July 1st -  (morning) Gunny established his second pattern blind (longer) at the Industrial DTA (part
                               of a KRD later) and did it with eight bumpers after identifying the pile = good job
                               drove to BT's hay field - Daisy & Kooly ran six cold blinds with pheasants
                                                                                (left click on thumbnail)  

                               Brian drove in with a truck load of dogs, so Gunny & Daisy ran four mallard singles with
                               real gunners.....plus holding blind, Kooly did four cold honors and was put up for the day,
                               went to the swim-by pond = Gunny did two mini-swim-bys (left & right).....then did two full
                               swim-bys (left & right) = good job
                               (evening) Gunny & Taffey each did a session of walking baseball
                                          note: Gunny did white bumpers......just "overs" and "backs".....didn't miss a cast
                                                   and is really good with this drill
                                          note: Taffey did orange bumpers......missed several straight backs.....takes an
                                                   angle and this is a definite maintenance "thing" with her
               Interceptor (all) - ordered 6 month supply of Interceptor for 4 dogs & new Preventic collars for Kooly
               July 2nd - (morning) trained at the Rockton Sport Complex - five "inline" singles 50- 250 yards (range
                                finder) real BB using 3" Avery Flagged Flashers in short grass
                                Taffey & Kooly lines were like lasers on every mark and fast
                                Daisy flared around the corner of an ag-lime baseball diamond, but was fine on the rest
                                Gunny carried every mark, ran over to the BB after the retrieve on the first three....did
                                a great job of "getting out there"
                                          note: 74º, 14 mph wind out of the south, sunny & 65% humidity, dogs back to the
                                                   cool house in about 1½ hours                                     
                                (evening) Gunny - ran wagon wheel (8 bumpers), ran both pattern blinds with birds &
                                did two "swim-bys" (right & left) & finished with a couple little "cheaty" bumpers on the
                                edge of the pond = got in the water when stopped on the cheats    
                                          note: not very good at treading water
                                          note: had some issues with the Industrial pattern blind (mower working in the
                                                   ditch.....not sure what) came back later and he did it well.....knowing it
                                                   was a pheasant probably made the difference
                                          note: not too thrilled with the wagon wheel.....the routine was sloppy because
                                                   1) he knows what to do and 2) he tries to leave on "dead bird" and not
                                                   wait for "back" = more "reps" and probably first thing in the morning
                                                   when he is fresher might be better
                                          note: did a brief review of FTP
               July 3rd  - (late morning) trained at the Rockton Sport Complex - ran an X-Box marking drill (1 more
                                mark than a Y-drill), Greg threw orange bumpers for the three older dogs and 2" flagged
                                Avery Flashers for Gunny
                                Taffey did her usual "paying the penalty" for not focusing and had a huge, long hunt on
                                the second check down mark, it takes awhile for her "run & hunt" mode to succumb to
                                figuring out where a mark actually is (when we haven't done this drill for awhile)
                                          note: this drill sure goes a lot faster when I don't have to do it with wingers (alone)
                                Kooly pinned all four marks like a laser & fast
                                Daisy did almost as well as Kooly (which is a big improvement)
                                Gunny did a decent job on all four marks except he went over for an extended visit
                                with the BB on the first two
                                dropped the older dogs off at the house.....Gunny ran two "swim-bys" and worked both
                                square corners of the pond with the concept of "not-cheating" (did well for the first time)
                                             Gunny's Swim-By (Link)
                                (evening) Gunny - did an "intro" to the Zig-Zag lining drill using seven 3" Avery Flashers,
                                he needs work in locking on targets when lining, he seems to know where to go, but the
                                "look" is not there yet except when marking, saw a hint of it when he realized real birds
                                were at the end of his recently introduced pattern blinds
                                           note: he is very good about lining up and leaving straight, he does not lock
                                                    intently on the visible bumper, but he gets the right one every time,
                                                    repetition on leaving straight, picking up the right bumper, coming
                                                    back to the correct heeling position and delivering on command is
                                                    becoming a solid habit........Gunny is maturing and beginning to take
                                                    new things in stride quickly
                                           note: the drill went very well with Gunny understanding the team effort, he
                                                    understands how to work, specifically it was kept up beat and fun, yet
                                                    precision was expected.......this is the way it is all the time and he is
                                                    getting the message
                                           note: Gunny seems to have a much better balance about training at this stage
                                                    than Taffey, Daisy or Kooly did......which is looking good
                                           note: putting off any upland until the end of August = want good long, straight
                                                    lines with no hunting on his marking & cold blinds first
                                           note: no hunt tests for him until next year
               July 4th - (late morning) "roaded" Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny (together) with the ATV an easy
                              three in miles in and around a recently cut hay field, 73º, slight breeze, humidity 50%
                              and partly sunny, used a weed eater to trim a training mound and clear access to the
                              Johnny House (need to move it)
                                           note: Gunny likes to run out front like Daisy  
                                           note: Daisy has accepted Gunny into the group.....mostly because he never did 
                                                    back down from any of her "tests"
                                           note: they are "sawing logs" pretty good in the living room four hours later                 
               July 5th - (morning) Taffey, Daisy & Kooly ran the old 450 yard pattern blind (pheasants) at BT's &
                              each did a 175 yard cold blind (pheasants) off the northwest mound (trimmed yesterday)
                                                                              (left click on thumbnails) 

