# Hunt and Field Training Plans for the Week of June 3-9



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Sure has been quiet on this forum lately....

We'll all be waiting anxiously to hear how Slater does in his Master tests!

I'm keeping Tito home and quiet this week just in case he does have kennel cough, although at this point I'm pretty well convinced he didn't/doesn't have it. But I don't want to expose any other dogs just in case. That would not be fair.

I've decided to enter him in Senior, not Master, at National. We're not going to be training for probably the next 4-6 weeks, haven't for the past 3, so it's just not realistic to have him as ready as I would like him to be. I also need to get him ready to go back into obedience, it's been almost 2 years since he really trained/showed in obedience (other than jumping in for his VER title, which was 3 days), and 2 years since he's been in the breed ring so I need to get back to a few conformation classes as well, oh, and step up agility before National...nope, we won't be running in Master!


----------



## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

We trained yesterday and had a great day. Solid on doubles, land and water. We did a couple land blinds, one were she had to run across a hill and did it well. We worked a shoreline blind, there was a little scalping. I ran it again a bit later and she took a line well off shore, which I took as a good sign. We also ran a baby keyhole water blind, 20 yard swim, a little land strip with a 8 foot slot framed by tall grass and then another 20 yard swim. She hit the land strip, whistle, right back cast, she started to run the land strip, whistle. I caught her at the right grass edge of the slot, paused, made sure she was really watching me, big verbal left back cast. She spun and drove straight back into the water. WooHoo it made my day! 
Training again tomorrow.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Well we didn't feel pass and I am feeling a little discouraged 

She nailed the first land mark which was the live flyer and still flapping whens he got to it. Judge was even whispering that she got bonus points for going directly to the wheel where it landed. Second bird was a nice high arc, but didn't travel far from the gunner station so we got a no bird. Again. Every test it is always us! So they yelled at the gunner for not throwing it out far enough and had us a do it again. This is the first time I had a no bird and they didn't ask me to wait a dog or two before coming back to it. Anyway, the bird they threw was really low and parallel to the ground. From my vantage point it didn't even go higher than the cover which was really tall and thick. Once the dogs got into that cover you could not see them...where they were or what they were doing. I don't think she saw it, but she went and put up a mighty hunt. When I started seeing her think about leaving the area I sat her and handled to the mark. Yuck. I hated doing it, but she handled well for me and found it. A few people told me I did the right thing and that she handled really well for me (even a pro said she did a nice job). I can say I would have rather had the no bird that was thrown because at least it was a high arc. I was terrified they weren't going to pass me on land which sucked because I just didn't feel like Scout did anything wrong and I don't know how I could have trained for that :/ A lot of dogs struggled with that mark, even the test dog who is a nice field trial dog My friend tells me it isn't appropriate though to run a very advanced dog as test dog...is this true? Because then you might think a mark is easier than it looks and won't see where the dogs might break down.

So on to water. She just simply for whatever reason did not want to go on the first water mark. Did what she did at the other test we failed...got in just enough to wade then puddled around. Looked directly where the mark landed and whined. So I drove her back with fetch and we failed. Which is fine...given what she did I would have failed us too. Although I wished our luck on her mark back in the land series had been better we might have saved it here...because they let her pick up the second water mark and she drove through the water that time like it was nothing. No pause or hesitation. And she had to push through thick reeds at the entry of the water.

So back to square one. Not going to enter her in our last test in two weeks because I don't think I can satisfactorily fix this problem in two weeks time and the last think I want is her to become test wise. And I don't know how I am going to fix this problem with it being hit or miss with the miss side happening at tests. If I can get it to come out in training, how will I fix it? She hasn't done it since water force a few weeks back and has since done some long marks on new ponds. *sniff* And the cheat grass and goat heads were terrible. A very nice man carried Scout to the car when we encountered a patch and she had ten of those nasty prickles in her paws. Picked up a tick too which someone torched after pulling it out.

In other news they were running a Qual just down the road and I got to watch some of that and it was really cool. At first I thought it was the Master and then I was really intimidated by the distances. But it sure was nice to see those dogs that ran a very nice, clean run. Quite impressive the control, desire, stamina, intelligence...


