# training plans for the week of August 21 to 27



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I have a lack of motivation at this stage in planning my week. 

Monday - Gabby has agility class, I am going to try to get her out walking every morning then something else in the afternoons. 

Tuesday - Probably just a walk day, I have other things I have to get done.

Wednesday - ???? 

Thursday - Going to Darrin's not sure if during the day or in the evening. Depends on if Art can get off work for the afternoon. 

Friday - ?????

Sat/Sun - Marshbanks Hunt Test - JH

I am not sure if I am going to train with my 'baby dog' group this week. It takes another day pretty much out of the equation. I have to get hubby's car in for an oil change. Wed I am going to an early dinner with a friend, I just need some 'non' dog time this week. We go on vacation next weekend (Labor Day) but that is all about dogs for me. Then we have two more weekends of dog events in a row. I think a little non dog time is needed.


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

I will be teaching classes on Monday.
Tuesday dragging hubby up the public hunting grounds to lay the track for us.
Wednesday tracking class
Thursday practice my Obedience as I have another show this weekend oh and make birthday cookies to share at the show this weekend. Titan turns 7 on Tuesday!


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I am just not great at making plans. We did work on pattern blind this morning and it was very good. Full distance (last week's goal) except that darn middle blind. Thursday is run thru night other than that it just varies! I find training the same thing every day can be counterproductive for my dog (although tempting for me).


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I am a bad dog mom.
We are not supposed to be training until Thursday because of Tito's foot. 
But really, it looks very good. So I decided (yes, I can rationalize anything) that I needed to take him out and just spend a VERY few minutes and be sure that it doesn't cause his foot to open up or swell again, before I drive all the way to Dan's on Thursday morning. So I am a bad dog mommy, ignoring the vet's instructions.
Yesterday morning I took him out and ran 4 totally cold blinds with him, using a dead bird. They were very easy, short distances, most of the distance on mowed grass but then the bird itself a little way into some pretty short (6-8 inches) cover. I kept the distances short for several reasons, but primarily because of his foot.
He did a GREAT job, so I came away thinking that he has FINALLY made the mental connection that there's a reason I'm sending him off toward nowhere, and that reason is a bird. 
So this morning I did 4 cold blinds in some low to moderate cover, 8-12 inches or so in the alfalfa. I hid the bird while he was in the house or pet hotel, and then brought him out, lined him up, and sent him off. I was very careful to be sure that he was upwind of the blinds, because I didn't want him hunting with his nose. (lots of walking back and forth to the pet hotel to keep putting him away so I could hide the bird again!)
A couple of observations. First, he is looking for something in the field to run toward. The first one was near the edge of the field, but in a straight line with a tree that happened to be on the edge. He lined that one with no problem (about 30 yards away). 
The second one was near another edge of the field, but not in a line with anything. There are a lot of trees there, but the bird was not where it was lined up with any of them. He tended to want to line toward the trees, and I had to bring him back and re-send him a couple of times before he would head straight out. Note to self, work on lining drills as soon as foot is totally healed. 
Because of that I put the third one right smack in the middle of the field, nothing anywhere near it and nothing to run toward. He did get off the line, I whistle stopped him and cast him to the bird and he came up with it. 
I put the 4th and final one where he would suction toward the trees again, which made the wind a crosswind, and he did head toward the trees a bit. But he whistle stopped promptly, and took the cast beautifully and came up with the bird.
The thing I was MOST pleased with....on the last one, he was only about 10 feet, if that, off the bird, (at a right angle to it) and he had gotten downwind of it. His head came up and I knew he had caught the scent. But I blew the sit whistle good and loud, he hesitated for a moment, then sat and waited for my cast. This is HUGE for Tito....he knew the bird was there, but let me "tell him" where it was. A big victory!
So I am a bad dog momma, but also a very pleased one


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Good Tito....Bad Barb! 

I'm glad his foot is feeling better. Can't keep a good Tito down!!!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Good job Barb and Tito!!!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Trained with the Tuesday small group today. 
The first part was gun training for me. At the next level of HRC you have to handle the gun. So I had another intro to gun lesson, then I sat on a bucket at the line without Winter and practiced a few times. Then Winter join me at the line. I thought that the gun going off right by her might make her nervous, but she could not have cared less. So we ran a few singles and a couple of doubles, and she did two short blinds (not all at once). Winter did well with her marks and blinds and I did fine with the gun. 
After everyone else left, Winter went for a cooling off swim, followed by a break. Once she was cooled down we ran Pattern Blind Day at 120-130 yards. When she is out beyond a 100 yards, I'm having trouble getting a straight back, angle backs and overs are OK but that straight back at a distance usual gets taken as an angled or an over. I have been walking up and recasting to try get a straight back. I have not been running blinds/blind patterns that long (2-3 weeks I think) and my notes say as long as she is taking the cast in the right direction not to worry.....but I would really like to get that straight back cast. I'll be talking to the Pro about this one.

