# Field December 2012



## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Laundry and decorating the house ( I won't put up my Christmas decorations until it is December!). Dogs are going stir crazy but I am finally getting better. After two weeks of hacking and coughing the doc finally decided there must be something bacterial going on and put me an antibiotics!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Hi there.
Hope you don't mind if I join in. I've started my little girl (5 month old) 5 weeks ago on field training. We have 5 puppies from the litter that get together with a trainer that specializes in field goldens. Today we worked on general obedience, platform (place) and singles. They are all doing so well. We are super excited to see their progress. We discussed bringing in the starter pistol for background noise next week. We're hoping for the temperatures to warm up a bit, so we can get back outside. It's been down around zero or below lately, so getting outside for a lot of work is tough. So we've been training in my shop. Some of us signed up for a Connie Cleveland seminar in February. I'm hoping my girl is mature enough for the class. We did get a lecture about planning for WC test in August that our trainer is running for the club. I hope Lucy is ready by then.

For this week I'm taking Lucy back to retail stores for stays and recalls. She did really well last time. Dogs always amaze me on how smart they are.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Welcome Alaska, good to see you here!!

Tito may never run another hunt test. He's decided he'd much rather REALLY hunt instead of run hunt tests.

We went to Dan's today, and set up some marks. It's the first marks Tito has seen in about a month. The first one was just a pretty easy single, but he lost it in the sun. When he got out there, he apparently decided that, since he didn't see anything go down, he probably was supposed to be hunting up a bird for us to shoot. So he went off hunting in the adjacent cover. 
We got that problem fixed, tossed a few more singles for him which he did quite well on (once he saw the birds go down!) and then just decided to go hunting. It is, after all, a hunt club. So Dan took Tito pheasant hunting for a while, I went along for the walk as it's 60 degrees here today! Tito got to flush a couple of pheasants, Dan hit one really hard, long shot (had to spin and shoot behind himself), Tito retrieved the bird, and the day ended up glorious.
Tito says forget the hunt test crap.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Wednesday trained with the Pro. 
First we ran a water blind that had started with a 30 yards of land then a small splashing pond with blind across on the other side. Also to the right of the line was a channel of water that fed the pond. Winter took a straight line to the water but I could see she wanted to skirt the water, whistle, one verbal back cast that she took though the water and she picked up the blind.
Then we turn around and ran the marks. A double hand thrown from in line blinds. The memory mark was thrown from the far blind, left to right at about 80 yards. 15 yards of land, 65 yards of splashing water with a small 10 yard swim in the middle of it.The 40 yard Go bird was thrown from the close blind, right to left and land on land just off the pond. Then a long 170 yard land blind that skimmed by the go bird AOF and had some roll to it.
We wanted the dogs to run a straight line to the Memory bird and not fade to the left, toward the blind that the mark came from. The going was easier to the left which could make them fade too. Also you need to made sure they didn't try to cheat on the way back. 
On the Go bird I was told, if her line takes her into the water to let her have it. The reason given was that we teach them that to get into water or stay in the water is the usually the correct choice. So in this case, if they get in the water give it to them. 
Winter is at the stage where we are still learning tougher concepts, so we ran the long memory bird as a single first. Winter took a really good line across the pond and hit the other side but then over ran the mark and put up a big hunt. She did work it out without help. On the way out you could tell she took a look at the first blind and the person sitting behind it as she went by. Then we ran the double, she stepped on the Go bird, had the same line out to the Memory bird but still over ran and got behind it. However, she checked down quickly and picked it up. No cheating on either pickup on the long bird. On the land blind, she carried good momentum and held her line passed the Go bird AOF but started fading left with the topography as she got out to about 140 yards. Two whistles later she picked up the blind. I'm still seeing occasional looping whistle sits and in fact on the first whistle on this blind she did a small loop. The second whistle was cleaner. This looping always happens at distance. So we talked about having me give her a light nick with every whistle sit for the next couple of weeks. I'm to very carefully watch her momentum and if I see any loss of it I need to stop and give the Pro a call. 

