These last few days have seen little dog training whilst my new 'job' has taken hold. I am running a grain drier for my son's boss. Quite an eye opener and a very steep learning curve. The drier itself holds over 100 tons and takes two hours to fill or empty. However once it is up and running it can easily process 25 tons an hour. The first days were hard work - as, whilst the drier is quite modern, the overall system is of some vintage - little is automated and relies on hand adjusted vanes - there are several sensors to tell stop things if something goes wrong - but if this happens the elevators need emptying (by going down several ladders - some start about the height of a house down) and take the side panel off to allow the grain to spill around your feet - knowing you will have to shovel it up. So the trick is to stop things in the right order and not by turning off the last moving part - as i did or allowing it to block and stop itself Laughing


left hand panel is the drier control showing all four burners running, both exhaust fans and a warning that the hopper is not properly full. The right hand panels control the levators and conveyors.


Topaz keeping an eye on things - they have proved very useful as they will bark when the girls come to take seed samples - which is handy as when down a pit with ear defenders and the vacuum running not much is heard.




The dogs have taken it in turn to come along as being a large shooting estate there are quite a nice number of pheasant who visit through the day and who are not that worried by machines or people.

Calshot and the Queen

Friday - Took Ellie to Calshot - she succeeded where the others had failed - she got up onto ans stayed on the sofa alongside the client. She wanted to play with the next door cocker but it was far to hot so she spent her day mostly in the shade under the table. Her biggest worry was the kite surfers - I think the canopies look like large birds at which she woofed and then ran inside and up the very steep staircase to sit next to me! As we left she was allowed some free running on the sand exposed by low tide.

This is Fudge - he is a Maesydderwen


Ellie shade worshipper


Seagull hunter.


Today took Fresco when I went ot help at HGS 'Retriever Water Picnic' a day of water tests. I managed to have a couple of goes at the novice tests with him - in the first a seen with shot down a bank, across a ditch and up the other side. Nice run out, pick, and return all without any more than a release - but he stopped to give the dummy a bit of a 'seeing to' just the wrong side of the line. He also started to run for the retrieve before it had even been thrown. On the return another was thrown into the same place as a blind. Exemplary retrieve this time, release on name and return to hand at high speed. The judge admitteed he was one of the best performers she had see so far and was astounded at the speed he could change direction.

The next test was a seen thrown into water; handler to then walk away and call the dog in for a blind after which the seen was asked for. He ran in on the first placing of the seen. Came to the recall perfectly but on sending on the blind shot off around the corner I suspect intent on returning to the seen. Stopped and recalled and sent again to the blind. That to hand he went with speed for the first dummy and by the sound of the water entry was quite a dramatic one.

Certainly a lot more drive than any of the dogs I saw operating. I was pleased with his performance. I think more than a few were surprised that a HPR could do it like that and then such a young dog. There are still a lot of preconceived ideas about

I like my vet

I do like my vets - I admire their honesty. The conclusion about his hot ears was 'my best guess is ...... ' The best guess was an allergy of some sort, but as he had no other hot spots nor anything about his paws then the problem could be extremely difficult to trace. Before going to the vets I had tried a variety of ointments and unctions, 'cornucresin', 'canaural', another dog skin ointment whose name is unknown because 'he' had 'retrieved' the bottle at one time and the label was obliterated and aloe vera gel. Of them all the aloe Vera seemed the best but not as good as the salt water. It could however be that the change of environment was the reason for the improvement rather than the salt.

Training wise I am starting again in the sit to fall of dummy. I had left off this for a while as he was running in more often than I expected. This time he rapidly got the idea but became very 'sticky' whenever he saw I was carrying a dummy. I have to be very careful to keep it hidden until the last minute. I did manage a throw late last week where his bottom came to the deck before I hit the stop whistle - a most pleasing result, but one that was not repeated on our next outing Mad
The next problem I can see developing is his speed - I fear he is outpacing his nose. On dummies his nose is quite startling - he winded a three inch long canvas dummy on choppy waves from about 20 paces yet he can literally run over a dummy in his determination to get to it before it runs off.

I saw a partridge get up from the roadside ahead of us the other day and land in the adjacent field. There was a back wind but I was very pleased to work him out and back behind it on hand signals alone however the bird got up as he worked back up wind - about a yard in front of him; to his surprise. He did sit to his whistle rather than chase it so some good came from the exercise and with luck he got such a good whiff of the fleeing bird he will know for next time (I don't think he has seen a partridge before).

Monday night was HGS night - we did sit to fall with the dogs there, I think i will have to look on that exercise as a 'this is the way to introduce a new command' exercise rather than getting a result as most dogs were still really poor on their sit to whistle - so hard to progress; also hard to encourage the handlers to work on the basic problem. The highlight of the evening was the GSP bogging off - a side of the dog I had never seen before, it lives with three labradors and behaves very much as a sedate labrador so to see it run with some speed was great. Her retrieves have also improved markedly since the handler has been encouraging her to run in for them.

