Retrieving & Field Training Talk

[The Spotted Devil]

So I had no idea there was a national championship in Sale next weekend until I saw it in the paper this morning :laugh: So is anyone here going? I have never seen a retrieving trial let alone a national championship! Im pretty keen to check it out :)

You would be welcome to come and watch :) I am entered but really it's for the experience as neither Em or I are ready. It runs over 3 days (Friday to Sunday) and is a "sudden death" type competition. One incorrect or failed retrieve and you're out! There will be some amazing dogs and handlers/trainers there. Once we bomb out I will be stewarding. You would be best to meet us at the Sale greyhound club for vetting in the morning and then join the convoy to the (private) property. If you would like to attend on any of the days send me a PM and I can stay in touch via email/mobile.

[whitka]

Thanks Spotted Devil :D

[The Spotted Devil]

No problem! Look forward to catching up :D

Just gotta say, Emmy's got her groove back Keeping to plan, she had another short concept session this afternoon: watch a hand thrown short mark. Leave. Watch Mr TSD throw a longer mark. Pick up the long mark. Pick up the short mark. First long mark was across moderate cover, then short cover, then heavy cover and actually landing in short cover. No problem with the "leave" concept but did over run the long mark. Didn't reward that one nor did I let her pick up the memory mark. Second long mark was a similar set up and she absolutely smashed the cover and judged the depth really, really well. Went to town with the rewards same as this morning and let her pick up the memory mark. Third long mark was similar but was across water instead of the heavy cover. Little devil absolutely nailed it!!! My commands were much better and she nearly exploded with excitement when I said "Swim! Watch!" Smashed through the reeds straight across the water, got out, picked up the dummy and came back nearly as hard. Not even a hint of cheating or hesitation. Very, very pleased and I made sure she knew about it!

[The Spotted Devil]

This morning I just did a short session of walking baseball with 3 dummies - pretty good all up - the occasional incorrect cast but stopped and re-cast fine. The main issue was with left vs right backs so will try to tighten that up tomorrow.

This afternoon Mr TSD helped with the X marking drill again. Shorter angle in marks were SO much better - she pulled up right on top of them. The last angle back wasn't quite as accurate but she only saw the first half of the arc (trees etc in the way) - judged the depth pretty well but just took a little more time hunting it up - very pleased though. I pulled out a couple of different game items last night as she will be exposed to several novel ones over the next few weeks. I shaped them as per usual and she was super quick to generalise. Today I set up a blind with the small game (she has run the line once before but I did not let her see me place it) and had Mr TSD throw the larger game as a memory mark. She nearly had a nervous breakdown when I said "leave" Took a super line to the blind but then started to get suctioned in to the mark. Stop. Leave. Cast right over and she had a lightbulb moment - took off like a bullet to the blind, hunted up the small game (better than a boring dummy :D) and came flying back. Huge reward and then let her get the memory mark. At least she shouldn't balk at novel game. What a great note to finish on, and so we did.

Edited September 11, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[rubyroo]

I'm very excited for you entering the national! You training sounds great, lots of fun and no pressure. Glad she got her groove back.

Our water recalls are going nicely. I threw a dummy today and he wanted to run the bank back, so I stopped him, walked back and put him where he should be and recalled him. He did it! Will try again tomorrow, baby steps!

[The Spotted Devil]

Thanks rubyroo - kinda in over our heads. Will be happy to remember the first run and not forget to fire the gun really :laugh:

Good work on the water call throughs - I have found "not cheating" one of the toughest things to generalise. Sometimes she's amazing and sometimes she's downright awful!!!

Sticking to basics this morning.....set Em up facing me with a pile of 4 dummies behind her to work on left vs right backs. She mucked up the first one but was fine after that so hopefully just a re-visit was what was needed.