On Friday, a friend and I did a mark blind drill. The drill has her run a blind that backsides a mark, then under the arc, and then between the two marks. I still am teaching this so we run the blind, then throw the mark and then run the blind again. She still isn't perfect so we will keep running it this way. When she is perfect I will throw the mark then run the blind. Next we will did a couple of singles, one that had them working across a hill and going through a wall of cover. The second one was water, land, water. The entry was down hill so Winter carried the speed into a huge water entry, very cute. After she picked up the mark, we ran an angled entry down the same hill for a water blind. I had to call her back for a bad line but she nailed it on the second attempt. It was sunny and in the 50's so we finished up with a shoreline blind.
Unfortunately next week is looking bad for getting out and training.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

This coming saturday is our first Upland training day. I signed up for 2 chuckers and I got 2 chuckers ofr my son. I hope they shoot them so I can use them for training they cost $11.00 each I hate to have them fly away at that price.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Sometimes having them fly away teaches the best lesson of all.....you have to come BACK if the bird gets away! 

I got this in an email from my good friend that we went hunting with, and I thought I needed to share it:

"....We may play the games in the summer months knowing what is expected of our dogs, but come hunting season, the true nature of the beast tells us who really is the HUNTER and who is the STUDENT...."


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Had both guys in Finished this weekend, why I even bother with HRC I don't know.
The good was I felt more comfortable with the handler's gun and really didn't have any trouble with it. It didn't mess up and I shot at everything I was supposed to at the correct time.
Bad news is I continue to be frustrated with HRC finished setups and cannot wrap my brain around why UKC as an organization supports it. No noise at the mark (gun/duck call) means dogs miss SEEING marks. When you are "hunting" and your dog doesn't see a mark you can handle up a storm -- that's called a blind. But yet with no attention getting devices in the field, dogs miss marks and are penalized for handling. BOTH days Fisher didn't see a mark in the first series, even though he swung with the gun barrel, didn't headswing, was steady, and was actively looking for the mark. Unfair to the dog. Today it was the 2nd bird of the land triple, after swinging almost 180º to the right of the flyer, 175 yard mark with no sound. You know how many dogs in the field of 25 SAW and then proceeded directly to the mark? ONE. One dog. TWO others put up enormous hunt and eventually found that bird. The rest were handled or picked up. I handled Fisher on it the second he started to deviate (since he didn't even see the mark), basically running it as a blind.
I first ran a few weekends of finished tests before I ever ran Fisher in a master tests, I hated them, same deal, dog can't see the @#$#$*&ing marks! This past April I ran started & seasoned with Harvin & Slater but didn't put Fisher in finished, and guess what the tests were like cute little master tests, if the dog can count to three and run a decent blind you'd be OK, now I enter again and it's back to ridiculous. I'm not looking for handouts and yes I want a challenging test and to be graded strictly but when the dog doesn't see the mark because of the set up -- how can you judge them?!?!?! /vent #theregoes$400


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

HRC is very different, I agree. I think dogs who are used to running AKC have a hard time in HRC. Dogs who are used to HRC find it easier to switch to AKC because of all the commotion in the field.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I belong to both clubs now but this summer I watched my first AKC hunt test and I thought it was easy compared to the set-ups we had for the HRC dogs. I have heard it both ways tho the AKC is easy the HRC is easy I guess it depends on the judges and the fields they have to work with. I am going to try my hand at AKC this summer.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

It very much depends on the judges. Without that call in the field it is so very important to ensure that the mark is visible int he air and as it falls. Unfortunately, too many judges, and it seems HRC reps (who must approve the tests) are not taking this into consideration.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Having done both, I thought HRC was quite a bit easier for a few reasons. Especially at the started/junior level, at least the tests I saw, HRC was much easier. At the senior/seasoned level, the tests were more similar but there's no honor in seasoned, and you can re-send your dog if you need to, which you can't do in AKC. Also you can talk to the dog on the line in HRC, a big plus for some dogs, and you don't have to wait for the judge to send the dog, which is a HUGE thing if you have a real fire breather (which I don't). I think especially when you get to Master/Finished level, the concepts are easier in HRC, you don't see the complicated triples and quads as much in HRC.
But the dog does have to know to look out in the field for the birds going down in HRC. If the dog can't see the bird, he obviously can't mark it, and it sounds like you had a lousy test, Anney. 
Having finally been hunting, I would also say that HRC is WAY more realistic. There is no shot out in the field, nor duck call, when the pheasant goes down out there. And at least in the cover we've been in, you can't handle the dog anyway, because you can't see him. So it really is a test of his marking ability.
And of course, it does depend on the judges.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Barb you haven't yet run at Finished or Master -- very frustrating to take capable dogs to the test and fail because they aren't seeing the marks. In hunting all bets are off, your dog is not judged on marking accuracy or handling, it is a different game. 
There's a lot more I could say in HRC vs. AKC but I'll leave it at, I like to support my local clubs and feel my dogs are more than capable of doing the work required at the level I enter them in and it's disappointing to spend the time, effort and money to enter and volunteer only to have to run tests that are meant to cut down the field rather than test against a standard.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I know Anney, I've only watched them, and it does sound like you had an unfair test. Dogs who can pass the MH tests like your guys should do just fine in finished.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

