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Three legged pattern
blinds
We have had some
good progress during the last week or so.
Lottie has been running well and with confidence out
to our blind retrieve stations in the training
field. Earlier in the week I
added a third permanent blind opposite the first and
can now run her either left, right, or back, from a
central position in the middle of the field.
Cold blinds
Lottie is also now beginning to run some
very short 'baby cold blinds' which I put out
for her around the edges of my training field.
I am using white dummies for these so that she can
see them almost as soon as she sets off, and
making sure they are not too hidden by vegetation.
I place them all against the fence line which acts
as a natural 'backstop' to prevent her overshooting
the retrieve. These are true or 'cold'
blinds in the sense that she doesn't see me put them
out, and because each one is in a new
location, not one that she has learned. But
they are good confidence builders because they are
so short and easy to find.
Crossing water
- marked retrieves
Last
week Duncan and I took Lottie to a local meadow
with a river running through it. The
objective was to get her crossing a wider body of
water as all the streams on our shoot are quite
narrow. I don't want to use the ponds on
the shoot grounds yet as they are quite small and I don't
yet have the 'tools' to be sure of stopping
her running around the edge - should she be so
inclined.! The river and its surroundings are fairly
popular with dog walkers but we managed to avoid
them. However, a large herd of
young heifers decided to join us after a few
minutes, so we only got a couple of retrieves in.
This may not have been
such a bad thing, as it made sure that we
stopped on a successful note. I chose a
fairly shallow place for us to begin so that she
only had to actually swim a few yards before
climbing out on the other side. For each mark,
I threw a single dummy onto the far bank into some
moderately tall grass. Both retrieves were a
complete success despite Lottie having to hunt for
quite sometime in the grass for the first dummy.
I was really proud of her for not giving up,
and grateful that I did not have to cross the river
to help her!
Three Handed Casting
Lottie has now had quite
a bit of practice at being sent or 'lined' back away
from my side. A few days ago, I began
the first steps in teaching her the back cast.
By 'cast', we mean that the dog is being given
direction from a position remote from the handler,
usually after being stopped by whistle.
However for the purposes of training, we start with
the dog, already seated, facing the handler and very
close by.
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