# Field Training Feb 2014



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We got another 8 inches of snow yesterday. Expecting another 8-10 on Tuesday. More next Saturday.
This is just ridiculous.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Barb,
So sorry. DH's snow bike races have been canceled lately. He has studded tires on his bike and it's sometimes just too icy to race. Not enough snow and lots of avalanches everywhere. Even our downhill ski area was closed down for a bit. Sled dog races are getting canceled due to lack of snow. Rivers are open all over the state and not frozen over. Most of the state doesn't have roads, so we use the frozen rivers to get around. Makes it impossible to get to our bush cabin unless we fly in. Hasn't been this warm in January since 1985. 

Barb we wish we had your snow! We have such more fun when we have snow and cold. Can you send some our way?


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

hotel4dogs said:


> We got another 8 inches of snow yesterday. Expecting another 8-10 on Tuesday. More next Saturday.
> This is just ridiculous.


Me too. 6 - 8 inches tomorrow, more next weekend. It is 50 deg today after two weeks of single digits and minus temps. 
I managed to get in a few marks and blinds before the next round of cold and snow.
And since she has only field trained ONE other day this winter, coupled with the pheasant shoot yesterday, she decided that the whistle sit was optional. We resolved that issue and now will go back into hibernation for a few more weeks.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

That's 2 more days of training than Tito has had....
Stacey, you are more than welcome to ALL of our snow. We are running out of places to put it when we plow.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I do believe that everyone needs to get out and work their dogs in the winter. Find an empty lot or a ball field where there is nothing for your dog to run into. You can still do singles and doubles. Maybe not your usual distances. We run our dogs on frozen marshes, soccer fields, etc. Lunging through the snow is great exercise for them. This is a good time for road work. My dogs love running with our cross country skis and snow bikes. Bundle up, do whatever it takes. Don't let the weather beat you down. We build plywood platforms with carpet on top for our dogs to sit on at the line. It keeps their butts warm and helps them learn line manners. So thaw some ducks and get out there! Spring will be here before you know it and you'll miss out. I use a sled to haul my ducks and bumpers around the fields. The snow is beautiful and the dogs love it!


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> I do believe that everyone needs to get out and work their dogs in the winter. Find an empty lot or a ball field where there is nothing for your dog to run into. You can still do singles and doubles. Maybe not your usual distances.


Stacey, the problem is that you have to be able to get to the training areas and then be able to drive into them. We don't have a lot of land available that you can train dogs on, and generally the areas we have are dirt road areas which are not cleared.
The pheasant shoots I go to are on private property and the roads in are plowed so I can get to those and have done them in sub zero wind chills, cold icy rain etc. 
So its not about not wanting to go out in the cold, its more about accessibility to training areas.
Not a fun winter


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Alright well we have had a mixed bag of training the past two days. Yesterday was the local HRC's club mock test, they had me judging seasoned. After I was done I went to the finished set up, ran Bally on the marks as singles. It was a relatively easy triple, Slater I ran TWICE and neither time could he freakin mark the birds! I had to handle on at least one bird each time. What a mess! Later in the day we trained with some of our friends on the big pond, set up one LONNNNNNG mark and a LONNNNNNG blind and Slater did GREAT on them. Now go figure!! 
So today I met with Kristin and two other people at Lazy J -- ALL Kristin and I wanted to do was a relatively straightforward triple, run it as singles first then put it together. Well the two other people had already set something up, Kristin got there before me and had them tweak the setup because two of the marks were the same old same old, and they were pretty much done by the time I got there. Basically two long marks, one about 150 and cutting the edge of a pond, the other about 250 yards down and up a valley (land only, no cover). The third was a short walkup bird. So I get Slater out to do them as singles. Called for the water mark, sent him, he goes to cheat. Stop, handle, he gets in, swims across, blows right through the AOF and keeps going. I'm like CRAP -- and then he sees the blind stake for the water blind way over across the pond and runs and gets one of those bumpers (which is just as well, I don't know where the stupid bird is). Take TWO he goes to cheat again, this time I stop, NO-HERE and nick nick nick nick nick with high 3. Recast, this time he takes more water and hits it like a ton of bricks. AGAIN blows through area, this time ignoring my whistles and gets one of the blind bumpers (to his credit, when I walked out there later, it was a LOT closer than it looked from the line). Take THREE I send Kristin out there with some white bumpers because I'm convinced Slater is not seeing the mark and just going like he thinks he's on the blind. Good news he doesn't cheat but again blows through the AOF. This time I stop him, Kristin throws a bumper. Take FOUR he actually did the mark and found it! OMG!!!!!!!!!!
So now we go for the long land mark. Well one of the other ladies had her parents down from up north visiting, and little did I know but it was grandpa out there throwing the long mark. And up until now it had been cloudy and right before I run this mark with Slater the sun comes out. Grandpa is wearing black, behind a holding blind, tucked up against a treeline with the sun OVER the trees. Grandpa can't hear too well and it takes telling him on the walkie talkie about five times for him to get the message to throw the bumper. I signal and signal and finally someone says "He threw it" so I send Slater. Mistake. He runs all the way out there, not a great line which has me thinking again that he didn't see it. Once again he puts up a big stupid hunt and starts to head toward the old mark. I just stop him and call him in. At this point I am starting to boil. None of this is making me happy AT ALL. Line the dog up again, call for it again, after futzing around behind the holding blind for a bit grampa comes over the walkie talkie and informs us he is out of bumpers. One of the ladies drives out there and gives him bumpers. I line up, signal, wait forever, and Grandpa throws one that goes straight up and down and lands behind the holding blind. Grandpa doesn't understand to just leave it and throw another so we have to wait for him to meander over and pick it up. He FINALLY throws another, I send Slater and he runs out there, actually put up a hunt and starts coming back. As he's running back I'm looking at him like, I can't see the bumper, does he even have a bumper? Slater comes back with a freaking SMALL ORANGE BUMPER. That's it, I freakin blew a gasket. Who even gave grandpa a small orange bumper to throw the long mark? Where are all the big white bumpers? Well they are at the blind, but of course. OMGOMGOMGOMG THIS is why we plan out every step of our setup and what we're going to do!!!!!!

