# February 2016 Hunt and Field Training



## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Well February is here. In our parts of the world is it still a snow, rain muddy mess.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

In this part of the world the ice is still about 16" thick and water work is still quite a ways off. If we don't get dumped on too heavily by the storm tomorrow, the snow may be off the fields by the end of the month. Then we can get back out and train again.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

We're pretty happy that we haven't had a heavy snow winter. Cold and windy, but I can dress for that. Saw gray in the sky this morning at 8 am. The sun is finally rising before 9:30 am. Yesterday I drove home from work at 4:30 and the sun was still up! What a nice thing to see the sun. Sunrise 9:20 Sunset 5:10 today! We made it through another Alaska winter.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Riot is coming along nicely. We're working on heeling either side and doubles. He's super sweet. Not bitey at all. Which is super nice. His recall off leash is excellent, let's hope I can retain that!

Lucy I've been concentrating on obedience. Her remote down is nice. I've signed her up for grad novice and novice B next month. We'll see if she does well.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Stacey

Keep up the good work.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Snow again. Difficult to train the past month---I worked for two weeks, very cold weather, blizzard, new truck not set up yet, friend in hospice, etc.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

George how much snow do you have on the ground?


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Right now it looks like 4" heavy wet snow.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I don't like the heavy wet snow. We normally get only powder - the super light fluffy stuff. For us 1" of rain = 20" snow. When I lived in Seattle, I think it was 1" of rain = 3" of snow. Vivian and Holly, correct me if I remember wrong on that Seattle figure...

The weather here has been awful. Not much snow. Just cold and wind. The valley where I train on the weekends mainly is a super windy place. They normally have howling winds, cold weather and no snow (because it blows away). The photo is in the valley in Palmer. Nice fields though. The ground is super frozen very deep. Without snow to insulate the ground, the frost gets driven many feet deep.

Riot has 2 cousins up here to train with now. They are 2 Hawk pups. One is about 7 months and one is only about 8 weeks. So we'll see how the 3 of us do. I don't know if all 3 will be ready for derbies this summer. I know one Hawk pup will be. I hope to have Riot in the derbies, if nothing else but for fun. With only 10 or 12 pups showing up for a derby here, to have 3 goldens in a derby is quite a surprise. Rarely do we ever see 2 goldens in a derby here. We only have 6 derbies in Alaska, with 2 in Fairbanks. 

So now the steadiness work begins. Last weekend I could stand 15' away from Riot and he stayed without a problem until I called him. It was quite a shock that I could get that far away without a problem. He is such a good pup. All 15 weeks of him. I bought some of the soft foam bumpers that Dokken makes. I hope they can get him through the teething period. He of course enjoys lots of marks.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

oh gosh I can't even imagine training up in AK. I know that down here, it doesn't really snow (though we got a dusting the other week) but its so cold and windy at training. We will be out to train at 8 am and the temps are in the 20s with biting wind. torture!! Nice that the afternoons warm up to the 40's and low 50's. It warmed up a bit but now very cold again.

so what to do, what to do???? 

GO TO FLORIDA!!!

So this past week, just got home, me and Proofers headed down south to train with Anney and a couple other talented am's. It was so much fun and so HOT! I couldn't believe how hot it was! 

I got there on Sunday and within the hour we were already out on the ponds. I was so happy as Proof hasn't had much water lately. Not for a month, so this was such a great opportunity. The ponds that Anney has to train on are out of this world. We trained mainly on one tech pond and didn't even wear out that pond, we could have set up more and more set ups!!

The first day we started out with some cheat marks but Proof didn't cheat one bit. Then we threw some on a dike and proof had an issue as he over did it and didn't hunt the bank. So glad that happened, I could work on it all week which we did. 

The next day we did water singles and a tight land double then a blind through the hay bales. Tuesday morning on a different field a couple land singles and Wednesday lots and lots of cheating water singles and long entries with birds landing on the bank. Worked so hard on that. Also did a poison blind and a cheating drill. 

The dogs worked hard and played harder. And I would say the same for us humans. Anney's dog, Bally, is amazing. It is so neat to see a dog with such good looks running hard and doing such a great job on such technical set ups. I don't think I've ever seen a dog like this in my life. Proof loves her doggies. Its nice that they can play together. Not to mention Proof adores her. She shows him all these fun tricks with treats and he can't get enough. 

The next time I go down there, though, I'm buying stock at Chuys! We ate there three times. the Margaritas and chips are the best after being in the sun all day. Man, what a great time. I feel like a teenager again, we can be so silly! ha ha. 

