# Field Training May 2014



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

A new month!
We had a blast at Dan's today. Normally we do our "retriever" work first, followed by upland at the end. Today we decided to mix things up a bit to keep him guessing. So we started with a bit of upland, which of course got Tito ALL pumped up. He flushed a couple of nice chukkars, and didn't take off when one shot got missed. He's really been <<knock wood>> wonderfully steady to wing and shot. 
Followed that with some marks, and then just a couple of blinds. One was very meaty, quite long with several cover changes, real stiff cross wind, and he had to run right over the mark he had just picked up. He drifted with the wind but took my casts beautifully. So we finished off there with a really easy blind (Dan says we might as well have had a flashing light on it, ha ha) so that he didn't leave the field having been handled, but rather having lined a blind. 
Then more upland! He chased after a big running rooster pheasant, but did stop when whistled. Caught a chukkar. 
A great day, even though it was cold (48 degrees), windy, and drizzling.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

The plan is to start the puppy on walking fetch sometime in the next week. That's my intention. If I don't take too many naps this week.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

WE have 75 Deg weather right now. Buffy's Springtime tuneup is coming along. Actually I am dying to get out later to run some blinds.

And I should be shooting flyers for Westchester Retriever Club's Field Trial this month. I really enjoy Field Trials. They give me a chance to see the different tests and how the dogs do with them. And I get the chance to see Goldens working.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

Since we've had such warm weather we've been doing nonstop water-marks and blinds and drill work,so today we took it easy, went to the farm with lots of wide open fields and did just two long 180 degree apart marks as singles and doubles. It was great, all the dogs just enjoyed running through the high grass with fairly simple marks just enjoying the cooler temps from this storm that rolled over us. I love it when the dogs just get a chance to enjoy stuff they can do in their sleep after a period of lots of hard work. You can just see the pure joy they get!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Just got in from a little training. It was a success. My patience has paid off.


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## tpd5 (Nov 7, 2013)

Can't believe it is already May. I have been working in the water a lot this week. 

We ran a couple tests last weekend and it was his first time in the water this year. He was very slow and almost seemed unsure of himself. Each day his confidence has been improving in the water.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Spring is here. The ice is thawing fast. We made it up to 65 degrees yesterday which is almost a record for us. Last year at this time we were frozen solid still. I've got a list of a few small ponds around town that are nearly ice free. So we'll get our first water retrieves of the year in this weekend. I hope they remember how to swim. Our first picnic test is Saturday May 10 by our local NAHRA club. The next day after we have an obedience trial. Our first hunt test of the year is a NAHRA double header May 17-18. Last year it was canceled due to too much snow and no open water. This year will be very nice I think. No AKC hunt tests in this area until July. So plenty of time to work on water retrieves by then.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

gdgli said:


> Just got in from a little training. It was a success. My patience has paid off.


Headed out to train. We have been making lots of progress on cold blinds. I am thrilled. I will get a chance to go to water today.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

George I have a question on blinds for you.
The other day I was trying to figure out how to communicate with Lucy on sending her to something she couldn't see. I had never tried it before. My backyard has a large gravel area where we park our construction equipment. I put a bumper behind an excavator and set up an L shape run. Each leg was about 30' long. I put Lucy on a long line to make sure she did her whistle sit right where I wanted her. She saw me walk behind the excavator but not exactly where I set the bumper. I sent her Back, then whistle sat her where I wanted her to turn. I used the long line to make sure she stopped just so. Then I sent her on an Over to the bumper. Boy was she proud of herself when she came back from around the side of the excavator with the bumper. So is this how you train for a cold blind? I know the equipment in the yard isn't normally where it's taught, but I didn't know how else to hide a bumper without her seeing where I placed it. Anyway she was quite happy about the whole thing.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I entered my first test of the season yesterday. I'm excited!!

Gabby stayed with the trainer early April when we had a family trip to FL. She came home incredibly fine tuned. I see it in agility and obedience too. Went to the trainers last weekend, she was lining marks like I'd not see. Straight, confident and taking the straight path, even if there were distractions to pull her off. Her patience at the line was better. She plays me, I can't let her I know that but now that she's trained up it's just maintaining the standard. 

Trainer also said to enter two days SH back to back so we can see how she is on day 2, since master are 2 day tests. He said she's close to ready for master.....very close. I wonder....can she do it without me?? I'm not ready. LOL

On a side note...my trainer got our Lab Quinn to SHUT UP!!!! She's bad about noise. I'm so excited. I hope we can maintain and maybe.....just maybe.....she can run a senior test before summer ends. It was amazing!!!!!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> George I have a question on blinds for you.
> The other day I was trying to figure out how to communicate with Lucy on sending her to something she couldn't see. I had never tried it before. My backyard has a large gravel area where we park our construction equipment. I put a bumper behind an excavator and set up an L shape run. Each leg was about 30' long. I put Lucy on a long line to make sure she did her whistle sit right where I wanted her. She saw me walk behind the excavator but not exactly where I set the bumper. I sent her Back, then whistle sat her where I wanted her to turn. I used the long line to make sure she stopped just so. Then I sent her on an Over to the bumper. Boy was she proud of herself when she came back from around the side of the excavator with the bumper. So is this how you train for a cold blind? I know the equipment in the yard isn't normally where it's taught, but I didn't know how else to hide a bumper without her seeing where I placed it. Anyway she was quite happy about the whole thing.


I am flattered that you would ask but you really should be asking some of the others on here. That being said, I have watched others and have tried to learn from their mistakes. And I made a mistake with Buffy that took me a long time to overcome.