I'm going to pretend ALL of that didn't happen.......

Did see something very strange today, all along the edge of the pond were dinner plate sized floating balls of LIVE ANTS. Guess they got flooded out of their home. It was disgusting.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

> THIS is why we plan out every step of our setup and what we're going to do!!!!!!
> .


Yep, I have a couple of people a train with regularly and we have the plan before we get there. One of us will send out a message the day before, "9am, tight triple in the swale, then memory blinds, I'll bring two birds" The other two will chime in. Might get changed or something added but when we get there everyone is on the same page and who ever gets there first can grab the piece of property we want.


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## Shellbug (Nov 14, 2013)

Ahh too bad you don't have pictures. Sounds like a greet day 


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## Shellbug (Nov 14, 2013)

Alaska7133 said:


> I do believe that everyone needs to get out and work their dogs in the winter. Find an empty lot or a ball field where there is nothing for your dog to run into. You can still do singles and doubles. Maybe not your usual distances. We run our dogs on frozen marshes, soccer fields, etc. Lunging through the snow is great exercise for them. This is a good time for road work. My dogs love running with our cross country skis and snow bikes. Bundle up, do whatever it takes. Don't let the weather beat you down. We build plywood platforms with carpet on top for our dogs to sit on at the line. It keeps their butts warm and helps them learn line manners. So thaw some ducks and get out there! Spring will be here before you know it and you'll miss out. I use a sled to haul my ducks and bumpers around the fields. The snow is beautiful and the dogs love it!


Oh you did post a picture. This is a lovely one. Looks cold lol 

ETA- sorry, I am a dork. I will stay out of y'all's thread lol. It's just so interesting lol. 


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Same problem here. I live in a very rural area, and this winter many of our roads have been repeatedly closed due to blowing and drifting snow which dumps 2-3 foot drifts into the middle of the roads. Couldn't go anywhere if you wanted to. Even if you did get to go out, you can't really train much in snow that's 2 feet deep everywhere, it's too hard on the dogs. Add to that our constant minus 10 to minus 20 temps, with minus 20 to minus 40 windchills, and, well, it's not practical. (I had to call our township road commissioner to come plow our street so my son could get home, but I digress).
I'm having a terrible time just trying to keep my 1200 foot long driveway, the parking lot, the sidewalks, the patios, and the dog ex-yards cleared enough to get people in and dogs outside. There's just no place to put the snow any more. We've piled it up as high as my garage, and still it keeps on snowing.
Another 8-10 inches predicted for tomorrow into Wednesday, and then more "accumulating snow" for Saturday into Sunday.
I think California should send some trucks and come get our snow to help refill their lakes.




TrailDogs said:


> Stacey, the problem is that you have to be able to get to the training areas and then be able to drive into them. We don't have a lot of land available that you can train dogs on, and generally the areas we have are dirt road areas which are not cleared.
> The pheasant shoots I go to are on private property and the roads in are plowed so I can get to those and have done them in sub zero wind chills, cold icy rain etc.
> So its not about not wanting to go out in the cold, its more about accessibility to training areas.
> Not a fun winter


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

You are very welcome to participate in the thread!



Shellbug said:


> Oh you did post a picture. This is a lovely one. Looks cold lol
> 
> ETA- sorry, I am a dork. I will stay out of y'all's thread lol. It's just so interesting lol.
> 
> ...