A good day out at Dan's today.
We started with some disciplined casting, because we haven't run any blinds in about 2 months. Tito did fine, he doesn't mind being cast all over the place after he has already picked up the bumper. Then some singles, just stuff that would encourage him to hunt long and hard, which he did.
He did such a nice job, he got a nice reward. Dan took Tito out hunting for 45 minutes. Tito flushed 2 pheasants (1 shot and retrieved, the other missed) and found a dead duck in the heavy cover. Ewwwww. The dog will pick up ANYTHING with feathers.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I will chime in this thread 

Faelan appears to be on track for SH testing this coming spring – he is doing well with handling, his marking and perseverance are up and he is more settled into what is expected. He is moving through his drills at a good pace and is understanding the concepts. He is now running cold blinds successfully. Frank is not yet ready to estimate whether he will become hard enough about water blinds to be a successful MH candidate but early indications are looking good – this is the area where Frank feels MH tests will be passed or failed with Faelan – on the water; which we have had to work some issues with – never bank running or entry but his willingness to go the extra mile when finding his bird.


Brady is retrieving his wings, bumpers and has started casting work. He is learning whistle come ins. His basic obedience still needs to be really worked on but his impulse control is coming along nicely, he walks nicely on lead and sits on cue (short duration only at 4 months but he will wait until released to his food bowl even with green tripe is in the mix  ). He really does try and will turn himself over backwards for food and/or praise and/or play LOL He looks to be on target for JH testing this coming spring as well since he appears to have no issues with water (no retrieves on water yet – that needs to wait now but he was swimming and loving it before the weather cooled).


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

General V said:


> This coming saturday is our first Upland training day. I signed up for 2 chuckers and I got 2 chuckers ofr my son. I hope they shoot them so I can use them for training they cost $11.00 each I hate to have them fly away at that price.



You're lucky. I pay $21 for mine at the preserve.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I hunted at a preserve this past Sunday with my friend Frank. We alternated using our dogs. I had Buffy and Frank had his Boykin, Rebel. His first time using the dog to do a flushing spaniel's work. We had a great time---10 pheasants and four chukars.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Had our golden only puppy class this morning. Only 4 from the litter could make it. It's been so fun to watch them grow. Goldens are so good at retrieving, this group has been so easy to train. We worked with our trainer in an indoor horse arena. We did have a little heat on since its been so cold outside. Due to the horse poop, we worked on leave it and tied it in with giving up the bumpers. It was great training for keeping them on track instead of zooming past to get a turd. Since they are all litter mates, they want to play and socialize. We had a bit of a handful keeping the group headed in the right direction. We did graduate today from singles to doubles. It was a lot of fun. They are such gorgeous dogs since they are show breeding, our group just had no idea how birdy this litter would be. We would like to get to real birds, our trainer has some frozen pigeons, but we need to get them take make sure they come back and let us remove the birds from their mouths with just a command. It might take my girl awhile to do that. 

Anyone have ideas on where to get birds? We have a lead on birds from the hazzers at the airport, we hope that works out. But we can't use any birds that we've shot since Fish & Game considers that wontten waste (sp?), unless we remove the breast and sew them back up.

Now we're off to work on doubles. My husband can't wait for me to get her all trained up so he can take her out for ptarmigan and grouse. I'm thinking about getting a starter pistol so she's used to the noise. What do you all think?

