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June 1st - day off
Interceptor for all
June 2nd trained in the evening
with a group Gunny
was to run a double and then a single
with a blind.........shouldn't have run him because one mark was
"way over his
head" (too difficult) ran all over couldn't see him half the time,
later on the blind
he was way out of control and picked him up........Daisy
did a cold honor and was
put up....came back out later and ran a 180º wide HRC double to work
on "pulling
her around" which was a problem in the last test........no issue
today, ran a nice
blind, there was one bumper left at the blind station so
Taffey ran
it......sharp,
Kooly got to
air
June 3rd work in hours
after duct work and floor scrubbers came yesterday - dogs' day off
June 4th
evening
trained at the
Macktown DTA - just freshly mowed and perfect for some
"new stuff',
setup was a 3 Ghilly "faux shrub" lining drill.......angled across mowed
pattern
& with an
angling wind....variation of Cassity's Swish drill with three
stations,
each dog ran
9 blinds with three from each station, first from the left side heel,
switched to the right
side & then back to the left, three blind stations were setup in
a
row about 30 yds
apart, the running lines were from an initial distance of 50 yards
out to 100 yards,
the angled blinds are longer.....each running station was on a
line
angling away
from the 3 Ghilly's.......mostly......this was a lining drill to work on
Gunny's
"look lock"
note:
Daisy
was excellent
note:
Gunny again shows improvement (better lock)
note:
Kooly
was nonchalant about the whole process (per
normal)
(left
click to enlarge thumbnails)
"station 1" |
"station 2" |
"station 3" |
"Ghilly Shrub" |
"full setup" |
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June 5th - day off....worked on finishing the sign for a
training pond/hunting area...Years ago, the
Thorton's allowed me to train and hunt on some property which is
about five minutes
from my house. Mr. Thorton died a few years ago, and even though
I've trimmed weeds
around the pond, helped pick up wind damaged limbs from the
pines, put a wood duck
house in the pond and placed powdered Bentonite along the levee
to keep it from
leaking...there just doesn't seem like I will ever be able to do
enough to say...."Thanks!"
(for allowing me to continue to train and hunt).
This spring I decided to make a sign to place by the pond.
Yesterday, I put the 4"X6"
timbers in the ground and got the sign in. Today, the
landscaping was finished off.
Although the predators must have been busy.....there are two
goslings and two
Wood Duck ducklings that look like they will make it this
spring.
Frontline Plus for
Taffey, Daisy & Gunny
(left
click to enlarge thumbnails)
"the project" |
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"two goslings" |
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June 6th - rain today, mowed the lawn this morning & had
enough time to train Daisy & Gunny,
trained at the newly cut Macktown DTA & setup a
remote line ABCD marking drill with
"mama/papa" throws from the 4 gun stations/stickmen (8 marks
total) using a duck call
and throwing a 3" Avery Flasher with black & white flags
note: Daisy is faster returning
to the line than Gunny, but
both marked well,
running very straight and fast on all eight singles
note: short middle was about 60 yards & the long middle was
about 125 yards
note: Daisy went first, started
to rain on the last two marks with
Gunny
note: excellent session
note: Taffey & Kooly remained
at home.....and they were not happy when we left
June 7th - snuck Gunny out the door
about 6:30 pm to run a second session of the KG lining
drill,
set it up to run from the southwest first and move over run
it again from the northeast,
after lining him 18 times.....the repetition is beginning to
achieve its purpose........he is
lining up a looking straight ahead much quicker
June 8th lots of rain in the area with thunderstorms later =
cancelled group training to Wisconsin,
dusk
trained at the Square Pond DTA
-
Taffey, Daisy & Kooly
each ran the remote drop
drill three times leaving on short & one long bumper for
Gunny to pick up....Gunny
eran
a lining drill using three "Ghilly shrubs" in an "up the
slot configuration" & picking up
bumpers at two short piles and one long pile
note: "short and sweet" evening
June 9th Gunny goes to the vet's to
get neutered at 7:30 am - day off for all which was spent
pondering the rising price of gas & training expenses,
"real" training necessities,
whether running tests means all that much to the three older
dogs and wondering
how much money will be accrued for hunting trips this fall
???????
