working test

Golly - how remiss - no postings for a fortnight!

The weather here has swung between very hot and very wet. Usually being one or the other at dog work times Sad

Tresallier has been approached by two further owners, this time with Weimararners. One who quartered like a train and took no notice of his owner and one who quartered close and was passionalty attentive of the owner. The ranger took so little notice of his handler that the handler failed to notice the fleeting glances; by walking behind and saying when the dog looked and having the handler reinforce with a visula cue the dog's moves this flash glance built up quite quickly to a more attentive 'look' still not a lot but a good start. The dog's next problem was it constantly back cast - something it had obviously been taught to do. Once it was pointed out that a dog or even a human will turn towards the direction of a sound the handler could see how the timing of the whistle and ensuring it went into the correct ear had such a profound effect on the pattern the dog ran. In the space of a session we had the dog going from 'bog off' to ttentive quartering and turning into the wind on the whistle. The hard part will be to maintain this.

The problem with the other dog was the reverse - she paid a lot of attention to the owner - always anticipating a fresh command; it was noticable that at no time did the handler encourage or praise the dog as it was doing right. Repeatedly telling the dog it was 'good' in a happy bright voice changed it from a plodder to a nice pacy enthusiastic runner. Then of course the double whammy of a positive feed back loop kicked in. The better the dog did the happier was the handler which made the dog do better still.

When it came to retrieving the 'ranger' had a fantastic nose and used this to make up for its marking. The attentive one could mark to a sixpence and was out and back in a manner that would make many retrievers stare.

I don't usually enter 'working tests' but I came home last week to find my wife had entered Fresco and I into the Spinone test at Elstead; puppy. He as about the second or third youngest in the field and this was his first ever working test. I was looking forward to seeing how he performed when there were other dogs around. Four retrieving exercises and a hunting exercise.
Retrieve one - a simple memory - walk the dog out at heel (offlead) throw a dummy (seen) and return to start - send dog. Although he went to the spot he had a bit of difficulty finding it; he could smell it but not see it (note to self take yellow dummies not white ones next time) but diligently worked the spot.
Retrieve two - on a triangular path - walk dog out off lead, throw dummy, walk on, sit dog, wlak back towards start. recall dog. send dog for dummy. Handler error here - instead of recalling on the whistle I was going for the silent silent handling approach and used only raised arms - then my mistake I called 'Fresco' at which point he broke back for the dummy. Mu mistake I say because when out training I will sit him on the whistle and then throw a dummy as a reward for the sit - releasing him - yes you guessed by his name.
Retrieve three - a seen - but with a block of bracken between the dog and the thrower so only the trajectory as a guide. et us say a GSP or Munsterlander has a height advantage here. He marked it a tad short, which was not good as what wind was a back wind; however without any further commands he opened up his area of work intelligently until he winded it - but this is not the way to get top marks for a seen.
Hunting - this was in a tree surrounded field with a cheek wind to start with and a head wind at the end. Another error I made was to let him watch a few of the earlier dogs run amok. He ran like a wasp with good pace, slipped his whistle several times and stopped to 'park a dung'. Mind his sit was good.
Water - a short paddle to a dummy. Released on his name. job done. praise.

The winning puppy also won novice, owned and handled by one of the top people - in fact the top few places were taken by trainers of reputation. (and rightly so) I was however very pleased to take the sixth place rosette.

So a useful check on our progress. Points to address..

Turning on whistle when hunting needs to sharpen up.

Recall with a dummy distraction rather than a dummy reward. - I think this will make a good step towards a flying dummy as the cue to sit.

Off lead heel work used to be very good but lacked crispness ( because we haven't practiced it recently? )

HGS training tonight - should be interesting as I expect some new members and also we have access to a 4x dummy launcher.

beach hut

I have three 'jobs' on the go at the moment - one is in a beach hut at Calshot with a view over to the Isle of Wight. Fresco seems to love it there and spends a lot of time (if allowed) in the water. Here he is resigned to just watching the seagulls.