My gaol is going for a WC in August. Our trainer is the one holding the event, so we are training for passing it.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

I wouldn't be surprised if your girl is terrific in the field. I train with a gal who has two female Golden's from the breeder Oryan. Her older girl Journey has a million letters behind her name and is one pass away from MH. Her so called "wild child" has her JH,WCX and is working on handling. She is also training her other games too.
I think you are going to have a blast with your girlie!




Alaska7133 said:


> Had our golden only puppy class this morning. Only 4 from the litter could make it. It's been so fun to watch them grow. Goldens are so good at retrieving, this group has been so easy to train. We worked with our trainer in an indoor horse arena. We did have a little heat on since its been so cold outside. Due to the horse poop, we worked on leave it and tied it in with giving up the bumpers. It was great training for keeping them on track instead of zooming past to get a turd. Since they are all litter mates, they want to play and socialize. We had a bit of a handful keeping the group headed in the right direction. We did graduate today from singles to doubles. It was a lot of fun. They are such gorgeous dogs since they are show breeding, our group just had no idea how birdy this litter would be. We would like to get to real birds, our trainer has some frozen pigeons, but we need to get them take make sure they come back and let us remove the birds from their mouths with just a command. It might take my girl awhile to do that.
> 
> Anyone have ideas on where to get birds? We have a lead on birds from the hazzers at the airport, we hope that works out. But we can't use any birds that we've shot since Fish & Game considers that wontten waste (sp?), unless we remove the breast and sew them back up.
> 
> ...


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska

Good luck on your training. Your husband will be hunting ptarmigan and grouse? Does he need any help?


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

You know he's an excellent shot. I can always use some help though! I have no clue what I am doing. Grouse are usually in a group and ptarmigan are loners. They all taste good. Have your birds all flown south yet?


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

The best part of our season is in January. So far I've done some pheasant hunting. I really should check out our grouse habitat although my grouse woods have changed.

Do you do any brant shooting on the coast? I love brant shooting.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Never heard of a brant. What kind of bird is it? Alaska has so many different habitats. Often birds come through from up north that we never see unless they are migrating.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> Never heard of a brant. What kind of bird is it? Alaska has so many different habitats. Often birds come through from up north that we never see unless they are migrating.


A brant is a salt water goose. It in fact looks a lot like a Canada goose. Instead of a white cheek patch it has a white slash on its neck. Also smaller than the Canadas we get here.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Sunday we will be pheasant hunting. I am doing one of my favorite things and that is I am introducing two new people to pheasant hunting. These fellows say they can shoot but Sunday we will know for sure.

I am hoping to get out an additional day this week. I know a swamp that everyone avoids that I think will hold some birds. I can try out my new boots, Le Chameau boots.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Trained with the Pro yesterday and the set up was a humdinger.
Water, set in a flooded timber type setting.
1st bird down was a straight out from the line, longish mark, though pond, run across a flat and then up a small hill and landed knee high grass.
2nd bird down was a 80 degree swing to the right, same pond as before (asking for a cheat), over a road and back in a flooded, splashing water, lots of grass clumps poking up, field.
Go bird 180 swing to the left though the part of the pond that had trees standing in water and low hanging branches (also a cheat mark) over a small piece of land and back in the water.
The blind was about 30 degrees to the right of the Go bird. The line ran though the flooded trees past a floating log, the exit was over a few down branches up the bank and maybe 15 yards from the waters edge. The marks were thrown out of wingers so she got sound from the wingers and a gunner was at the long 1st mark. I ran this HRC style, so on the bucket and shooting the gun. When I walked to the line I asked how I'm I running this, forgetting that we are running with the Big Dogs Now. 
Pro: You're running the triple.
Me: Show me single first?
Pro: No
Me: Long bird as first Mark down or last
Pro: First
Me: Really?
Pro: Don't worry, we'll give her help if she needs it.
Me: (deep breath) OK