note: the priority is hunting = hunt club membership, duck
hunting to the
Mississippi (early teal & geese, Illinois & Iowa openers),
field hunting for
geese in northern Illinois, two pheasant trips to South
Dakota and one
waterfowl trip to North Dakota
June 10th OK. the token "pity party" has passed and the plan for
doing what Daisy needs is in
place....Tuesday Daisy ran the
remote drop drill and today I designed a drill as a
continuation of work on the poor mouth habits she displayed
at the last test, all
things considered if "her mouth" had been good I think she
would have passed.
it was kind of like the last straw, not swinging to the next
mark is the other issue
and that will be less of a problem than mouthing
birds..........the new drill to deal
with this is a variation of walking fetch which was phased
in with the remote drop
drill two days ago, the "new" drill is called "The M & M
drill (mouth & maintenance)
six objects to retrieve are spaced about 10 feet apart in a
"grassy" area, running into
the wind, Daisy is wearing a 6 foot lead & a small pronged
pinch collar, as can be
seen in the photo the first three retrieves are not
birds......so Daisy has to pick
up
something that does not smell nearly as enticing as what is
up ahead, after the
"you have to pick up what's right in front of you" is taken
care of, she is asked to
"drop the retrieve cleanly on the ground" on the command
"drop" & ignore it with
the command "leave it" (there can be no mouthing)
she must sit quietly & calmly for whatever is next, any
mouthing or movement is
met with a sit/stick/sit firm TAP or a "sit" correction with
the pinch collar (both of
which are delivered as indirect pressure), sitting quietly
is praised with the words
"good sit", the first time through has each retrieve dropped
directly on the ground
when commanded to do so.....................the rationale is
"the retrieve is not theirs"
to keep and there are rules to follow after bringing it back......it
is critical to focus
on deescalating the excitement and pressure which feed her
anxiety
the 2nd pass consists of fetching with a new expectation =
being responsive enough
to see that I have a hold of the bird before it is dropped
directly out & down out of
her mouth, the expectations are drop after A) I take a hold
of a rope, wing or foot &
waiting to hear the command
"drop" which clearly defines the difference of just
dropping it on the ground vs. dropping after the handler has
a hold of it
the 3rd pass is a repetition of the second and continues at
the calm, steady pace
the 4th step is to toss the flat, soggy "really nasty" hen
mallard & ask for repeated,
proper retrieves, repetition on a regular basis (more than
just one day) should
modify Daisy's behavior for
tests.....in theory
 In
essence, Daisy must become
more responsive (aware of me) in the course of delivery and
learn to deal with
anxiety by focusing on repetitive, newly established
expectations..
Daisy is a very high, edgy
dog........I'm becoming resigned to the fact that diligent
maintenance will be a focal point in her training.......she
is a handful 24/7 which
means keeping her responsive to something other than the
desire for the "rush
of life" will be a continual battle.
note: this lesson went too smoothly with fewer issues than
expected, the
next progression will be stepping up to short water singles
using the
various objects and upping the excitement of the moment in
groups,
shooting and close splashes (more like in the tests)
note: the positive sides of this stage of the maintenance
are 1) she is calm
which is an excellent expectation and 2) her anxiety levels
will have
a definite contrast between "very good vs. not so good"
note: "Don't feed the beast!"