Here is my plan. Whatever drills I do for blinds, I set them up so that there is little risk for failure. That means I have done almost every confidence type drill that I have read about. Call them taught blinds, pattern blinds, sight blinds, etc. I want the dog to know that there is always a retrieve and that she should never doubt me. I have done an awful lot (I'm afraid to say hundreds). I want a dog that leaves my side with style, I want her to go out there with no hesitation.

Every single blind has been done with exactly the same cues: "Dead bird, good (and place hand over head), back". After you do a couple hundred the dog knows it's not a mark and my dog takes on a different demeanor. From the minute I say dead bird she seems to scan the landscape, almost studying it. Although we have done all the casting drills I try to set up the initial blinds so that they require minimal handling if any at all. 

Yesterday's set up was six blinds. Actually the first two were with white bumpers, the rest with orange bumpers. Things went well yesterday. My main concern was to get her to leave my side with confidence. No corrections.

Your set up could very well simulate the need to pick up a bird that went down behind one of the stone walls found on abandoned farms in NY. It's OK and your dog got the ultimate reward---the retrieve.

I like to spell everything out for Buffy. She can take an awful lot of training pressure and can take a big correction. But she cannot take confusion.

Blinds done at the shooting preserve are hard to mess up. Blinds are 40 to 60 yards, half the birds are fluttering, there is lots of scent. However, they are a great confidence builder---dead bird, good, back always results in a bird and I can position myself to avoid major hazards.

I hope that the better trainers on here comment on your question.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Thanks George. I was trying to use the gravel because the bumper would be easy to see, no hunting. Then the equipment is solid and she couldn't climb over it and would have to take my direction of Over, otherwise she would run into the equipment. I was trying to be very specific and get her to trust me. She seemed to enjoy it. Have a great weekend!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

Stacey I'm confused. Did you line her up to the blind or did you line her up facing one way and then turn her when you go her to the corner of the "L" and then cast her over to the blind?


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

MOP,
I did not line her up. So that was probably wrong. I can line her up in the future. I just thought I could cast her over to the item.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> MOP,
> I did not line her up. So that was probably wrong. I can line her up in the future. I just thought I could cast her over to the item.


There are some things we do when hunting that don't fit our program. For example, my example of sending the dog for a bird on the other side of the stone wall---I may not want the dog to go over the wall. There are many loose rocks and spaces in the rocks that could result in injury. I would then deal with this the way you did. I guess you could call it a false line to a break in the wall and handle to the bird for a safe route.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Our training session was a well run session. My big trip was well worth it. And thanks to Boomer's Dawn, our group was managed efficiently. 

Terrific job Dawn!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

gdgli said:


> Our training session was a well run session. My big trip was well worth it. And thanks to Boomer's Dawn, our group was managed efficiently.
> 
> Terrific job Dawn!


Buffy was amazing to watch 

I can't take any credit for managing our group, the field committee and other members who got there before me did all the set ups. I just offered to run the line for the first series because some of the others seemed kinda burned out on it. Done properly, it's a lot of work.:--sleep:


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Ups and downs this week, did marks a couple times. Dee Dee has been remembering to stay out looking for something but continues to stop short, discouraging when she gives up the dokken search to come back or worse, eat deer poop 

But we had our proud moments .. I didn't think we'd be doing water but yesterday at large group training they had to improvise because of flooding; set up huge in and outs among other things. Dee just started swimming late last summer so I wasn't sure she would remember how to swim, let alone swim and retrieve at the same time. Plus it was quite cold.

Thankfully some of the other club members knew how to motivate her to get in the water  She messed up one mark due to echo. We moved up close for everything as there were so many factors (water, in/out, birds, the other group running in the same area facing the other direction) among the usual novice squirrel stuff. I wanted to minimize multiple factors and set her up for success.

She was very brave charging across water to pick up her flyer and bringing it back blind with the wing completely covering her face. She was pretty charged up by then and not wanting to give "her" birds up. 

It was a TON of work, but a major value training day. 
We're going to our small group today, I thawed some birds, she seems to get more fired up about that. 

I think I need a nap already


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Beautiful day today about 85º sunny slight wind. Started setting up at 9, first dog ran at 10, got done at 3:30.
"Training Pond" as it's called is a man made pond and typically is dried up or has very little water, but we've had so much rain it is all swimming water and even weeds growing up in it. Lots of fingers, channels and coves. Here's our setup, in panorama  (yay photoshop)









Hard to see but bird 3 lands angle back into a cove, there is a long land entry, dog drops out of sight into the water, then about a 35 yd swim to the bird. First we ran everybody as singles, then went back and put it together as a triple. Then we ran the 4 blinds as bird-boy blinds with a visible BB. 
Bally just did the singles (which were WAY too cheaty for him but he figured it out). Slater did awesome on everything asked of him, I was really happy with his work.

Here are the 3 individual marks before I synced em together:





























This one is standing at the line looking LEFT of the first mark down the other end of the training pond. 

These are looking back across the pond from about where the first mark was or rather, where the winger was for the first mark. The cove to the right the bird landed on the go bird about where that dark tuft of grass is. 

























Bally posing  Too bad so far away. Training pond is on the right and the little bit of water you see is a very tip of the iceberg for "Middle Pond" which is I would say a 20-25 acre pond.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Those ponds look a bit like the flooded areas we used to do water work yesterday - Nice.

Today started with a trip to visit Gladys who is busy nursing 3 1-week old puppies.
I brought a pigeon and asked it I could throw it for her a bit when she went out to potty. Boy was she happy!

Later we went to our small group training. We did a land series of approx 50 yards, what looked like about 120 and 200? I'm not good at judging distances, but most of the dogs had problems. It was windy and hard to hear. 

The middle mark was distracting to the long mark for Dee Dee. We used white bumpers for the long marks and a bird for the short. She amazed us all by nailing the first series except for needing a re-throw on the long one. For some reason she turned her head 180 degrees and didn't see it land. I wish I knew what was going on in her head. But after she saw it, she went all the way! I was seriously stunned.