Not sure about training the rest of the week as I need get a new muffler on my 1992 Isuzu Trooper dog car. We will manage to fit something in.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

So glad Tito was up for his test run.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Winter is doing great!! She's really made a lot of progress so quickly!
I took a hunter safety class to learn to handle the gun. I'm more nervous about handling a gun than handling a dog.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Winter is doing great!! She's really made a lot of progress so quickly!
> I took a hunter safety class to learn to handle the gun. I'm more nervous about handling a gun than handling a dog.


Me too  I am now a licensed hunter and have permits for pheasants and waterfowl - oh what we do for the love of our dogs


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Last night I worked Tag on heeling with head up (cookie in hand), twirls, and sits. DH came out and we worked on come between us, which is good as the other two dogs don't mind DH as well as me as he never does any training with them. Made me think that I should get him more involved with their training, especially Tag as they are great buds! We also did some fun bumpers in the yard.

Dooley- I started working him in articles. We only use the metal articles at this point as he really, really does not like metal. When he is comfortable with them, I will begin more formalized scent work. Then we did some go back, and he loves that game. I took my whistle out and we did some longer go-outs but to a cone throwing in a whistle sit at the cone.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

One thing some of the trainers around here advocate if your dog doesn't like the metal articles is to have them carry around a variety of metal objects. A crushed empty pop can is good, as are the metal rings from canning jars, flatware, etc. They can get used to the feel of metal in their mouth without associating it with the article itself.


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Oh, that's very good advice...Thanks Barb. To this point, I have tried to make the metal article a very positive experience so he doesn't "hate" it, it's just not his favorite thing to put in his mouth. I'll try the other things, though just to keep his retrieving attitude up.


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## Radarsdad (Apr 18, 2011)

hollyk said:


> Trained with the Tuesday small group today.
> The first part was gun training for me. At the next level of HRC you have to handle the gun. So I had another intro to gun lesson, then I sat on a bucket at the line without Winter and practiced a few times. Then Winter join me at the line. I thought that the gun going off right by her might make her nervous, but she could not have cared less. So we ran a few singles and a couple of doubles, and she did two short blinds (not all at once). Winter did well with her marks and blinds and I did fine with the gun.
> After everyone else left, Winter went for a cooling off swim, followed by a break. Once she was cooled down we ran Pattern Blind Day at 120-130 yards. When she is out beyond a 100 yards, I'm having trouble getting a straight back, angle backs and overs are OK but that straight back at a distance usual gets taken as an angled or an over. I have been walking up and recasting to try get a straight back. I have not been running blinds/blind patterns that long (2-3 weeks I think) and my notes say as long as she is taking the cast in the right direction not to worry.....*but I would really like to get that straight back cast. I'll be talking to the Pro about this one.*
> 
> Not sure about training the rest of the week as I need get a new muffler on my 1992 Isuzu Trooper dog car. We will manage to fit something in.


Verbal with no casts. Verbal cast will send the dog on the direction they want to go. Let your pup cross the line to the blind with casts you want in mind. Why would you want a straight back when the dog is running the line, why would you want to stop momentum to success? You have to learn to position your pup if they are off line and read them to get them to the bird.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

We will be heading into Vermont this week. The pet friendly motel that we will be staying at has a pond and some large fields. This is perfect for training. I would like to do more steadying drills. I also need to work on handling.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Radarsdad said:


> Verbal with no casts. Verbal cast will send the dog on the direction they want to go. Let your pup cross the line to the blind with casts you want in mind. Why would you want a straight back when the dog is running the line, why would you want to stop momentum to success? You have to learn to position your pup if they are off line and read them to get them to the bird.



Radarsdad, 1st off good to see you! Where have you been, or have I been not seeing your posts?

Not sure what you are saying here? All my casts at this point are supposed to be silent hand signals, reserving voice with hand signals for when I really need it. "Backs" do occasional slip out.
I think I get what you are saying about momentum and most of the PB's are run with one or two and sometimes zero, line correction casts. Occasionally, we go off track and it is usually at 100 plus yards. The training session where I could not get the straight back we had a dog/handler disconnect and were ping ponging across the line. When she was stopped in line and I wanted a straight back cast I could not get it . The trainer, Andy, looked at it this week and I suspect you and him are on the same page. His correction was for ME. Slow down casting. After she turns and sits, make eye contact and keep eye contact with her sitting for 3 seconds, 1001,1002,1003 and then deliberately cast. Seems the closer to the bumper she gets the faster I cast. 
I can also see that I need to run many, many blinds just to understand where her line out of the cast will carry her and to refine our communication. I have a funny feeling that the PB drills are more for me than her. Still loving this blind stuff, but I really can feel the weight of my part of the partnership. Thank-you always for your input. It really made me think, and reinforced what Andy said.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Woo-hoo! Scout ran full distance today on all her pattern blinds. Will do that a few more times than move on to another field and make them longer. When the cheat grass dies down we will do some in cover.


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