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Aug 1st
evening
Gunny
repeated the 1st Definitive Casting Drill with style = ready to move on
to the 2nd drill
note: the other three again assisted in picking up all the left over bumpers
in the field (good exercise)......let Daisy run
harder and longer today,
she looks ready to start training again (no water until next week)
note: continue Definitive
Casting Drills with Gunny
Aug 2nd work Madison Retriever Club's field trial
Interceptor
for all
Aug 3rd
morning
short session of exercise for all the dogs
note: Gunny
did the 2nd drill in the Definitive Casting Drills at the
Rockton Sport Complex (didn't take long and he did it perfectly)
note: weather changes pushing trip to the Mississippi back one day
Aug 4th trained early and/or around predicted thunderstorms, decided to not
run any hunt tests
this fall and save the expenses of more training & entry fees for
hunting.......dogs won't
know or care and will be ready for hunting
note: may leave in the early evening & get there before dark to setup
note: dogs went for a long walk in the dew and shade at BT's hay field
Aug 5th trip to Mississippi, worked on the duck camp trailer....finished
roof - brushing, scraping &
coated with seam sealer where needed & topped that off with a full
coat of aluminized
roofing paint, washed, waxed and polished back side
note: need to start "roading" five days a week.......very early
Aug 6th trained early -
Gunny repeated the 2nd
Definitive Casting Drill at the Rockton Sport
Complex, drove to the country training pond and each dog ran two cold on
across the tip
of a point and the second a simple in and out
note: Gunny
is ready for the 3rd Definitive Casting Drill
note: Gunny
needs to do some "tuneup" drills, water entries to erratic, poor
initial line because he "bounces" off any shoreline terrain
note: today was Daisy's
first water since the surgery
Frontline Plus for
Taffey, Daisy & Gunny
Aug 7th trained at BT's hay field early to beat the rain.........used the
Retriev-R-Trainer
note:
Gunny
went 1st.....3 long & 2 short = marked the best of all four
note: Daisy
was 2nd.....old scent from Gunny's run side-tracked her a bit, her
hunts were persistent.....big improvement in intensity, 2 long & 1 short
note: Taffey
marked her 3 singles with a minimum of hunting
note: Kooly
was "right on" his 1st single, but the 2nd disappeared, it started raining
and he hunted hard, rest of the dogs came out and we still could not
find it
note: later at noon, everyone is tired and sleeping well
Aug 8th & 9th forecast is for 93º and 95º =
took a few days off with heat and thunder storm
Aug 10th - morning
- trained at BT's hay field -
Taffey, Daisy & Kooly
ran the old 450 yard pattern
blind, it was already warm so the van was left running with the air on &
each dog
"popped" out, ran and cooled off quickly
Taffey & Daisy
had two whistles (cross wind
gusting to 18 mph) and
Kooly lined
it........this was for exercise
Gunny
ran 2 long Retriev-R-Trainers and 1 short.....very sharp (nice job)
Aug 11th -
early morning
- started "free roading" at the Square Pond in the mowed erosion
strips of the corn field.....the first brace was Kooly
& Daisy - two miles was easy,
put them up and Taffey & Gunny ran together
with two miles being about right,
afterwards, setup the Long Wait Drill with each dog picking up four marks &
running
two poison birds in a 30 minute session...this was the "intro" to the
expectations so
only a duck call was used with bumpers and wingers...."things" will be
ratcheted up
(more real) as we get closer to hunting season, the dogs ran off an
Avery Ruff Stand
that was left only a platform on the ground, I sat in a layout chair
nearby and ran
the poison bird blinds from a sitting position, except for
Gunny (much younger dog),
all four dogs were
nice and steady, under control........had no issues with running the
poison
"bumpers" &
poison "bumpers" & poison "bumpers" & even Gunny (still
working on his definitive
casting drills, yet) was very good
note: The dogs will be going seven miles per session
before the trips to South Dakota.
A one mile square hay field is our other "free roading" area (grassy paths).
note: The dogs will be going seven miles per session
before the trips to South Dakota.
The expectations of the drill are to be steady,
quiet, patient and focused.