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Oh Lisa, I'm sorry.
I have a friend here (with a young golden) who is going through the exact same thing on water as you are. I don't know how to help her fix it, either, just offer my sympathy for your frustration.
I'm kinda surprised they called a no-bird on that throw...around here, it's pick it up where it falls, even if it's only 3 feet directly in front of the gunner's station (ask me how I know that....). Sounds to me like you would have been better off if they had just let her go pick it up.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Thanks. It's very frustrating particularly because it is hit or miss. It would be one thing if she never went...

And as the token golden and the only young woman in the group I sure would like her to do well. Everyone loves how pretty she is and I can hear the jokes now...too pretty to get wet  Although to be fair every time I go to one of these a lot of people approach me and tell me they think she is a nice dog AND pretty (not just pretty).


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I know what you're saying, Lisa. I always feel a bit more pressure because he is a "show golden" and I want him to show people that show dogs can do it, they're not just pretty. 
I wish I had some advice for you, but I don't. Only what Dan tells me when I get frustrated..."Believe in your dog. You will get there."


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

As far as the no-bird...I have gotten so many of them. The last test we were at the judge pretty much said that wherever the bird lands your dog has to get it even if it is not the perfect spot so too bad. Then I somehow got a no-bird. Twice. On land, then on water. Go figure.


----------



## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Oh Lisa I'm so sorry.
I'm sure your Pro will have a plan for you and Scout. I always feel better when I have a plan.


----------



## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

*Too Many Doubles*

Well Winter gave me a lesson today in what happens when you run too many doubles at senior distance.
We started on water with two marks, but ran them as singles. Mark one goes up, Winter swings her head for marks two, "Winter" and she is still waiting for mark two to go up, "Winter" and she finally goes. Second water mark, she goes on her name and no head swinging. 
Next we set up 5 Techincal land singles, again head swing on the first one, also her marking was not as good as it usually is. It was a good lesson for me on why you have to keep running singles and that I have to quit training just for the next test. See what happens when the Pro is out of town.
So Winter will be seeing a lot of singles in the next couple of weeks.
We also ran water and land blinds and they looked good.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Holly....been there, done that!


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

hollyk said:


> Well Winter gave me a lesson today in what happens when you run too many doubles at senior distance.
> We started on water with two marks, but ran them as singles. Mark one goes up, Winter swings her head for marks two, "Winter" and she is still waiting for mark two to go up, "Winter" and she finally goes. Second water mark, she goes on her name and no head swinging.
> Next we set up 5 Techincal land singles, again head swing on the first one, also her marking was not as good as it usually is. It was a good lesson for me on why you have to keep running singles and that I have to quit training just for the next test. See what happens when the Pro is out of town.
> So Winter will be seeing a lot of singles in the next couple of weeks.
> We also ran water and land blinds and they looked good.


Make sure you do are singles off of *visible*, *multiple* guns so that the head swing is tempted and you can correct if it happens and reinforce/reward that she is to stay locked on the mark until she is either sent or the next mark starts to go down when you reintroduce multiples in training.


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

My training plans for the week are to begin 3-legged pattern with Bonnie, now that we are done Junior and movng towards Senior, and to repair her mother!!!

We had a terribly mixed weekend. Bonnie was absolutely wonderful and earned her CKC Junior Hunter title yesterday in straight passes. She is going hard on all of her marks and got lots of compliments from the judges, and even from a couple of my FTer friends I used to train with who were gunning the JH and SH stakes. Compared to what she has been doing in training the marks were pretty straightforward. The only really tough one was on water yesterday where the bird landed in the corner of the pond where there were lots of logs and sticks that looked rather birdlike, and her bird landed tucked right in behind one so she had to hunt a bit to get it. 

Bonnie was the happy part. My Breezy was the awful part. We did not get past the land series in eithe Master test. On Saturday it was just our bad ****** luck that they threw an indented triple where the middle and left birds landed in line which has been her bugaboo lately. Then it was my DAH mistake to not take enough time to set her up to get her downwind of the long bird--she flared upwind instead, hunted the wrong side of the gun station, and got hung up in the scent from the path the gunner was taking to plant the blind, and I had to handle her and it was not a nice clean handle. She front-footed the third bird and two-whistled the blind, but it was not enough to save us. I did not feel too bad though as other dogs that did not get through that series included a FTCH/AFTCH GMH! 