We repeated the series because no one did that great of a job and tried a bird and bumper on the far mark. That time, Dee Dee nailed the 2 close ones but no-goed on the long. She went after a re-throw but it's kinda frustrating for me, I don't know why she does that. It looks like she sees it but doesn't believe her eyes or doesn't know she's supposed to go. I'm not sure if I micromanaged her being steady and throwing in too many sits? Another thing I was wondering is, it looks like she's just starting to understand what she's supposed to do. I went to a seminar where it was stated that when dogs learn something, after X number of weeks (I forget the #) the material shifts from short term to long term memory, and in that time, the dog can't access it! This seems like the right timing and actually Gladys went through periods where she would train and train and learn and learn and screw up and screw up but I persisted and the lightbulb came on someday. I'm thinking that will be my plan with Dee Dee.

It did make me happy that the mark with the bird and bumpers, she opted to pick up the bird. She moved pretty fast too  I think the birds have been good for her motivation.

Almost everyone else is entered in events and "cramming" and training for them.
After today reminder reminder reminder: NO tests, NO tests, NO tests repeat repeat
The last thing I want is her not going or coming back empty handed.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Molly got her first JH pass today! It was my first AKC hunt test.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Molly got her first JH pass today! It was my first AKC hunt test.


congratulations! how exciting


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Molly got her first JH pass today! It was my first AKC hunt test.



Congratulations!!!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Molly got her first JH pass today! It was my first AKC hunt test.


Congratulations! That's so exciting! Keep up the good work


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

No Master pass for us today. We did play in all three series. Here is a strangely distorted pic of the 1st series. This was run in a small valley, the line on one side of the valley, the flier station on other.
All three birds went down you picked up any one bird then went back to the holding blind to receive that bird. You then came out and ran blind 1 , which was very short and really close to the first bird down. Then you picked up the other 2 birds, back in the holding blind for the planting of blind 2, which you then ran.
The flier was the last bird down so everyone sent there dog for it but it was under the arc of the 1st bird and some dogs were winding that first bird as they a crossed the scent and picking it up. The problem with picking up bird 1 first was, you then had to run the blind, burning up memory of the long flier. However, some handlers hoped there dogs would pick up the close bird first to get it out of the way. Anyway, I sent Winter for the long flier hoping she would punch thru bird one and pick up the flier, which she did. We ran the very short blind fine, although she did want to skirt the mound it was planted in front of. I then turned her to bird 2 which was thrown from the valley rim to the floor and landed in tall grass. I did not take my time lining her up because this was the one mark I wasn't worried about and sent her too high on the hill. She popped up on the rim of the valley and I had to handle. Stupid handler. She stepped on the 3 mark and I kept her in the slot to the second blind. Dang, I could have had her out clean. 
She went clean in the 2nd series but when I had to handle in the third we were out. But it was a good try and if she isn't ready to run Master we are really close. The judges were nice and told me if you watched all the birds go down in your first Master test you should go home happy.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Molly got her first JH pass today! It was my first AKC hunt test.


I heard Molly was perfect! Congrats.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Wow -- what a congested setup. Yikes. Sounds like a circus. Congrats to making it through all the series though -- I'm sure you learned a lot!!!  Great job.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

K9-Design said:


> Wow -- what a congested setup. Yikes. Sounds like a circus. Congrats to making it through all the series though -- I'm sure you learned a lot!!!  Great job.


My iPad weirdly compressed the pic a bit when I cropped it. It wasn't as congested as it appears, but all series were tight. There was a lot of talk in the gallery about the interrupted triple and burning memory. Very few dogs got out of the 1st series without a handle but 43 dogs out of 60 went to the 2nd.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

hollyk said:


> No Master pass for us today. We did play in all three series. Here is a strangely distorted pic of the 1st series. This was run in a small valley, the line on one side of the valley, the flier station on other.
> 
> All three birds went down you picked up any one bird then went back to the holding blind to receive that bird. You then came out and ran blind , which was very short and really close to the first bird down. Then you picked up the other 2 birds, back in the holding blind for the planting of blind 2, which you then ran.
> 
> ...



You and Winter are such an amazing team. You guys will get 'em next time!!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

hollyk said:


> My iPad weirdly compressed the pic a bit when I cropped it. It wasn't as congested as it appears, but all series were tight. There was a lot of talk in the gallery about the interrupted triple and burning memory. Very few dogs got out of the 1st series without a handle but 43 dogs out of 60 went to the 2nd.


Yeah, hmm, I'm not even sure if you'd call that an interrupted triple although I'm not sure what else you would call it. I've never trained that (going into holding blind while blind is planted on interrupted multiple) -- thanks for the idea


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Way to go Molly!! Congratulations!
Holly, I'm so proud of you guys. Even though you didn't get a pass, you did a great job on a really tough test. You set a standard for the rest of us  .


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I will be missing this Saturday's club training day because I am shooting flyers for a field trial. On a positive note I will be able to see some FT Goldens working.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

We didn't go to large group training but I had to go later for bored meeting. They were doing long angled channel setups that would have been lost on Dee Dee anyway. She's not ready for in and out, we're still working on get the heck in. 
I took her off to the other side and threw bumpers in the field and pond for her. She readily went swimming again and retrieved the bumper each time - yes!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Dawn,
How's Gladys' pregnancy going? I hope she got pregnant as planned. Boy that breeding stuff is not for the faint of heart. I hope everything goes extremely well.