A problem I encounter with my own dogs was also highlighted that evening - the dogs marked well the dummies thrown from alongside but varied widely in the ability to mark those that were thrown from a distance away, mis marking range and also not relating the throw to a retrieve.

building desire

I don't know how you do it but this is basically the system I am now using.

Build recall - my puppies had the recall whistle from the very first plate of slop that I gave them; the bowl is held down and the whistle blown - the pups are already coming to hand. This is a very important element - the come tohand bit on every recall and something I insist on 95% of the time even on an older dog (sometimes I recast before they are back) - after all a retrieve is just a recall with a mouthfull.

Build the desire to retrieve - i start by forgetting all about steadiness and let the dog run in for every dummy. Every thing that is ever picked up and brought to me gets effusive praise (quite hard when it is you socks or shoes or glasses for the umpteenth time). The dog is never ever wrong to bring me something. Also much praise and chest rubbing and firm stroking before ever taking the item.

I introduce the stop whistle and throw a dummy as a reward. Because the dog wants the dummy so much - because of the job in the step above it will stop and spin around to look at me. One can increase the length of time it has stopped before throwing, adding a hand signal to be able to hold the dog as the dummy is thrown and release it on command.

Taking a line. Choose a path through low vegetation - dogs tend to run defined paths rather than crash through undergrowth. Drop a dummy so the dog sees it and walk on - turn and set the dog up for a blind retrieve and use your body and arms and hand to create a guide, send it back; increase the distance. Once you think the dog has got the idea you can drop a dummy unseen and send it for that (same path idea, same path even) Just make sure you reduce the distance to the 'beginner level' however. Always always use the same build up and hand signal and language. It is a ritual. The outcome is the same - always for the dog; at the end of the run in the direction you have pointed is a retrieve. If the dog goes wrong ie veers off have an 'I don't like that ' noise (I use 'ah ah ah' If you use the stop whistle you will find the dog will quickly anticipate this and become sticky.
Next step is to walk a dog leg so the dog is now not going back along the path it has just taken. Then on to 'seen retrieves' that have been thrown. Whilst there is an argument the dog should mark it and not need any guidance in the early days i like to go through the same ritual. It helps the dog understand it is in retrieving mode and not in hunting mode. If it miss marks don't let it hunt but pick the dummy yourself and try again. When throwing 'marked retrieves' make sure the dog actually has something to mark against - a tree something otherwise your are wanting it to measure trajectory not mark a fall relative to a fixed point, something it can navigate to and around. Teaching trajectory appreciation is easy - throw a dummy and let the dog run to it as it falls - I have yet to see a dog end up in the wrong place.

apologies about swapping between first and third person - not time now to modify it :-) off to the vet with a dog with hot ears.

sticky retrieve

Took Fresco out on his own twice yesterday - once in the morning - he was very sticky - I think because he knew I was carrying a dummy and as he did not want to miss out on a retrieve he was constantly stopping. Things improved when I put it in my pocket. I was hoping to make a start on his sit to fall.

Again in the evening in the adjacent field of short grass. He ran very well from fence to fence, flat and crossing at a nice close distance in front of me. A few sit to fall exercises and then home and swapped for Catja - a noticable difference in the speed of a male pup and a female matron ! She really fell into the galop. She is carrying a little bit to much weight for my liking and as she probably wont be in the ring again this summer I can make a start on working towards the winter. Topaz's turn was cut short by the return of the cows to the field Crying or Very sad - but he will need some work to improve his stamina I feel.

exploring cues

Having had those problems exposed last weekend I set about exploring them and the cues that were needed to resolve the issues.

The not turning on the whistle was obviously an 'I know best' or 'I am going to do my own thing' problem as when we went out into a clear grass field and himself decided that he was going to inspect and eat cow poop rather than respond to the whistle. A little bit of leg work on my part disabused him of this idea.

The running in to a dummy rather than coming to hand (quite why one would need to do this at a shoot I am not quite sure) - here I set up a situation where the dog was one side of a length of stock fence and the dummy was thrown over to the other - i was therefore able to interrupt his desire to retrieve as his path was frustrated. He came to hand but was beside himself with frustration and was off like a shot to the pop hole he knew existed in the fence once released. When repeating this in open paddock he came in to hand - but only after a few reminders on the whistle - at least we are going in the right direction.

Another area of practice we are indulging in out in the open is taking a line back to a 'memory' he is running quite nice lines - albeit along natural pathways but is easily distracted by a smell; performing better when his out run is reinforced with regular 'back' commands. It is a trick they can and will learn - Topaz takes a very nice line now and will run it despite the cover in his path - but he is after all seven times older than Fresco.