# Field training March 2014



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We are hoping to rent an ice cutter from the coast guard so we can get on our ponds pretty soon


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Finally trained today. We have a water blind pop I need to work out, set her up on a 75 yard across the pond water blind. Ground are flooded here so the blind was featureless. The water is mountain run-off so cold but land temps were up today. I didn't want to push the distance in case she ended having to stay in the water a while. She lined it, no pop. I took it and we moved on to 200+ short grass easy walking singles and she did great. We also had a land blind where they had to work a side hill and take a slot between two bushes. We have been working on this skill set, she did a nice job. Hopefully, land temp will continue to rise so I can work on the water blind pop. I guess I'll have to stretch it out more and/or add features to see it.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Today is almost 40 degrees, and Spring really must be right around the corner. So I got the "hunting bucket" (my bin that carries all his field junk) out of the closet and put it back where it lives in my sun room during the nice weather. Got the e-collar out and it's charging up. 
Tito went WILD when he saw his stuff come out! You'd have thought he won the lottery when he saw the e-collar. He kept trying to shove his neck into my hands when I was carrying the collar..."put it on! put it on!". Last I saw him, he was lying on the floor right in front of the hunting bucket, waiting patiently.
Hoping to get to Dan's on Thursday. First time since November!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

wow first time since November?! that is a long time, I bet he was out of his mind! I hope you have a great time, and I can't wait to read all about it!


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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

Alaska7133 said:


> Yesterday headed out to meet the group. It was -5F when I left the house. So I thought it would be a small group, but I was wrong. We met north in the Mat Su Valley. Windy place. People teased me that I was wearing my arctic coveralls, but darn it, if I'm warm I'm happy, I just waddled when I walked out to throw bumpers. Beautiful day. Nothing like Alaska when it's cold and clear, you can see for forever.
> 
> First set up was 4 singles. The gunners were all placed very close together so that the dogs would be forced to run right next to the previous gunner. 50 yd, 75 yd, 100 yd, 150 yd. Lucy was super mellow while we waited in line and very calm as we came to the line. Some commented that she was so quiet. But at the line she exploded like a little rocket ship. She overshot the 50 yd mark by 50 yd. she ran right over the top of the bumper swung wide and swooped back to get it. She was definitely having fun. Came back to me with very nice manners. Totally steady. Sent her for the next. Overshot again on the 75 yd. then on the 100 yd she lined up on the gunner, then went left when she reached the gunner and headed for the bumper. On the 150 yd she was perfect. Every time her line manners and steadiness were very nice, but she was crazy on the field. The advice I got was, work her on very short marks a lot and exercise the hell out of her before running her on a test. She's in great condition after all that running she does with the snow bike. She put most of those labs to shame. Kind of funny for a show puppy.
> 
> We still need to work on piles, wagon wheels, and 3 handed casting. She's just not too happy with the piles. You can see she's only doing because I told her.


This sounds amazing. Would love to be involved in something like this, but wouldn't have a clue where to start or train Josie.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Today is almost 40 degrees, and Spring really must be right around the corner. So I got the "hunting bucket" (my bin that carries all his field junk) out of the closet and put it back where it lives in my sun room during the nice weather. Got the e-collar out and it's charging up.
> Tito went WILD when he saw his stuff come out! You'd have thought he won the lottery when he saw the e-collar. He kept trying to shove his neck into my hands when I was carrying the collar..."put it on! put it on!". Last I saw him, he was lying on the floor right in front of the hunting bucket, waiting patiently.
> Hoping to get to Dan's on Thursday. First time since November!