Yesterday was just humiliating, though. She overran the go bird, started hunting deep and then just got lost and I had to pick her up without her getting even _*one*_ bird!!! She just completely gave up--it was like she left her brain at home. So this week is a diet of salted singles to rebuild focus and get her confidence up with some immediate success, and if I can get some pigeons from my farmer, she will be getting some live bird marks and walkups to get her spirits back up. She is such a sensitive dog that she knows she has messed up and gets worried about it which only feeds into it. ARgghh!


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Shelly, I mean this in the nicest way, so please don't take it wrong but it's encouraging for me to read that other dogs sometimes go through "left the brain at home" days. I'm so new to this that when Tito does something like that, I feel like my dog is, well, not good. Or something.
That said, I hope it's a quick fix, that it was just one of those days!


----------



## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Shelly, I mean this in the nicest way, so please don't take it wrong but it's encouraging for me to read that other dogs sometimes go through "left the brain at home" days. I'm so new to this that when Tito does something like that, I feel like my dog is, well, not good. Or something.
> That said, I hope it's a quick fix, that it was just one of those days!


We were talking about this yesterday while training. We figure that our dogs are canine athletes. Like human athletes they can not be always at peak performance, but the trick is to train and have them peak when you need it.
.....hey it sounded good yesterday out in the middle of a field.


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Yeah, unfortunatelyt he dog I had in training this week was not the one who showed up to the test this weekend--it was lioke she was a different animal!!

Funnily enough, the pro who has been my mentor has a superstition that if the dog is really on in training your last session before a test, then they are going to go to pieces in the test, and if they break down in training then they get it out of their system and do well in the test. Certainly fit BReeze this week as she had hammered her work in training!


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Well I have only 18 days to get BaWaaJige going out further than 35yds on his water marks. He is still hesitating....he goes so I dont think if he pulls this at the test it would be a no bird but I would like to see him plowing in the water like he does with the shorter marks up to 25yds. 

I sure wish I knew what happened to him it would make it easier to understand on my part and maybe I could fix it too.

Oh well whatever happens happens.


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

General V said:


> Well I have only 18 days to get BaWaaJige going out further than 35yds on his water marks. He is still hesitating....he goes so I dont think if he pulls this at the test it would be a no bird but I would like to see him plowing in the water like he does with the shorter marks up to 25yds.


A no bird is not called because the dog decides not to go. If the judges release the dog to retrieve they have deemed the mark visible enough in the throw and retrievable where it fell.

You need to get a gunner out in a boat doing fire drill out there to draw him out deeper and build that confidence. Use big white visible bumpers so that he has a clear target at whcih to swim. Your marks in an AKC test could be up to 100 yards on water. Focus on streching him out. The more you reinforce that water retrieves are no longer than 35 yards by only throwing marks of that length the more you are ingraining that that is as far as he has to swim. If he is only doing 25-35 yards now confidently it is unlikely he will be ready in time.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

We are doing UKC and the water marks are up to 60yds. Since it is at my hunt clubs grounds we dont have any water big enough to do a 60yd retrieve I know he will only have to go 50yds at the most more like 40yrds.

I dont have any ponds to work on I have big lakes. I have gone out on docks so I can throw tehm further up to 40-45yds he is very hesitant to go out that far. In early April he was doing 50-60yrd retrieves and something happened I dont know what. I am working him every day. In early May he was only going out 15-20yrds I have it up to almost 35yds so I feel I am making some head way but so far no one has been able to help me understand what is going on.


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

General V said:


> We are doing UKC and the water marks are up to 60yds. Since it is at my hunt clubs grounds we dont have any water big enough to do a 60yd retrieve I know he will only have to go 50yds at the most more like 40yrds.
> 
> I dont have any ponds to work on I have big lakes. I have gone out on docks so I can throw tehm further up to 40-45yds he is very hesitant to go out that far. In early April he was doing 50-60yrd retrieves and something happened I dont know what. I am working him every day. In early May he was only going out 15-20yrds I have it up to almost 35yds so I feel I am making some head way but so far no one has been able to help me understand what is going on.


