# July Field Training



## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

gdgli said:


> Dennis Voigt's TRAINING RETRIEVERS ALONE book and DVD to see the advantages.


That's certainly a good set for the amateur trainer...I need to revisit both and get refreshed.

Presently, on weekdays my dog's world largely consists of blinds ... land and water, long and short, complex and simple; despite the summer season, on weekends my training group still convenes and trains for several hours on both Saturday and Sunday (and on holidays  ), which is when the dog gets its marks. As is typical for me during the off-season, I'll run about 75% singles with multiple gunners in the field and the rest of the time I'll run multiples.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

I hear you on the heat! Its super hot here, we train at 730 but today we decided we need to meet up at 6 am next week. Our heat index has been around 106 during the day. 
Im back to square one with Shelly, who is 13 weeks. Nice though, running with multiple guns in a big field. She is doing pretty well, looks out at both gunners and sits in anticipation of the marks. She is running right at the bumper and coming back in. All flat throws and all about 50 yards or less. But the guns are conceptual, meaning she still has to look past the short gun and run past it. she also has to focus on the gunner throwing the bird. I was super impressed with her water marks today. She had a long swim down the middle of the pond almost to the end but the water also had a slight current pushing her towards the gunner on the bank. I was so excited to see her fight it to stay on line to the mark! 
I forgot how it is going back to the puppy stage. But what is interesting is now I know what I'm looking at and what I'm looking out for with the puppy. With Proof I just did things completely uneducated. Thank goodness he knew what he was doing and it worked out! lol!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

It's been a cool rainy summer here. We are at 70 degrees today and that's the warmest so far this summer I think. 

Riot is off to his breeder and the pro. I've gotten him as far as I could on my own. I'll see him in September... The plan is to fly to the pro's place and train with him for a week, then go to GRCA national specialty and run him there. I know a week of training with the pro is not enough, but it's all I can afford to take off work for.

Lucy is loving her time at the spaniel hunt tests. She won the Chukar Challenge!! She beat all the spaniels (and the other retrievers)!! The spaniel people love her deliver to hand ability and her fearlessness on running through cover. Don't tell anyone, but I don't train her for the spaniel tests at all. She's a natural. It's so much fun to watch her stalk birds. She responds so well to whistle overs and come-ins. She so good at hunting close and thoroughly. We communicate very well her and I. She doesn't miss a bird! It's really too bad we don't have pheasants up here, she would be in heaven. The birds never have a chance when she's in the field. 

This summer I'll wrap up my spaniel hunt test judging apprenticeships. We have to do 2 apprenticeships. My club just has you do all 3 levels - junior, senior, master on the same day. It's nice we can do that based on how they run their tests.

In the meantime with Riot gone, we've been having a lot of fun and not having to train at all. Summer is so short in Alaska, I already catch myself looking at the hills to see if there is any fresh snow...


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Drizzle on and off today but----I can do some yard training right out my front door.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I never really did send backs before but I started training both dogs on this on Wednesday. Buffy is picking this up faster than Thor. I think there is a lesson here. What is easy for one dog could be difficult for another dog.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

gdgli,
are you headed to national this year?


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Kristin and I trained last night at Lazy J. Just land. Set up two long marks and one short one. I ran the outside two as a double then the long single up the middle. We then did a blind tight off the back side of the short gun. Everybody did well.
I finally have Brix lead-steady so he is able to do something other than just baby marks. Before he would start struggling to go before the gunner even threw the bumper  There's hope for him at Junior after all!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

worked yard OB and simple movements. Shelly sits well so I'm able to sit her and walk out toss a bumper and then walk back to her. She enjoys this challenge. She is reminding me of Proof a lot at this age. Both dogs like to be challenged instead of just repetition on yard work. Treats work a little but its all mental for them. I really enjoy this a lot as it keeps me on my toes and I like inventing games to get them to do the things I want them to do.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> gdgli,
> are you headed to national this year?



Yes I am. Hope to see you there.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Training this morning...stickmen in the ground at 7 a.m.
Nobody north of the Mason-Dixon line is allowed to complain about how hot it is...

Ran long one as a single first with all dogs (no other guns visible) then put it together as a triple


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Tonight 6:30 pm
77º
89% humidity
overcast and trying to rain
3 singles at Boat Pond field
Bally perfect line manners
After that walking singles (6)
Brix -- 10 months -- did super on his walking singles today (he obviously didn't do these marks...). He has figured out to be lead-steady and runs HARD. Happy with his quick progress now that I've decided I ought to train him


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Anney only 77 degrees! Wow that must have been like December weather? Any snakes in that tall grass?

