to any field with similar terrain and cover you would use in training or testing.

Start by scenting the ball. Some suggestions would be to leave in your bumper bag, spit on it or leave in a duck pail. Whatever you do to scent the ball remember, your dog will be retrieving to hand.

Next facing into the wind with your dog in heel, leave them in a sit and take a few steps forward, toss a couple of balls keeping the distances short. Release your dog to retrieve after the ball has bounced at least once. The key element is success, so have a couple of balls handy to plant in the event your dog is not finding the ball.

Once the dog gets the hang of marking your throws, you can graduate to heavier cover and varying terrain. You also rotate your throws around the field, varying the length of throw. Rotating for each throw changes the wind direction. That can vary the difficulty of each mark without changing your set up.

Things to remember.
1. Make sure the field you take your dog to is safe; free of any debris, holes, sharp objects, has been chemically treated or things like spear grass.
2. Always enforce the retrieve to hand…if you don’t want to handle a slobbery ball, wear gloves.
3. Always send remotely. Weather in front of the dog, to the side with some lateral distance or behind. This is all part of your dog honing its ability to mark the fall. Without the aid of you pointing them in the direction of the throw.
4. Always require your dog to be steady. Use a platform or a mat so you know if your dog is creeping

A friend told me a bumper launcher works pretty much the same way. Frankly if I had one I would use it. But I look at it this way, if my dog can spot a tennis ball and mark its fall, a bird or bumper will be a piece of cake.
Happy Training.

Retriever Training Season is Open!!!

Last week the weather was nice enough to get out to the Retriever training grounds . The roads were too wet and muddy to get anywhere, but the paved road and roadside were dry enough to get the dogs out for a walk. With Reese on a long line we practised coming in to the whistle and found a nice dry sandy hill to do restrained recalls up and down. After Reese was done Ardi did some lining drills down the hill.

Ardi's 1st Retrieve of 2009

This week all the snow has disappeared, but there is still ice on the ponds. We were able to get close to the ponds today and do a little obedience training and practise the hold under the distractions of geese and ducks on the open water.

Reese watches the ducks and geese on the mostly frozen ponds.

Reese taking the show on the road and practising the hold with distractions.

How to remove a Tick

Spring and summer bring plenty of time to train and play outdoors with our dogs. Of course the more we are outside the greater the risk of picking up a tick.

There are many ways to remove an embedded tick, but here is one that works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick
with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20),
the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when
you lift it away. It's much less traumatic for the patient weather a person or dog.

Water introduction for a great swimmer!

When people first introduce a dog to water, they often throw something into water that is over the dogs head. To me this encourages the dog to enter the water with their head up looking for the object and feet straining to find the bottom. Followed by a little panic and a lot of excitement the dog never relaxes enough to level out and try a smooth paddle using both front and rear feet.

Rather then throw an object, I would
1. Walk in with the dog to a point that is not over the dogs head just walk up and down the shore, letting the dog get a feel for how the water gets deeper and the bottom seems to disappear.
2. Drag a bumper and let them catch up to it and have it. Do this a number of times. Eventually dragging to deeper water have the dog reach out and take it, once the dog has it they will likely head for shore, so if you have someone to help encourage the dog to return to shore ,then get the bumper and try again.
3. Having the dog follow another dog (with out throwing something in) into the water works well. This gets the dog concentrating on following the other dog, not looking to retrieve an object.

Butch Goodwin of Northern Flight Retrievers has a great article called Teaching puppies to swim that has some great tips for starting a puppy off on the track from the beginning.

Kitt's 1st Water Retrieve at 9 Weeks Old

How dogs see color.

Here is a really good site on what or how dogs see. There are some colors they see better, but more important is motion and contrast of color. I often wondered why hunters wore fluorescent orange and camouflage together, but this article also explains that to game and our dogs the orange blends in with the greens of camouflage or the colors found in the field.
http://www.puplife.com/dogcaretips/howdogsseecolors.html

I have done a lot of bird and bumper throwing for my training buddies and it is interesting to see how dogs mark and at what part of the retrieve the dog no longer relies on sight and begins to scent. That is what makes blinds so hard, because the dog should neither mark nor scent to the bird or bumper. Some scenting is probably okay, when I figure out how much I will be a better handler :o).

The training bumpers I have are a whole mish mash of colors, sizes and material. My girls both love and choose from the pile first an old green canvas bumper that has been sewn and taped, it is the prize of the bumper bag. Their least favorites are the 2 white fire hose bumpers I have. So their choices aren't based on color just favorites.

Go to this site to read the Canine Color Vision Article.
http://www.katiesbumpers.com/documents/k9colorvision.html