What is going on is really quite simple. Puppies, with very rare exceptions, just don't go out and do big swims! It is something they have to build confidence on and learn to do. He is still very much a puppy in his training. In early April that big water would have been pretty ****** cold still. So he might have learned from those longer retrieves that bigger water marks are unpleasant. I'm north like you are and I do not generally have my dogs in the water that early for just that reason. This year we did some on water in March as we had a heat wave and the small ponds warmed up enough, but we could not be in big water yet. It is less a concern for the mature, experienced dogs, but can have a negative effect on their attitude as well.

Even if the marks will only be 50 yards in the test, he should still be doing bigger work in training--you want the dog to be underwhelmed by the work they have to do in a test. When you have big water you have to get someone to be your gunner and go out in a rowboat or canoe and gradually extend the length of the retrieves, and be ready to get his attention with a hey-hey and throw that momentum bumper if he starts breaking down. He does not have the tools to do bigger swims because he has not been taught it yet.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I took Tito to the cold pond today just to do some swimming, not training. He has been on R & R and in quarantine for 2 weeks due to his "alleged" kennel cough, which I'm pretty sure isn't. Anyway, I want to get him back into peak physical condition, so I figure a nice swim today would be good.
He swam for 1/2 hour. The weather was lovely, and the pond is quite cold so it was really a perfect day. 
Tito doesn't know how to swim unless he is retrieving something (weird dog) so I have to keep tossing a bumper for him. After a while I got bored and did some disciplined casting in the water, which I haven't really done before. He did a great job, took the casts wherever I sent him, even though he already had a bumper in his mouth and wasn't headed toward anything specific. I was very pleased with him.


----------



## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

sterregold said:


> When you have big water you have to get someone to be your gunner and go out in a rowboat or canoe and gradually extend the length of the retrieves, and be ready to get his attention with a hey-hey and throw that momentum bumper if he starts breaking down. He does not have the tools to do bigger swims because he has not been taught it yet.


I was going to say you need to be ready to double throw too. As soon as you see the break down start to happen, HEY, HEY, HEY and double throw. Land or water we always have someone ready to double for young dogs. 

Good Luck!


----------



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

hollyk said:


> I was going to say you need to be ready to double throw too. As soon as you see the break down start to happen, HEY, HEY, HEY and double throw. Land or water we always have someone ready to double for young dogs.
> 
> Good Luck!


This of course is standard protocol for helping but for a dog who is starting to balk at water on a regular basis stuff like this will only get you so far. It may work a time or two but eventually the dog just starts ignoring the "help" from the gunner or actively becomes fearful of them.
Without force fetch or a collar this can be an EXTREMELY difficult thing to overcome. 
I would highly suggest two things for baawagige -- do not throw any marks he will balk at (keep them short and do not let him practice the behavior AT ALL) and seek help from a pro.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Well started back at swim-by and I can now do complete swim-by with only taking a few steps to the right or left. Will be done so soon now. She's going nicely and stays right in the middle of the pond now. Yay!

Went out with a friend to a new pond and threw some marks to see if we could bring out the water hesitation in Scout. Tried sending her from a long distance on land to see if that would break it down. Nope. Two marks and she plowed right in. And they were long marks on land back in cover. Moved down the shore a little and did a third and she balked! So I used some pressure and *back* to get her going and she went. My friend's theory is that she is balking when the slope is gradual into the pond...giving her more time to think about it....vs a more straight drop into swimming water at the shore. I am skeptical, but at least it's an idea. Of course didn't have the problem again though throwing bumpers from the shore. *sigh*

Hope to get a lesson next week to see where to move forward. I am optimistic that swim-by might be done by Friday since all I need to take out is a few steps to the side but I need to check with pro to make sure I don't need to do anything else. Then we can start on doing some water drills and water blinds!