Sequence:
1) five minutes of sporadic calling was followed by a short
toss off to
the right with no retrieve and more calling plus a five minute "lull"
2) the poison bird to the left was run and the first mark picked up
3) a few minutes later another bumper was tossed to the right
4) later a mark from the left winger was launched with no action taken
5) about five minutes later, the poison bird "up the middle" was run
followed by a longer
wait with two marks still down in the field
6) the second winger launched a bumper behind the decoys and
somewhat in line with the second cold blind (triple on the ground)
7) after another five minutes, the three marks were picked up "out
of order"........left, right and then the middle.....no dog had any
issues with memory
8) each dog except the last had to sit at the line while I went out
and reloaded the wingers, then was taken off line at heel to the
van = around 30 minutes per dog (approximately)
note: first time handling dogs sitting down & it went well, no real problems
pushing or pulling them off the poison "bumpers".......now that the
expectations have been well defined (and reviewed), the excitement
will be increased...........shooting. real mallards and eventually water
note: "roading" before the drill was definitely an advantage....edge taken
off
note: running out of the shade was absolutely necessary
note: will do a short session out of the boat between checking trotlines
(maybe
this weekend)
note: all four dogs are "sawing wood pretty good" at 6:30 pm
(left click on thumbnails)
"the turn-around"
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"west downhill"
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"fork in the road"
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"grazing"
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"tasty stuff"
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"the exit" |
"after roading" |
"the
line" |
"Long Wait Drill" |
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Aug 12th - day off for
all
Aug 13th
early morning -"free
roading" at BT's hay field - heavy dew on the grass and 40% of the
running is in the shade, did
2 miles a little faster than the other
day....home at 7:30 am
Aug 14th
early morning -"free
roading" at BT's hay field - cool and ran
2.6 miles
note: rest of the day too warm to train
Aug 15th
early morning -"free
roading" at BT's hay field - did another
2.6
miles &
note: rest of the day again too warm to train
note:
midnight
- removed 4 roosters and 1 hen from the bird freezer
Aug 16th
early morning
- ran a set of five cold blinds with
Gunny, Taffey, Kooly, Daisy
using
pheasants at BT's hay field, afterwards
Gunny
ran
Definitive Casting Drill #3 in the
north part of the hay field (pheasants)
note: everyone did a good job on running the blinds,
Daisy & Gunny were very
sharp, Kooly was kind of "loopy" on his few
sits & Taffey spotted the orange
flags 50 yards away (blinds 125 - 175 yards) - cold blinds with "real
birds"
provide an excellent change of pace in contrast to "free roading"
note: home by 8 am with thunderstorms arriving soon - already 75º &
everyone is
sleeping in the living room "bathed" by two fans....with air
conditioning
Aug 17th rain early -
then warm & humid = day off of all
note: built two "jump boxes" for the trotlines
note: 69 years old today
Aug 18th
early morning - did
3.6 miles of "free
roading" at BT's hay field
note: absolutely perfect morning - 63º with heavy dew on the grass
note: all handled the "jump" in distance well, last year Taffey seemed
to be
showing her age and not "dealing with" this type of training very well,
this
season she is much sharper and more willing to keep up = having two
litters
may have taken more than a little while to recover from and/or the year
long
daily Glucosamine/MSM supplements may be helping
dusk
Gunny
did Definitive
Casting Drill #4 at the Industrial DTA (bumpers) &
was sharp
note: he has a small, slight "slip" on the left paw (not on the bottom
of the pad, but
in the "wall")
note: started daily 50 mg chelated zinc tablets with all four dogs
Aug 19th
day off = went fishing
Aug 20th morning -
Cabela's
afternoon - trained at the Square Pond doing a steadying drill,
two bumper & a duck
call......all four dogs at the line (20 yards from the water) with two
bumpers thrown and
a wait before anyone was released........any dog(s) released were
allowed to retrieve
because they didn't move or make any noises..............Gunny
& Daisy did most of the
retrieving with Taffey getting a few and
Kooly hardly any....after walking back to
the
"grassy" area to the south, each dog was allowed to dry off some by
making a few
Retriev-R-Trainer retrieves....again Gunny & Daisy
retrieved most, Taffey a few &
Kooly
having a great deal of difficulty NOT moving or making any noise
note: toward the end it seemed Kooly was
getting the message, either that or he
was too mentally spent to respond with the high level of anxiety he
displayed earlier
note: Gunny (the youngest) was terrific
(calm, steady, focused and "firing" when
called upon)......I'm very excited about his future
note: Daisy is beginning to find a way to
deal with her "highness"
note: this has been an unusually cool August