First bird goes down, we swing to #2 and she watches it go down. On the 3rd mark I'm reminded to talk to her so she makes that big 180 swing and she watches #3 go down. I send her for #3, no cheat and she picks it up. We swing 180 to pick up #2, she tries to cheat the bank, call her back, send again, good line and she picks it up. Set her up for the long bird, but you can tell she knows there is another one out there but not quite sure where. The gunner is told to step out, still no lock. Gunner is told to give a "hey, hey" and she locks in and is sent. Nice drive out to the AOF and after a big hunt she figures it out and picks up the bird. We line up for the blind. I send her and she pops after about 7 yards, unsure. I give her one back cast and she carries it across the pond, hits the perfect line in between the trees and past the floating log, hops over the branches on the bank, gets up on the flat and picks up the blind. We ran the blind again and she lines it.
I know it probably doesn't sound that exciting but we have only been running easy, teaching land triples. This was a Master type water triple and it was not a disaster. It was not a picture perfect but you could see that we can build into it.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We had a great day training today....well really, we didn't spend much time training. Instead we were hunting Chukkars. Tito had a BLAST!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

We have been working with both Reilly my 5 year old boy and Lucy my now 6 month old girl. Reilly was really slow. He would calmly walk to the dummy, pick it up and walk it back, wagging his tail the whole way. It was very strange. We thought he's be more peppy. But over the last week, he's improved his speed. So we are very happy with him. I haven't started him on doubles yet, but I will next week.

Lucy did well in retrieving class today. She's on the mat with another girl from her litter. They both just turned 6 months this week. They were super patient waiting for their turns. There were only 4 puppies in class today, so we had plenty of time to work with each of them. They are all super excited to retrieve. We keep the throws down to only 3 or 4 times in a set so they don't over do it. We are working Lucy on doubles now. She's totally happy to do it. No problems.

I just wish it was above zero for class today. But oh well, it will be warm again in May. Right now we can work in the marshes on the ice and run all over since they are frozen.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Maybe Reilly is smart enough to know that bumpers can be BORING, whereas birds, ahhh, now that's Heaven!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We went out to Dan's today instead of tomorrow, as our weather is supposed to turn really ugly tomorrow.
Another great time! 
First we spent a lot of time working hard on getting the monster boy steady to flush. He does great, until it's a big rooster pheasant.....but of course he had a grand time flushing the birds today. (there were several drills that came first).
Then we finished off with some singles and doubles, he put up some nice hunts including one that we NEVER would have dreamed he would have come up with the bird since he originally over ran it by about 50 yards. But he did finally check up, and quarter back, so we had a lot of high-5's about that!
A fun day. I hate the bad weather on the way. We've been very lucky so far!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Faelan has been stretched to 125-150 yard double T work and is working cold blinds well. He has also been stretched to 20 retrieves working on his perserverance - it is an area where he has shown some weakness and so he is being stretched beyond what he will ever encounter in tests.

Brady is retrieving perhaps 30 yards successfully, flat easy puppy retrieves. He is actually following the rise and fall of the bumpers/birds from the launchers. 

Grins


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

Sunrise said:


> Faelan has been stretched to 125-150 yard *double T* work and is working *cold blinds* well.
> 
> Grins


During the same period? If I understand your post, your dog is still working his way through T work, but is also running cold blinds?

EvanG


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

No, this is over the course of a while. Just an update post really. His distances on T, TT are being stretched, but have been in place at shorter distances .


EvanG said:


> During the same period? If I understand your post, your dog is still working his way through T work, but is also running cold blinds?
> 
> EvanG


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Last Saturday I started adding the diversion bird with our doubles. Jige tends to be a shopper but so far he has only ran after the diversion bird once he did pick up it but then dropped it grabbed his bumper and came in. I gave him a harty NO and we did it again with better results. The terrain has changed with the snow cover so we have been working on better marks in the snow too. I really need to get brighter bumpers as the black and whites are hard to see even for me not sure how Jiges marks them so well, but Jan I am going to find some money to buy us orange ones. I only have 4 orange bumpers.

Also we are tring something new here at home. My son goes out about 100yrd in the field with his dog and I stand at the start point with Jige and we take turns running marks for our dogs while ours has to honor the other dogs run. That has been fun and really good for the dogs. Jige is getting much better if I have to walk out to help ATEM with a hey hey.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

The honor is something I forget to practice.:doh:
My Winter has a heck of a time seeing orange bumbers against the white backround of snow. I usually use black and white ones on the few occasions we train in snow.