Thursday's a long wait, maybe you can get DH to throw a few singles for him until then. :
Your post made me laugh! Hang in there Tito, spring is coming.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Slater got two Finished passes last weekend at Treasure Coast HRC (Lake Okeechobee). Each day about 15 dogs were entered, he was one of only 4 to pass on Saturday. I did not think the tests were that difficult but in typical HRC fashion, the setups on water left something to be desired. The first day the 1st bird down landed literally 10 feet in front of you and they expected the dog to pass that for a 65 yard go-bird in line with it, over a point (two water entries). Slater actually was going for the long bird when he smelled the short one and of course got it. Which of course messed up his memory for the actual mark, and I had to handle. They also set the blind at the opposite side of the long bird holding blind -- and it was hot! UGG lots of dogs got into trouble. Thankfully Slater handed really nice both to the long mark and the blind, even though you lost your dog on the back side of the point for both.
Sunday's water test ---- you ran from the base of a 30-yard long peninsula and the go bird was a flyer shot from the end of the peninsula out into the large pond, complete with floating lilypads everywhere. The potential for no-birds was ridiculous but kudos to the gunners they only had to sluice one bird. Slater was one of the few dogs to NOT cheat down the peninsula coming or going, took a perfect line to the bird including over a floating log -- go Deeds!!!!
Anyways we had a fun weekend. Slater has run now 6 finished tests -- failed the first two for breaking, and has passed the last four in a row. He needs one more pass for HRCH.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I should have gone field training this weekend. It would have been way more fun than going to the dog show. Lucy lost both days to her sister. But now her sister has her championship in conformation. So we won't have to compete against her anymore. As I was walking Lucy into the arena there was a magpie on a garbage can teasing her. She about caught it. Wouldn't that have been the sight in front of the dog show people! 

This weekend coming up I'm planning on getting out to the valley for field training. The back parking lot here at work has been excellent for force to pile and 3 handed casting work. Nobody is back there and it's fenced/gated. Except for the occasional teasing raven we have the place to ourselves. It's only 40' x 200' though. I can use my whistle and not bother anyone. I think I've finally figured out how to blow in the darn whistle effectively now. Gosh that was way harder than I thought it would be! The weather has been spectacular. 24" of fresh powder a few days ago and now our days are getting longer. Can't wait to get out and train.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

shhhhhh don't tell Tito but I just filled out entries for 3 weekends of Spaniel hunt tests. Now everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, keep your fingers and paws crossed that he gets in. Unfortunately, the entry limits are very small, and they give preference to Spaniels (which is only fair), so he may not get into any of them.
Now I'm debating entering him in a MH (retriever) test that falls in between the Spaniel test weekends. Not sure if it's fair to him to cross over between them. But my gut instinct is that the Spaniel tests are so, so close to true upland hunting, which he does at the same time as working on retriever skills, that it shouldn't be a problem for him. Especially since I don't *expect* him to pass the MH test, but it's 20 minutes from home and I'd kind of like to get a feel for where he's at with it.
Decisions, decisions.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh, and we had to cancel our field training session for tomorrow. Rain/thunder predicted ALL day.
Our ponds are still completely frozen, too.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Barb,
I miss thunder and lightening. I haven't heard thunder in years. We're still frozen up here too, we will be for another 6 weeks or so maybe longer. 

Good luck on the MH and the spaniel tests! Have you ever run an MH? Have you given any thought to running a qualifying field trial at golden national this year?


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

No, we haven't run a MH, and my biggest concern is that he hasn't been in the water since early November, and isn't likely to get in there in the next 2-3 weeks. The test is only 5 weeks away. Because we were concentrating on upland hunting, I let his water blinds go and I don't think he's running water blinds at the Master level right now. IF he puts on his game face, he can do it. The only reason I'm even toying with entering is that it doesn't involve travel or a hotel. 
We're not going to National this year, so no, no qual for us! Maybe, just maybe, he'll be ready to run a qual in 2015 in Ohio. 
But first, we're going to go out and enjoy the heck out of some Spaniel tests. I've said this before, but once you run a couple of them you see the retriever tests from a whole different (and not as good) angle.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Barb,
Sounds like the spaniel tests are similar to NAHRA tests. I think Dawn or TrailDogs could chime in since they have a lot of experience running NAHRA. They include a trailing tests of finding a duck that has wandered through the grass. They also include a flushing test. Anyone want to chime in on how close the NAHRA test is to a spaniel test?


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Crummy weather for the weekend. Sooooo, we will be training in the rain tomorrow (club day) and we will be working a Continental shoot in the rain on Sunday.

