Picnic trial tomorrow, general progress

[banknote]

I'm going to run Ki in the local retriever club's picnic trial tomorrow. Little nervous because neither one of us has trialed before, but I think he's got all the tools he'll need to do the tests. Pretty sure it's just a JH type setup, but not sure. Maybe there will be different levels. In any case it's just for experience and I'm keeping hopes high but expectations low. My biggest concern is that he'll get too excited and parade the bird a bit on his retrieves. He wandered some the other day when we trained on birds after nothing but bumpers for a few weeks, but just on his first couple. Keeping on him with the whistle seemed to get him back in line. We did some table work with a duck yesterday, then took it to the yard this morning and he did well.

Also made it an opportunity to work on his whistle sits, which have been sloppy. He is VERY attentive to the bird, so I was able to have him stay, place it in the yard so he knew where it was, then move around the yard and whistle recall and sit him on different angles toward, across and away from the bird. He only got sucked to the bird once, but I was able to break him away from it with a "NO. HERE." He was still sloppy with some of his sits, so I wouldn't reward him with an over or back to the bird until he nailed a couple in a row. He seems to be getting the idea and I've been reinforcing it with whistle sits while heeling as a way for him to get that tweet means "SIT NOW." As we walk I'll give a tweet and immediately whack his ass to get it down. After a few of those he sits quick, and then I tweet and keep walking. Takes a couple more whacks and he gets that he's to sit even if I don't stop. A tap from a heeling stick works when he starts to backslide.

In the past week or so he's really come around in terms of OB and general attentiveness. I spent the better part of last week at a beach house with extended family and did hardly anything retrieve related, but took the opportunity to have everyone help me tune up his OB and people manners. I got everyone to agree not to touch or praise him until he sat, and stayed sitting, for them. He also spent hours playing with and being handled by my 10 yo niece. She rides horses and has a lot of confidence, so she did a good job. After a week of all that, he's now far more polite and actually more tuned in to me, less apt to wander off to the neighbors' yards, keeps closer and recalls faster on walks. It's like he's turned the corner from puppy to dog and has a good sense of his place and what's expected of him.

Anyway, he's in a stage where he's eager to work, we're making good progress and hoping to avoid significant setbacks. I'll report back on how things go tomorrow.

table_14-0725_800.jpg

[Eric Haynes]

I'm going to run Ki in the local retriever club's picnic trial tomorrow. Little nervous because neither one of us has trialed before, but I think he's got all the tools he'll need to do the tests. Pretty sure it's just a JH type setup, but not sure. Maybe there will be different levels. In any case it's just for experience and I'm keeping hopes high but expectations low. My biggest concern is that he'll get too excited and parade the bird a bit on his retrieves. He wandered some the other day when we trained on birds after nothing but bumpers for a few weeks, but just on his first couple. Keeping on him with the whistle seemed to get him back in line. We did some table work with a duck yesterday, then took it to the yard this morning and he did well.

Also made it an opportunity to work on his whistle sits, which have been sloppy. He is VERY attentive to the bird, so I was able to have him stay, place it in the yard so he knew where it was, then move around the yard and whistle recall and sit him on different angles toward, across and away from the bird. He only got sucked to the bird once, but I was able to break him away from it with a "NO. HERE." He was still sloppy with some of his sits, so I wouldn't reward him with an over or back to the bird until he nailed a couple in a row. He seems to be getting the idea and I've been reinforcing it with whistle sits while heeling as a way for him to get that tweet means "SIT NOW." As we walk I'll give a tweet and immediately whack his ass to get it down. After a few of those he sits quick, and then I tweet and keep walking. Takes a couple more whacks and he gets that he's to sit even if I don't stop. A tap from a heeling stick works when he starts to backslide.

In the past week or so he's really come around in terms of OB and general attentiveness. I spent the better part of last week at a beach house with extended family and did hardly anything retrieve related, but took the opportunity to have everyone help me tune up his OB and people manners. I got everyone to agree not to touch or praise him until he sat, and stayed sitting, for them. He also spent hours playing with and being handled by my 10 yo niece. She rides horses and has a lot of confidence, so she did a good job. After a week of all that, he's now far more polite and actually more tuned in to me, less apt to wander off to the neighbors' yards, keeps closer and recalls faster on walks. It's like he's turned the corner from puppy to dog and has a good sense of his place and what's expected of him.

Anyway, he's in a stage where he's eager to work, we're making good progress and hoping to avoid significant setbacks. I'll report back on how things go tomorrow.

table_14-0725_800.jpg

Is it a trial or a hunt test? Both very different but I saw you mentioned JH after you said trial.

[Flightstopper]

Good stuff banknote and good luck.

[banknote]

Is it a trial or a hunt test? Both very different but I saw you mentioned JH after you said trial.

They just call it a picnic trial and have little other info regarding how it will be run. It's supposed to be fun and I think geared toward hunt tests, but I'm not sure. It's just 10 minutes up the road, so I may drive up there today and have a look around, see if anyone's there who know's more, and just let the dog get acquainted with the grounds.

Here's their FB page with general info and pics from the last go around.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oregon-Hunting-Retriever-Club/176461955807542

[RonE]

It is a hunting retriever club, my guess it that it is a hunting test trial, not a field trial. Just something to do to talk to others and watch each others dogs run some simple tests. Great way to get started on the road to advanced hunting certificates.

These are usually fun and if you have problems with your dog, lots of people to network with.

Have fun and good luck!

[banknote]

It is a hunting retriever club, my guess it that it is a hunting test trial, not a field trial. Just something to do to talk to others and watch each others dogs run some simple tests. Great way to get started on the road to advanced hunting certificates.

These are usually fun and if you have problems with your dog, lots of people to network with.

Have fun and good luck!

That's pretty much what I figured. Thanks!

[banknote]

We had fun. Ki especially had fun playing with the pigeons. We haven't worked with pigeons in over a year and he was very excited by them, more so it seems than the ducks and pheasants we've been training with. So while he eventually completed his retrieves, it wasn't without considerable extracurricular activities; veering off into water for a drink, dropping the bird, playing with the bird. At one point he was 10 yards from the line on his return, right at the water's edge, dropped the bird and stood there looking at me. Would not respond to verbal "FETCH," so the "judge" says "run backwards clapping your hands." We are way beyond that, so ignored his advice, whistled him to sit, which he did, then whistle recalled him and he picked the bird right up and heeled with it.

I have some thinking to do and some work to figure out for the both of us, including reintroducing pigeons and working in a simulated test scenario.

Aside from all that, he did well marking, holding steady, going strong off the line, and on his eventual delivery of the bird. When not at the line, he was going a little crazy wanting to take his turn. I know he was way wound up because he was squealing in excitement the whole way across the water on his first mark.