# Training today



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We returned to Dan's today after being off 2 weeks for Tito's injury. Unfortunately, Dan will be gone the next THREE weeks, so we had to make the most of today.
Started on land. We did some split casting, some lining, and some blinds of some sort or another where he ran to a post that he couldn't see until he was close to it. Dan and I were both really pleased with his performance on land. 
Water was another story, however. 
He did a really great channel blind, I guess it might be called a learned blind because he's done this same blind numerous times. We started with it to be sure he was okay going back into the water after the injury, and he seemed fine.
But on the cheating pond, he was just all over the place. He doesn't seem to understand "look up on the shore" when he's swimming across, and he doesn't hold the line real well unless he's swimming toward a visible target like a post. He was stopping nicely on the whistle, treading water okay, but was all over the place on the casting. He's done much, much better. He turned the wrong way on back casts more than once, just seemed like he was on another planet. Or maybe we were. It wasn't pretty. We did manage to get him to take the angle entries and exits and a few casts before we were finished, but it was like pulling teeth. 
After that we did some cold blinds in moderate cover. This is the first time that Dan's done this with Tito. He marked the blinds with 2 stakes that were pretty hard to see, more for our benefit than Tito's. Ran them from 60-75 yards away. 
The first one was a disaster. Tito took off in the direction he thought a bird might be in, not the direction he was sent in. After a slight attitude adjustment he did MUCH better and we both ended up being pretty proud of him. At the end Dan sent him to the middle of the field, no pole, cast him around in a few different directions to make sure he would take the casts, and then ran in and tossed a live bird behind him for him to go chase down. 
We finished with some water marks with birds. It's amazing how much straighter Tito can swim across when it's a bird....the last one was a live bird in the water, just to let him chase it around and dive after it for a while. The thrill of the pursuit is the highlight of the game!
So now you guys have to keep me training really hard the next 3 weeks with Dan gone. Hard to believe but our water season will be drawing to a close soon, so I have to make the most of what's left of it!


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

I am so glad Tito is able to get back to it without further complications from his injury. Bummer Dan is going to be gone, you guys do such fantastic work together, though you do have your training buddies to work with. 

Again, no video?!?!?


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I'm glad Tito is back in action!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Um, I took a video and the first thing I did when I got home was delete it. It showed him at his WORST. I mean seriously. He did just about everything possible wrong.
SHEEESH.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

They can't all be fabulous perfect days or you don't learn anything. You know your boy was rusty, he did just fine. Sounds like a good training day. That is what you want. You don't want the mistakes to show up at a test, you want them to show up NOW so he knows his job at the test. 

Enjoy the day. It bites Dan will be gone as our training opportunities are drawing ever so closer to a close.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> We returned to Dan's today after being off 2 weeks for Tito's injury. Unfortunately, Dan will be gone the next THREE weeks, so we had to make the most of today.


Dan off to The Grand? Andy, our trainer, is leaving next week. Today was the last day until he returns. I was given my list on what to work on.




hotel4dogs said:


> Hard to believe but our water season will be drawing to a close soon, so I have to make the most of what's left of it!


We are going start water blinds stuff when Andy returns and get as far as we can before it gets to cold.

Happy to see Tito is back to doing what he loves.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Dove hunting season opens here next Thursday, so Dan won't be available to train (the hunt club has dove hunting). Then the following 2 weeks he's at the Grand, yes. He's running the maximum 8 dogs allowed per handler.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

A golden that thinks it knows better than its handler? Don't be surprised, they do it frequently. Glad to hear that Tito is back out in the field.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

gdgli, yes, our pro (Dan) always says that that's the biggest difference between training labs and goldens. Goldens are always looking for a better way to do it. He likes to comment (he breeds labs) that goldens are just so DAMM (had to misspell that, the forum blocked it, lol) smart, they can be a real challenge to train, but once they "get it", they're awesome to run.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Aww, I'll bet the video of Tito is no worse than some of what we've seen with our own dogs ... I mean how bad could the Tito man be? I think it might also be helpful to see how the goofs are handled 

I am really glad Tito is out & training again - you and he must be too!!

My trainer is heading out too ...


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh Sharon, this one was classic....he was in rare form.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

hotel4dogs said:


> gdgli, yes, our pro (Dan) always says that that's the biggest difference between training labs and goldens. Goldens are always looking for a better way to do it. He likes to comment (he breeds labs) that goldens are just so DAMM (had to misspell that, the forum blocked it, lol) smart, they can be a real challenge to train, but once they "get it", they're awesome to run.


This sounds a bit like my trainer! He too has several labs but he just got a golden pup, and LOVES his goldens he has run. He just got a new golden pup... can I say WHAT A CUTIE!!!!! I told him every time I leave, he had better make sure he has that pup or I might have taken him. LOL


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Barb we all have training days like that. I can distinctly remember several disastrous training sessions where I went home crying. One I felt so bad for Fisher I made him a pancake when I got home! LOL Thank god dogs are so forgiving.
Slater gets a real benefit since I sorta know what I'm doing with him. So far only two meltdown training sessions in his little lifetime (one resulting in my ankle rope burn, the other he got a big lesson on FTP).
What kind of homework did Dan leave you guys with?