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

That sounds even worse than when my Towhee came visiting, and I thought that winter was brutal !! Our weather forecast has changed and now they are saying 3 'accumulating event' storms in the next week <sigh> The field training group was able to meet this past weekend, although I had other priorities. 

Please stay safe & warm.



hotel4dogs said:


> Same problem here. I live in a very rural area, and this winter many of our roads have been repeatedly closed due to blowing and drifting snow which dumps 2-3 foot drifts into the middle of the roads. Couldn't go anywhere if you wanted to. Even if you did get to go out, you can't really train much in snow that's 2 feet deep everywhere, it's too hard on the dogs. Add to that our constant minus 10 to minus 20 temps, with minus 20 to minus 40 windchills, and, well, it's not practical. (I had to call our township road commissioner to come plow our street so my son could get home, but I digress).
> I'm having a terrible time just trying to keep my 1200 foot long driveway, the parking lot, the sidewalks, the patios, and the dog ex-yards cleared enough to get people in and dogs outside. There's just no place to put the snow any more. We've piled it up as high as my garage, and still it keeps on snowing.
> Another 8-10 inches predicted for tomorrow into Wednesday, and then more "accumulating snow" for Saturday into Sunday.
> I think California should send some trucks and come get our snow to help refill their lakes.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes, Sharon, it is worse because that was one big event, this is just constant, every 3-4 days we get a major accumulation.
Spring must be coming soon, right???


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

K9-Design said:


> So now we go for the long land mark. Well one of the other ladies had her parents down from up north visiting, and little did I know but it was grandpa out there throwing the long mark. And up until now it had been cloudy and right before I run this mark with Slater the sun comes out. Grandpa is wearing black, behind a holding blind, tucked up against a treeline with the sun OVER the trees. Grandpa can't hear too well and it takes telling him on the walkie talkie about five times for him to get the message to throw the bumper. I signal and signal and finally someone says "He threw it" so I send Slater. Mistake. He runs all the way out there, not a great line which has me thinking again that he didn't see it. Once again he puts up a big stupid hunt and starts to head toward the old mark. I just stop him and call him in. At this point I am starting to boil. None of this is making me happy AT ALL. Line the dog up again, call for it again, after futzing around behind the holding blind for a bit grampa comes over the walkie talkie and informs us he is out of bumpers. One of the ladies drives out there and gives him bumpers. I line up, signal, wait forever, and Grandpa throws one that goes straight up and down and lands behind the holding blind. Grandpa doesn't understand to just leave it and throw another so we have to wait for him to meander over and pick it up. He FINALLY throws another, I send Slater and he runs out there, actually put up a hunt and starts coming back. As he's running back I'm looking at him like, I can't see the bumper, does he even have a bumper? Slater comes back with a freaking SMALL ORANGE BUMPER. That's it, I freakin blew a gasket. Who even gave grandpa a small orange bumper to throw the long mark? Where are all the big white bumpers? Well they are at the blind, but of course. OMGOMGOMGOMG THIS is why we plan out every step of our setup and what we're going to do!!!!!!
> 
> I'm going to pretend ALL of that didn't happen.......


This made me laugh, I always plan training sessions, what concepts we will work on etc. but have definitely run into the same issues you had.
I absolutely will run nothing but singles if I don't personally know the throwers and that they are capable of helping the dog and throwing a bumper the dog can actually see. And can wait for me to signal for the throw. 
I could probably write a book about things that have happened out in the field with various groups. No working radios, small bumpers on a long mark - not even thinking that the dog has to SEE the mark in order to mark it!
Fortunately the people I usually train with are all on the same page with me. I honestly don't think a lot of people are aware of how important the right equipment, advance planning, and good throwers are in the development of the dogs skills.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Amen Traildogs. Even the smallest detail can make a HUGE difference. I can get a little carried away trying to plan everything out to the millisecond but it can make or break a training session. 
I have a BIG problem with Slater not SEEING marks. He will focus on a gunner, and as the bird is thrown and hits the ground he doesn't MOVE. Ears up, looking intently forward, absolutely still. It's impossible to tell if he saw the mark or not. I can send him and he'll go even if he hasn't seen it but obviously that doesn't lead to a successful find. It is frustrating. He does have juvenile cataracts so many times I am not sure if he can physically SEE it, but then again we train on some FT setups and there's no doubt he is marking the long 350+ yard marks. It's weird. I don't know what to do to fix it. So I get a little paranoid about visibility, proper throws and bumpers from the gunners, etc. Fisher would always close his mouth and lower his head when he saw the mark; Bally sits up higher when it hits the ground. Slater is still as a stone. He never creeps. The few times he's broken he's just busted out GONE with no indication. 
We trained again yesterday and it was much better. We set up a master series I ran with Fisher 3 years ago, land/water on House Pond. I should take a picture and post it as it was a rather neat setup. Marks went fine, but as I was running the blind (long, over two points then down a channel) the sun came out, again over the trees behind me. Slater handled flawlessly until he got past the shadow and then when I would stop him and cast, he would sit there for about five seconds, then autocast. This happened on 3 whistles in a row, then I stopped him and threw a bumper and had him come in. He could not see me with the sun behind me. I waited about half an hour and ran it again, when the sun had sank behind the trees more and left only the end of the blind in the sun. This time he ran it GREAT and took at the casts I needed.
After we were done running everyone we just moved the line over to what was one of the marks, effectively flipping the setup around and just using the same marks and blind we had set up. It worked great! I just did a double - no problem - but now the blind was not down the channel but rather under the arc where the dog had to not only navigate the area of the fall but get in the water BEHIND the gunner, at an angle entry, cross the channel and get the blind. Whew!!! Slater had an extra whistle or two in the AOF to get him out of it but then took a super cast into the water to the blind. Yay!