                               Gunny - ran both of his pattern blinds with pheasants, did two remote winger/stickmen
                               doubles with pheasants at the Square Pond "grassy" area
                                            note: a little hunt on the first double and pinned the second double  
                                            note: much more excited about the use of birds on pattern blinds
                                            note: wandered off line on the shortest pattern blind & needed a cast.... he
                                                     "banana'd" the longer blind.....showed some improvement 
                               (evening) Gunny - repeated his two pattern blinds (with pheasants)
                                            note: looking out more intently on "dead bird", ran hard and straight on each
                                                     pattern blind.......lined both.........big improvement from this morning
               July 6th -  (morning) trained at BT's - fresh hay had been raked so took advantage of the "terrain",
                               set-up four "check down" singles two for each side of heeling (165, 130, 95 & 60 yards
                               downwind) used holding blind, remote wingers & stickmen, primer report, 3" flagged
                               Avery Flashers on the 2 longest marks, 2" flagged Avery Flashers for the 2 short singles
                                            note: ran Taffey first as the test dog, the plan was to use 2" Flashers for marks,
                                                     with the first one at 165 yards the background "didn't work" according to
                                                     Taffey....so I switched to 3" Flashers on the longest two singles
                               Taffey was right on the money with all four marks with great lines angling across the
                               raked hay (no squaring) and the larger Flashers were much easier to see
                               Kooly moved on the line so he had to run two anti-RSG blinds before the first 2 singles,
                               still marked them very quickly (small circle hunts on the first two with good lines), last
                               two he stepped on
                               Daisy ran the anti-RSG blind before any marks were launched, great lines angling
                               across the raked hay for the two long marks, over ran the third single after missing it
                               by about a foot & then had a long hunt, stepped right on the last one
                               Gunny ran last, the two long wingers didn't work, so he ran the two short ones first,
                               blew way past the 90 yard single by about 100 yards, but was persistent & finally figured
                               it out, stepped right on the 60 yard mark with a great line across the raked hay lines,
                               after fixing the two long remote wingers......Gunny "flat out" stepped on both long
                               marks....going almost straight through and over the long, angled raked hay lines   
                                             note: the 250 yard inline stretching work has paid off because 160 yards with
                                                      terrain seemed "easy" for him 
                                             note: it was 82º and humid when we finished, dogs were OK.....I wasn't,
                                                      even with the ATV.....it was a long session    
                                                                              (left click on thumbnails) 