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words Anney, I wasn't sure yesterday whether to beat my head against a wall or his. I had to drive all the way home reminding myself how far he really has come in the less than year and a half we've been training. At that point he had never seen a bird, heard a gun, heck hadn't even seen a bumper I don't think.
Last year we only trained when at Dan's, never at home. Anney told me that we would NEVER get to SH that way. When we really got into the SH skills I realized how right you are, and we started training at home this April. So we haven't done much, and I try to keep that in perspective. He's a good boy. He really is (can you tell we had a MUCH better day today, LOL?).
For homework over the next 3 weeks, we have a bunch of stuff to do. Trying to keep it balanced. 
On land:
Lining drills, especially extending the wagon wheel out to long distances, 16 bumpers.
Lining to the poles that are in a line with us at an angle to them (described this one before), making the angle tighter and tighter. Remove the poles and line to piles, same set up.
Casting, the matrix drill for angle backs
Split casting
Walking baseball 
Simple cold blinds, 3 to 4 per day, using birds as much as possible, in new locations (different fields) whenever possible
"Brush drill" to encourage him to run a straight line over obstacles etc
With my training friends, "set-ups" to practice marking skills
In water:
Taught blinds (may be calling it the wrong thing?) to bumpers up on the opposite shore, not visible from in the water, not marked with a stake, but he's been shown that they're there
Taking a straight line in water (!!!) when he doesn't see a destination to head to
Treading water
Basic casting in water (we had a major problem with this yesterday, but today he did great with it, Dan feels the problem happens when he can't SEE what he's heading toward when in the water, I agree). Today he could see the *other* bumper in the water when he turned to take a cast, and he was just fine with it. Baby steps.
Long swims
Leaving the snapping turtle alone....

We'll be VERY busy! I want Dan to come back and really, really be impressed with the progress we've made while he's gone.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Training today. Better.
He did 3 lovely cold blinds with birds this morning. One involved running between some evergreen trees, into the alfalfa field, back out of the alfalfa field into my neighbor's weed/tree field (he's a landscaper). Sounds impressive, right? Nah, he's been taught to run between those trees before. Not to that exact location, but running between trees isn't new to him. Total distance was only about 50 yards.
But hey, I'm really pleased with the progress he's making on blinds now.
Then snuck out of work to the "cold pond", called my training buddy and asked (begged) him to meet me there for some remedial work. 
Threw some doubles, sent him for one bumper, stopped him halfway, cast him to the other bumper, he aced it each time. Alternated that with lining him to the bumpers, just to keep balance. This reinforces what Dan says that he does fine WHEN HE CAN SEE THE OTHER BUMPER but when he can't, he doesn't like to "accept control in the water". 
Put a bumper pile up on the land across an angle corner of the pond. Now I realize this was hard, and I probably should not have done it. But the way the pond was set up, I felt it was the only way to line him across to an unseen pile of bumpers (in extremely heavy cover) and try to get him to take a straight line back to the pile without having a pretty big swim associated with it. It was a DISASTER. He wouldn't take the angle line, he insisted on either taking a straight entry, or running in the water but along the shoreline. Line him up, hand over head, say "back" and he heads off to the side. That kind of stuff. I finally got my head screwed on straight and marked the pile for him by tossing a bumper to it, and from that point on he took the line across to it with no problem. But indicates something that needs a lot of work.
Did 2 75 yard marks, easy marks in light seaweed, but nice long swims. 
Walked around the pond, dropped a bumper in heavy cover, let him see me do it. Walked around to the other side of the pond, lined him to it. I had my training buddy on standby in case he needed help, but much to my surprise he held the line beautifully although the bumper wasn't at all visible. Got out, went right to it even though it was in cover over his head, came back nicely. I was really pleased with that one so we called it quits in the water for today.
On land, ran some cold blinds on mowed grass, using the landscape (lots of small inclines/declines, trees, etc) to make the bumpers not visible until he was very close to them. He did a really nice job with them, we were only at 50-75 yards, but still I was pleased. 
My training partner didn't tell me he had put out 2 bumpers, about 10 feet apart. I sent Tito on the line, thought he was about 10 feet off the line, so when he was about lined up with where I thought the bumper was (depth), I whistle sat him and gave him an over cast. He just sat there and stared at me. I gave him another over cast, he picked up the bumper DIRECTLY AT HIS FEET and came back. Oops. I could almost hear him shaking his head in bafflement all the way back. What in the world does this lady WANT????
A much better day today. Baby steps.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh and he was REALLY good about the LEAVE IT command with the 18 inch snapping turtle....NO! HERE! 
My training buddy went in the water after it (up to his waist!), banked it with a stick, and put it back in the river where it belongs (the river runs behind the cold pond, not too far away). The said a snapping turtle that size will bite your finger off, or the end of a dog's nose....


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