Pulled out 3 items of game for some "leave" work. Oh my, but this brought her completely undone! It was good, though, as I have been unable to reproduce this lack of impulse control using dummies. I threw one item and she just couldn't concentrate on the next mark which is exactly what happened on Sunday at the trial. I quietly said "oh well" and picked it up. This was enough to get her focussed as she had just missed out on her favourite thing! I threw it again. Leave. Hmmm....not too bad but not her best. Threw the 2nd one. Send for the 2nd one. Reward. I picked up the 1st one. Ran it again and she was absolutely spot on so I let her pick up the first one as well. Ran it again but added a third mark. She nailed that so was allowed to pick up the 2nd, then 1st mark down. Placed one out as a hot blind. Watch the 1st mark. Pick up the blind. Watch the two bird. Leave the two bird. Pick up the 1st mark. Pick up the two bird. Damn but she was so so pleased with herself :D

[The Spotted Devil]

And this afternoon was just a simple memory mark and a channel swim to a hot blind, both on game. A couple of handles in water to keep her in the middle of the channel but other than that I was pretty happy :)

[rubyroo]

Ooh channel swims scare me! Well done.

Rocket thought he would try and run the bank today, so I just headed back toward him, very calmly, and he took off! So i stayed calm called him softly and the bugger went straight to where he broke from and sat! We did get this one right next time around, I was glad as the temp has dropped again and not very pleasant outside, and didn't want to push it. It's great when they go, ok! I'll just do it!

[The Spotted Devil]

Speaking of channel swims

Headed to Sale last night for the State Champs, set up the tent and enjoyed a pleasant evening of BBQ, drinks and chatter.

Em and I drew number 10 so only got to watch the first dog run as it was a hike back to the car. I said I'd be thrilled if I remembered the run and fired the gun no problem. If she picked up a bird I would be ecstatic. She picked up a bird :D Only one, mind you, as we ran out of whistles and got called in but I am so proud of her and have so many positives to take away.

Over 40 entries so we were split over 2 runs under 2 judges.

For our first run we were given 4 shells - reload at our own discretion....walk up, fire at the blind anywhere between the starting pegs and firing point. Move to the firing point. Fire at the mark (long!) Leave. Send for across water blind. Send for the long mark. Double fall goes up. Leave. Deliver the long mark. Pick up the blind.

I was reasonably relaxed and focused and Miss Em was wired up and as high as a kite :laugh: Walk up went smoothly. Fired at the blind and reloaded - the girl was steady as a rock. Bit of handler error here though - should have angled the gun more so she was looking to the left rather than at the expanse of water. Trap for young players! Lined her up for the mark. Watch. Leave. All good. Should have also reloaded here to enable more time to think about the mark. Lined her up for the blind. Swim. Blind. Back! Em ran hard off my leg (yay) hit the water and decided to show me what a lovely channel swim she could do Had to handle a LOT as she was convinced that swimming back to Sale was the key to success. Bat shit crazy dog :laugh: She stopped well (yay), took backs well but really struggled with left overs. I stayed super calm (people in the gallery said my voice didn't change - yay!) and I think that really helped. Finally she was in a position that I could give her a left back and she took off like a bullet straight to the blind on the edge of the water. A really great reward for taking the correct handle (yay). Took a lovely line back to me - no cheating (yay). Delivered beautifully (yay). Lined up for the mark. Nice and focused. Sent her and she took off like a bullet! She was so quick and was much further away than I expected when the double fall went up. I remembered to fire (yay) but Em has never had a double fall in a trial and it was super close. So excited that people were throwing birds at her :laugh: She wanted it bad!!! It was hard work to keep her off it but she took every stop whistle and cast - just didn't hold the cast line long enough (something that has happened before). Finally cast her back and she took off towards the long mark. Pulled up a little short and started drifting towards the blind. Stopped her and the judge tapped me on the shoulder to call her in as we had run out of whistles. Very fair call and we had plenty of opportunity. So many positives to pull out of today and I was super proud of her. She had so much fun and tried her little heart out. The gallery were all cheering for her too :D Had a nice chat with the judge later who said I had a lot to be pleased with and lots of generous comments from others too. I'm still grinning - it's like being back in Novice again :laugh: SO glad I entered.

Lost 6 dogs from that run (1st group) and 6 dogs from 2nd run (2nd group). Currently watching 2nd run (1st group) - triple mark and it's confuzzling a good number of very good dogs!!!