Friday saw an early start to attend the show in the Malverns - under Pat Rush. Despite being on site in plenty of time - somehow I nearly missed my class with Fresco - so thanks to those who found me! A good thing, with Fresco winning Best Puppy. Pleased with that as this will be his last outing for some while I think and to get an appraisal from such a breed specialist is very useful. I was then asked could I run a friend's bitch ? - a lovely biddable girl she was (the dog that is) who moved nicely , stood well and spat out the treat she was offered in disdain. Laughing a great delight for her owner when we won the bitch ticket and then went on to be judge Best of Breed. I have to admit for the first time I really saw how competitive dog showing could become addictive - I was in that ring to beat the opposition. I didn't know I was that competitive. Unfortunately I had to leave immediately to drive to a job near Southampton, finishing there just after 7pm - a long day.

Saturday met up again with Barney and his handler and a friend of hers with a GSP. A bit of ground I had recc'ed a few weeks before. My how Barney had come on - he was not spitting his dummy, he was moving freely away from his handler and was attentive to her - it was a real pleasure to watch. She had worked on responding to him any time he looked at her and also having him always come to her hand whenever called in.

Sunday - what is this ? rain all day! took all up to Burkham and worked them across the large field several times - Fresco worked the wind well and also had a nice range and speed; something he has not really displayed before, mind you I have not previously encouraged him to. Might this be because the weather was cooler or is it just his age? He sat well on his whistle when stopped from thinking about chasing tweety birds. Will soon have to consider introducing him to some proper game.

seeing the light

An 'interesting' week - Tuesday a recent tick bite flared up into the classic Lyme's disease bullseye rash so half a morning at the doctors for antibiotics and a blood test. Wednesday - a phone call to tell me my son had been missing for 12 hours in the Cuillins (a jagged mountain range on the Isle of Skye ) he was walking the ridge on his own after splitting with his girlfriend. All however ended well; looking back it was interesting to see how one copes with that sort of news - you hear what the person says to you but you don't comprehend the content beyond the basic statement. Thursday the garage's initial diagnosis of the engine noise is - needs a new gearbox. Friday saw me carrying five sheets of plywood up a windy beach - most amusing to the spectators my spins and turns. Made me feel my age!

Saturday had a long delayed outing with a young Viszla and his owner, a sort of 'exploratory' outing to see where if anywhere I could help. The dog had done well at some working tests - retrieving - but had always been marked badly on hunting. After an hours walk I felt it was a combination of a young dog who did not really know the 'game' who was looking rather than hunting, it was a dog that had often gone out with two spaniels run by a handler who would not let them out of his sight and an owner who was unsure of what she should or the dog actually do. i had Catja with me - the Viszla initially ran around after her like a wasp however soon settled into doing its own thing - it quartered nicely, flat and not to wide, kept checking back with the owner, came to its whistle well - a nice dog without experience, time is on their side.

When we did some retrieving exercises the dog ( called Barney) was very keen on the dummy, but spat it at his owners feet - she was doing the classic 'lunge' to catch it before it hit the floor. The dog had no 'hold' command and also would reject anything put to its mouth even if it had only just retrieved it. Whilst explaining the idea about not taking the dummy immediately I threw another for it and on the dogs return caught it by the collar and stroked its chest and talked to it - it held the dummy without chewing and gave it on request. I tried something different - sat the dog out and held it on a hand signal (arm up like a policeman), threw a dummy and then released it on its name. Nicely to hand.

This was quite a moment for finally seeing the obvious for me. It would seem handling dogs is not about 'training' them to do as you want but it is about 'understanding the cues we have to give to get the behaviour we want'

Sunday - the Brittany Club Open show. Catja is looking very good at the moment so I had high hopes, once in the ring she had other ideas - so put on her best beagle ears would not stand still - until after the placings when she stood magnificently, elongated her neck and put up her ears - something not lost on the audience judging by the roar of laughter.
Fresco managed First in puppy dog - but then he had no competition and His sister first in puppy bitch, Fresco taking Best Puppy in Show. He has a long way to go body wise but it was reassuring to talk to those more experienced than me and hear their words of advice, he seems very popular.