General V said:


> Last Saturday I started adding the diversion bird with our doubles. Jige tends to be a shopper but so far he has only ran after the diversion bird once he did pick up it but then dropped it grabbed his bumper and came in. I gave him a harty NO and we did it again with better results. The terrain has changed with the snow cover so we have been working on better marks in the snow too. I really need to get brighter bumpers as the black and whites are hard to see even for me not sure how Jiges marks them so well, but Jan I am going to find some money to buy us orange ones. I only have 4 orange bumpers.
> 
> Also we are tring something new here at home. My son goes out about 100yrd in the field with his dog and I stand at the start point with Jige and we take turns running marks for our dogs while ours has to honor the other dogs run. That has been fun and really good for the dogs. Jige is getting much better if I have to walk out to help ATEM with a hey hey.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Yesterday my son threw up a black and white one and against the hazing sky and bare trees I lost it and so did Jige. He was in the general area but about 10ft off I let him hunt for a couple of minutes then I had my son hey hey him back and over a bit. We did that mark again with an orange bumper and he was spot on. 

We do alot of honors here Jige is very steady with them. I was standing in the wrong spot for the honor during our first upland training and the bird landed a few feet in front of Jige but he was rock solid. I got a lot of praise from my fellow training partners for that honor.


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

Sunrise said:


> No, this is over the course of a while. Just an update post really. His distances on T, TT are being stretched, but have been in place at shorter distances .


Perhaps I should clarify my question. Actually I had a couple more questions, but this one was first. As you work your way through T work you are establishing a critically important set of skills your dog will need to become a handling dog. But they are basic handling skills, not advanced ones, which are needed to run effective cold blinds. No sound modern training program advocates running cold blinds while going through Basics because dogs in Basics don't have the skills to deal with it.

My second question is why extend distance on land T to 125-150 yards? T drills are not lining drills, and extending distance only adds needless fatigue, not skill. There is so much running on T's that 100 yards has proven to be plenty to achieve the scope and purpose of T work, including maintaining adequate momentum, while working through de-popping, and no-goes.

If you have done a sound job of force to pile prior to running land T, you can certainly teach and run some pattern blinds. But I caution against attempting cold blinds, land or water until you are through Basics, and have begun Transition.

EvanG


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Saturday morning we are planning on having the puppy retriever class indoors for a change. In the afternoon we are meeting up with AKGOLD (John) and his dogs. John is super into field trials. So he is going to work his dogs for us along with our trainer Gwen's dog. Gwen is wanting a pup out of John's boy, so it should be fun for us all to see the dogs. Gwen, my trainer, runs the field trials in the summer. I'm bringing my husband along to see how the dogs are run. He's only hunted mutts on the farm as a kid, so he's never seen how field trials are run. Forecast is zero to 10 above and sunny. Another beautiful winter day in Anchorage. I'll try to remember to get some photos and post here. The birds have all long flown south, so we won't have any distractions with real ones. We are meeting Potters Marsh at 1:30 if anyone is interested. PM me if you are thinking of coming and I'll let you know which parking lot.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Darn, it was -16F at the house when we went to meet AKGOLD (John)and Gwen. I shouldn't complain it was a beautiful day. Forgot to bring a camera and my phone was frozen, so no photos. John's dogs are amazing. They are normally trained down in Oregon and Washington, so their coats were a bit thin for Anchorage weather. We only threw the ducks few times before putting the dogs in the warm truck. Topbrass does a great job breeding pups! Makes me excited for an early spring. I'm planning on continuing with winter training. My dogs do just fine in the cold.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Alaska, you are a much more dedicated trainer than I am! When it gets below 30 degrees, I cancel....