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## my4goldens (Jan 21, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Yes, Sharon, it is worse because that was one big event, this is just constant, every 3-4 days we get a major accumulation.
> Spring must be coming soon, right???


I can vouch for the amount of snow we have. I can't remember a winter like this in a very very long time. The snow in the back yard is so deep and the drifts are almost up to the fence line. With the blowing and drifting on the road we live on, it is just a chore to get into the store, let alone go anywhere else.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Working on polishing Miss Lucy on her backs and overs. She is a little slow and she doesn't always turn the right side that I send her. So a friend came over yesterday to my office and helped me with some tricks to make sure she turns correctly. I'm leaving the leash on her so I can catch her before she gets to the bumper and return her from where she started. I use a platform, I don't know if any of you use them, but I think they are great. She knows when I get the platform or carpet square out that she has to sit there until I send her. So we worked on me doing a better job of showing her what I wanted her to do. Then we worked on whistle sits on the basic meaning of when you hear a whistle, it means look at me. So we'll get there. Her steadiness is getting better and better. Force to pile is just fine. I'm leaving the long line on so I can reel her in if she shops too long and ear pinch her to get her to be a bit quicker on decision making. Her retrieves are making me very happy.

Next week a retriever class is starting up. It runs for a couple of weeks. 2 women I know and have taken other classes from in the past are holding the classes. So I'll be doing those on Saturday mornings instead. I'll have to work on finding another time to set up our training group for working on retrieves. The first day of class they will be testing the dogs to see what level they are at. Beginner, intermediate, or advanced. It will be interesting to see where Lucy is placed.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

The snow here is so bad I can't even find my 3 foot around evergreens, they are totally buried. 
And more predicted on Saturday!


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

hotel4dogs said:


> The snow here is so bad I can't even find my 3 foot around evergreens, they are totally buried.
> And more predicted on Saturday!


Instead of the Tuesday snow event we got a massive snow/sleet/ice storm last night on top of the latest 9 inches of snow from Monday and it is like Armageddon around here. Over half a million people without power, trees down everywhere and ice. Red cross has opened shelters for people to get heat and meals. I am very fortunate to still have electricity. I hope it stays on.

The entire Northeast is getting slammed this winter. I hope they are kidding about more snow over the weekend.

Everyone in the nice warm, sunny areas needs to keep posting about their training so I can live vicariously through your fun. And send pictures of set ups
so I can believe there is actually nice weather somewhere.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok, you asked for photos of nice weather, but I don't have any of that. So instead here are a few shots of my yard this afternoon. Although there are drifts, most of the yard is that deep. Tito is included in the photos for size reference. There are evergreen bushes, fairly large, buried in the snow. You can see the sides of them where I've run the snowblower through there.
The chain link fence in the last photo is a 4 foot fence. Tito could pretty much step over it now if he wanted to.


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## my4goldens (Jan 21, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Ok, you asked for photos of nice weather, but I don't have any of that. So instead here are a few shots of my yard this afternoon. Although there are drifts, most of the yard is that deep. Tito is included in the photos for size reference. There are evergreen bushes, fairly large, buried in the snow. You can see the sides of them where I've run the snowblower through there.
> The chain link fence in the last photo is a 4 foot fence. Tito could pretty much step over it now if he wanted to.[/QUOTE
> 
> looks like my back yard. and more to come. ugghhh


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

You people are nuts.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

wow! That is a LOT of snow! Side note love the field next to your yard.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

In better weather, that's a corn field.
Supposed to get "significant accumulating snow" on Saturday. This is ridiculous.
I'm working on figuring out a way to get it out west. We have 59 inches of snow so far this year, that translates to very roughly 6 inches of rain. I'm betting the folks out West would pay dearly for this stuff.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

*Factors - Sharp drops*

Dennis Voigt on RTF is always going on about Factors in retriever training. A couple weeks ago, before the temps took a 30 degree drop, I was working on differentiation between straight backs and angle backs in a neighbor's pasture. An old railroad bed (ties and rails removed) cuts across the pasture and is used as a road. The edge of the old rail bed drops steeply about 2 feet to level pasture. 