Went to the NAHRA picnic trial. Ran Lucy in Hunter and Reilly in Started. Reilly has got the art of picking up a bird, flipping it in the air, catching it, and running back to me all at the same time. He just knows how to have fun. Everything went well we're ready for the NAHRA tests next weekend. Lucy in Hunter and Reilly in Started. Below is the show dog Lucy returning with her last bird. Looks like we'll have field titles before we get that elusive Ch title.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

early last week the girls ran some land marks but since then we've been just working on handling skills and running blinds. MY husband is coming home for R&R in a few days so I need to groom the girls up real nice for "daddy." In this case, I'm going to work on some water drills and run some blinds in the sludgy pond down the street first thing this morning. I can't wait for my hubby to get home!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Alaska7133 said:


> Dawn,
> How's Gladys' pregnancy going?


I hope this works, there should be a photo attached demonstrating how Gladys' pregnancy is going, the reason we haven't been hearing about her training other than she can't do this and she can't do that. 

She had 3 girls, light, medium, and dark, 2 weeks ago. 20 people wanted puppies but she only had 3. 
Small litters seem to run in the family, Gladys was one of two, and I think her dam had a onesie in the past.

Gladys looks like Mother of the Year! 
When I go see her I throw the pigeon or bumper for her, she likes that.

Our training buddies we went through SH with are entered in their first Master test next weekend. 
I'm feeling a little left behind but on the other hand not really because one of them in my opinion I would not be running in Master already.
But that's their business, not mine. 

When I was watching the channel marks yesterday I did think to myself "this would be right up Gladys's alley" ... can't wait to get her back.

For now it's just me and Dee Dee and our Junior fun stuff. 

Thanks for asking Stacey, have fun and good luck at your NAHRA tests. I love the Hunter stake! What a nice perfect transition they created.

I forgot to add, they're all at the breeders' house. I don't want to get attached to them because WE AREN'T KEEPING ANY. rotf.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

That's why DH is hesitant to breed Lucy, he's afraid none will find homes. 3 is a nice group. And you have some time to concentrate on Dee Dee. 

MOP, have fun with your DH!


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Molly got her second Junior pass today!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Congratulations! Almost there!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Yay Molly! Way to go!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

MillionsofPeaches said:


> early last week the girls ran some land marks but since then we've been just working on handling skills and running blinds. MY husband is coming home for R&R in a few days so I need to groom the girls up real nice for "daddy." In this case, I'm going to work on some water drills and run some blinds in the sludgy pond down the street first thing this morning. I can't wait for my hubby to get home!


I also would be looking forward to this. You will have another BIRD BOY!

Be extra nice to him.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Molly got her second Junior pass today!


Congratulations!

What are your future plans for Field?


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

gdgli said:


> Congratulations!
> 
> What are your future plans for Field?



Thanks!

No real plans -- just taking one step at a time. We are training for senior but we'll see what happens. I feel the same about competition obedience.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Glad to hear that you will continue with Field. Good Luck!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I actually made time to go out and do a couple of "hunt dead" birds with Tito, and he was great. He strongly prefers those to retriever blinds....but then what dog wouldn't? I just lined him in the general direction of the bird, and when he got near it let him find it himself. 
Once he over ran it by quite a bit. I stopped him, called him back to start coming back in. Sure enough, he picked up the scent of the bird on the way back in, and came back with it.
The best one was the last one. It was very tight to the previous one, and he picked up the scent of the previous bird (wind direction), went back to check that spot, but then quickly realized his mistake, searched the wind with his nose, found the correct scent, and went right to the bird.
I like the hunt dead  . Now here's hoping he can do it in a test. Heck, here's hoping he makes it to the hunt dead!!!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Congratulations Molly!

We went to our Tuesday group, me and Dee Dee. We had the beaver ponds which is pretty much like it sounds like, with a weird kind of created-retention-pond type thing in the middle of a big beaver pond. 

I did all fun junior singles with Dee Dee and brought birds for her because she hasn't picked up birds out of the water yet. We did the longest marks with white bumpers. She needed one rethrow to get out to the long mark on the first series. Another station was reloading their winger and making lots of noise and she got suckered into looking then floating over in that direction on her way out to the long mark. Junior puppy and young dog mistakes.

She doesn't have quite the same drive and focus I'm used to with Gladys and Boomer before her. But they also had more years and maturity before her when they started field work. So I continue to work on confidence, success, getting out there, bringing something back.
The entire rest of the group is entered in an upcoming test this weekend ... except for me. Someone asked my thoughts on entering her in upcoming tests.

Part of me knows some fun looking tests coming up with great junior judges I think she could pass, but another part of me knows she's not ready for hardcore tests with long marks in heavy cover that can't be seen, unpredictable flyers, distractions. 

I don't trust her to not get distracted, not get lost or confused, and not come back with no bird. It's tempting to run fun tests, but I'm not in enough rush to want to hurry through Junior and have to start training for Senior with a non-solid Junior. I would prefer to maybe do 2 this year and 2 next year and finish Junior on the way to Senior. I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll go, that will save some entry fees and gas $$ too.

So I'll probably run the 2 tests for clubs I belong to and would work at ***IF AND ONLY IF*** she does well enough for me to know she can stand up to juj dog skool teecher by how she does at our last session of large group training coming up before anything I would plan to enter closes. If she can't cut the mustard, there will be no tests. 

I miss Gladys and can't wait until she comes home. When she gets back we will have to work on getting her conditioned again, singles, and work back up. Because she's been staying in resting and/or sleeping with puppies for several weeks now, this after a long boring cooped up winter.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We might have an issue with the *hunt dead* in the Spaniel tests. I did a few with him this morning. 
Well, he's taking really awesome straight lines when sent. And running LONG distances. Like from here to Ontario. Just really rolling with it. Which is fantastic from a retriever test point of view, but not so hot from a Spaniel test point of view. 
I do admit I set him up some hard stuff, he was running with the wind so there wasn't much scent. He over-ran several of them.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Barb why don't you line him to the area of the hunt dead, stop him on the whistle when he's in the area, then give a verbal command to "hunt it up"? I think you are absolutely wrecking your blinds if you expect him to run out and then wind it, stop running and hunt. But by giving him permission/a command to hunt, you can stop him right in the area. 
Have you given up on ever running master?