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

FINALLY got out and trained today. It's been like a whole month, seriously. I have got to get my shhhhtuff together for our tests coming up (February).
Yesterday I went out to one of our local fields to just do some tune-up kinda land blinds with Slater since I haven't worked him in a while (I've been obedience training almost every day, hard to stay focused on fieldwork after watching the NOI!). Set up two long but very simple blinds, and he was a Very Bad Dog. Attitude and speed were great but he blew through about 4 whistles, and casting was Not Good. Sorta just freewheelin it out there, wow.
So today we went to Lazy J, set up a long backpile, ran it several times and stopped & cast at various distances, well he must have got the kinks out, he did just fine. We set up a pile near the water to do angle entry/cheating lines drill, and several longer water blinds. Finished up with three long land marks with birds, through a patch of longer cover we happened upon, they turned out to be really great marks and the dogs loved them 
Sophie is pregnant, she and Fisher should be parents in about 3 weeks 
At this point she's not that big, noticeable but not huge, so she ran the marks with us.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Mark/blind/mark/blind/mark today - quick - in the Forbidden Field. Slater was first up and the first mark was through a gully full of cover. Slater took the first leap in and landed on TOP of a big bramble bush, all 4 feet suspended! Took some clammoring to get out, had to pick his way though it, then tried to come back the same way with the bumper, finally bailed the hauled azz back to me! LOL I thought he was goofing around out there, very unlike him, but Kristin (gunner) told me he was really trying, it was just in a tough spot! He came back covered with burrs and several small thorns on his face, yuck. Everything else went smoothly  We didn't put the other dogs through that mark! 
One of our blinds was pretty tricky, about 125 yds down then up a valley, with a cluster of three large oaks and a hay bale directly in line with the blind. It was impossible for the dog to line it. What was interesting was, it turned into not so much what line the dog took through the obstacles, but where you stopped & handled him to get him to the right spot. Wait too long or blow to early and he was behind a tree or way off line. All the dogs did pretty well, though.
Sophie has 3 weeks to go, she looks like the 4H prize heifer!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Mark/blind/mark/blind/mark today - quick - in the Forbidden Field. Slater was first up and the first mark was through a gully full of cover. Slater took the first leap in and landed on TOP of a big bramble bush, all 4 feet suspended! Took some clammoring to get out, had to pick his way though it, then tried to come back the same way with the bumper, finally bailed the hauled azz back to me! LOL I thought he was goofing around out there, very unlike him, but Kristin (gunner) told me he was really trying, it was just in a tough spot! He came back covered with burrs and several small thorns on his face, yuck. Everything else went smoothly  We didn't put the other dogs through that mark! 
One of our blinds was pretty tricky, about 125 yds down then up a valley, with a cluster of three large oaks and a hay bale directly in line with the blind. It was impossible for the dog to line it. What was interesting was, it turned into not so much what line the dog took through the obstacles, but where you stopped & handled him to get him to the right spot. Wait too long or blow to early and he was behind a tree or way off line. All the dogs did pretty well, though.
Sophie has 3 weeks to go, she looks like the 4H prize heifer!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

A mixed day at training today.
We headed for Dan's, since it was reasonably mild (31 degrees, right above my cut-off point, LOL) and there was no wind. 
Started off with marks in the "clump field". This is a horrible, horrible field but great for training. We had used it once before, so I knew it was going to present problems for the monster boy.
The field is basically mowed, but it has been "sort of" tilled and there are till lines and about every 5 feet there is a big clump of dirt/grass that is lying on the field. There are literally thousands and thousands of these clumps in the field. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your focus) they look like birds lying on the ground, so it's very tough for the dogs.
We ran a fairly simple double first, and Tito did fine with it. The go-bird landed outside of the clump field, and the memory bird was only a short plop about 40 yards away. 
Next came a big single in between the 2 previous marks (which were spread pretty far apart), about 125 yards thru the clumps. Of course, Tito ran to a big clump that he thought was the bird, which took him well off the line, then he ran from clump to clump for a few seconds, and then...STOPPED AND POPPED. Just stood there. He was about 20 yards from the bird. 
We waited a few seconds to see if he would recover, which he did not. Dan yelled at him to go find the bird, and Tito did.
So we re-ran the same mark, and the little brat popped again, in the same spot, over the same clump. This time Dan calmly walked out there, grabbed Tito by the ear, and "encouraged" him in the direction of the bird. Which Tito ran right over and picked up and came back with it. 
The theory was, if he is going to stop and look for help, he is NOT going to enjoy the help he gets. 
Then we turned the winger 180 degrees and ran another big single, and this time although Tito got distracted by the clumps he put up a great hunt and stayed with it until he found the bird. So hopefully <fingers crossed> he realized that stopping and asking for help was going to be a lot more unpleasant than just hunting until he found the bird.
The next mark was about 100 yards but fell outside of the clump field. This one went across the 4 wheeler road, into some fairly low (about 6 inch) cover on the other side of the track. About 10 yards to the left of where the mark fell was some dense cover, about back high for Tito. 
The point was to be sure Tito did NOT run the 4 wheeler road. Duh, of course he didn't. Tito doesn't do that. No, he headed toward the mark, crossed the road on a nice angle like he was supposed to, and then headed toward the cover. Which is what Tito ALWAYS does.
Dan said that in all his years of training, and all of the dogs he has trained, he has never seen a dog consistently head for cover the way Tito does (it was NOT a compliment). He said most dogs take the easy way out, and most would have run the road because of the angle. No, not my dog. He takes the hardest route possible, into very dense cover. 
He hunted around in the cover briefly, then came out closer to the mark, seemed unsure, headed back into the cover, then came back out and found the bird. A very, very nice hunt with no popping. We were very pleased with him, even though he headed for the cover because he was able to recover on his own and was successful. 
So on that note, we ended marks and did some upland stuff. We used homing pigeons and quail.
The monster boy is getting pretty good on being steady to flush now. Very good progress on that considering we've only done 2 short sessions. He sometimes will sort of "squat" rather than fully sit, but he's getting the idea very nicely. 
And Dan told me that Tito really, really needs to do more than 8 or 10 marks per week (the ones we do at Dan's) if I expect to see meaningful progress in a decent time frame. Sigh.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Went to a new place to train today. It was sorta a big waste of time today but it will pay off. Local club members who winter in FL and summer in like, South Dakota or some where crazy like that. Anyways they live about 1 1/2 hrs east of Gainesville on 120 acres, and have about 15 ponds, all little ponds in varying shapes surrounded by cover, built up roads, little mounds, the works, it is amazing!!!
So Kristin and I met there, she has trained there before, we met up with the land owner, who says well since it's cold (50º) lets do some land first to warm them up (as we stare lovingly at the ponds...)
That took all afternoon. Three marks in a flat field and two blinds. Hmmm. Then it got dark and we went home.
I'm like, OK I could have done that 10 minutes from my house, but hey it's a foot in the door to go use their water.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Anney, are you out there huntin' down those poor birds during Christmas? You big meanie :