I set out three piles of bumpers. One for a left angle back, one straight back, and one for a right angle back, with Maple about 50 or 60 yards from the straight back. For the left angle back, Maple didn't have to cross the rail bed drop. For the straight back and right back, she had to cross it at a sharp angle.

I didn't think much of it. It was flat pasture, a short drop, and flat pasture again. Boy, am I a naive beginner when it comes to retriever training. That short (but steep) drop was enough for her to square the drop and inevitably angle to the right. 

After a lot of frustration on both our parts, I did what I should have done to start and vastly simplified to a single pile straight back with shorter distances. 

It's been too cold and snowy to want to drive around to training areas, but the Steep Drop Factor is one I can work on around the yard. The same old railbed also runs next to our yard, plus there are convenient ditches next to the gravel road in front of our house. 

Sunday, I set up a highly visible pile for straight backs with Maple on a little ridge running parallel to the railbed. We did a couple of left and right backs. After some initial confusion, she caught on. I got tired of floundering around in the snow quickly, long before Maple. 

Since Sunday, we've had a stretch of bitter cold. The dogs start holding their paws up in the air after a few minutes outside, so no hunt training. The dogs have severe cabin fever. I'm looking forward to a warm-up by Saturday, but possible more snow to go with it.


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## otis spunkmeyer (Jan 23, 2009)

Best way to learn more about training your dog for field work is to go out and do it. Learn from your (many) mistakes and keep advancing. It always helps to have knowledgeable people to train with whether they be pros or experienced amateurs.

PLEASE LIKE MY NEW WEB SITE!
AND SEE INFO ABOUT NEW LITTER ON THE WAY.
Lee J Herskowitz
Semper Retrievers
Portland, OR
Semper Retrievers


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Just what we needed, another 5 inches of snow yesterday. Wind chill warnings for wind chills below minus 20 go in effect later today.
Yippee skippee.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Palouse -- just to relate to your post, when I very first started field work with Fisher (handling) it seemed like a logical and simple enough task to teach him straight back vs. angle back. This was after I taught overs and backs but before I ever used a collar or did simple T work. It seemed like simple rote obedience to me. I can tell you it is VERY difficult to get an inexperienced dog to distinguish between angle back and straight back. I found myself very frustrated with this. 
I've since learned to not even bother teaching angle backs. You will use only straight backs and overs well until the dog is running cold blinds. And at that point you can start using some angles and it really is amazing -- they seem to learn it on their own. The more experienced they get, the more fine tuned and precise their casts get. 
So I would encourage you to just move on with your T work and not get bogged down in teaching back vs. angle back at this point.

This weekend is MFGRC's hunt test. I marshalled Senior yesterday. A REALLY good group of Senior dogs!!! I was quite impressed. Usually it's a train wreck LOL
Slater got to run bye-dog a number of times, and although the double was very easy I thought it was good from a motivation standpoint. It was a walk-up with a flyer. After doing it a few times he came out of that holding blind with such focus on where I was pointed, it was great training. Fisher got to be the final bye-dog for the last running dog, he was SOOOO HAPPY to go pick up his flyer and he pinned both marks. Yay Fishie 
After senior was done we went over to Master A, their second series had an honor so I got to run Slater as bye-dog at the end. Really neat triple with two somewhat difficult memory birds, one a very cheaty mark the other a long swim. Slater did super, he hunted the dragback a little on the third mark but then gave it up and continued on his line up and to the bird. Fun stuff! 
One of the judges used to live right next door to Fisher's breeder. He visited Fisher's litter when they were just born. He always takes time to pet Fisher and say "I knew you when!" It was neat to show Slater to him, even if just for a bye dog  
I am staying home today to bathe dogs. Of course yesterday's weather sucked (50º and raining) and today is beautiful! Off to groom.....


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Of course today was perfect weather. 65º bright and sunny. Quick trip to Lazy J, set up three long land blinds for Slater : all about 250-300 yards. He one whistled the first, lined the second, and had maybe 4-5 casts to the middle, third one. He LOVED it.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

smack--smack--smack


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Here's a photo of a show dog I've convinced to come to Saturday training. He's just got his first duck and tried to eat the pigeon! So his owner is excited and thinking about running him in a hunt test this summer. She thought it was great to see him do what he was bred to do. And he does it with style! So we had field and show types this Saturday. It was interesting to have them next to each other so people could see the difference in breeding. Lucy and Reilly are kind of in the middle range. 