Lucy has been back retriever training. After a year off, she's getting back in the swing of things. The spaniel stuff is super easy for her and we don't train for it. She's a natural and well. It's kind of embarrassing to see how easily she does it. Now the retriever stuff, that's a whole other world. Lucy has matured now and she's 5. She's paying more attention to me now. After a year off, she's remembered how to cast. She's remembered how to run a water blind. So I ran her on 7 water blinds. She doesn't need to be de-cheated again, well for now anyway. So I'm going to go ahead and run her in senior. It will help me pass the time until Riot gets back. The nice part is, now that she's no longer a show dog, her coat can go to hell in the mud and her and I don't care. The good news is, she marks just as well as she did before. And she's a really good swimmer. So we'll see. Maybe...

We had a special weather statement come out today. We're supposed to get into the 70's this week! Wow!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

We trained yesterday. Trained early thinking we would beat the heat. I was wrong, it heated up quickly. And I discovered that I left the e collars at home. Well I had to make do, after all I traveled 40 miles to train. Anyway I do have experience training Amish style so we managed to put in about 1.5 hours. Marking drills, casting, and we ran some blinds. We had a good day.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

It's so dad-gum hot that I am training right at sunrise and then during the 20 minutes AFTER SUNDOWN when there's barely enough light to see the dog on a blind!
It's pretty miserable right now.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

FTGoldens said:


> It's so dad-gum hot that I am training right at sunrise and then during the 20 minutes AFTER SUNDOWN when there's barely enough light to see the dog on a blind!
> It's pretty miserable right now.


Right now, 7 AM...

78°, 74% humidity. I had initially planned to train but the dogs don't do well.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

We had a very nice day training today. Relatively cool weather, cloudy sky, and very little wind. We (Buffy, Thor, and partner's dog Breezy) had the chance to train on terrain that can best be described as ridges that had mowed strips in the cover. Very interesting to see what happens to a dog that goes into a ditch and comes out into a clear mowed strip. We had a chance to do some teaching.

After running a couple of blinds we then went to water to run water blinds. The dogs had to cross a pond by going through thick lily pads, open water, then more lily pads on the far shore. We haven't really run through lily pads before so this was good.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I miss field training. Sometimes I take Molly out for a romp or swim and I can't help but run her on a memory blind or something. 

Maisey got her 2nd Master pass this past weekend.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Vhuynh2

Congratulations!


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

congratulations Vivian!!! that is so exciting, I'm thrilled for you guys! And Holly has gotten some senior passes on Flyer. This has been a good summer for the two siblings!

I miss Proof a lot and know what you mean about missing training. Although I've been training my pup its not the same and I look forward to going up north and training Proof in another month. Shelly is coming along nicely, she is 16 weeks and I've introduced some simple handling and lining drills and puppy doubles to her yard work. She was so crazy about retrieving marks that if I said, "mark," then she'd start bucking around like a nut and trying to leave before the gunner had even thrown the bird. Funny, Anney came to visit and by the end of the visit we both knew that I had to try to steady shelly as best as I could regardless of her age. She will mark like a madwoman if she watches the bird, but run at the gun if she was just crazy which is a bad habit I don't want her to get. So these past two weeks we've worked hard on sit in the yard and its working well, that's why I can start doing some drills. She is also coming into a heel position on her own based on her in house OB (though not perfect of course.) Its pretty cool but I have to be careful not to dampen her spirit so its all upbeat and yeah happy puppy and all that stuff. She reminds me of Proof with that desire to just learn and do things with me and tries to coerce me to follow her in the day to the back door to work. Today we are going to a flat field to stretch her out a bit. Pretty soon my bird boys will be off to school so I've got to get as much in as I can, ha ha!


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

That's crazy to me that she's doing lining drills at 18 weeks! I was doing back pile with Maisey before she was forced (and I thought that was untraditional) but lining drills did not even cross my mind. Must be fun though to do it for fun before things get "serious" after force.


