On Edge

[Dawnrazor]

I think the lab brigade would do well to remember that most retrieves on shooting days will be at less than 50 yards ............

Wullie[/b]

Spot on Wullie, iwas shooting at a retriever training day on Saturday, we only shot a couple of rabbits, the rest of the retrieves were cold rabbits thrown in front of the line, shot at, dog sent from other end or the middle of the lined out handlers and guns, some long, 100/150, yard retrieves were completed, at the end of the day a few were put out between 20/30 and dogs were then sent blind, bloody he'll you should have seen them!!! Circus tricks are all well and good but what's the point if you can't get a lab were I'd expect a young springer to get without much grief??

[trekmoor]

Yep , Dawnrazor, sometimes we need to remember that a test or a trial is not "life in the real world."

I'm just back in the door following another directional retrieve session of about 5 minutes duration done out in the cul-de-sac. This time I took 4 dummies with me and then walked 40 yards down the road with Edge doing treat-trained heelwork alongside me........the "treats" were the dummies I was holding ! He doesn't go hunting if he can see me......or anyone else......carrying dummies !

I stopped where the entrance road to the cul-de-sac comes in from the right and tossed a dummy over that side road to land on the 20 feet wide grassy verge. Then I walked back up the hill, still keeping Edge at heel and dropped two of the remaining dummies at about 20 yard intervals onto the road.
That left me with one dummy once I arrived back on the road just outside my house. With Edge now sitting at heel I tossed that dummy just 10 feet from him and off to one side. Then , with him lined up with my feet and body I sent him off down the road to collect those easily seen two dummies lying right in the middle of it that I'd just dropped.

I did all the cues for a blind retrieve prior to sending him for although this is a blind retrieve exercise it is done by sight until a dog really knows what is wanted. This sort of retrieve is the reason why Edge did not do too well during the "minefield" exercise last night....... I train dogs blind retrieves by doing exactly the opposite to what is expected during a minefield retrieve. I want my dogs to pick every one of the distance staggered dummies that they encounter as they run out.

Edge did as required and ignored the distraction dummy to go 20 yards down the road and bring back the first dummy. Then I tossed that dummy out to his other side before sending him back down the road for the next dummy. He did that perfectly too.

The third and last dummy could not be seen from where we stood , the grass hid it and it was maybe 50 yards out and about 3 minutes had now passed since he'd seen it thrown during which he'd retrieved two other dummies and ignored other distraction dummies. It was a bit chancy sending him for that one but if I never tried then I'd never know if we were making progress or not.

I tossed out another distraction dummy and then sent him. He looked a little bit uncertain but then he picked up pace and did a very nice , straight outrun and collected that last dummy.
I stopped while the going was still good and returned triumphant to the house to demand a cup of tea for all my efforts..... I got a cup of tea too ........ The Soup Dragon must be after something !

Wullie

[ips]

Good read that wullie, its given me some ideas of how to progress with multiple dummies.

[trekmoor]

The Soup Dragon is after something. She wants me to box in our boiler and its pipes. I've only been putting off doing this since January ..........geez a break wummin !
At school I had the distinction of being awarded 2 out of 100 in a wood work exam. The teacher said he'd given me 2 because I'd managed to sharpen my pencil.

My marriage just a few (too few) years later changed all that. I'm still crap at woodwork but now I am made to do it anyway !

I wasn't any better at metal work. That teacher and the woodwork teacher and the Technical Drawing teacher told my parents that I worked well only when cornered like a rat ! Teachers were truthful but not very politically correct back then !

I was saved from a painful interview with my dad only because the rest of the report card was pretty good. I was top of the class overall and was top of the class in English, art, French, history, geography and Science.

I never have been any good at "techie" things but The Soup Dragon backs me into corners just like the rat those teachers described. It's a hard life when I just want to go doggy-bashing or fishing.
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I think Libby and Charlie ate some kind of poison yesterday. Both were pretty ill last night but are a good bit better this morning. There is a local man of about my age that I am rather suspicious of. He harasses dog walkers in the wood behind my house and "stalks" them to ensure their dogs poo is picked up. He has never said anything to me and moves away if I approach him. My history of having a temper may have reached him.
I may have a little word with him soon.

Wullie

[ips]

We had a spate of deliberate dog poisoning in a country park near us last year, dreadful what some low life get up too.

Don't get me started on school, believe it or not I was an awkward none conformist git when I was younger, hard to believe I know.

Deputy head said to me "speakeasy you are a waste of space and will amount to nothing"

Speakeasy was the nickname the teachers called me, my dad was less than impressed when he found out and "had words" with the offending teacher. As you can see my captors I mean teachers were less than encouraging.