We just keep grinding away on force to pile and backs and overs. Normally I get the drills done at work in the back parking lot where it's quiet. Lucy occasionally needs an ear pinch when she's had enough. I've been working on getting her turning in the right direction. I didn't know how to correct her. So I shortened up the distance and put her on a long line. Now I can real her back to the platform and resend her from the correct side for backs. We'll get there.

Friday night I had dinner with a friend that used to judge NAHRA nationals 20 years ago. We had fun talking dogs and how much training has changed. I think for the better.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

We saw a new trainer today. Molly got to play with a live chukar! She had sooo much fun! I told the trainer that I had FF'ed Molly myself (with the help of another trainer, of course), and he said I had done a really good job. Funny, we had to revisit FF with the snow the other day (it's a rare occurrence in Seattle ). She thought she had to dig the bumper out of the snow and then she would get really carried away with the digging and would end up digging through the snow and then dig up the grass! A few light ear pinches got that fixed and she grabbed the bumper so fast it surprised even me.

I have never really had Molly evaluated before, but the new trainer said she is a good marker, has a good nose, loves birds, but needs experience and "snappier" obedience (it's pretty snappy when we're not on field training grounds. I swear!). She also doesn't have a problem with water, but with steep bank water entries (which was fixed with a shackled bird thrown into the pond). I guess it had been too long since we worked in water because the problem has come back. She did go after the chukar thrown into the pond with a steep bank, but it was not as steep as the banks at our normal training grounds.. So we'll see what happens.. It's kind of frustrating. I let her swim in the lake when it's above freezing and she never wants to leave, so it's not the cold.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

It was -18 F on the thermometer this morning. Not wind chill, actual temp.
This is downright depressing.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Did something this week I had not had the guts to do before, I videotaped myself running doubles with Lucy. That video was so painful to watch. All the things you do that are wrong. My dog is just keying off of my errors and indecisiveness. I move too much, whistle too much, talk to much. I'm not consistent from one run to the next. Poor dog! She has no clue what I want her to do. So if you can, set up a tripod and a camera. Tape yourself. Then watch it. I made the mistake of watching it with my husband. So of course he said, see you don't listen to me, now you can see what I've been telling you.


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

You are a wise, brave soul. You'll learn some of the best lessons that way!

EvanG


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Slater got a master pass today despite a TERRIBLE first series. He was extremely bad. The judges were extremely lenient. He had a perfect 2nd series (water triple walkup), and after the tailgate I did a mean drill and got after him in a lighted field until 10 pm. It worked. The third series double blind he two whistled the long one and lined the short one and ran like his azz was on fire and actually SAT WHEN I BLEW THE WHISTLE which as you know to a master dog is a really novel idea!!!!
I am beat. More later.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Saturday I took Lucy to a retriever club class. We didn't have to do the beginner level since Lucy has been FF. So the other level was transitional. So off we went for their testing. Tests were: walking fetch which took her 2 nicks to get her to pick up the first bumper, then she was fine for the others. The next test was force to pile. No problem. Next test was backs and overs. No problem except for not really under standing the stop whistle. All tests were indoors in an arena. 2 goldens, 1 toller, 1 chessie, and the rest labs in class. Our 2 goldens are both show dogs, the other golden is a GCh, so she's very pretty. So we put on a fancy golden showing at class. Now I know what I need to work on - stop whistle combining with backs and overs. I work every day on getting her to turn the right direction, left or right. She just keeps making mistakes in turning. Another thing to work on.

First NAHRA hunt test of the season is May 17 & 18
First AKC hunt test of the season in Anchorage is July 18 & 20

I'd like to run Lucy for her Senior Hunt in AKC and Hunter level in NAHRA. Will I be ready by then?


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

In the middle of yet another blizzard (literally) here. Getting 8-10 inches of heavy, wet snow today, windy, white-out conditions.
That does it, I'm moving someplace warmer and with less snow. Like Alaska, or the South Pole.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Alaska7133 said:


> First NAHRA hunt test of the season is May 17 & 18
> First AKC hunt test of the season in Anchorage is July 18 & 20
> 
> I'd like to run Lucy for her Senior Hunt in AKC and Hunter level in NAHRA. Will I be ready by then?


Since your still working on whistle sits and turning the correct way on land, I don't think so. At least not if you were running Senior in my area. Senior water blinds here are rarely straight across a pond, I had angled entry, by a point, and shoreline blinds. Not trying to be mean......


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Not wanting to discourage you, but I agree with Holly. We run some very, very meaty SH tests in this area, too. 
Tito doing a water blind at a SH test. The entries were from fairly far up the land, thru standing water, and then across this pond.





hollyk said:


> Since your still working on whistle sits and turning the correct way on land, I don't think so. At least not if you were running Senior in my area. Senior water blinds here are rarely straight across a pond, I had angled entry, by a point, and shoreline blinds. Not trying to be mean......


