AHDC Training Clinic 6/8

Well this Sunday was another AHDC training clinic.  There were allot more people out to see the club and begin training their dogs.  OF note some people from MA with French Brittany's were there as well as a young man with a chocolate lab and another fellow with a Griff.  As such I did not get to have much time with the dogs.  Ivy did a few marked water retrieves and a simple blind retrieve and while I'm sure she was not thrilled with the lack of work she was somewhat tired by the end of the day and at 10 years old I want to be careful with getting her back into hunting shape.  Most likely she will be doing allot more water work over the summer to prepare her for the fall.  Zoe in the recent month has decided she likes to retrieve for a change?!?!? She had been willingly picking up things when NOT being command to.  I don't know what has come over her but I'm not arguing it.  On Saturday I introduced the concept of Blind retrieves with her and had her going about 50 yards.  She was not yet ready to go through cover to find the bumper but That was more then I was really expecting anyway.  On Sunday at the clinic there was a bumper with wings taped to it.. I have been having a sloppy retrieve on shot quail and thought I might revisit her fetching.  As a way to transition her to the recently shot quail I used the bumper with the wings.  I started with placing it in her mouth like any other object then having her walk with it etc before sending her for her first real retrieve. On the first retrieve she balked and messed around before picking up the bumper and bringing it back.  A quick touch of the ear reminded her what she was supposed to be doing.  Three retrieves later she was ready for the quail.  Placing it in her mouth produced no problems and walking with it was the same.  However, the first real retrieve was another story.  She once again started messing around with the bird.  I should have known better and touched the ear to begin with. Trainer mistake.  The subsequent retrieves went relatively smoothly.  I still am not happy with the way she tosses the quail after the initial pickup but we'll see if that goes away with bigger birds that are not so easy to move around.  In terms of her field work.  We got some quail from a new supplier which are VERY difficult to plant and quite jumpy. i.e. EXCELLENT training birds.  The bird planter tried to plant the birds in his location but the birds felt they were not in the correct area and relocated to a location they felt better at.  Unfortunately for the dog we could only find 1 of the 2 birds.  Which she remained steady on without help not even moving at the shot.  YEAH!! We'll see how it progresses.

Training clinic

Today was another AHDC training clinic.  Lots of people at this one. We got to see some nice pups.  Worked Zoe on 2 seperate birds with the blank gun. Dad planted the birds up in the pines.  Had just about a perfect breeze coming off the water and blowing into the pines.  I decided to try to take the step out of zoe by working her on a pc and cord on addition to her normal collars.  We worked the first bird and she must have pointed it from 25 feet away easy. The wind was blowing right into her nose and she was smoking the bird scent.  When she got soft from the wind lightening up I moved her up.  She pointed again and I flushed and shot.  The bird did not fly well and she was stopped with the cord on the shot.  The bird flew to the top of the hill and we continued on away from that bird.  She pointed the next bird quite well. See the picture.   She held steady with a small step at the shot but did not need a correction.   Yeah!! I decided to take the pc off her and run her back toward where the first bird landed.  Unfortunately she tried to circle around and chase the recently flushed bird. Fortunately for me I got her stopped using the collar before she got to the bird.  Collecting the dog I heeled her back up the hill a little way before turning her loose.  Once turned loose she worked nicely forward finding the first bird and sticking it hard.  She remained steady with no movement at the shot without any corrections.  No delayed chase and we all went home happy.

               Bruce was nice enough to ask me to plant a bird for his new pup, Lexi.  Planting the bird where Zoe's second bird was proved just about perfect.  Lexi hit the scent hard and pointed strongly allowing Bruce and I to walk 10 yards to her even allowing Bruce to cause the bird to move before taking the bird for a ride.  She then over ran the bird but found it a second tome where the scent was not as abrupt such that she flash pointed the bird before taking it out on her own.  Exactly what Bruce was looking for.  She should develop into a nice pup. We'll have to see if her range and pattern improve as she gets older.