[trekmoor]

Livvy Pond - 1 p.m. (ish) - Sunshine and rain showers, moderate winds.

Dogs - Edge and Libby.

I wanted to know if Libby was now O.K. after yesterdays poisoning scare and she seems to be almost back to normal . She only hunted at up to about 100 yards from me through the woods today so she isn't quite her usual self yet. I gave her 3 marked retrieves and one memory retrieve among very thick woodlands and we "had words" about her very first marked retrieve. She wanted to hunt instead of look for a plastic dummy so that is what she did .......until I got my paws on her ! After our little tete a tete she retrieved well but did not mark quite as well as Edge did deep inside the woods trees, bushes and ferns. Edge "held his ground" and did not leave the fall area whereas Libby was inclined to only give it a very quick search and then move on to pastures new.

I think most HPR's treat retrieves in this way. They are so confident in the power of their noses that if they do not almost at once scent the retrieve , they move on to search elsewhere a bit too quickly sometimes. This is especially the case when the dog is a Brittany and the retrieve is a plastic dummy !
I am not entirely convinced that Libby did not blink one of those dummies in order to prolong her hunt......

Edge had trouble only with his very first retrieve. It was an unsighted seek-back deep inside the woods and to be fair to him I had not walked straight after dropping the dummy among all the ferns, fallen branches and fallen trees. I had taken the easiest route for me away from the dummy and that meant winding my way left and right through, under and over all the obstacles.

When I recalled Edge who was busy free-hunting with Libby some distance up ahead and sent him back for that dummy he went quite badly off his original line. He ended up 30 yards to the left of the dummy which was about 45 yards away from me. I couldn't see him most of the time and he couldn't see me so I recalled him and lined him up again.

This time he took a straighter route out and quite quickly found the dummy. I was actually quite pleased with that retrieve. He definitely had not seen the dummy and the way back to it was strewn with obstacles.......... I sometimes think he is beginning to get an inkling of what is wanted during blind retrieves .

I did two or three stops to whistle with him but only when he was within ten feet of me. If he had disobeyed and had been maybe ten yards out I could have done nothing about it in those thick woods.

Wullie

[trekmoor]

The cul-de-sac - 7.40 p.m. - Sunny !

Dogs - Edge

I normally do not give cul-de-sac retrieves any sort of heading like the above but this is a Red Letter evening.
I decided to begin where last night in the cul de sac ended, that is with a retrieve from the grassy verge of the side road about 50 yards from my house. Last night that dummy from there was one he'd seen tossed nearly 5 minutes earlier and then did other retrieves while ignoring diversions before being sent for the dummy on the grass. It was a memory retrieve and so was this evenings one but this evenings one was done as a "real blind."

I went out without Edge , threw the dummy onto the grass then went back to my house to bring him out and send him. I was hoping that his memory, which seems to be very good, would prompt him to run straight out down the road then cross the side road to where he'd last found a dummy out there , which was on that grassy verge last night.

Edge's memory did him proud. He wasn't absolutely certain so his outrun was done at about half of full speed but he went straight without veering off into my neighbours gardens until he'd crossed the side road and found the dummy ........almost a "real blind retrieve."

That was enough for one night, I quit at that and demanded a cup of tea from the Memsab who still wants her boxing in of the boiler done. I got that cup of tea too although a scowl and an evil eye came with it.

I am starting to get somewhere with my blind retrieve training. He is beginning to believe that if I point him in a particular direction and then send him ,he will find a dummy .......if he goes out fairly straight for far enough. Doing this in the cul de sac does have advantages . The main one being that there is no cover to pull him off-line as he makes his outrun.

Wullie

[Blackjaw]

I always found the first dummy retrieve is the most problematic (my theory is, once they pick it up and get their scent on it, it is easier to find the next time, etc). I have informally tested this by letting them carry a dummy prior to doing a retrieve and (IMO) it helps them find the first retrieve.

[trekmoor]

Thanks Blackjaw but getting Edge to pick up a dummy.....any dummy, self scented or not has never been a problem ......to put it mildly ! He is dummy daft.

My problem lay in getting him to understand that taking a reasonably straight line in the direction I pointed would take him to a dummy he had not seen fall. I think he is beginning to understand "the straight line concept " .......................... Maybe !

Wullie

[cuda]

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I think Libby and Charlie ate some kind of poison yesterday. Both were pretty ill last night but are a good bit better this morning.
Wullie[/quote]


Did you think maybe they were " poisoned" by the pond water ? - was it the wee pond near Bannatynes ? - bad time of year for ponds
Maybe better sticking to running water ?