Aug 21st day off - made J anchor molds on a piece
of walnut (hard wood) using a router &
"cutting" six forms = 3 for goose decoys (thicker and heavier) than the
3 for ducks,
plans are to melt the lead purchased a few days ago and pour as many
anchors as
30 pounds will make
(left click on thumbnails)
"J anchor forms - routed out of
walnut stock" |
Aug 22nd - spent the morning making J anchors and the rest of the day
getting ready for the trip,
evening
"roaded"
Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny
2.5
miles at the square pond because
it was an unusually cool August day
note: this will take a little off the edge that would have been there on
the trip
Aug 23rd. 24th & 25th three day trip to the Mississippi = work on the
duck trailer, train some and
take each dog on a long boat ride/fishing trip
note:
day one
- after getting the duck trailer situated
with four dog crates, Taffey
went for a long boat ride, did some scouting and fished some (no luck)
note:
day two
- loaded all four dogs up and went to a nice place to train (found
it last trip) each dog did a poison bird blind with a winger, then back
to
trailer.....dropped
Taffey, Kooly & Daisy
off and
Gunny
went for his boat
ride/fishing trip......he got his "falling out of the boat/puppy trick"
out of the
way early and then retrieved a couple of hand thrown Dokkens in deep
water to 1) get use to leaving the boat and 2) learning how to bet back
in the boat................with the retrieve...........caught a bunch of
nuisance
sheep-heads and finally landed a couple channel cats = after going to
town for supplies.......had a shore lunch of fried catfish nuggets and
beans....................after a nap
Daisy
went out in for the evening boat
ride and it was a nice cool evening - slept "real good"
note:
day three
- picked up the "airing area" around the trailer and took all
four dogs to the training area where each one ran three cold blinds, a
young man down the street drove up and wanted to talk dogs.....he has
a young female that will be starting her second season.........not much
formal training.....but seeing a lot of the Mississippi....explained how
to
stake a dog out to work on steadiness, how to teach teach a dog how to
mark off a gun and a little bit about the concept of the "no retrieve",
dropped all the dogs off at the trailer except for
Kooly
and after a few
minor "screw-ups" at the launch, we spent about three hours scouting
the refuge, then "knifed through" some high waves back to the place
I caught the catfish yesterday........sheeps-heads were "like flies" &
had
fun catching them while
Kooly
was drooling over all the
flying birds,
finally got the medicine cabinet (that fell off the wall hauling over to
the
park) back on the wall & next time have to find the small water leak
under the kitchen sink...air conditioner works super and keeps the dogs
left behind very comfortable......cleaned up the trailer, shut off the
water,
electricity and gas...loaded the van with the gear, hooked up the boat
trailer got home by 5:00 pm
Aug 26th day off for all the dogs........but I have to mow the lawn
Aug 27th rain and cold all day - August ????
Aug 28th -
dusk
Taffey, Daisy, Gunny &
Kooly
(and me) went for a 1
mile walk because the
ATV would "cut up" the soft, wet "grassy" paths too much (cool evening)
Aug 29th -
evening
Taffey, Daisy, Gunny &
Kooly
"roaded"
3.5 miles, ATV at a steady
10-12 mph
note:
at 7:00 pm it was 59º
with a cool breeze out of the northwest - August ???
note: removed the training decoys from the pond this morning - got all
but three
note: aluminum decoy crimps at Gander Mountain are $5 for 24....at
Farm & Fleet
they are $3 for 24.......hhhhhmm!!
Aug 30th
evening
Taffey, Daisy, Gunny &
Kooly
repeated yesterday's
"roading" -
3.5 miles
note: scouted pond in the morning - no geese
note: cleaned out freezer
note: finished the work of changing the "duck boat" over to a 9.5
Johnson...box for
fuel tank, add gas line to move it forward in the boat, two new spark
plugs &
change the "lub" in the lower unit...tested in the Rock River
= runs excellent!
Aug 31st
morning
- "roaded" four
miles & finished at 9:30 am.......temperature a
cool 57º with
dew on the grass - dogs under no stress & handled it well
note: scouted pond twice = no geese
note: thawed out six birds
note: rigged new goose & mallard decoys with J anchors
note: sprayed new mallard & teal decoys with a coat of Krylon Matte 1311
& when
it was dry there was no visible difference
note: sprayed half the new Dakota floater decoys with Krylon & left six
without
to see if there is any difference after a year's use, since each decoys
is
individually placed in slot bags, the nicks & wear should be minimal
evening
Taffey, Daisy, Gunny &
Kooly
ran a set of four cold blinds at Bt's
hay field
(150 - 200+ yards), very cool evening for August, used two roosters &
two mallards
note: they all did fine and control was very good - this morning's 4
miles of
"roading" might have had something to do with that......Gunny
was super
sharp for his experience - good initial lines and kept them.....first
three were
outstanding, but he lost his focus on the last one,
Daisy did the best &
Taffey
was the fastest
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