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Anney, that really was my plan. But I got cocky because yesterday he nailed every one of them. So today I set him up some hard stuff, and I wanted to see what he would do. Now I know what he'll do, he'll keep running until he either finds the bird or hears a whistle. So yep, whistle it is if he doesn't find the bird right away. 
I haven't given up on running retriever Master, no. But it's sort of on the back burner at the moment. There are very, very few Spaniel tests around here, and they're super hard to get into, so it's sort of become my priority. And to be honest, they make a whole lot more sense, and are a lot more fun. 
Tito just turned 7, so I don't have a ton more time to do retriever Master hunter with him. A couple of years, though. How old was Fishie when he got his MH? (Since he's my role model for pretty much everything  ).


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh and Anney, I'm sort of annoyed at you. If I had known you and Bally were going to be at WRGRC I would have tried to make it to the show!!! That's a wonderful club, great people. About 2-1/2 hours at most from me. Would have loved to have been ringside for Bally's 5 pointer!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Oh gosh! Sorry  I did post my traveling agenda on FB 
Kelli and I are going to GRC of Illinois next month though!!!
Fisher was 8 when he got his MH, I think we got our first pass in January before he turned 8, then last pass in August after he had turned 8 (his birthday is in April). I ran him the next year at a few more tests (as in, just before he turned 9) and he was totally fine in the tests. I kept running into injury which put us out for training which is no way to keep up a master dog.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks Anney, Tito just turned 7 in March.
Be sure to let me know when/where you'll be here!!!!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I went after work to help my SH buddies do breaking bird drills before their big MH weekend. Their dogs were both steady. They asked me did I want to use the flyer for Dee Dee. I really didn't after my day at work, but it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. 

So we had the winger set up next to a stone wall full of prickers bushes and junk. We all watched Dee Dee chase her flyer into the pricker thickets. She tried to go in but couldn't break through the vines. Of course there was then no way we could not get it. So I got a 10 in perserverance by crawling around the prickers looking for it with Dee Dee's help which I could see her nose going and was pleased with. But the bird went into an underground den and it was hard to get to, I got it at one point but stupidly encouraged Dee Dee to pick it up to which it scuttled back in the underground den. So I pulled the dead pricker branches off the top with my bare hands and between the 3 of us plus Dee Dee watching, we eventually got the bird out, and got Dee Dee to pick it up and hold in the field a few times. She seemed really excited! I was ready for bed after that. 

But they talked me into doing some walking singles. They were way over Dee Dee's head, the grass is almost as tall as she is already; she needed lots of help but the good news is, she got out there and ran around, she practically covered the whole field before stopping to stare at the thrower and act confused. She brought back everything with help. So we're getting there in the getting out there and staying out there department.

Never a dull moment.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Not to long ago there was a thread about what is keeping you from your goals. 
AARRGG, getting out there and training. 
Winter and I have had a nice stretch of training days lately but now for the next 2 weeks we will have no time to train. That's no way the get to the next level. On a good note Winter doesn't seem to backslide in training when we take a break. 

We have been working on handling big memory burning set ups, in line marks, tight to the marks land blinds and hairy water blinds. Next test is end of June.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Heat cycle keeping us from the hunt tests this weekend. So we've been staying in our yard working on whistle sits. I'm using the ecollar as a marker for when and where I want her to sit. I'm still keeping Lucy on a long line to make sure she knows she has to stop. I've just been using one pile. It might be time to add a couple more piles. I've also been working with Reilly on being more steady. His health has been good and his energy is good, so we'll keep going. The corneal distrophy has about taken over his whole left eye, it's almost solid white now. It doesn't seem to slow him down any. This spring for training has been very warm. We have plenty of open water, days are in the mid-60's, it's going to be a "hot" summer. NAHRA has one more double header, AKC has 2 double headers I'll attend, and we have one derby, that will be it for the summer. Not sure if I'm doing any conformation stuff this summer. Lucy only likes them because she gets lots of food and attention.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

We did some marks yesterday and had a recurrence of "what am I doing out here again?" but this time Dee Dee covered a lot of field before stopping to look around, go to the station, stare at the thrower, give up, etc.

We repeated everything and she did ok on the short easy ones, but can't handle longer stuff or any distractions at all. One person said their "read" was "I've already been out there, I don't want to go back". 

I said my "read" was "I'm not sure of myself".

The other person said but she was already there before; to which my response was she already covered the whole entire field before too. 

At one point there was a fairly long mark she had trouble with that was hard to see. I thought she saw it, but she chose not to go and picked up a bumper from the line instead. Is that "I don't want to go back out there?" or is that "I'm not sure what I just saw, but I know there's one here, so I'll get this one" - ???