(left click to enlarge thumbnail)
"The M & M Drill"
(objects spaced 10' apart"
note: Gunny seems to be
taking the neutering process in stride = no issues
June 11-13th we all took a break from training - "couch
potato" time
June 14th - noon the three older
dogs went for a free run in BT's hay field,
Gunny stayed
on a Flexi-lead since he has a few more days to recover
from neutering
June 15th - morning training
group in Wisconsin at Gallagher's -
Daisy & Kooly ran a triple
on the big southwest pond with two BB's at the left &
right stations and a
Bumper Boy 4 Shooter at the longest station - shot at
the line which had the
dogs running off a Ruff Stand
note: Daisy was steady, but
came up short on the long mark down the
middle....did well on both cold blinds.....brought her
back to run
the long mark again because of the concept....carried
her line
farther, but still had a hunt at the end
note: Kooly was run to see
how his vocalization issue is progressing....he
howled like a stuck record, but the Ruff Stand appears
to be a new
way to deal with just noise....because he isn't creeping
note: Gunny is still
recovering & Taffey had the
day off
(left click to enlarge thumbnails)
"3 holding blinds"
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"the line"
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"triple"
(picked up 1,2,3)
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"land blind" |
"water blind" |
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June 16th - late afternoon
- trained at the Rockton Road DTA
Gunny
ran several shorter
marks and was in good form (remote line),
Daisy
ran a bunch of singles and
four simple doubles from the remote line (memory not so
great with the doubles
when she approach, Taffey
ran six singles and Kooly
had several hand thrown marks
from the Ruff Stand with a duck call and only one
retrieve out of 19 had thrown
bumpers......I picked all but one up
note: day eight for Gunny
and he was ready to start back, no water until
the weekend
evening training group at Rock Cut State Park
DTA....Daisy ran a 180º HRC
double with a popper gun......followed with a Mama-Papa
double down the
middle.....then see one whistled each of the cold
blinds.....very nice, Gunny
ran the wide double and did OK on that, pretty much
messed up the Mama/Papa
and ran the long cold blind so poorly.....I picked him
up....too excited & rusty
note: Kooly & Taffey were
"dormant" this evening
June 17th late morning -
trained in BT's hay field across raked hay rows,
Daisy & Gunny
ran a set of six cold blinds with increasing angles
across the rows
note: both Daisy & Gunny
did a great job on this series of 6 cold blinds
Daisy lined three &
Gunny lined two, very few
whistles on the rest,
both are taking excellent initial lines and carrying
them
ran basic HRC double with wingers and a popper gun plus
a blind down the middle
note: Daisy did excellent
work at the line.....marking was not sharp, cold
blind was really nice
note: the tractor was our raking hay in the background,
Gunny was totally
not ready for this distraction.....big hunt (went way
long) on the go
bird, had a big hunt on the shorter memory....ran a good
blind
Kooly, Daisy, Gunny & Taffey
ran a "steadying/no noise" drill off the Ruff Stand,
duck calls, hand thrown bumpers and shooting with primer
only, popper shells
note: Kooly was noisy, but
steady, finally settled just a little, picked up
2 out of 20+ thrown & shot at
note:
Daisy
was calm, focused and quiet = nice job, but I picked up
most
note:
Gunny
was the best of all four
note:
Taffey
never picked up one....steady, but would not quit
whining
(left click to enlarge thumbnails)
"six cold blinds" |
"different view" |
June
18th - day off
June 19th - dodged
thunder showers and too humid to train, worked on
trailer decals,
both sides = mallards & cattails with "geese V's on the
V"
(left
click to enlarge thumbnails)
"left side" |
"right
side" |
June
20th morning took Stihl
"weed eater" to Square Pond and cleared part of far
shore
late evening Ruff Stand "steadying/no
noise" drill at the Square Pond
note: Kooly would only be
quiet with no noise and a splashing bumper,
Taffey
picked up a "whole bunch" from the honor mat, tried the
primer only
poppers and that was too much for him, so for now work
at this level
Daisy did cold honors from
the mat while Gunny ran off
the Ruff Stand,
he was good, but she needed correcting for
creeping....the correction
was NOT a nag, Daisy's turn
off the Ruff Stand was good
note: warm and humid
June 21st late morning - did
another section of the far shoreline, weeds are neck
high
with a bunch more to go....decided to do sections which