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Here's one.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

And one more.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

This is known to me as the Evil Senior blind. It was our first test and we would have passed....except for this blind. 
The water was a little lower so the entry actually was a bit angled. She got hung up on the evil point, I was able to get her off of it but she just sucked back to it. After several whistles, I thanked the judges and picked her up.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Good to know. We're just getting started on coming up with a plan. I'm actually thinking of heading to TX to work with a pro for a week in April. We have so little water time up here that our dogs suffer. Lucy has not been de-cheated on water. She hasn't done swim by.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Our water is going to be frozen until June


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Barb,
Sorry, I got a sad email from my Mother in the NW suburbs. She can't throw the snow over the piles anymore on the driveway. She's 75 and really getting bummed.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Oh Stacey, your poor Mom. I can't tell you how depressing this winter has been. Every couple of days we got several more inches. There just isn't anywhere to put the snow any more. Down on the South side here we've gotten the most, we're officially over 75 inches so far this year. On the North side they're close with 66 inches. And we have a lot more winter yet.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Barb, we're only at 45" so far this year, which is super low for us. Tomorrow we're supposed to get 24" and everyone is waxing their skis. For us it will be fun, everyone will be out enjoying the snow. Sorry it's such a pain for you and my Mom. Amounts of snow in my area vary so much from one part of town to another. You might get 65" by the airport, but on the hillside get hundreds of inches in an average year. I personally prefer about 100" a year. It's the cold it get tired of. Nothing like -40 to spoil your day.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

yes, we've had more than our share of cold, too. We've had something like 25 days below 0 this season, with wind chills of -20 to -40. Schools have taken "cold days" instead of snow days.
I have a friend who is dying of cancer. He would like us all to stop moaning about the winter, as it's the last one he will see and he is trying to enjoy every day of it.
Shuts me up with my whining for a while.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I liked seeing the photos of the various blinds. Can you remember how many whistles you had to get your dog lined up for the bird? Just curious how it worked out. I know Holly you say you gave up on that one blind, how many whistles before you tossed in the hat? I did help marshall the qualifying field trial at golden national last year. The distances those dogs ran for each series for the blinds was amazing. I did see one dog have only a single whistle for a blind that was probably 200 yrds over across a pond. That was a handler that could line up their dog really well. But on a senior hunt test, how many whistles is common?


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Oh my gosh Stacey your post sent my Pro's lecture ringing through my head. LOL

To answer your question there is no set #, as long as they are 1-going, 2-stopping 3-taking the cast thus improving their position to the blind.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

The biggest thing, I think, is not the number of whistles but the dog's response to them.
On our first SH test, I must have cast Tito back and forth 10 times (literally). Right over, whistle sit. Left over, whistle sit. Right over, whistle sit. Wondering why the dumb dog is running right OVER the bird and not getting it.
The judge took pity on me and said, "the blind is about 15 feet behind where you're sending him". The way the orange ribbon was tied, short people like me couldn't see it, so I didn't really know where it was.
So I sent him back 15 feet, and he picked it up right away.
We passed with no problem, because he responded quickly and crisply to every whistle and every cast. Not his fault the handler had no idea where the blind was.
Speaking of, at another test a lot of dog's didn't pass the blind. It was UNDER the evergreen trees, the dogs had to go under the branches of the trees about 4 feet to get the bird. (The branches were about 2 feet off the ground). Tough blind, and dogs who weren't used to being sent into a tree line couldn't do it.
The one that Tito lined that earned him a standing ovation from the gallery was about 125 yards out, in medium heavy cover, just a straight line in the middle of the field. Dogs had to take a straight line, ignore where the previous marks had gone down, and there was nothing in the field. Just the bird!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Too funny posting at the same time Barb.

On the Evil Senior blind I really don't know how many whistles I blew. I threw in the towel after I got her back in the water, away from the point, in the middle of the channel and when I gave her my biggest, loudest verbal back with a straight back cast she did not dig straight back past the point but circled back to it.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Training yesterday went well. Loose dogs at the park made retrieves interesting. I did some pile work before retrieves. A loose dog took off with one of the bumpers. Lucy was very good the whole time. Not easy for a dog to not take off after a dog with your bumper. Day was beautiful. Location is Bear Valley part of town. Snow is powder so the dogs don't have to work hard to get through.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

stunning!!!! Stunning! I hope you take a moment and savor it each day. I don't think I would ever tire of looking at that.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I have a small or large problem that just started this week. Lucy is finally getting into bumpers and it's not just an FF thing anymore. So I'm happy but, she's now picking them up and shaking them as she's bringing them back. I also caught her trying to tear the flags off when she ran up to the pile the other day. I'm not sure how to react. I don't want to say NO, because I don't want her thinking I don't want her to retrieve. But I'm not sure how to make a correction. I haven't throw birds in a couple of weeks, so I don't know if she will do it with birds also. It's a fine line, you want them enthused, but you don't want them doing something bad. Any thoughts?

