# first day back at training!



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Today Tito had his first field training day since the end of November. Our weather was lovely, it was mid-50's and sunny, couldn't have asked for nicer. 
I was shocked and I can't tell you how pleased that Tito went on as if he had never missed a week of training. This is especially amazing since we didn't train at home, either. Dan says it's like riding a bicycle, if they really knew it they don't forget.
We started with some obedience yardwork. A little force to pile, then some lining, and then some casting. I was so pleased that he remembered the right-back and left-back! 
Then much to my surprise Dan threw a few bumpers in the water for Tito just for a reward for doing such a good job. I was surprised because the water is about 34 degrees, even though the air was over 50. But Dan just laughed and said not to worry...look at the coat on him! So Tito had a blast, he got to do his aggressive "dock jumping style" water entries. 
After that we went off to the field to work some marks. The field we headed to was a big oval, so the marks got farther and farther away each time Dan threw one. I was amazed....Tito even slammed the 225 yard mark. It was the longest one he's ever run. He was a marking fool today. Of course, the fact that the cover was only mid-calf deep helps, too. But I was pleased that he could run a totally straight line for 225 yards!
Then we worked briefly on steadiness, with him sitting while Dan and I both tossed birds in a circle around him, yelling "hey hey". He just sat there. (of course having just run about 6 marks, including some pretty long ones, was probably a big help)
We finished off with some doubles with shackled live ducks. The go-bird was only about 50 yards away, but the memory-bird was over 150. Again, the monster boy did a great job!! There is nothing, nothing at all, that he likes better than getting to go retrieve a live bird. And each time the bird came back dazed but totally unharmed, which made me so proud. 
It just amazes me to watch a dog do what they were bred to do. I know you all know what I'm talking about...the dog realizes what's going on, and his ears perk up and every muscle in his body tenses. He is totally focused on the job at hand. The bird is thrown, and he gets sent. He runs as fast as his legs will carry him, straight out to where the bird was last seen. The bird is live, so it has run off a way. He sees the bird, detours, and POUNCES on it. Gets a grip right away, turns, and comes flying back as fast as he can. His whole carriage, every step he takes is just overflowing with the sheer joy of what he's doing. 
Poetry in motion.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Well that sounds like the icing on the cake! What a great day. I wish I had the time and resources for training like that. I live vicariously (and jealously) through you. Of course Tito was awesome, what else could he be. It is sure pleasure to watch dogs do what their innate behavior tells them to do, and do it so well. It is poetry!

Wish I could have been there to watch with you.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

225 yards is amazing--isn't the max. for a hunt test 100 yards? Go Tito!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

In theory yes, but in practice no. One of the JH tests we ran was about 130 yards, and the SH test that day was over 150. They use distance when there's not a lot of cover change. A LOT of the dogs were pulling up short of the AOF that day because they hadn't trained on longer marks. I've also seen the opposite, one of the JH tests the mark was only about 40 yards out and a bunch of the dogs were blowing right past it, they had no idea a bird could be that close because they were always being sent "exactly" 100 yards.
Dan did it in a progression. I was at one end of a basically oval field, Dan walked around the perimeter of the field. So the first mark was about 50 yards, then about 100, then 150, 200, 225, then back down to about 125, then 75, then about 35. This way Tito learns that the distances can vary widely, plus he learns confidence to keep going when he hasn't found the AOF yet at 100 yards. 
I love training with him. I wish I could go 3 days a week, sheeeesh.




GoldenSail said:


> 225 yards is amazing--isn't the max. for a hunt test 100 yards? Go Tito!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Wow - sounds like Tito just keeps getting better  Congratulations on 1) Getting out training and 2) Having such an awesome lesson.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

yeah, gotta do something to keep my mind occupied until Tuesday


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Sounds like you had a blast. And terrific that the T-Mon remembered his work!!! We'll be looking for him to work towards running some Senior tests this summer!
We got out again today as well, and did some technical training. We had a pretty good wind today so I did three blinds with the big dogs that progressively got more square to the wind so they could learn to fight that factor. Win really struggles with that concept at times and will let the wind influence him far too much.
The we ran three singles inline from shortest to longest so they had to progressively run over the shorter mark sites they had already picked up. Even young Butch did a good job on that today. For Bonnie I changed the line to simplify things and open everything up, but she got to run through some little ditches and a couple of big puddles for changes of cover.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Hey Shelly, can you explain what "technical training" is? I also hear people refer to some water as a "technical pond" and I have no clue....thanks!



sterregold said:


> Sounds like you had a blast. And terrific that the T-Mon remembered his work!!! We'll be looking for him to work towards running some Senior tests this summer!
> We got out again today as well, and did some technical training. We had a pretty good wind today so I did three blinds with the big dogs that progressively got more square to the wind so they could learn to fight that factor. Win really struggles with that concept at times and will let the wind influence him far too much.
> The we ran three singles inline from shortest to longest so they had to progressively run over the shorter mark sites they had already picked up. Even young Butch did a good job on that today. For Bonnie I changed the line to simplify things and open everything up, but she got to run through some little ditches and a couple of big puddles for changes of cover.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

I tend to use the term to refer to teaching those skills that most dogs have to learn in regards to their marking and blinds, such as fighting a natural factor or interaction factor between the marks. Ie. dogs naturally want to fade with the wind and do not like to cast into the wind--so on a windy day I take the opportunity to teach them to hold their initial line by having them do a series of blinds where the wind is progressively more influential, the idea being that by adding that factor gradually the dog learns to hold the line despite the factor's influence. 
Then with the marks I did today there is interaction between the marks that makes it difficult conceptually. they ran the shortest check-down type mark first (and their marks last time were bigger), so they had to run over that scent location to get to the next mark, and then over two scent locations where they'd picked up marks to get to the third. I cannot throw birds where I was today, but tomorrow I might rerun the scenario in another field, and sneak a bird out with me to pre-scent the landing areas to increase the difficulty. And then eventually for Breeze and Win I will run the short mark as a single and then throw the longer marks as a double, and finally, throw all three as a triple. When they first saw this concept both Win and Breeze would get hung up at the short mark and not punch through to the long mark, but now Breeze is pretty reliable on this concept as a double now, but it can still get Win at times.

A concept pond is a pond where you can teach the dog technical concepts, like getting on a point and off again, or going by a point, or getting on one point but not the next, depending on what the ideal line is. So these ponds will often have multiple points, islands, channels etc built into them.
If you look on this Mike Ducross' website for the Ambertrail grounds the ponds in the top right and bottom left of the photo montage both have technical aspects to their design. http://www.ambertrail.com/Grounds.html


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

thanks Shelly, I've heard the terms often, and wondered what they meant!


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