Anyway, what fun. Proof looked at me this morning, like we aren't doing anything today? ha ha. Now its back to training in the cold...boo hoo!!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I don't know, I am losing training time. I was hoping to run Thor in Derby but I haven't been out to train for 4 weeks.


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## TrailDogs (Aug 15, 2011)

gdgli said:


> I don't know, I am losing training time. I was hoping to run Thor in Derby but I haven't been out to train for 4 weeks.


And more snow coming this week! I hope to see your pup at Pinelands this year.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

TrailDogs said:


> And more snow coming this week! I hope to see your pup at Pinelands this year.



I hope to get there! And I will see your pup!

Snow? Thanks for the warning.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

G don't worry everyone will be in the same boat as you up there


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

We tried to beat the up-coming snow on Monday. Fields are soaking wet, impossible to get any training done. So in order to get the girls out we drove 3 hours yesterday to a Super Singles event. It was a fun day. Rose won the intermediate stakes. Most importantly I got the girls out and got to meet other field people as well.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

It's cold and windy here. Yesterday in class it was 20 degrees and 30 mph winds. Riot didn't care. In the valley they don't have snow that sticks, it just blows past. We have snow in Anchorage, but we don't get the high winds the valley does. So here is Riot yesterday. http://youtu.be/QyCTKh1h3vA


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

We had about 10 straight days of big training including when MoP came to visit, and the past few days have been on a training hiatus to recoup!! Shelby gave me LOTS of good ideas and techniques to mull over and incorporate. Proof is pretty spectacular for a year old dog, we had a LOT of fun!!!!
This week is supposed to be COLD and WINDY, our hunt tests are this weekend and the next, so we're getting the hunt test group together this week to do setups. Bally is running test dog for master both weekends. 
My training partner Bill JAM'd the derby this weekend at the North Florida trial, his dog turned one year old that day too. Pretty cool


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

K9-Design said:


> This week is supposed to be COLD and WINDY,


Ahhh, welcome to everyone else's weather! : (Yes, I am very jealous of the water work you guys do this time of year!)



K9-Design said:


> My training partner Bill JAM'd the derby this weekend at the North Florida trial, his dog turned one year old that day too. Pretty cool


That's awesome...there are some BIG derbies in Florida this time of year.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

UGH!!!! SNOW!!!!

Makes it tough.


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## NicoleGold (Dec 8, 2015)

gdgli said:


> I don't know, I am losing training time. I was hoping to run Thor in Derby but I haven't been out to train for 4 weeks.


I feel your pain. We're at almost 3 weeks of no training and just got more snow. Fingers crossed the second half of February and March will have mild weather so that the early spring tests aren't a complete wash....


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Did some yard training with both dogs. They are loaded with energy. I don't blame them, they need to work and haven't been in the field for quite a while.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Got to train a little today. It was cold 15 degrees, with the wind it felt like 5 degrees. We did some doubles increasing the distances moving about 25 yards on each bird, bird boy would move right past the previous double fall. They were in-line dog picked up the go to and then go past it to pick up the memory.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Lucy was good today for a change. She ran her marks all fine. Ran a couple of blinds about 100 yards. All good. Broke once, but get her back with only voice control. Nice for a change. She's started getting barky at the line when she launches. That's kind of new. As long as it's not obnoxious I'm ok with that. It almost seems like if I pay more attention to the puppy, her behavior improves. She's always such a fast runner.

Riot was good today. I've been working on "hold" when he comes back to the line and around the house. He really understands. His marking is nice. His line manners are improving. Now his steadiness could get a little better, but I don't want to mess with that too much. He's super fast. We need to work on him being quiet when I work the other dog. He gets worked up if I leave with another dog. He's coming along so nicely. I really think he'll be a great obedience trial dog. The only thing holding him back is me.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Yesterday was a nice day, no rain, no snow just muddy fields. A first nice day in over a month. We had to walk quite a bit from where we parked to get to the field. Started with ABCD marks all singles and then we moved to another field and did two pairs of doubles next to each other. The first double ate most of the dogs up. Passing by the gunner from the second double set-up down the hill and thru a muddy terrain to get to the memory bird at 304 yards. 
More rain today and rain and snow thru the week. So we are back inside and hope to get back out soon.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

The last two weekends were the Mid-Florida GRC and Jacksonville RC hunt tests. Stupendous weather 50s/70s sunny no rain. I marshaled Master both weekends and ran Bally as test dog for every series. Now kicking myself for not actually entering as he "would have" earned a ribbon both weekends. Things were little trouble for him. Now looking for tests to enter!!!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

K9-Design said:


> The last two weekends were the Mid-Florida GRC and Jacksonville RC hunt tests. Stupendous weather 50s/70s sunny no rain. I marshaled Master both weekends and ran Bally as test dog for every series. Now kicking myself for not actually entering as he "would have" earned a ribbon both weekends. Things were little trouble for him. Now looking for tests to enter!!!