               July 7th -  (noon) rain this morning Gunny ran his 2 pattern blinds with pheasants & finished
                                with a short session of walking baseball = too hot and humid to accomplish much
                                more than working on non-verbal "overs" 
                                              note: 155 yard was lined, 110 yard had him "sucked" to the right
                                                       by something he  saw = one whistle and cast directly to the pheasant
                                Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny were run on a steadying drill from the shade at the
                                Square Pond "grassy" area, Daisy was the only one wearing an e-collar and all
                                were off leash
                                              note: shot the cap gun, used a duck call and I picked up most of the
                                                       bumpers....Daisy didn't get any and Gunny was a very surprisingly
                                                       steady and calm, waited until I asked him and the drill went well
                                              note: just too hot to do anything the rest of the day
               July 8th - van in for repair in the morning -  dogs off for the day
                              van to a different mechanic in the late afternoon    
               July 9th - no van this morning - all four dogs are staring at me as if to ask "OK...What's up?"
               July 10th- Gunny ran his 155 yard pattern blind at the Industrial DTA & then used 8 bumpers in a
                              pile establish a 2nd pattern blind at an angle of about 40º to the left = worked that out
                              with some casting away from the line to the other pattern
                              drove to the Square Pond "grassy" area and set up a remote winger for a diversion on
                              Gunny's pattern blind and a poison KRD for the three older dogs
                              Gunny ran his diversion mark first and needed one cast on the pattern blind = good job
                                             note: the Four Phase Drill will be run soon, after seeing him run this.......it
                                                      should go well....without many issues 
                                                                              (left click on thumbnails)

                              Taffey, Kooly & Daisy ran their easy poison KRD without any issues = nice work
                                               note: this was a straight forward, under control, simple review
                                               note: Kooly was suddenly demonstrating a rather large loop on his whistle
                                                        sits, need to address this immediately if it continues
                                                                             (left click on thumbnail)    

                              Taffey, Kooly, Daisy & Gunny did an extended remote whoa drill with a cap gun firing,
                              a bumper thrown (which I picked up), time out to take photos & lots of walking around
                                               note: kind of very boring........which is good!  
                                               note: all did a good job with this, it's been a long time since we have done
                                                        anything with upland work
                                               note: the next 3-4 four months upland and retriever "stuff" will be done
                                                        on a regular basis..........with balance
                                               note: checked on upland bird possibilities, need to move Johnny House, 
                                                        do upland "stuff" at least three times a week
                                               note: Iowa APLA tests in September & October 
                                                                                (left click on thumbnails)

                             Gunny finished off a busy morning with a 2 pile (four bumpers each) water push/pull
                             lining drill with a special focus on treading water, developing the "locking" routine and
                             exiting water........"heel" to the correct side (right or left), "sit", deliver the bumper on
                             "drop" and finish with the "shake" command......he is doing it with consistency
                                          note: water treading improving & responses to the whistle are getting better
                                                                                (left click on thumbnails)

