Ever had a day.....

[westcountry]

All these problems come from previous learning history, in particular with the breaking to retrieve issue, the previous time she was out when picking up she (inadvertently) learnt the reward to be gained from chasing after birds as they dropped. The next day she was beating and saw one dropped by a gun and that was no different.

But the Instinctive Drift thing essentially means that the more we expose our dogs to the joys of the shooting field the more their instincts awaken and how we manage that balance between initiative and control determines the performance of the dog. But a beating or picking up day is an impossible environment for a dog to be dumped in (it’s impossible to recreate them in a training environment) and we as handlers lose a lot of control over the variables so sh%t happens. We can no longer be consistent with our responses and consequently our dogs become inconsistent with their responses. So we have to muddle through as best we can and accept compromises, or continually hack at the dog. That’s why handlers training for trials invariably shoot with like minded friends, at shoot over days or on their own and/or cherry pick what work they give their trial prospects.

Talking of trials representing shooting days maybe it’s changed but it used to be that birds aren’t shot over a retrieving dog at novice spaniel trials and very rarely in open stakes. And if there was a drive in a retriever stake then dogs weren’t sent until after the drive had finished (which would now contravene BASCS Code of Good Shooting Practice) so dogs weren’t tested on retrieving birds around the gun line while they had other birds raining down on them. I don’t think birds were shot over a retrieving dog, either.

Naj

Very well put Naj.

[ips]

I find the more training I do the more likely my dogs are to forget instinctively drifting. Also the more likely they are to remain under orders regardless of what scenario they are dumped into, different shoot, different 'job', whatever. I must do some training this summer...

Ips, you gotta remember Eze is your first dog, you've done well with her but you lack experience which means your handling likely varies from one situation to another, she's doing ok!

Judy, yes i think the problems lie with my inexperience rather than my dog being problematic. I also think she is doing ok despite having me to put up with, thank you fot6 your kind comment

[trekmoor]

----- "Ever had a day " ----- Yes, I have such days about 8 days per week.

Wullie

[Judy]

----- "Ever had a day " ----- Yes, I have such days about 8 days per week.

Wullie

Only eight?

Thought my youngster was doing well today, slow drive on the Boys' Day so she laid down, "Good girl!". Two minutes later she was off down the valley chasing leaves. Never mind, she'll be eight months older the next time she goes out picking up.

[westcountry]

Had a last day yesterday. Invited to shoot on peg. Took the young dog Tiz , only 20 months old. He has been picking up all season and gaining confidence. His first ever day on peg, stayed at heel when told. Sat steady when birds were shot around him. He had some remarkable blind retrieves which he did no problem. Really pleased with the young boy.
I shot pretty well to boot. But the highlight was seeing a young dog do exactly what he was trained to do with no pressure. I had high hopes for this dog trialing but he was so shy and lacking confidence that I put him in the picking up team. His confidence is now sky high and hopefully he will trial next year.

[ips]

Had a last day yesterday. Invited to shoot on peg. Took the young dog Tiz , only 20 months old. He has been picking up all season and gaining confidence. His first ever day on peg, stayed at heel when told. Sat steady when birds were shot around him. He had some remarkable blind retrieves which he did no problem. Really pleased with the young boy.
I shot pretty well to boot. But the highlight was seeing a young dog do exactly what he was trained to do with no pressure. I had high hopes for this dog trialing but he was so shy and lacking confidence that I put him in the picking up team. His confidence is now sky high and hopefully he will trial next year.

Aye, but this is a thread about cock ups. Tales of cock ups up lift the spirit

[westcountry]

Dont do cock ups with the young dogs. Learnt from training the older dogs not to do so. Thats the thing about training a new dog every year. You learn not to make the same mistakes.

[ips]

Dont do cock ups with the young dogs. Learnt from training the older dogs not to do so. Thats the thing about training a new dog every year. You learn not to make the same mistakes.

[Judy]

Dont do cock ups with the young dogs. Learnt from training the older dogs not to do so. Thats the thing about training a new dog every year. You learn not to make the same mistakes.

How many dogs have you trained then, Westcountry? And what happens to the older dogs if you bring in a new one every year?

[chrokeva]

Had a cock up with my 16 month old this past weekend.
First open trial and day one she was lovely. On the first day she even made it to the third series but due to some inexperience with scenting did not place.
Day two I expected a repeat but that did not happen. She started at the end of the course with a bird less downwind beat where her brace mate put and retrieved a bird. We then turned around to start a headwind beat where her bracemate immediately put up a another bird and again she did a lovely honor. Still looking for a bird she made a bird and a short retrieve. Off we go for another bird and she starts to trail a bird off to her brace mates side and then her bracemate puts up the bird she was trailing about 20 feet on the bracemate side of the course. My dog stops about 40 feet from her bracemate flush and watches the dog make a retrieve stopped all the time. That is when things get fun. My judge asks me to call my dog in while they change dogs on the other side. When I go to recall her she totally blows up! Goes directly to my bracemates side and starts hunting for her bird that she still figures was there and totally ignored me as I frantically blew my recall whistle. I then took to yelling as she continued to hunt like a wild banshee on the other course. I had the attention of both judges, all the gallery, a well respected pro that happened to be gunning was said to me "she is blowing up" and to calm down and just go get her....haha it was something else. Here this lovely dog who had just been doing everything right lost her mind. The pro made me feel a bit better as I leashed my dog hanging my head in shame as I headed for the gallery he said "if they don't blow up at least once they aren't worth much". Haha took the sting off just a bit suppose.