Saturday - no dog work as i got sucked into repairing one of the forklifts. Rebuilding a solenoid was straight forward but it worked on teh bnech but not in the truck .... hmmmmm.

Sunday Retriever training with 'les oranges'. Catja started quite well but tailed off in performance - had a new trick introduced - the 'short lead gee up' On a short lead the dog is fired up and then put back to heel this is repeated a few times and then set up for the retrieve. A much improved out run.
Topaz once he had got his toilet duties off his mind settled down well. We had a path with dummies set either side - the wind direction across the path axis. At the outset we had to commit to the side from which the dog would retrieve. He was quite good at it. I was pretty pleased. Need some work on his hand signals but the sit wasn't bad - for him.

A quick trip to the workshop ended a good day - I had worked out what i might need to do to get the solenoid to work and it DID!! so that is one sorted, just need to change a few bits of electronics and rework a commutator on the other.

Thursday
Hmm - I have a bit of a moral dilemma. Catja was out and about the workshop this afternoon - mainly asleep at my feet at the desk. However suddenly I had this sense she wasn't there and at the same time there was a call from the workshop to say 'I think you have a problem with your dog' She was standing in the middle of the workshop with a live chicken in her mouth.

There are chickens in the garden next door - but through a hedge and behind some chicken wire.

The chicken was a bit short of feathers but seemed otherwise ok so I put it back in the hedge and when i went back a bit later it had gone.

Now the dilemma - should i go around and knock on the door or should presumption lay blame at the feet of a local fox? After all if my little dog can get in then the local fox certainly could.

Monday
A catch up day at my desk - the price one pays for taking time off!

The evening saw topaz and i off to HGS gundog training. We were on a lovely bit at the edge of a wood with a small decoy pond. It did himself good to stay tied to the game bag and watch the vizsla. A lovely 15 month who came on a treat in the space of an hour - I got the handler to change their whistle sit command to a more 'spaniel' style 'peep' away from the more genteel 'would you awfully mind stopping and sitting' version she was using. That worked well. With a length of line on (as this dog was magnetically attracted to the water) we did some simple marked retrieves. Including a couple of goes with Monet's old duck- who is now becoming well traveled - his last flight being outside the hotel at Fritzlar.

Topaz as a reward had a directed blind on the pond; sent in, stopped, directed one way before dummy was thrown in behind him and he was redirected to that. Quite pleased as he did not follow his urge to get onto the island and look for duck!

Gosh - i see i haven't posted since last Tuesday!
The week being a short one for me - BH on Monday and away on Friday and the in between we were on site so no dog training and no walking save daily duties exercise.

Friday - a day in the car for them all as we went off to the CBV show in Fritzlar in Germany. Twelve hours door to door with areas of traffic that put the M25 to shame (in the extent of carparking they offered). Normally on a 500 mile trip one can reckon on beating the satnav by about half an hour or so including stops - but this time no stops ad an hour and half behind.
It was nice to meet up with some old friends. a nice convivial dinner ended the day. Catja's photo in the Shooting Gazette meeting with much approval - I do sense the German Club looks upon her as 'our Catja'

Saturday - Early breakfast and a walk out to the stream where of course all got wet!
The show was held at the local horse centre and was on grass outside so a blessing as there was little need to hoover the ground for ants. Catja moved very well and stood well. The tips and tricks from Les Strudwick (he of Leonbergers and now proud owner of Array Adorn Eastonite) were useful - Catja was walking into a good stand and did not need to be handled. I did try my 'this is the best dog here' face but as the judge does not speak English this probably did not get across. The judging was shared between the Breed Master and Club Secretary (the French judge who had been booked was unable to attend)

This is a conformation show - The dogs are graded as in France and then those graded excellent are put in to order 1,2,3 etc. Dogs need to attend this before they can be bred from; the result is entered officially onto the dogs papers.

Catja was graded excellent and placed first in her class (open). She then went on to be give the position of best bitch in the show. A best in show between dog and bitch is not given.

pictures here http://www.facebook.com/album.php...amp;id=716403565&l=fb738e7d37

after the show a scurry was run pictures here http://www.facebook.com/album.php...amp;id=716403565&l=6f867a7d74

A lovely day with great people - there were as many who had come just to watch (without dogs) as were entered. - which indicates how sincere they are about the dogs. After the show Julia and I retired into town for cake and beer - which seemed the better option to attending the club AGM.

A final chat and coffee with Andrea, Hermann and Anne before they departed. Donald (Catja's half brother a most lovely faced laid back dog) displayed some calm retrieving on the hotel forecourt whilst Catja indulged in some puppy bounce style retrieves rather than her more sedate usual style - I think having an audience went to her head. It was interesting to see how Catja went into play mode the moment she saw the sister she had spent many months with whereas others had to go through the rigmarole of becoming friends. She recognised Andrea and Hermann immediately and subjected them to her enthusiastic greeting.