              July 11th -  trained after the morning thunder shower at the Industrial DTA - set-up a tight, cold
                                KRD for the older dogs with the middle (and last blind) "under the arc"
                                Taffey ran it straight up = mark, right blind, left blind and middle blind (under the arc)
                                 Kooly ran it as a poison bird = right blind, poison bird mark, left blind and last
                                 blind.....middle under the arc, Wow! he was sharp
                                            note: on the few whistles he did = got in some corrections for the loopy "thing"
                                                     that just cropped up yesterday
                                 Daisy ran the poison bird mode like Kooly, except she was so hyped she started "dart"
                                 auto-casting on the first blind and it took until the third blind to get it under control 
                                 moved the winger over and pointed it away from the line of Gunny's long pattern blind
                                 Gunny ran the diversion mark, picked up the 160 yard pattern blind (pheasant), move up
                                 to remove the winger/stickmen station from the picture and ran the other pattern blind
                                 (the one established yesterday) = good job....with the exception of a few ignored whistles 
                                             note: need to set up some drills to review sit on the whistle - this is mostly
                                                      because he is so excited about the pheasants at the end of his patterns,
                                                      "birdiness" is getting too high and creating an out of balance issue
                                                      with responsiveness and control - go with it for awhile & let the drive
                                                      deepen
                                             note: steadiness on marks continues to improve, the "herky-jerky" is
                                                      disappearing, verbal "sit" with tapping stick corrections appears to
                                                      be the most effective = using drills with other dogs, tennis shoes,
                                                      e-collar, short tab and stick in varying amounts keeps him thinking
                                                      about it
                                              note: routine leading to the hand down on blinds before "back" is improving
                             (near dusk) Gunny ran his two pattern blinds at the Industrial DTA (pheasants), he lined the
                             longest one "on fire", the shorter one was established out to about 75 yards and it needed
                             further developing, however, had an idea that since he knew the last 75 yards adding on
                             the other 60 yards might prove useful to work on his whistle sits and handling, it has been
                             kind of "hacky" to get him out to the 75 yard "more to go" position and there is no question
                             the other pattern blind is producing suction.........but that's all good, when he gets out
                             there far enough the light goes on and Gunny runs straight to it, the second time we did
                             this he showed some definite improvement and more confidence in paying attention to me,
                             the effect is not unlike a pop-up blind........this will accomplish a lot
                                              note: whistle sits were much better tonight, mostly because he wasn't real
                                                       sure about where the blind was......at first he was looking for
                                                       something to see......then it turned into "show me the way"       
            July 12th - (morning) 2" of rain last night - trained in two "grassy" areas
                             Gunny did a quick two bumper push/pull lining drill at the Square Pond DTA
                             Gunny ran his two pattern blinds at the Industrial DTA with pheasants, the plan was to use
                             the second blind for some whistle sit work and casting
                                              note: he lined both of them (155 & 140 yards)
                             went back to the Square Pond "grassy" area and set up the Hide Steady Chain Gang Drill,
                             every step of the drill was followed plus adding a cap gun and duck cal (with a goose call)
                                                                               (left click on thumbnails)

                            Taffey went first and did a solid job with no issues 
                                              note: Kooly got some corrections for noise on the "gang", today was better
                                                       because he didn't bark once 
                            Gunny went second & did not use the "hide" = he was very steady with long times between
                            the thrown Dokkens with calling to heel from his steady position & over five seconds with a
                            hand held down for the last cue before releasing
                                              note: Kooly got more corrections for noise on the "gang", upped the "ante"
                            Kooly went next and was went back to the "chain gang" without picking anything up, he
                            would not stop the occasional whining, after Daisy ran her turn......Kooly came back out
                            and went through the entire process a second time = very good this time with several
                            re-heels and backward heeling "tests"
                            Daisy went last and did a great job of controlling her excitement = excellent on the
                            releases to retrieve with ZERO busy feet
                            drove to the Rockton Sport Complex and Gunny ran two cold blinds (60 yards - pheasants)
                                              note: the first blind started with a poor initial line, but he really "fired" when
                                                       I said "back", let him roll for a bit then "hacked" him to the 1st pheasant,
                                                       he lined the second one      .....very fast off the line  
                                              note: these were his first two pure cold blinds 
                                              note: Gunny needs a full week of lining drills (alternate Wagon Wheels with
                                                       Zig-Zags) plus three days of walking baseball
                                              note: no more cold blinds for awhile = way ahead of the game = don't push
                            (evening) Gunny ran a session of eight bumper Wagon Wheel (left and right side) with
                            focus of locking on the correct line and using push/pull, no and good cues to accomplish
                            it, after awhile it started to click and he was very good about telling me how much fun he
                            is having = very good session, afterwards he did 3 very solid, steady "poorman" singles
                                              note: I like him!