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## MillionsofPeaches (Oct 30, 2012)

she's 16 weeks, ha ha. I did all these things with Proof when he was sitting and steady as well. He loved the drills and he loves blinds. I "feel" that its because it was all so fun and happy initially but who the heck knows, could just be him. I thought I was "untraditional" too but recently one of my mentors lent me a book to read. Normally I'm not into reading too much about training stuff but I started reading it and have loved the book. I'm sure everyone on here has already read it. Its Training Retrievers the Cotton Pershall Method. The book is very easy to read, its like a story and I like it a lot. Well, Mr. Pershall already starts lining drills at a very young age as long as they show retrieval desire. This actually made me feel relief, ha ha, that I'm not pushing the pup. But honestly, I do this stuff to entertain her. These pups are very intelligent and bred to work so sitting around the house after a training morning doesn't cut it. She needs a couple training sessions a day to keep her occupied. 

Anyway, today we went and worked in our flat field. It had several patches of cover since it hasn't been mowed so I utilized those. Also we always have multiple guns out in the field with her working on looking long first. She is very neat to watch. Now that I have her steadier I am actually stepping up on her already and no'ing her off of the short gunner!! Very cool to me to watch this little puppy learning to look at different guns. She nailed all of her marks. WE rotated a few times with set ups like hip pocket, converging, diverging, into cover and up some slopes. The furthest was about 75 yards but of course they were all singles. Also, we shortened a few up but threw in cover. I had "planted" a few in the cover to help her hunt if she pushed into the cover. She actually just marked the thrown one and brought that one in but I wanted her to be successful if she pushed into that cover and not give up. 

Its very neat to train a puppy from the beginning again but knowing so much more than when I trained Proof. I know why I am doing things now so I feel like I have a better plan. I hope she continues being successful!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Good to know everyone is having a great summer. Vivian I really like hearing how your girly is doing! MOP, your lab sounds like she is coming along very well!

Nothing much up here in Alaska. Riot is in MN with the pro. So I started training Lucy again. She passed another WC last weekend. She refuses to honor on water, so I didn't attempt a WCX and I don't really want to put that much effort into training her. We ran senior last weekend and she flipped me the bird on the water blind, no surprise considering we've trained about 2 weeks out of the last year. Then I judged junior on Sunday. I really had some great dogs and we passed 15 out of 19 dogs. I judge junior again next month.

This coming weekend I'll be apprenticing for spaniel hunt test judging. The club has you apprentice all 3 levels the same day. Then I'll run Lucy in senior on Sunday. She loves those chukars! I have to apprentice in August and then I'll be able to judge spaniel hunt tests next summer for my club.

It's been a rainy cold summer. Last weekend though we had sunshine. I think today might make 62 degrees. Last weekend we got all the way to 82 degrees! I don't think it's been that warm for a few years.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

Well, the month of July is soon over. I feel like we've made some progress on blinds, which was my focus for my "big" dog. We ran lots of blinds and blind drills, so I'm hoping that it has really, actually paid off and that I'm not just imagining the improvement. 
Youngsters are fun to train, however I enjoy all facets of training, including the all-age level competitors. With the older dog (i.e., any dog through transition), the progress may come along in tiny increments ... and those tiny increments may be weeks or even months apart. Oftentimes, when you realize there's an issue, you hope to figure out what caused it, which can help to figure out how to alleviate the problems it causes. Sometimes, however, you just have no idea what caused the issue, maybe it was something innate, yet you can still work through it by trying a bunch of different things ... which is the case with my current dog. I've talked with several pros about the particular issue (one thing about the FT pros, every one of them will readily give their thoughts about an issue and freely tell you what they think you should try). I try to mentally catalog all their ideas and, if I have already tried it or don't think it will work with this particular dog, at least I have additional ideas upon which I may need to draw from in the future, whether with this dog or another one. One thing, when talking with successful trainers, I listen carefully, consider what they say, and if I don't understand how or why it works, I'll ask. Indeed, sometimes free advice is worth less than what you pay for it, yet at other times, it's priceless. Enough blah blah blah for now ....
FTGoldens


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

FT,
your work is amazing. I wish I could get as far with my dogs as you do. With a full time job and a family keeping you busy, I have no idea how you find the time!

