Ty's 8th UDX leg & Sonic at 9.5 months

I am camping at the Toledo KC obedience trial this weekend with Ty and Sonic. Ty earned her 8th UDX leg this afternoon... slowly but surely, we are getting there. She NQed on a whole bunch of exercises in the 1st Utility class, some of it because she was so excited she wasn't thinking. We had a couple of firsts today: it was the first time Ty has Qed twice in Open on the same day, and the 1st UDX leg that wasn't the first (or only) trial of a weekend. We lost a 1/2 point off on the 2nd sit stay for shifting, which cost us a tie for 4th in Open B. But 1/2  point off sure beats 30! She is over halfway to her OM2. That and her UDX are my two goals for her. Someone asked what other goals I have for her once those are done, and I said, "None!"

I'm so happy with how well Sonic handles the obedience trial atmosphere. She's excellent in her crate, sleeping much of the time, quiet otherwise.

A couple of months ago, I was entertaining thoughts of entering her in Rally Novice at the National (which starts June 15). Then she was with me at a May 12 trial, and I attempted to do pretty simple concepts like sit and look at me, and heel for a few steps, with just a buckle collar (if we are around other dogs, I usually have a pinch collar on her because she is SO blasted strong and can move like a rocket and drag me somewhere fast. And I'm not a small person). I quickly forgot about Rally for this year's National :-). But today, I have to say, she was improved from that 3 weeks ago trial. We have been working very, very hard on walking on a loose leash, and when it is just the two of us and not too much else going on, she is greatly improved.

Yesterday evening after dinner, I took her out for session of my 20-treat exercise. I was pleased to see it took her just 2.5 minutes to look at me that many times. This is down from 3+ minutes the last time I did it. Today, I had her out in between Ty's classes in a big rec center building, playing tug some, and working some attention, fronts, and pivots. She was much more focused than at the May 12 trial.

I am running her in 3 field events at the Specialty: the Unsteady Singles (a judged competition whose rules are a bit on the vague side :-)), the Junior hunter test, and the WC (Working Certificate). She has to do a simple double for the WC, with marks at 40-60 yds. She did her first "cold double" last weekend. A "taught double" means you throw what becomes the memory bird first as a single, so the dog gets to retrieve it once, then you throw it again,  followed by the "go bird" to make it a double. A "cold double" means both marks are thrown right away, without teaching her the memory bird first. We did some more cold doubles on Wednesday. Each time, she did the 1st double without help. On the 2nd one, she needed some help, but so far, she always leaves my side, which is unusual for dogs at this stage, at least in my (limited) experience. I think it has helped a lot that I have taught her the mechanics of doubles using Pat Nolan's Marking and Memory drill. We've got a pretty well established set of cues that I use reasonably consistently.

Running the first cold double did make me realize that, while her marking is quite good, my control of her is poor even with a pinch collar and an e-collar. We have been working all week on pivots and self-control with bumpers on the ground nearby. When she pivots well, I send her to retrieve one of the bumpers.

While she is in no way guaranteed to pass the Specialty tests, I do think she will be better prepared at 10 months than Gryff was at 11 months, when he attended his 1st Specialty. It helps that I have learned a thing or two since 2004.

Sonic at 9 months

How can my baby girl be 9 months old already???

The past month has been spent almost entirely on field work-related training. She only got to swim once in April, and she had apparently forgotten how to swim horizontally. She is still splashing some, and it seems to worsen as she tires, but it is mostly relatively efficient. We've been working 'progressives' in the water, which means someone is throwing a series of single marks farther and farther away from her. I think she's gone between 50 and 60 yds in the water on her longest swims. Here she is on her longest water mark last Sunday. She had some problems at the end of it because we had thrown 4 ducks into the strip of cover, and the duck scent was attracting her. She did work it out in the end, which made me happy.

We are still mostly working on her swimming straight out with as little chance to cheat (for you field newbies, cheating refers to a dog who runs around water instead of taking the straightest path to the bird through the water) as we can manage. She's had several lessons on 'get out on a point and get back in the water beyond the point to get the bumper, then get out and back in again.' She's only required a couple of gentle reminders from the gunner that, no, she shouldn't try to take the land route back. I'm not fooling myself. She'll figure out that it is an option at some point.