would give a different
look for the dogs over time - setup three cold blinds
for each dog to run
note: Gunny ran from a line
nearer to the shore - 53, 58 & 65 yard blinds
note: it started to rain so the line was moved back
under the pavilion for
Daisy, Taffey & Kooly to
run their blinds......had about a 30 yard land
entry, the blinds were - 73, 82 & 90 yards
note: ran first two blinds from the left side & number
three from the right
(left
click to enlarge thumbnails)
"Gunny's Blinds"
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"longer blinds"
(out of the rain)
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June 22nd day off for the dogs
- 90º & humid, "whacked weeds" at the Square Pond & left
a
couple of "walls of weeds" to use for concept
training.....1st was away from the
shoreline with land before water...the other was a tall
strip right at the water's edge
June 23rd early morning -
trained Gunny, Daisy, Kooly &
Taffey at the Square Pond
note: Gunny did a review of
water force.....went well, did marks through the
two different strips of high weeds into the water and
later ran two long
cold blinds = nice job
note: Daisy ran singles
through two "walls of weeds" into the water and did the
same two cold blinds Gunny
did - sharp
note: Taffey & Kooly ran
several hand thrown singles through the two strips of
cover and into the water with steady & honor
expectations = exercise
note: finished early, home and dry by 8:30 am (it was
93º at 2:30 pm = no
Tuesday evening training group)
June 24th early morning -
trained at BT's, another very hot, humid day, "setup"
was a 100 yard
gunner station, duck call, 3" Avery Flagged Flasher and
a popper gun.....dogs ran
from a remote line off an Avery Ruff Stand - 4 singles
in an X Drill (right angle back,
left angle in, right angle in and a left angle back)
note: had to go back to the line to "teach"
Daisy to get on the Ruff
Stand (don't
know why it didn't click for her as she has run off it
many times), decided
to give each dog a quick lesson before they ran and had
no other issues
note: except for Gunny's first single....when he jumped
off the stand he
momentarily lost his focus on the direction
note: Daisy, Gunny, Kooly & Taffey
ran in that order
note: parked in the shade, stand was in the shade when
we started, Gunny &
Daisy had fans on them right away after running and the
other two were
finished quickly so that after loading up the equipment
everyone was
in an air conditioned van - zero heat problems and home
quickly to the
cool house
note: in the 80's with high humidity when we got home &
headed to the middle
90's for this afternoon
(left click to enlarge thumbnail)
"X Drill"
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June 25th early morning -
trained at BT's again doing two more X-Drills (to the
southwest &
to the northwest from the same line with
Gunny & Daisy,
Taffey & Kooly ran only
the first one - warm and humid early.....finished
quickly
note: shorter distances because of high humidity
note: Taffey & Kooly marked
well
note: Daisy had no issues
with the Ruff stand today...quick and accurate
note: Gunny had trouble
with each set....especially running through old scent,
will do some "inlines" for a couple of days, he seems to
be more into
waiting to see or smell the mark on the line he takes
and not marking,
needs a lot more experience with success......will start
using birds to
increase his focus (more exciting)
note: Wow!.....the air conditioning on the way home was
a great relief
(left
click to enlarge thumbnails)
"1st X-Drill"
(65 yards) |
"2nd X-Drill"
(85 yards) |
June 26th
early
morning - trained at
BT's in the southeast corner....ran five singles in an
ATV ABC Drill Taffey, Kooly &
Daisy were sharp, but Gunny
was breaking down
early and have a difficult time running through the old
fall on mark #3, used a
remote
line, 4 stickmen, 3 "faux shrubs", duck call,
primer pistol and a mallard
note: talked with Brian M (pro),
Gunny will do
maintenance marking drills to
promote more success and use two marks with a much
greater
distance between them to give more contrast to the
"running through
the old fall - for starters)
(left click to enlarge thumbnail)
"ATV ABC
Drill" |
June 27th
early
morning - 1) trained at
the Square Pond "grassy" area first
Gunny & Taffey
did a double lining drill (together) & picked up 7
bumpers apiece, Daisy & Kooly
ran the same drill = good exercise
2) drove to the Rockton Sport Complex -
Gunny ran seven alternating
"inline"
marks with a remote line........duck call & 3" Avery
Flasher out to 250 yards,
Daisy ran five marks out to
the same distance