[The Spotted Devil]

Only 10 out of 22 survived the first 2 runs in the 1st group!!!

[The Spotted Devil]

And 10 out of 21 in the 2nd group.

[The Spotted Devil]

6 from 1st group survived 3rd run. 9 from 2nd group survived other run. Currently on swap runs.

All 15 through to tomorrow.

ETA: run 3: walk up memory mark with relocation. Leave dog. Move to firing pegs, fire at blind and call dog. Send for long blind. Two bird goes up. Pick up 2 bird. Pick up mark. Several dogs either had trouble finding the 2 bird or wanted the mark instead of the blind.

run 4: short memory mark. Then pick up 2 relatively long/tightly angled blinds.

Edited September 17, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[whitka]

I should have come and watched this, silly me thinking there was nothing on this weekend :laugh:

[The Spotted Devil]

Day 2. One scratching. Perfect weather. Water is glassy.

Run 5. Mark, double rise, blind. All in great expanses of water.

First dog to run is out - called in on the blind.

Second dog did a super double rise. Gave us all a heart attack on the blind but got it.

Third dog to run also gave us a nervous breakdown on the blind. Long, long swim into great expanses of nothing.

Fourth dog through. More nervous moments.

Fifth dog through. Bit messy but just impressive to be still in it.

Sixth dog through. Line to blind was quite wide.

Seventh dog through. Phew!!!

Eighth dog in. More PHEWS!!!

Ninth dog made it.

Tenth dog through. Nice work!

Eleventh dog through.

Twelfth dog through.

Thirteenth dog through.

Fourteenth dog out - called in on the mark.

Edited September 15, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

11 dogs through to final run. Dog in the hide. Fire at the blind. Call the dog. Double mark either side of the blind. Pick up the blind. Pick up the marks in any order. Championship run no doubt! Another redraw for running order. Great sense of anticipation in the gallery who have a fantastic view.

First dog up did pretty well. Made it!

Second dog went out - picked up the last mark down instead of the blind.

Third dog through.

Fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh dogs through. Think I have seen the winning run.

Eighth dog through but not without some nerve wracking moments.

Ninth, tenth and eleventh dogs through.

Congratulations all!

Edited September 15, 2013 by The Spotted Devil

[The Spotted Devil]

Wonderful afternoon tea and presentations. The dog that won was a lovely GSP bred, owned and handled by a good friend and one of my training partners. He won easily by 35 points as we all suspected he would with some spectacular runs My friend also gained 4th place with her other GSP and won the teams event, highest scoring non-Lab, highest scoring GSP, highest scoring VGC club member, highest scoring lady handler and highest scoring veteran with her 4th place dog. Wow huh! We have spread the prize haul amongst several of us to hang on to until she goes home :laugh:

Did a bit of training, left my tent and gear set up and drove home. Can't wait to go back on Thursday :D The social side and cameraderie is fantastic too!

[whitka]

I cant wait to check it out next weekend :D Reading back a few pages I never really new that so much work goes into training for gundog trails.

[The Spotted Devil]

Without a doubt one of the toughest dog sports I have trained for - distance and terrain make it even harder. But very rewarding and rather addictive! Look forward to catching up next weekend - stay in touch!

[rubyroo]

Yah to Torn and Joy!!, love it when shorthairs beat the field! She has done so well on a state and national level these last few years, what a achievement!

[The Spotted Devil]

Yah to Torn and Joy!!, love it when shorthairs beat the field! She has done so well on a state and national level these last few years, what a achievement!

Yes, yes and yes

The weather turned a bit miserable today. I did two sessions, first one on our own with hand thrown marks and the second one with Mr TSD throwing for us. Similar concept for both sessions - leave the fun marks (game) and get the hot blind (dummy) first. If she picked up the dummy cleanly she was allowed to pick up the marks. The ultimate reward :D Ran a triple with the blind splitting two marks and a double fall (blind with mark). It really seemed to help her understanding so it will be interesting to see what she remembers tomorrow!