Sunday - the long drive home. Preceded by a nice walk by the river. They were all loose and Topaz disappeared, on looking around i saw an orange and white streak racing along the far boundary of the football field we were next to. Whistled the stop - nothing. Then realised it was not Topaz at all but another dog. topaz was eventually seen on point amongst some nettles; and as I went in to move him on the other two backed which was rather nice. He put up a duck which Catja then proceeded to chase - so that is not sorted yet! On her return I said nothing. (previous posts refer to my current thinking about this behaviour). She did find a retrieve however - proudly bringing in a wooden clog. Her fear of water seems to be nicely under control - she was going in just for the fun of it, walking in or jumping in off a log and swimming around in circles. Back to the hotel for breakfast to be serenaded by the hotel's resident grey parrot whistling Colonel Bogey - much to my amusement.


Last job of the day- before moving off- was to find a supermarket to buy some beer to bring home - but they are all shut on Sunday. Did manage to get some 'drop' in a Dutch petrol station en route though

Bank holiday weekend.

Saturday - took her to the stream at work for a bit of a play in the water. I have to admit I got the sense she did not want to stop.

One of the points raised in the book i am reading is about play being used not to act out hunting scenarios but actually to test out uncertainties in a safe environment. It was with attitude of mind that I took her into the stream on Saturday, donning my wellies and splashing around with her.
Later in the afternoon we went to Ropley pond for another session. I hunted her around the pond first and then threw a dummy and almost immediately sent her in. There was no hesitation. Several more and I called it a day. The last being off a little bank - so was a 'jump in'

Sunday - we had volunteered to man a Brittany stand at the Blindley Heath Country fair. It is a small world as we were next to the girl who brings her Sussex to the shoot we pick up on. There was a most impressive display by a Welsh sheepdog handler who herded a flock of Indian Running Ducks around the ring with three collies. All on different whistles for left and right. He moved them forward by calling their name in a soft voice and stopped each by using its name in a hard voice - much as you would admonish a child - he said.
Walking an HPR around a game fair is most time consuming. She was on point to the birds of prey, and then the ducks and chickens and was gripped the sheepdog and duck display. When the spaniels did their display she marked every dummy - much to the amusement of the people standing next to us. I was most interested they teach their spaniels to be steady before they teach them to retrieve.
Monday - went to work briefly to empty my car of junk and at the same time gave my starting pistol and dummy launcher a bit of TLC and oil. The launcher, not having any grease handy put some wax on the shaft. I went outside and gave it a go - forgetting that I only now have 'long' blanks. The dummy flew 100 feet before it hit the top of a tree and fell to earth through the branches. Moments later the man who was working in the field appeared and started looking about. So plan B kicked into action as I had no wish to explain or justify my action - Plan B involved hunting Catja around the back of the yards and into the rape field with a few dummy retrieves for good measure, a walk to the stream and then back with a view to hunting up the 'fall' as we went past. The field person waved at us cheerily and the dog particularly as she carried her dummy along. We did a simple water retrieve and then as we returned Catja ran off to the fall having obviously marked it from earlier.

On the way home via the pond - again- this time i put Monet's duck out on the pond before fetching her from the car, a little hunt and then an 'aport' from a distance (as a directed blind). She went straight in. Another as a long mark saw her go in at the earliest opportunity rather than run down the bank for the shortest swim - that did surprise me. There is a small jetty over a bank of iris or similar, about 2' above the water; I thought we had made so much progress I would throw the dummy from here and show her how to enter from the bank. Well no chance for that she just jumped straight of the jetty.

Only once did she hesitate on entry and that was where she was next to lemna covered water; this she patted hesitantly so I called her away and sent her from a different place. The concept of texture and contrast certainly is worth paying attention to.

another idea thrown up by the autism book. Dogs don't handle distinct change. That is they don't take to new situations.

This I found interesting as it seemed to be another way of expressing the 'dogs don't generalise' concept. With the added idea of contrast or change as the de-motivator rather than 'new'. So for instance (and this is my take on it) a plain sight retrieve on flat ground is different from a plain sight retrieve on flat ground with a footpath to cross in the middle. - unless of course the dog has crossed footpaths several times before. because there is a change in contrast in the ground both texture and colour and this is what is making the dog wary.

Anyway - Wednesday was quite warm so took the orange to the water with a view to only splashing about at the edge - harking back to the idea of detail one of the things Catja baulks at is sparkles on the water - so I thought 'get her to make her own' Sent Topaz out on a blind (so blind there was in fact nothing out there) once out I lobbed the dummy in (only about 5 yards) off he goes for it and in jumps herself and swims out to it. She has never gone into that bit of water before. ! A couple more retrieves some over the stream and on the other bank. (going to be a loss when they let the pub opposite whose garden I am using by proxy )
They were both then on super-hypaw drive; I have noticed that before that once wet the rate of travel increases.

Last night there was a mist over the field about 10 feet deep - you could see it coming down the valley. The grass was jeweled with pearls of water - scenting must have been good as they all were very 'busy'