She doesn't strike me as lazy or not wanting to run around or not wanting to retrieve. I've started going out to help her instead of having thrower help to try to break that habit. Ugh. bad habits. :--sad:


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Hi Dawn, not sure how old Dee Dee is or where she's at exactly in training but have you tried either fire-bombing bumpers as she is running to the initial mark (to keep her interest in the area and simultaneously salting the area with bumpers so she's bound to find one), or giving her a very big correction on the line when she gives up and returns without a bumper and immediately re-sending her? (This obviously would be for a more advanced dog through all force work.) Admittedly I'm not picturing exactly what she's doing but these would be the two obvious remedies.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Along Anney's thoughts, are you double throwing for her? 
We had a young male lab in the training group last year who sounds similar to what you have described with Dee Dee. The Pro had us automatically double throw on every mark for maybe 3-4 weeks. Then when he was more confident the gunner threw normally but would be ready to step out and be visible after the throw if the dog didn't seem to lock. And of coarse the gunner was always ready to double throw if needed. The trick was the gunner had to throw as soon as they saw a break in momentum. If the head went down or if you saw even the slightest of slowing down, throw. We were told at this point, for this dog, it was better to double throw and not need it then chance the possibility of them breaking down. The Pro thought that the dog was mentally immature and he want us to build his confidence and just get him marking while his brain matured.
This dog is now two and has started to run Senior. He broke in his first test, it made us all laugh.
Of coarse I have only trained one dog to SH, so I could be way off base.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

By double throw, Holly, do you mean 2 identical marks before the dog is sent or a second throw while he's on his way?
I have seen people throw 2 identical marks before sending the dog, especially on very long or difficult to see marks. I tried this with Slater and it freakin blew his mind. To him it was like a double but the marks are the same -- eek!! Brain scrambled! LOL But en-route firebomb marks are very useful for dogs like this.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Also gunner help when the dog gives up can be of some use but unless they always respond immediately by turning around and pursuing the gunner's directions or a new throw, it quickly turns into teaching the dog to ignore gunner help and/or be a little paranoid about gunners.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Your firebomb is my double throw I think. 
Yes, this is were a good gunner is worth their wait in gold. It is about building enough momentum so they can drive all the way out to the mark. Also we used white bumpers on very short grass. When we started this we automatically threw when the dog was 1/3 of the way out and if we had to we would throw again. Short distances to start and with the grass short the second throw usually got him the next 1/3 out and then he could see the bumper and that got him there. It took quite a few sessions before we really saw much progress and I was doubtful, but it did work. Here it is about year later and he's running Senior.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

If you don't have a savvy gunner you can have them throw the first bumper, then tell them to watch you and you will give a wave when to throw the 2nd (or 3rd) bumper. We would have the gunner throw with noise for the first throw only. We were trying to use prey drive to keep him driving to the AOF and not key so much on the gunner.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions, I so appreciate it.

Yes, we do firebomb! At least we did. I've been trying to get away from that in an effort to get ready for JH but she might not be ready for that yet.

And you really confirmed for me, I think some of what is expected from Dee Dee is either a) moving too fast for what she's capable of, b) doing set ups that are convenient for the group, not what she needs (ie. no thrower at long distance winger), or c) other people not willing to do what I ask (i.e. some people don't believe in firebomb or tell you they have to get used to this or that sometime (aka that day).

In this past case, there was one thrower off to the side at a close station, and no one out at the far wingers to help if needed or provide some point of reference. Granted I don't want her marking off the thrower, but have I mentioned she has problems with distractions? I think our thrower thought it was time to get her used to no help, but the set up was too much for no help. 

I won't give up yet. Your comments confirm my instincts that she needs more practice and confidence probably more than anything.

I haven't given her strong corrections because she's very soft and since Gladys has been away with puppies, has become skittish and afraid of new things, where she never used to be before. 

Be it emotional immaturity or personality or both, she doesn't go through life with a crash helmet like Gladys or Boomer did. She's so different, it's very strange from what I'm used to.

Be careful what you wish for because there were times in the holding blind with both Boomer and Gladys ready for blastoff that I wondered what it would be like to have a normal dog. Now I have one that acts normal in the holding blind....

whoops, I forgot to mention: 

she's 1.5 y.o. but little training for age
did puppy group last year, just learned to swim late last summer
unable to do marks or any water work until this month due to long hard winter
alone first time ever since Boomer (constant companion) passed away in Nov and Gladys (convenient companion) went to whelp end of April - definitely acting strange


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Dawn, often when dogs seem to be having a rough time in training the Pro will ask if there have been any big changes at home. 
I think you're on the right track, shorten it up, break it down, give her help. Just make her successful at this point.

Again, I have only trained one dog to a mid level.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Dawn I think you are very perceptive and on the right track for Dee Dee. It can be very difficult to get everyone in a training group to be on the same page, but just remember that you are your dog's own and ONLY advocate -- so don't be afraid to tell them exactly what you want for Dee Dee when it's her turn to run. Treat every time at the line as if it is absolutely imperative for her to have a positive and successful experience. 
(If it makes you feel any better -- having a remote winger and no human at the long station and people throwing at the short station(s) is an absolute pet peeve of mine. It makes NO SENSE. Not only are you usually leaving the dog no option of gunner help at what is typically the most difficult mark, but the winger has the best chance of not operating correctly because it's far away! Ugg! And I hope they are using holding blinds and not just firing from a winger sitting out by itself. There is nothing so pointless to me as trying to mark off a winger with no stickman or holding blind.)


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Dawn I hope you are having fun just having the 2 of you to spend time together. Every dog is different sometimes on every day of the week.

Anyone have any thoughts on water work with a girl in heat? So far I haven't done anything but wading. But we just got open water a week before she went into heat, so she's only been swimming twice this year. Swim or not to swim? Her last day of heat will be June 4 and the derby is June 7, not much time to train.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Alaska7133 said:


> Anyone have any thoughts on water work with a girl in heat? So far I haven't done anything but wading. But we just got open water a week before she went into heat, so she's only been swimming twice this year. Swim or not to swim? Her last day of heat will be June 4 and the derby is June 7, not much time to train.


I looked it up, this is what Barb told me last time Gladys came in season when she was entered in HT last summer:
best not to swim her much between day 8 and 16 of her cycle, when she is apt to have her cervix more open.

I didn't take any chances with Gladys, we did NO water work at all for her entire heat cycle.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Barb, 
Best of luck today!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks! He got his first MHU pass today!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Yes!!!!!!!


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

hotel4dogs said:


> Thanks! He got his first MHU pass today!