I know of one lol!!!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

It is raining here. Dogs are going crazy and I don't blame them. They had lots of work in TN but none since Saturday morning.

Forget about it, I am training in the rain.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Does anyone know why some dogs mouth the bumper in the water on marks but not fun bumpers?


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Does anyone know why some dogs mouth the bumper in the water on marks but not fun bumpers?


What I have seen looks like the dog is kind of pushing the bumper with an open mouth. Anyway that's what it looks like to me. I think it disappears with age.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I was hoping it was an issue with inexperience/young dogs. It does sort of look like she's just pushing the bumper along. She drops/loses it when she gets to shore and picks it up when I tell her to and then delivers to heel. Maybe there is an element of her just messing around, as well. Weird that she brings it out of the water so cleanly on fun bumpers.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Did you force fetch? Do you back away from the water as she comes ashore?


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I did FF, but maybe this is telling me she is not 100%. You wouldn't know it watching her land retrieves -- she holds it tightly and delivers to heel on every single mark. I did not try backing away. I actually moved forward to try to get her in before dropping it. That is something to try next time.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Vivian that's Lucy to a T! 

Every spring I have to ear pinch her as she comes out of the water and tell her hold. We have a few rounds, then she's good for the summer. But every stinking year. You'd think she'd have it by now. I do think it's FF issue. Something about water you have to go over it more times. Some dogs don't drop the bird when exiting the water and it's not a big issue. But Lucy loves to shake her show dog fur! She drops the bumper, shakes and picks it up again.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

See Maisey does not even shake. She is just messing around. Her FF is 100% at home and at our park but on regular bumpers. I don't know if the big ones are just too big for her mouth right now. Also, at our training grounds when she is so excited that she is about to get marks, she does not give a crap about the bumper that I put on the ground and is barely even registering that I'm there. I know, I shouldn't have gone forward but I didn't want to hold off on marking any longer and her since she was delivering everything to hand I didn't think I was doing any harm (until she one day decides to not do it my way anymore). Yesterday were her first water marks, so we will probably hold off on water. I don't have the time to take her out to the training grounds just to do FF. Molly never had an issue with coming out of the water. I forced her the same way but maybe I am missing something with Maisey. And with Molly, she was allowed to drop her toys coming out of the water for a whole year before starting field work so I don't know why it would be easier for her to learn not to drop it on the way out.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

One of my last steps of FF with ear pinch is fetching coming out of the water. If you didn't do this, then it's a natural thing for the dog to drop the bumper at the shore. Just a little hole in your training.

If your dog is collar conditioned and through collar fetch then any dawdling at the shore would earn them a here-nick. That cleans up that behavior right away.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I think Lucy does it every spring because she is away from water for 8-9 months of the year. Her little brain explodes every spring with water! We'll see if we have to ear pinch again this spring at our first water session.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I've reached the end of my ability to train outdoors. Not for the cold, but for the ice. Our fields freeze hard every night. During the day we are above freezing and sometimes it drizzles. So there is ponding on top of the ice. Without knee boots and cleats, you can't walk across the fields. Between the trees and in the brush they can run some. But out in the open it's terrible. Any trails are super bad for humans and moderately bad for dogs. Up north in the valley they lost their snow due to the winds earlier this winter, so we can train out there. But driving an hour to train is something I can only do on the weekends. I have to be really careful when I wear my cleats so I don't step on dog paws. I've spent my lunch hours driving around looking for fields that are usable. Nothing so far. The last month or so has been quite unpleasant. I can deal with deep snow and cold. I can't deal with so much ice. You can't run a dog on ice if they wipe out on it all the time. So I guess it will be just yard work with no retrieves for awhile. Sorry dogs.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

gdgli said:


> ...... Do you back away from the water as she comes ashore?


Since I do not force fetch any of my retrievers I have always backed away from the water and had the pup chase me to come to a heel. 