Yep, it's a really nice park for retrieves. It's big and open. We use black/white canvas bumpers with black/white flags for retrieves. The park district keeps it mowed.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

Probably not a problem! 
Has she been force fetched?

FTGoldens


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Yes she has been force fetched last summer. She will do walking fetch no problem. She will force to pile. She does backs and overs. All distances are short between 30 and 40'. She never loved bumpers but the FF got us to where should would pick them up. But I'm not sure how to correct for swinging them around and shaking them sometimes rather violently. Should I go back to the beginning of FF and start with hold all over?


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Don't go back on FF, just treat it as a FF violation. I'm less concerned with the shaking than the trying to tear off the flags. If she's tearing off flags she's NOT taking the bumper. FETCH-NICK-FETCH will clear it up ASAP. Does she sit on a whistle yet? I would be tempted to try indirect pressure and correct on a sit-nick-sit when she's returning from the pile and shaking the bumper.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

K9-Design said:


> Don't go back on FF, just treat it as a FF violation. I'm less concerned with the shaking than the trying to tear off the flags. If she's tearing off flags she's NOT taking the bumper. FETCH-NICK-FETCH will clear it up ASAP. Does she sit on a whistle yet? I would be tempted to try indirect pressure and correct on a sit-nick-sit when she's returning from the pile and shaking the bumper.


Agree with not backing up on FF...no need for that.
I would consider it to be a violation of a sub-part of FF, Hold, which is even a more basic command than Fetch. So you may consider treating this problem the same way you dealt with her dropping a bumper when teaching Hold.
Also, watch closely, because it may also be a violation of the command "Here/Come." Another very basic command for which she could be corrected. When a dog is acting this way, they have lost focus on what they are supposed to do. 
BTW, no happy bumpers until this is cleared up.
FTGoldens


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> I have a small or large problem that just started this week. Lucy is finally getting into bumpers and it's not just an FF thing anymore. So I'm happy but, she's now picking them up and shaking them as she's bringing them back. I also caught her trying to tear the flags off when she ran up to the pile the other day. I'm not sure how to react. I don't want to say NO, because I don't want her thinking I don't want her to retrieve. But I'm not sure how to make a correction. I haven't throw birds in a couple of weeks, so I don't know if she will do it with birds also. It's a fine line, you want them enthused, but you don't want them doing something bad. Any thoughts?
> 
> Yep, it's a really nice park for retrieves. It's big and open. We use black/white canvas bumpers with black/white flags for retrieves. The park district keeps it mowed.


She is playing with the bumper. Young dogs do this. Work on hold. 

It is VERY FRUSTRATING when the dog does this with a bird on the way back with a retrieve. The next surprise behavior is: the dog slows down , shakes the bird, maybe tosses it into the air, then runs away with it. Handler often runs after the dog yelling and screaming (ineffectively). I have had first hand experience with this. I have seen the dogs with more prey drive do this.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

So how is everyone's training going lately? Its been crickets in here. 

We are just training every day like normal. Monday, drill work. Today was great water work. Working on Katniss' sit by herself and the line. Tomorrow I think field and drill, who knows. Just know where it will be, lol. Never know exactly what my trainer has in mind till I get there. 

Saturday we are going to a mock trial test a local club is putting on and my daughter is excited about it as the following weekend will be her very first test with Peaches; HRC so that is good for her, she likes it better than AKC, and easier. 

But same old thing. It is warm here so lots and lots of water while we can. Dogs are progressing nicely and I'm happy about it. Lots of weekend training too lately. It has been very busy.

How is it going for everyone else???


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

MillionsofPeaches said:


> So how is everyone's training going lately? Its been crickets in here.


We were making progress on the snow melting but now back to cold temps and snow tomorrow. Hopefully not much as we still have a lot on the ground. 

We did go to a pheasant shoot last weekend. It was very hard going for the dogs with the deep snow but they got a lot of birds and came home quite tired.
Nix had some nice long retrieves. Those roosters can really fly. It amazes me how the dogs can follow them through woods, across streams and fields of sorghum, out of sight, and come back a few minutes later with a bird. Some of these birds go easily 200 yards before they come down.
I love watching them use their natural abilities like that.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

funny you said that. I have some really neat photos I took of this one yellow lab at a pheasant shoot. I snapped them as she was running after a rooster, jumped way high in the air and caught it while it was flying. Love those shots!! It was amazing watching the dogs work.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

We haven't been able to do any work. All my areas are covered with ice encrusted snow. However, we will be working a continental shoot this Sunday. 

We had our Handler's Day Shoot this past Monday. The grounds are in better shape than what I have here.


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