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Yes, those ruthless evil birds, they deserve it!!!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Got out yesterday to train. Lining drill, marks with blinds practicing under the arc and backsiding the wingers, then a easy triple. 
I trained last week with the Pro, part of the set up was a splashing water blind. It was maybe 40 yards of land , 30 yards of splashing water, then 10 yards of land to the blind. A series of singles had been thrown first. The last two had one thrown in the water to the right of the line to the blind and one thrown on land to the left. Winter had a nice initial line for about 20 yards, but then started sliding to the left and a late whistle let her get way too left, she was at the waters edge. Right angle back caused her to run the waters edge right but not drive back. Whistled her in from the waters edge and gave her a big verbal back and she drove straight back into the water. She faded to the right about halfway through the water, toward the old fall, a left angle back, she scalloped, whistle, left angled back put her on the blind. Reran it and she lined it. Here is the lecture I heard. "Define the line to the blind before you send her. When she started slicing left you should have put a whistle on her, even if it was only 20 yards out. If you would have stopped her there and given that big verbal back then you would have avoided all that mess at the waters edge. Set your line and stop wishing and hoping."


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## AKGOLD (Nov 9, 2010)

Alaska7133 said:


> Darn, it was -16F at the house when we went to meet AKGOLD (John)and Gwen. I shouldn't complain it was a beautiful day. Forgot to bring a camera and my phone was frozen, so no photos. John's dogs are amazing. They are normally trained down in Oregon and Washington, so their coats were a bit thin for Anchorage weather. We only threw the ducks few times before putting the dogs in the warm truck. Topbrass does a great job breeding pups! Makes me excited for an early spring. I'm planning on continuing with winter training. My dogs do just fine in the cold.


Stacey,

The two that ran were both Firemark (Gauge / Darbie) goldens, although I think you would have enjoyed watching Piper (Topbrass) run as well.
I would have enjoyed running her but, she was busy having pups Christmas morning in Oregon.

Thank You for meeting up, hopefully we can meet up another time and actually get a full session in.


John


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Congrats on the Piper pups! 




AKGOLD said:


> Stacey,
> 
> The two that ran were both Firemark (Gauge / Darbie) goldens, although I think you would have enjoyed watching Piper (Topbrass) run as well.
> I would have enjoyed running her but, she was busy having pups Christmas morning in Oregon.
> ...


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