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I thawed some birds out and planted 3 blinds for Tito last night in the alfalfa field. The alfalfa needs to be cut and is about shoulder high (to him, not me, LOL) right now. Dan always has me plant 3 blinds, and work from easiest to hardest. The first one was about 80 yards, straight line, near some big bushes. He more or less lined that one, although he did scent hunt when he got near it. Due to the high cover, I let him. The second one was straight out to the middle of the field, about 150 yards, but the bird was in a patch of very low cover so when he got there he could see it, and he lined that one. I was very pleased at his nice straight lines on both blinds.
The third one was a bit tricky, probably harder than I meant for it to be. It was across mowed lawn about 20 yards, across a gravel road (driveway), thru the alfalfa almost 100 yards but the entry and exit were both angles, then across another part of the gravel road, up the berm, and tucked down in between two bushes but visible from about 5 yards away.
He did *pretty well*. Took an awesome line across the mowed grass, the driveway, and the alfalfa but then on the angle exit he took more of a straight exit and got off his line. I had to cast him back and forth a few times to get him where I wanted him, he seemed to have an issue with being cast while on the driveway so I will work on that with him. He kept wanting to head for the cover, even though I was casting him directly to his right or left, he was taking it as an angle back instead. He did come up with the bird after about 12 whistles, lol, but overall I was pleased with him because it was a pretty tough blind.


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

No training for us last night. CRAZY storms blew through. Massive thunderbursts with grape sized hail. The thunder was so close and so heavy it literally rattled the windows in my house. Thank god I moved the puppies to the dog room (aka the former rec room) in the basement a week ago so they had a little more house between them and the storm. There were tornado warnings but nothing materialized I think only because it had not been quite hot enough. This is my dog run partway through the storm. My peonies, just blooming, are shredded.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Yay Scout did a complete swimby without my legs moving from their spot! Very happy with how it looks! Went to do the other side though and upon being cast back in she hugs the shore the entire length of the pond. Not happy with that so I backed up and identified the exit pile and she's still doing it. So need to think about how to fix that. She does great with the overs by staying in the center, and she does great with the one side. Not sure why this one is a problem...


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

GoldenSail said:


> Yay Scout did a complete swimby without my legs moving from their spot! Very happy with how it looks! Went to do the other side though and upon being cast back in she hugs the shore the entire length of the pond. Not happy with that so I backed up and identified the exit pile and she's still doing it. So need to think about how to fix that. She does great with the overs by staying in the center, and she does great with the one side. Not sure why this one is a problem...


Clarify the target and identify the line (not just the pile) for her. I find this has helped my guys figure out what is expected of them on this phase. You are now asking her to take a back through the centre of the pond on its narrower orientation so there is less water for her to choose. Show her what the correct route is.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Tried to break down the exercise today with little success. She insisted on hugging the shore. Threw a bumper on the line halfway down the middle to encourage the correct path and that worked until she reached the bumper then it broke down. Absolutely would not respond to any sort of whistle sits or handling outside the concept of the water t even when I used pressure. Called the pro and he was surprised I can't get her back on the right path by whistle sitting and casting back....even with a whistle sit nick at a high level for her on land. So he's going to look at it on Tuesday. Yesterday I thought we were almost done, now today we've slidden back and I wonder if we will ever get out of this drill. He wants us to flip the back pile and run the opposite side of the pond eventually too, then he does a modification at the end to intro to channel blinds...


----------



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Oh, and continuing my fun, Miss Bon-bon came in season this morning. I was going to enter her in a WC on the 24th, as with that club they will do day of move-ups so I could put her into WCI in the afternoon. The other club holding them has one next Thursday, and then two weeks after that (when she will still be in season!) and I cannot put her in the one two weeks later in early July as I am judging it!!! Arghh! She will be running SH before I get her ruddy WC!


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Had a really good training with Jige last tuesday. I went to a river where I could see that no traps had been set and I was throwing his bumper out for him. He loved he went clear across the river several times no hesitating at all I think it helped that he thought the other side was close with all the cattails around. I am guess he was swimming about 35yrds. This is also the first place I did bumper training with him last year. 

To answer Anny I have mentioned before I do have a club with many members with lots of titles because I dont e-collar him they have trouble helping me work past this issue. I am taking it slow I do lots and lots of fun throws for him and them I toss in a longer one since he is GOING I will keep doing this. My pattern is 4-5 fun 1 longer one then I do 5 or so fun some on land some water then a long again. I spend 1 to 1.5hrs at the lake almost everyday.