3) drove to a new pond....small, but technical
Taffey, Kooly, Daisy & Gunny
ran
a land/water/land/water/land cold blind &
Gunny came back out and ran
a
bunch of land and water fun bumpers
note: weather a bit cooler this morning
4) stopped at the Roscoe River Park area and
Gunny established the first
part of
a 164 yard pattern blind (out to 100 yards with an
identified five bumper pile)
June 28th
early
morning - 1) drove to
the new pond....Daisy & Gunny
ran a parallel lining
drill (five blinds)....#1
in the middle "out and back in", #2 past the point,
# 3 on
a different line "out and back in", #4 parallel, tight
to the shore on the left and
#5 was "out and back in" plus parallel, tight to the
opposite shore
note: Gunny is improving
and worked hard, several handles on each one,
did a good job of staying in the water on the two
"outside blinds"
note: Daisy did well, but
was feeling a bit of pressure on the first couple as
was observed with a lot of head shaking, finally settled
down and ran
the two more difficult tight and parallel blinds really well
note: Taffey & Kooly were
given an extended airing/run
2) stopped at the Roscoe River Park and
Gunny finished establishing
the 164 yd
pattern blind with three bumpers, started at 100 yards
and moved back to the
line for the last send......excellent effort
3) drove to BT's hay field and setup a "running
through" an old fall session,
Daisy & Gunny first ran a
120 yard single from a remote line, mallard, duck call,
primer pistol BB routine....each was put up after
running the mark....the second
mark was thrown at 50 yards on the line to the long
mark....each dog ran this
mark twice and the area was further scented with some
extra throws...the last
step was throwing the long mark again with the large
scented/old fall area en
route and finished off with a mama/papa type mark thrown on
the opposite side
of the gunner
note: neither had any issues with driving past/through the
scented area
note: Taffey & Kooly
had another extended run
plus a few fun bumpers
note: even though we trained close by, the total
distance driven was 40 miles
(left click to enlarge thumbnails)
"5 parallel blinds"
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pond view
(angled)
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"pond peninsula"
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"120 yd mark" |
"50 yard mark" |
"concept mark"
(plus one) |
June 29th morning
- group training session in Wisconsin at the
Gallagher FT grounds,
setup a Mama/Papa with a bumper boy and another mark
off to the south,
a second set of three marks were setup farther to
the southeast - Daisy & Gunny
did not mark well, the blind was my choice = not
good as I did not realize how
much they would be out of sight = not a good day,
one big weakness was their
inability to look long past two shorter
stations.......stopped at Stoughton FT
grounds and a single way past two shorter "fake" gun
stations & both did better
on that, the second one was a long 262 yard single
with the first part of it going
across water........fireman drill as they exited got
them "out there".....except
Gunny had a "run-in" with a decoy that had him
needing some force to go on
through the pond, first he shied at the shore when
something must have jabbed
at him, then as he was giving a quick check of one
of the decoys the wind caused
it to tip up and come back down.....right on his
nose.........he was really spooked
by that even though he had hunting through decoys
during duck season
note: one of those "ignore this bump in the road"
type days
evening - dug 18 old
Flambeau duck decoys out of the shed and tossed them
all over the east end of the Square Pond.......for a
Gunny lesson
June 30th morning
- Gunny - started
out with bumpers thrown away from the decoys and
after awhile they were between them and finally near
them - he got over it,
threw some fun bumpers across the drainage ditch
leading into the pond where
Gunny had to crash
through six feet of high weeds to retrieves on the
other side,
Gunny
finished by running the new 164 yard pattern
blind three times with
Taffey, Daisy & Kooly
running it once
evening
- group training session in a newly cut
weed/grass field in Rockford
Daisy first did a cold
honor and later ran a triple with a blind.....marked
OK &
sat very still at the line - something she has not
done well at up until lately
Gunny ran a double
followed with a single and blind, sat still at the
line because
he was wearing a short tab & choker
collar........marked really well.....with a
much slower run on the blind |
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