                    analysis for Gunny - lining drills, pattern blinds and a lot of marking drills (land & water)
                                                    work slowly, work on precise routines at the line including clean "drops"
                                                    2 weeks - start the Four Phase Drills
                                                    work on de-cheating drills in the water, corners of cover, side hills,
                                                    angel entries and exits
                                                           note: two-three week themes with similar marks toward the end
                                                           note: need to closely monitor his pattern blind phase, he is so sharp
                                                                    on pattern blinds in such a short time = I don't want him to get
                                                                    to deeply into the habit of needing to know where he is going
                                                          note: He has already shown his memory is exceptional so I don't
                                                                   want to make it a crutch on blinds.
                                                          note: Make sure to not ask him for great initial lines on his early
                                                                   cold blind work. Right now he wants to go...so let him.  
                                                          note: start BB blinds                       
           July 13th - (morning) most of the day off for the trainer    
                            (evening) Gunny - did 7 bumper Zig-Zag drill twice (left & right side) - Square Pond DTA
                                               note: same focus and he is getting better at all the expectations
                            Taffey, Kooly & Daisy - three dog, off lead honoring, remote drop drill
                                               note: they have this down without any problems, the reason for doing it was
                                                        to exercise control at a distance & reinforce the command up close,
                                                        the expectation is 1) I take a hold of the bird/bumper, 2) the dog drops
                                                        it so that it physically falls out of their mouth and 3) their head
                                                        and/or mouth do not follow the bird/bumper
                                               note: they are getting very good at honoring another dog's work
                            Gunny ran his two pattern blinds at the Industrial DTA - lined the first and one whistled
                            the second - he fires off the line on "back", the first whistle sit is not real quick
           July 14th - (morning) train at BT's (checked Sunday night to see how dry the road in was - It's good.)  
                            setup "four down the shore" with remote wingers, stickmen, primer reports, 3" flagged
                            Avery Flashers......gunner at each winger for the two pups (duck call and help if needed),
                            after running six dogs on the marks.....the four older dogs ran four cold blinds across the
                            lines to the marks using mallards
                                                                                (left click on thumbnails)

                            Taffey was test dog on the marks and blinds - smacked all the marks and ran some
                            very nice lines to the blinds (concern for height of weeds was removed by the levee
                            giving a much needed elevation, once past the little on the first blind the dogs want
                            to turn right
                            Kooly was very straight on all the marks and had a slight hunt on the last one, his
                            were not as sharp as usual. the high grass did not allow him to pick a target to run at
                            so he did some meandering and on the third blind there were some series of wrong
                            casts which resulted in an indirect pressure = good cast afterwards 
                            Daisy nailed the first three singles and did not see the last one (turned her head at the
                            wrong time (poor focus), reloaded winger and she was OK on that one, the first blind
                            immediately went south when she went through the head high wall of weeds entering
                            the water.......she went into total hunt mode with all the high grass, bounced off terrain
                            and cover changes - wild........slowed down casting without much effect except then she
                            started to pop and when cast go at half speed which for her is still fast, not much better
                            on the third blind, got an indirect pressure which did "wake her up" and then she
                            began to pout and give little effort, she was in the water on the 4th blind when I decided
                            "enough is enough"....turned the transmitter down to 1.5 and gave an indirect
                            pressure nick on sit (treading water), now it was clear what her attitude had become
                            because she vocalized on the 1.5, so she got a back/continuous/back = that did it,
                            she fogged straight for some time, whistle sat her cast back/continuous/back and she
                            to the blind.......analysis - wide open long blinds do not provide the cover to bring on
                            her hunt mode.......need to get her to run straight in heavier cover without hunting
                            Gunny saw every mark, fired off the line and got to each mark........his lines weren't all
                            that great because of the "wall of cover" in the water, still ran over to say HI to the
                            gunner on the last two marks, got back in the water on the third, but started to cheat
                            down the levee on the last one, whistle sat him and "by golly" he took the cast back
                            down the steep levee and got back in the water   
                                               note: these marks were on the very fringe of his experience, Anne was
                                                        watching closely as he "got out there" and from his body language
                                                        he was "thinking on the move"
                                               note: this is the first time in the few years I've trained here that there was
                                                        any water let alone this large amount of swimming water
                                               note: arrived at 8:15 am & got back home at 2:30 pm...long day & worth it
                            (dusk) Gunny ran a five bumper lining drill with an intro to bumpers through a slot, ran
                                       his two pattern blinds (with pheasants) at the Industrial DTA - fired hard, ran fast
                                       and lined them both           
               July 15 (early morning) trained at BT's hay field - setup five stickmen in an arc 50 yards from the
                           line and put