Congratulations!! How exciting!!

I'm sitting in the car waiting for our 3rd junior test to conclude. This is our first test on new grounds. I have a couple of thoughts. 

Out first two tests were easy and uneventful. I think the land marks were 40 yards, at the most. They were so short I was worried Molly would over run them. Today, the marks were probably 70-80 yards. The live flyer landed just beyond a dip. I didn't expect Molly to hunt the dip, but she did. Thankfully it was a short hunt. The line to the second longer bird went over a road and was very close to the gun station. Many dogs hunted at the road. Molly's problem is that she has a history of getting spooked by people at the stations. She barks and generally just gets very distracted. I watched her run and just as she passed the station, her head turned 90 degrees and she barked at the winger operators, but she got over that fairly quickly. Phew. Usually, it isn't a problem when the distance to the line to the bird is long. But this land test, compared to our first two tests was a real eye opener. Oh and I can't forget the piles and piles of cow poop every other step. At least one dog failed because they couldn't help but roll in it!

Line manners -- she was very amped today. She pulls me out of each holding blind and then when she sees that we're only moving into another holding blind, she puts her brakes on and will not go any further. She actually learned to do this at our first test on the second series but does not do it in training. She has also tried to back out of her collar!! I had to take her by the neck and drag her closer. It doesn't matter if we face in or out, she doesn't want to get into the holding blind. 

On the second water mark today, there was a huge bank cheating opportunity. I know people say if a dog decides to bank cheat at a test, just let them go, but I personally think a bank cheat messes Molly up more than the average dog so I'm not going to let it happen if I can help it. After the judge said "dog", Molly turned her head and body about to bank cheat as I was still holding on, and I said "here". When she realigned, I released her. The judge gave me a warning and said I am not allowed to yank her collar. I just apologized, but I am pretty sure Molly was yanking me.

At our usual training she is the least amped up. I never have to worry about steadiness. When we train with the pro she is much more amped up (he frequently throws live birds for her), but it wasn't even close to what happened today. She was not this crazy at the tests at our usual training grounds. I think we're going to have to have more live birds to get her amped and I'm really going to crack down on heeling and line manners.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Congratulations!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Congratulations Barb and Molly's Mom!

I have seen judges setting up 40 yard marks and heard ppl say things like "that master blind was more like a senor blind". 
But alas I get the tests where the senior blind is more like a master blind, and the flyer gets blown into the woods, sinks, or drifts out to sea.

So that gets me where I am today .. we did walking singles with BIG WHITE BUMPERS .. a thrower at every station. Dee Dee needed help with at least 1/3 of the marks. She hunted short and tried to come back once, to which I said "no, that is WRONG!" and she didn't do it again after that (but still hunted short).

My other 2 groupies are trying to get ready for their next tests. 
I said DD won't be reliably ready for HT any time soon and dog skool teecher agreed. Our other group member said she would be ready in a couple weeks. I don't know what dog he was looking at, ROTFL.

No test pressure makes training more fun. Plus I looked at Gladys' event history, she started running and passing at almost 2. Dee Dee's age just falls weird, she'll be that age in the winter. 

Tomorrow we're doing water work .. that should be interesting! :cookoo:


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

boomers_dawn said:


> Congratulations Barb and Molly's Mom!
> 
> I have seen judges setting up 40 yard marks and heard ppl say things like "that master blind was more like a senor blind".
> But alas I get the tests where the senior blind is more like a master blind, and the flyer gets blown into the woods, sinks, or drifts out to sea.
> ...


That means she picked up almost 2/3 the the marks, a good start. Go Dee Dee! 
(I'm a the glass is half full kinda girl.) Hope all goes well today.


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## Cathy's Gunner (Dec 4, 2008)

How did Tito do today? I hope you have a safe trip home. Enjoy your dinner tomorrow at your son and fiancé new place.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