I apprentice judging spaniel hunt tests on Saturday. Apprenticed all 3 levels. It's funny to see through a judges eye how you look at dogs differently. In spaniel tests, we judge by the breed's hunting style. So I had to read up the night before on hunting styles of those breeds I'd be judging. I have several friends in the show lab arena that have decided to start running spaniel tests. None of them have ever gotten farther than retriever junior titles. I thought they would be good candidates for spaniel hunt tests. Here's my thoughts: there is a reason it's called the golden nose. It's because goldens have it and labs definitely don't. I really was super disappointed to watch the labs over look bird after bird, especially since I'm friends with the owners and train with them. I swear there must have been 15 birds in that field that those dogs couldn't find. We couldn't put any more down for them. Dang. We even had to fail a lab for blinking a bird. It was painful to watch how poorly they all did. Lab after lab was terrible at finding birds. On Sunday I ran Lucy in senior. She was super perfect. It wasn't hard to be since she was the first senior dog following all those birds that the junior dogs left behind. She no whistled her hunt dead (spaniel blind) in super high cover, which I've never seen her no whistle a hunt dead.

So what's my secret to running senior so well? Nothing. We don't train. Lucy is FF of course. But nothing else. Seriously we do not train for spaniel hunt tests. Golden retrievers are the best at these tests. Now when we go for master next year, she will need to sit on the flush. That will take some training. This is a dog that hated competing in obedience and conformation, I guess she has found her heaven. Now if I could just get her to sit on the flush. I asked a spaniel guy how he got his guy to always sit on the flush, he said he bought 80 birds to practice with. At $20/bird, I won't be doing that!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

How about a whistle and a big burn on the collar? SIT MEANS SIT
shouldn't be too difficult


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

K9-Design said:


> How about a whistle and a big burn on the collar? SIT MEANS SIT
> shouldn't be too difficult


that's the theory. But I think Barb can probably explain it better than I can. Dogs can be high level predators, which is what you want. Mine is also very good at flushing her birds to fly towards a gunner. She's very aware of where both gunners are, and Lucy's birds never fly back at the handler and judges. So you're walking through a field. Picture thigh to waist high willow brush, no grass, tall fireweed and other tall weeds. There is space between the clumps of willow brush, so you thread yourself through. The willow brush is tough and are basically trees. Often your dog is completely out of sight. Lucy is a very fast quartering dog. She really works a field from edge to edge. If she gets out a bit far, I whistle her closer. If she is spending too much time quartering one area, I "over" her to the other side. You're looking for that tip of the tail to hopefully appear before the dog flushes the bird. You never know if they are on a bird or just smelling one, you have no idea when that bird is actually going to come flying up. So hitting the whistle at the right moment is very difficult. Golden retrievers have a slight hesitation, then the flush. Lucy has a very hard flush, she's going to get that bird! The birds fly away fast from her because she's tough. So at that moment I'd have to hit the whistle and convince her to sit. It's at that moment I'm also watching where the darn bird is going and watching to make sure there are no issues with the gunners. The gunners are on either side of me about 10 yards away. 

Now if I could remember to hit the whistle at the right moment and know actually when the right moment is, I'd be happy. But I'm not that coordinated it seems. Lucy will sit on a whistle, but I've never attempted it when she's flushed a bird. It is so exciting to her! Plus you want the dog to be angled to the bird as it flies away so the dog can see where it lands when shot. The guys in my club that can get their field bred spaniels (very high energy) to sit on the flush, is lots and lots of birds. If I had a pot of money, I'd buy a lot of birds. That's my excuse anyway. 

I suggest you try it with Bally. Have someone plant some chukars in deep cover. Grab a couple of gunners that shoot really well. Then work Bally across the field. I'm betting he will quarter very nicely for you, most goldens do it naturally. He'll probably respond nicely to a come in whistle when he too far and occasionally to the overs. Now wait till he flushes that chukar. Will you hit that whistle in time? Will he stop? Will he trap the bird? Will he catch it as it rises? Once he flushes a few birds, he'll understand the game a lot more. Now he's amped, now try hitting the whistle. Hard to say what he'll do. The good news is, if you have an independent contractor like Lucy, she will work very hard to get her birds and doesn't need any direction from me. The bad news is, she wants those birds, and will go through fire to get them...


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

This was Sunday's grounds for the test. Pretty tough to see a dog or a bird.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Alaska7133 said:


> This was Sunday's grounds for the test. Pretty tough to see a dog or a bird.



That is terrible!


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

Alaska7133 said:


> This was Sunday's grounds for the test. Pretty tough to see a dog or a bird.


Alaska is different!
The terrain is rugged; the vegetation is tall, dense and tough.
It's pretty much impossible for dog to go in a straight line, so they have to be true marking dogs, who have the ability to re-orient themselves.


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