I've only been at home one of the weekends since I wrote about Sonic at 8 months. Lots of travel. I presented a seminar in Texas, which meant I flew, so the dogs stayed home under the care of my husband and 19 year old son. The next weekend, we - the 3 Flat-Coats and I - drove to Maryland to present my On Beyond Novice seminar for the Catoctin KC in Frederick. I hadn't done this seminar in a while, and it was fun for me to be able to concentrate on the advanced exercises. It was gratifying to have so many people in attendance who have attended previous seminars.

The next day, I had the privilege of getting to field train at Pat Nolan's grounds, Lily Pons. Unfortunately for me, Pat wasn't there, but it was very fortunate for him because he was presenting a dog training seminar in Korea. I trained with Linda Reynolds, who I had first met 3 years before doing some field training at a FCRSA National. She told me about Pat back then. We were joined by two others, one with FCRs and one with a Lab and Golden. I've watched YouTube videos of Lorraine with her dogs as young puppies demonstrating several of Pat's early puppy training ideas. I talked to Linda about more of Pat's ideas, and I learned some new drills that I've been putting to good use with Sonic. My favorite is Pat's "M & M" drill, which stands for marking and memory. It turns out my yard is a gold mine in terms of this drill. Essentially, you throw multiple bumpers at different objects in your yard - a tree, a bush, a chair... - and that helps the dog remember where to look for memory marks. Sonic enjoys it and it is helping me stretch her out a bit on her ability to do doubles and triples without anyone helping.

We have been working quite a bit recently on Sonic's Force Fetch. We are up to working on 'Walking Fetch', though I keep debating with myself whether we should be there or not. When she is picking up a bumper that someone else throws or that I throw fairly far away, she mostly picks it up nicely. Doing up close ones, she often seems to go for an end. But all in all, I think we are moving in the right direction. Last month, she was reaching down to the floor for a bumper at meal time. She'll now pick one up and deliver it to my side. Sometimes, her pick ups are good enough that she can deliver it without dropping. Other times, not. She has had several chances to retrieve birds, both pigeons and ducks, and she thinks they are splendid. She is more willing to hold onto a duck when exiting water than a bumper, so we might be able to manage the required delivery to hand in the Junior test at the National next month.

Three weeks ago, when I finished the two sections of Maneuvers I was teaching, I had Sonic out and had her do what the class dogs were doing, which was checking on their ability to do the various directional maneuvers they'd been learning without a treat in the trainer's hand. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she is understanding most of them. Her ability to side step to the left when in heel position is poor when my hand is empty, though it was improved Thursday afternoon as compared to Tuesday evening. She can do all of the others with my left hand empty, and some of them with little or no hand guidance at all.

We've done a bit of work on a formal Novice recall. I pulled out a platform to use for her to come onto to front, and that took some reminding. She learned to get on a platform at 8 weeks, but I guess I haven't had her on one for a couple of months, at least not for fronts.

I am including her in the stay groups in my 3 sections of Novice Practice each week. While her sit stay is still wiggly, her physical changes that have happened in the past month - being far less cow-hocked - means it is much easier for her to keep her back feet set wide enough to hold a sit. She still likes to flop over, though it is far less frequent. Her down stay is decent, though she does like to flop over on her side and streeeetch herself out, or turn upside down. But that is something I've seen before:

Ty in the Open B down stay at the 2009 FCRSA National

Photo by Cathi Winkles Photography

We've done my 20 treat exercise on multiple occasions in several different locations. She is very interested in her surroundings, and it usually takes her several minutes to voluntarily look at me 20 times. I've also started doing a bit of heeling in other places. I showed Ty in obedience at the Midland KC trial last Saturday, and I hauled T3 there to get it dewinterized, as well as to try out camping at an obedience trial. The hauling is a PITA, but I do like having it at the trial. Friday evening, I did some obedience work with her outside the trailer. The video isn't very good - I couldn't figure out any better way to prop up the iPad - but you can see a bit of what her heeling, fronts and finishes are looking like. In the section on fronts, some people walked by with several dogs, which distracted her in a major way, but not for too long.

I am planning to enter her in 3 different field events at the National - the JH, the WC, and the Unsteady Singles, a club event that just happens at most of the FCRSA Nationals. I think she'll be considerably better prepared than Gryff was at his first National field events, when he was 11 months old. I'll also show her in the Puppy Sweeps and regular puppy class. Last week, I briefly flirted with the thought of entering her in Rally Novice at the National. When I had her out to do a bit of work at the obedience trial Saturday, I quickly changed my mind about that hare-brained idea. I'll be busy enough the week of the National - I'm running Gryffin in the Master test and the Steady Singles. I'm showing Ty in the Veterans Sweepstake, Open B & Utility B, and possibly the regular Veterans 7-9 month class. I'll probably enter Gryff in the Veterans obedience class. Maybe the Veterans Sweeps, though I'm not sure I want to show that many times.