MHU pass #2 today! 
And Tito now has a fan club amongst the Spaniel people, and particularly 4 judges.
What a great weekend. 
Now, about the tests.
Day 1. They always start with the field work. Tito did a wonderful job hunting, he really has an amazing (and reliable) nose. Found and flushed the first bird, which took off very low, skimming the weeds for about 15 feet with Tito in hot pursuit. He caught the bird, and I blew the sit whistle. 
The judges told me that I got marked down for trainability. Not Tito, ME. They said Tito scored a 10 out of 10, but I only got a 7. They were serious. They said that I should not have blown the sit whistle. The explanation was somewhat long and confusing, but it had to do with the bird not being high enough to get a shot off, so it's still "the dog's bird", not "the handler's bird", and as such he is within his rights to pursue and catch it. It's called a sucker bird. Of course, since I know at Master they have to be rock steady to flush and shot I thought he was going to be failed for chasing the bird. Nope, not so. It was his bird, not my bird. Ah, so much to learn!! Anyway, he was still passing the test. So he hunted up another bird, and this time it was a picture perfect flush, sit, shot, and retrieve. Passed series #1.
The next series is the "hunt dead", which is actually a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be. We did NOT know where the bird was, so we had to send the dog in the general vicinity and instruct him to hunt up the bird. The test is intended to test 3 skills...first, that the dog will take direction. Second, that the dog has a good nose and can locate the bird. And third, that the dog has the drive and persistence to dig the bird out of a very tough location. Hmmm....no one ever warned me about that 3rd part...so the blind was planted 65 yards away. There were about 4 cover changes, including crossing a gravel road. But the tough part was that the bird was about 4 feet under some heavy tree/brush/scrub, and the dogs had to pretty much belly crawl underneath to get the bird! So it was a lot meatier than I had expected. Anyway, we passed series #2.
Next comes the water blind, and again, much much meatier than I had figured on for the same reason. The actual swim to the water blind was no big deal, no points or in/out, etc. It was about a 50-55 yard swim in open water, although there was a lot of mucky/flooded grass etc. stuff on the shorelines. But the thing was, the birds were very, very hard to dig out when the dogs got to the opposite shore. They were about 15 or so feet up the shoreline, the dogs had to go thru muck, flooded grasses, and lots of downed branches/brush, etc. to get to the bird. And we don't know exactly where it is, the dog has to find the bird with his nose. Tito managed to get hung up in a downed tree, and was significantly stuck for probably close to 60 VERY LONG seconds (which felt like 10 minutes). I thought for sure someone (me) was going to have to go free him up. I blew his "come in" whistle like crazy, so he would keep fighting to free himself. Finally he got loose, and the gallery breathed a collective sigh of relief. The judge said that dog sure has a lot of heart! Anyway, series #3 passed.
The final one was a very simple water mark, mostly intended to test the dog's steadiness at water and willingness to re-enter the water. That was easy, and we had pass #1.
Day 2, today.
The scenting conditions were very rough today, and it was pretty hot out. But none-the-less, Tito managed to flush his first bird, which took off low and straight toward the gallery, so it was called a no-bird. The little dear sat on his fuzzibutt perfectly, and came right back when called. We set off in search of another bird, which he handily flushed, and didn't the same thing happen!! AND yet another time!! So now I am panicking, but the judges told me not to worry, he's doing his job perfectly, he's finding the birds, flushing them, and sitting. He can't tell the birds how to fly....So off we go in search of another bird. After about 10 minutes he can't find any more birds, so they send us out of the field to get him a drink of water and some shade while they "re-plant" the field. He hunts up another bird, and this one he traps!! Pounces on it, and brings it back nicely to me. ARGH! So he still hasn't had a retrieve. The judges decided that, since they had seen 3 nice flushes, perfect steadiness, and a trapped bird, all they need to do is toss a mark for him, shoot some guns, and let him retrieve it. Which they do, and he scores a 10 out of 10 on retrieving. Series #1, pass.
Next the blind (hunt dead), and today's was a bit easier, so he lined the blind. Well, except for popping right next to the bird, he wasn't sure if it was okay to just run and get it, I told him to get it, he did, came back, series #2, pass. 
Today's water blind was really challenging. The dogs had to hunt really hard for it. AND they were out of sight the whole time they were on land. Now that blows us retriever folks' minds, because we are used to handling our dogs, and you can't handle them if you can't see them. But this is testing different skills, they want the dog to find the bird on his own, and go thru some very challenging stuff getting it. Series #3, pass.
Simple water mark was last. Series #4, pass.
Lots and lots of praise for Tito from all 4 judges, and many of the spectators. We had a great time, and we were made to feel TOTALLY welcome, heck, downright special, for participating in their test. 
I love the Spaniel tests. They really do judge a dog's hunting ability.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Big Congratulations to Barb and Tito!
What a dog!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh I also found out that if you whack a judge with a gun, you can still pass, as long as you didn't POINT IT at him


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## Cathy's Gunner (Dec 4, 2008)

Way to go Barb and Tito! I'm so happy for you.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Tito was just not in the mood to pose for photos (I suspect he thinks he's too important for the papparazzi today) so here are the ribbons. 
They had these cupcakes at the lunch today. We were told that way everyone gets a ribbon, whether they pass or not. The photo doesn't do it justice, they are adorable.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Congratulations Barb and Tito.

We did waterwork today and Dee Dee did AMAZE-BALLS!

5 marks, started short and went long. Zero hesitation getting in the water and did everything just right. She needed help on the longest mark which was literally on the other side of a lake. I'm not a good judge of distance but it looked between 80-100 yds or maybe more. 

I'll take it! :banana:


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## 2golddogs (Oct 19, 2009)

Way to go Barb and Tito! I'm not at all surprised Tito has a new fan club.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Congrats on the Master passes!!!! I feel a little pathetic to announce that Molly got a mere JH title this weekend.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

There is nothing pathetic or "mere" about a JH title! I remember how absolutely thrilled I was when Tito got his. Huge congratulations!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

I agree! You would have thought Winter "Hung the Moon" I was so excited, thrilled and proud of her when she earned that JH.
I think I saw somewhere that the Morris foundation estimates there or 600,000 living US Golden Retrievers. About 250 Goldens earn a JH title each year. This year Molly is one of them. 
Congratulations!


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## Leslie B (Mar 17, 2011)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Congrats on the Master passes!!!! I feel a little pathetic to announce that Molly got a mere JH title this weekend.


No Way! Juniors is the first step and that is the hardest one to take.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Congrats Barb on the two MHU passes! I wonder if there are other goldens who have achieved this title. The play-by-play was fascinating.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Just did a a search on k9data, NO golden with MHU titles! Tito could be the first!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

only if he can get in the tests.....
Sneak preview,there's an article on Spaniel tests coming up in an upcoming issue of GR News, and it will tell you who already has a JHU and SHU  .


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Finally we are back to training. This was today's set up, a triple.
Mark 1 fell on land behind tall grass, Mark 2 was designed to invite cheat, Mark 3 was throw close as a breaking bird. Blind 1 had the small island to go over, and they had to hold the angle. Blind 2 was a big slot between the two holding blinds and set 20 yards behind them. 
She sat still as the marks went down and then did a good job picking them up. I got a pop on Blind 1 about 7 yards after her entry and then again after she crossed the island and was halfway between the island and the end point. The water blind pop was our nemesis last fall but had disappeared until now. Luckily I was ready for it and had good timing on the correction. I knew I would see the pop again sooner or later. No pop on Blind 2 but she put her head down and wanted to hunt the tall grass line as she came out of the water. A quick whistle and a casted her back put her on the blind.


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