Walking towards the dog to get the bird quick is an instinct that I had to move away from. Darcy learned quick that I am not getting in the water after her so she would start playing with the duck just a couple feet into the water. After I surprised her one time and actually got in the water she just stopped a little further. So I took another duck in my hand and started stepping backwards away from the shore with the duck still facing her and soon she got the idea, if I bring this duck back quickly there will be another duck for me. 

Also the closer I am to the shore the more Darcy wanted to drop the duck to shake the water off. The further I was the more she concentrated on coming back to me and by the time she got to a heel a lot of the water already dripped off her.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

edited because I didn't read the whole thread ... duh!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

We had a great day even though we trained in 25+ mph winds. I worked Thor on doubles and he did well. Then I did a double with Buffy and ran her on a blind and she took every cast. Now that's a good day.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

gdgli said:


> We had a great day even though we trained in 25+ mph winds. I worked Thor on doubles and he did well. Then I did a double with Buffy and ran her on a blind and she took every cast. Now that's a good day.


25 mph winds = good conditions for cross-wind blinds (or marks)


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

68 degrees yesterday and we drove 2 hours south to train on technical water. Winter didn't have her best day but any day you can train water in Feb. is a good day. 
Flyer had progressively longer non cheaty water marks and did a bang up job.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

FTGoldens said:


> 25 mph winds = good conditions for cross-wind blinds (or marks)


The wind pushed Thor a bit, he had a bit of a crosswind. Good experience.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

Yesterday we ran another derby. Proof got a JAM. I was very impressed with his work and he nailed (literally) 6 birds out of 8. One of his birds he took a straight line to it and then overran it and had a smart hunt till he made his way back to the bird. The judges said after he passed over the bird, man, this dog must have literally stepped over his bird....but still I was satisfied. The last bird, though, got him. It was a bird that the dog lost sight of the gun for quite awhile angled up the hill. They had to run past a short gun that was in their face but it was pretty wide so I didn't worry too much. Proof took off and had a super line to the bird. He gets half way up the hill still isn't seeing gun and he stops to smell something. i don't know what it was but two other dogs smelled it too. It was for a second but I guess that was enough to side track his memory because he ran a hard right after that and totally back sided the gun. He had a hunt until he caught himself and ran over to the right side and got his bird. The judges were standing behind me saying, turn left turn left. UGH!! So bummed. 

This field stuff is frustratingly addicting. Proof is an amazing marker. I can't believe some of the birds he slammed. One series was literally in some heavy trees and the gunner was in the trees throwing into the trees. The trees really messed up some dogs and Proof just nailed his bird. Not even a loop just running right to it. So when he does all these amazing things it gets you all excited and then they do a "dog" thing like back siding and your heart sinks at the line. Its an up and down rollercoaster. 
Then you think okay I've got to try again he is so close. This won't end!! I "think" this must be what people are talking about when they say this venue is super addicting!!! Hunt tests everyone is a winner, this venue you have to beat other dogs that are also great!
Darn you all those people that convinced me to do this!! Darn you!!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Stopped to smell something? Bitch in heat? A marked spot?


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

no I think he was just being silly. He is a young boy. He will mature into himself and this will help.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

ATTENTION!!!

This is one for the X FILES. Apparently my bumpers are growing legs and walking away. This explains their disappearance.


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## NicoleGold (Dec 8, 2015)

Whoo-hoo!!! We finally have nice enough weather for training. Spent Friday, Saturday, and today out in a local field. Just me, my husband, and the goldens  Boy is it muddy, lol. We're going to be able to train tomorrow, too, before I have to catch a flight for a work trip. Lots and lots of marking and handling drills. I will say I am most impressed with the puppy - we're running her on all the same marks as the big boys and she is nailing them. It's been fun starting a dog as a puppy for the first time.

If the weather stays this nice, maybe we'll look decent in the April tests after all.


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## NicoleGold (Dec 8, 2015)

On another note - do any of you guys have your own pond? If so, what kind of maintenance, problems, etc. have you experienced? Pros/cons? We just got an offer on our house so now we need to make a decision on what home we want to buy, and we've seen a few homes with ponds we like. Just concerned about if the up keep is worth the convenience!


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## krazybronco2 (May 21, 2015)

At least y'all are getting to train. I Have been stuck out of town for 5weeks working 5-6 days a week 12hr days and living in a pop up camper. But Bodey is in school with one of the top trainers in the country and I'm paying a huge chuck of my truck off. Then working on buying a prodigy mud boat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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