Last Tuesday, after doing all of the demonstration work in my Heeling and Come & Stay classes, when we got back to the house, she seemed like she was getting the zoomies. I took her out in the back yard, and she ran and ran and ran and ran great big circles. It was like all the concentrating on the demoes was making her brain explode, and she needed to run it off. Tonight, I took her out after class was over and let her have her run. She is fast... and it is a bit unnerving when she is coming at me full speed ahead. Her accelerator works great. The brakes... well, we are working on them!

My plan for the next month is to stretch her out on her land and water marks, keep exposing her to different concepts in the field, make more progress on her force fetch, do some conformation practice, throw in a bit of obedience work, and keep enjoying her for herself.

2012 Southern Odyssey Days 11-12

My biggest takeaway from Day 1 of the 3.5 day Basic and Transition field training workshop with Mike Lardy was foundation, foundation, foundation. Just like in obedience (or piano lessons, for that matter), if your foundation if poor, it is hard to build advanced skills. The seminar started with a short amount of lecture, then we moved over to watch several advanced dogs running land marks in preparation for the weekend's field trials. Once those dogs were done, some simplified marks were set up, and all 10 participants dogs ran the 3 marks. This gave Mike a chance to "make book" on the dogs' issues. We then went to "the yard" for some obedience work and some other yard drills. We finished the day with the Swim-by drill with a couple of dogs.

Purina sponsored a BBQ dinner right at Mike's property, and there was a drawing for a bunch of donated gear. Remarkably, my name was drawn first, and I made a beeline to one of the 4 heeling sticks. I had a heeling stick, but lost it last fall on my final training day at Omega Farms. A heeling stick is similar to a riding crop used with horses. I found it incredibly helpful in getting both Gryff and Ty under much better off-leash control during advanced field work, and have been meaning to order a new one so I could get Sonic used to it. I have seen heeling sticks used in ways that at least appear downright abusive. I don't plan to use it that way, don't worry. 

It turns out all but 2 people won something. I felt badly for those 2.

Before the dinner, Dee Dee Rose threw some simple marks for Sonic. She didn't return to me on the 1st one, but instead went to Dee Dee because I forgot to get her attention with the extra bumper that I had remembered to keep with me. After that, she returned nicely. I took each dog out individually after that and did 'Stand Alone' marks, where you leave the dog in a sit stay, walk out however far you want to go, throw a mark, and release the dog to retrieve it from out in the field. I've done these with both Gryff and Ty for several years after reading about it in the Retrievers On Line magazine. Dennis Voight, editor of RoL, is in Florida to train for the winter, and gave a presentation at the end of the day's seminar presentation about using Stand Alones for training by yourself. It was great to meet Denise at the party. Sonic did a very simple version of this on my long flexi.

Today, the morning was devoted to more obedience and yard drills, finishing the morning with more swim-by for the two dogs from Day 1. It was good to see all the dogs making progress. The afternoon was devoted to water marks and some of the transition water drills, with a land tune-up drill Mike demoed with one of his Advanced dogs. We were very fortunate to not get rained on today other than a tiny bit of sprinkles at the end of the afternoon, when the win picked up and the temperature dropped a bunch.

Dee Dee threw several marks for each dog before we came back to the motel room. Except for dashing off to see the nice man in the white coat faaaaar across the field (I wasn't aware he was there, shame on me) when I got Sonic out for her turn, it was quite successful. The final mark she ran was 80-85 yds in length, and she did have to do some hunting, since we were not on mowed grass. She really seems to be getting the idea of the simple mechanics of the job. Very satisfying!

When we got back to the motel, I put Sonic on a long line and we worked field-related obedience in the motel parking lot for 10-15 minutes, including walking (vs. heeling) on each side, doing sit stays, recalls, whistle sits on her return to me, finishes to heel position and to a sit at my right side. I'm going to make the attempt to have Sonic be a two-sided dog. I feel pretty awkward with her on my right, but I'm gonna try. I was very pleased with her work. 

Here's Sonic's articles from last night - Day 4 of Week 3.

Tonight we started Week 4, and it went just fine. In week 4, 4 of the 7 retrieves have the cheesed article with the cheese down instead of up, so she had to use her nose instead of her eyes to find the right one. Correct on all counts!