Purpose and Rationale  
The purpose of this page is two-fold. I would be doing this as a matter of record for my own own  use (so it is nothing extra). It will be in the Web site, to show how a retired, first time "gamer" weaves his way through the process of trying to improve training skills and at the same time develop a really nice dog. There will be "dream" goals which are nothing more than targets following the motivational principal of "Aim High"! This page will not be open for debate. I will make progress and some mistakes along the way. If I need help, I know where to seek advice. Lastly, the approach is sequentially based, but is not etched in stone. This is fun above all else.

Even though I'm retired, notes, lists, and up-to-date journals with future goals seem to be the best way to make efficient progress. Back when I coached high school chess, the players that developed a rational long term plan with realistic goals seemed to consistently win. When training Taffey, I always "pencil in" a daily list of events that lead to developing a skill, addressing a particular issue, preparing for a test and especially continuing on the sequential development of an advanced retriever and hunter. These incremental additions make reaching goals simpler. I firmly believe any person can eat an entire elephant......one bite at a time.

By the end of this summer Taffey is five years old and has accomplished way more than most. She is a "finished" hunting dog, a veteran hunt test dog and raised a litter of excellent pups. The first two seasons of hunting were very controlled in keeping with
training standards. In the fall of 2003, there was a terrific duck hunting trip on a small
northern Illinois rive,  several trips to some marshes in southern Wisconsin, some long jaunts to northern Wisconsin for wild grouse and a few trips for local pheasants. In the fall of 2004 Taffey established herself as the "go to" pointing Lab at Blonhaven Hunt and impressed clients on  regularly basis. In the spring of 2005, her litter by Dusty was an exciting change of pace. Maybe this fall the dreamed of trip to the Dakotas will finally take place. Tomorrow still leads to many more years of fun. 

The Journal - "Yesterday, today and tomorrow"
                          goto:Today            Archive: The 1st Six Puppy Months
                                                         Archive: Dec/Jan/Feb 2002-3 
                                                           Archive: Mar-Sept 19 Journal 
                                                             Archive: Sept 20-June 2004
                                                              Archive: July 1-Sept 9 2004
                                                                Archive: Sept 1-Oct 18, 2005
                                                                  Archive: Jan 27-Mar 30, 2006
                                                                     Archive: April,May,June, 2006
                                                                        Archive: July - August, 2006
                                                                         Archive: Sept - Oct, 2006

Mar  9, 2007 all three dogs took a 3/4 mile walk around the block Mar 10 another walk around the block - loose leash at the heel standard Mar 11 trained at the Square Pond DTA, snow patches and mostly mud, but Kooly             and Taffey ran about five short Dokken singles Mar 12  trained at Macktown DTA Kooly ran four Retrieve-R-Trainer singles, two             short doubles and a triple - looked good doing it             Taffey ran four singles and a double                    note: thought they might be tire, but they seemed fine afterwards  Mar 13  (morning) trained at Brian's - Kooly did a session of walking baseball with two              orange bumpers plus a short 75 yard cold blind = put up for awhile then shot              a 60 yard chukar flyer - sat nicely for the flyer, Taffey had the morning off              (afternoon) two winger doubles (flat, long throws) at Rockton Road DTA = first              set long/short thrown to the left & left side heel off small, round place board,              routine "watch", hand down to keep him focused, after delay pull to right short              mark, hand down delay & send....second set, short/long thrown to the right &              right  side heel on place board with the same routine except push for the long              go bird after short memory & use "easy" cue on the short bird                    note: Taffey ran the first double - nice job & helped pick up afterwards                    note: Kooly was very focused and his "I know exactly where it is" is                             awesome, he is going to be big time fun to run this summer, he                             took the "easy" cue and stepped on the short mark, too                           Mar 14  trained at Macktown - setup a wide double 80-90 yards & afterwards ran a             longer single "up the slot" - 150 yards (every thing angles across gravel road)                    note: Taffey stepped on all three marks                    note: Kooly blew past the memory = big hunt, stepped on the long single News Flash - Daisy is going to Avery's "Trainin' in the Timber" dog seminar in late                      May.  We'll be with three other dogs in the transition group.      Mar 15 off to Paducah, KY for a dog training seminar - left at 6:30 am and it took a 7 hours              to get there, it took another hour to find the place, hooked up with Jay and we ran              four singles using his new Avery 3" flashers, about then Julie arrived, we set up              three cold blinds and ran them                     note: Kooly and Taffey handled OK on these blinds, but were obviously rusty Mar 16 arrived 10 minutes before the seminar started and what a day = truly inspirational,            afterwards Taffey & Kooly ran two singles with an impromptu training group                  Mar 17 came early before the seminar & did seven stand alone singles with all 3 dogs                     note: Kooly & Taffey ran two of the cold blinds from yesterday as pattern blinds                     note: Taffey lined the long one like a speeding arrow             today's seminar was "hands on" bird dog work by Julie Knutson with anyone who             wanted to work with their dogs, puppies first, de-chasing older pups on up to pointing             work in the uplands on chukars (after today's seminar session = to cold to train)                     note: Kooly and Taffey did not take part = Daisy did super Mar 18 today was a group training session with holding blinds and lots of dogs, 5 handlers             showed up and we all ran our dogs through a three stickmen field with "up the slot"             marks which Kooly & Taffey ran as a double, afterwards a "cheaty" cover cold blind             with wind and cover pushing them to the right was run before heading off to Illinois                     note: left a 11:45 am and got home at 6:45 pm = 925 miles on the odometer   Starting late March 2007 all three dogs' training will be recorded in Daisy's Journal             Daisy, Kooly, Taffey & Gunny's Training Journal (Link)             TODAY                    rough draft tentative long range plans 2007                 Taffey - training set-up test dog, run a few QAA by late summer                              2-3 field trials                  Kooly - finish off SH title, work on MH & do QAA with Taffey                              2 SH tests, 5-6 MH tests, 2-3 field trials                  Daisy - run a few Derbies, finish SH title, start on MH & do a few QAA                             1-2 Derbies, 5-6 SH tests, 2-4 MH tests & 2-3 field trials                                                               May - June - July - August - September - October = test months                                   hunt test/field trials every other week                  skip QAA if MH completion doable                  build Johnny house & do upland quail work twice a week July-Sept                  next fall grouse, ducks & geese, two trips, no guiding                  APLA tests in the early spring of '08