Also, I have been working Buffy to get her in better shape. The bad weather this Winter cut into our training quite a bit. Buffy is really a lean, sinewy girl (Vet: "Holy Crap, this dog is built!). However she has gotten flabby. A week and a half of work and she has started to harden up again.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Alaska7133 said:


> Barb,
> Sounds like the spaniel tests are similar to NAHRA tests. I think Dawn or TrailDogs could chime in since they have a lot of experience running NAHRA. They include a trailing tests of finding a duck that has wandered through the grass. They also include a flushing test. Anyone want to chime in on how close the NAHRA test is to a spaniel test?


I scrolled back but didn't see any details about the spaniel test. However, I have actually helped set up the trailing portion of a NAHRA test. Some judges let a duck sit in water in a bucket then lay the trail with the water, or some use a dead duck. The higher the stake, the longer and more winding the trail. No dog is allowed to see other dogs working. The test is run by the judges directing the handler to take the dog to the start of the trail, sending the dog to find it (NO handling allowed, I think I was allowed to point to the ground at the starting point and say "find it" but not allowed to point in any direction, no arm flapping, etc. ) and the dog is supposed to figure it out using their nose. You follow and meet the dog at the end of the trail and receive the bird to hand and pass it to the judge. FUN FUN FUN stuff! It's really exciting to see the noses at work.den

Addendum: I just checked the rulebook, it says a live bird could be released for the trailing test; but then I don't know how the judges could control the trail or the bird being at the end of it ??? never saw it done that way ... so far.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I see a common theme 

We're supposed to have group Sunday, but now we're supposed to get 4 inches of rain this weekend. I fully expect group to be cancelled. Actually I think it may be muddy and slippery already from the spring thaw to damage any grounds and probably be dangerous (too slippery) to run the dogs anyway.

Dee Dee has one more week of field class she was making up from the sessions she missed being in season. She's working on whistle sit, over, and back. 

On the days it's not too sloppy out (i.e. the days the temp is freezing and the ground is hard) she's been doing longer backs, our homework.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Field training yesterday was beautiful day was 10F when I left the house but was all the way up to 25 by the time I got to the field. Sunny and very pleasant. I about fell asleep in the chair waiting to throw bumpers! How embarassing when it's your turn. Ran Lucy and Reilly. Little Lucy is a rocket ship. Reilly was running with such joy. It is so much fun watching them have a great time. We worked on drills too. Baseball and backs and overs.

Today DH and I went to a marsh to run them on short marks, which seem to be a bigger problem than long ones. We took turns sending them. They run equally went for either of us. Beautiful sunny day. Still cold but very nice. Good day to spend time outside.

I'm so glad we've kept them in shape this winter, the spring should be smooth.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

We did have training today!
Gladys is supposed to have fun and not get stressed out so I left the collar home b/c it was uncharged anyway and planned to do fun singles with both dogs.

But when we got there, it was freezing, windy, and drizzly, so dog skool teecher set up pattern blinds with a birdboy, mark, then poison bird b/c only 2 of us showed up.
Since we had no collar and Gladys is supposed to have fun and no stress, we did the pattern blinds then the mark and blinds only.

So my learning curve of the day: 

I thought we did awesome. Gladys picked everything up and her tail was wagging away.

Till I watched the other person run and realized Gladys did the same as his dog .. gave me some refusals. I had whistled her in twice to which she stared at me, so I had to yell "here". I was trying to square her before casting. DST (dog skool teecher) said I have to raise my standards for Master. 

But what I really didn't notice at all was afterwards, he said I let her go back to the area of the fall. Since she had picked up the mark, I forgot to pay attention to that, and had like zero awareness of the implications. DST was out throwing since only 2 of us had showed up to group, so he wasn't at the line to tell me to stop her. duh.

I will have to find out how to map out the area of the fall and what to do about it in the future.

Dee Dee did 4 walking singles and did AMAZING! She was steady and focused. She ran out all the way with no stopping and no getting lost. 

They were really happy. It was fun but the weather was torture :-(


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