----------



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

General V said:


> My pattern is 4-5 fun 1 longer one then I do 5 or so fun some on land some water then a long again. I spend 1 to 1.5hrs at the lake almost everyday.


Be careful about this pattern you do not want to tire him out before throwing that long one. I tried this a little bit too until someone pointed out that doing several short before a long can start tiring the dog and if they are not that great on water...


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Thanks for the tip I actually stop playing with him before he is tired then I wait for a .5 hr before I do some land drills. I wish I could tire him out. 

Yesteday he played with my sisters dog for 4hrs I took him to the lake for an 1hr played fetch in the back yard when we got home for .5hr went into to have supper at 6:30 he came and wanted to go play again at 7:30pm. My goodness Jige you only slept for an 1hr Iam tired.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Long swims tire Tito out, but it doesn't seem to last long. If I'm going to do a big water swim with him (200 yards), I don't do short ones first. But he does recover from it quickly, and will be ready to go again soon.
When I do a 200 yard swim with him, I might as well go get lunch and come back. He takes a LONG time.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

200yrds you muct be using a launcher. I can not throw that far by hand. I am up too 50yrd throwing by hand though.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

no, we have some nice ponds around here that are between 200-300 yards across the pond. I have a thrower on the opposite shore, either my winger or preferably a live thrower. I usually do the long swims with bumpers, as they float better. If we use birds, then I have it on the shore and he has to get out and get it. Otherwise it sinks by the time he gets there, we don't have very fresh birds


----------



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

General V said:


> 200yrds you muct be using a launcher. I can not throw that far by hand. I am up too 50yrd throwing by hand though.


50 yard hand throw would be truly remarkable. That's half a football field. 

I cannot stress to you enough that HAND THROWING bumpers will NOT help your dog get in the water on water marks. He needs marks from gunners. This is probably WHY he has an issue with longer water marks, he is so used to only going as far as you can hand throw a bumper. They need marks from a gunner, period.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

It would be nice to have a gunner to help me all the time. I am 1.5 hrs from where most of my club member live. I have a large lake that I work on. It would be nice if they were closer to help me but I have to make do with what I have.

Google Maps

I have printed this before this is the lake I work on it is the smaller of all the lakes around me. I have a canoe but since my son isnt very good with paddleing a canoe and canoes are tippy for him to stand up in and throw a bumper or a duck I perfer not to do that. We are going to try it this week.

I have to make do with what I have. Since I didnt have this trouble last year and it just started in april I am sure I can work through this issue with time and patients.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Sharon, you might want to look into an inexpensive hand-held launcher. It might be just the thing to help you thru this.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I do have a hand held one that we use on land my son uses as I cant....lol I tore up my right shoulder so that one is out of the commision and I tried I really did to use my left hand but I cant hold the thing I fire and my hand flies opena nd the launcher goes sailing...I swear to .....I cant use it. I was laughing so hard the first time I used and I kept throwing it I almost died. Too bad it wasnt on video it was funny. Thanks tho maybe we will try it this week see what he does have my sisters dog there in case he wont go get the dummy I dont want to loose any of them.


----------



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Everyone who field trains struggles with access to good water and training partners. It's not a unique dilemma. I have to drive a minimum of 1 1/2 hours for decent water during the summer and have to coordinate schedules with training partners. That's just how it works.
Look for smaller bodies of water to train on. Even if you are throwing short marks, if the dog is looking out at a huge ocean of water it is very self defeating and will bleed over even on short marks in smaller water. 
If this were my dog to work on I would stop all hand-thrown bumpers and use ONLY a gunner throwing remotely. Start short and see where it goes. You need to get the dog away from expecting YOU to throw the bumper and get in the habit of looking out and marking off a gun. Start using only birds and not bumpers. I know this is your routine and the dog's exercise but if you want to be successful at hunt tests you need to do these things and stop with the hand thrown bumpers. NO training is better than POOR training. And right now your dog is showing you the training he has received thus far has been the wrong kind of habits. Yes most dogs go through some sort of reluctance in the water but with the path you have chosen (no force) you have to set your dog up for very concrete expectations and a huge history of good habits and that is not what he is getting right now.....he is SHOWING you this with his current behavior.


----------

