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Rowdy (by Pirate) at Akermans

3K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  Mary Lynn Metras 
#1 · (Edited)
Akermans is a pay for training facility. $10 per handler which is pretty reasonable given the water he has. He has had water just recently.

This is a triple. I forgot to range the distances. The challenge is a long run up the bank once out of the water. The last mark was supposed to be on the back side of the island but a gust of wind caught it and it hit on the top and rolled down the front of the island.

There was a very strong cross wind, left to right. It kept knocking over my videocam and tripod. I finally got smart and parked my truck to block the wind.

On the middle bird he was not trying to go back to the old fall but cheat the water and run across the island. How do I know, the previous dog did it? So, I was prepared and corrected immediately.

A question. Rowdy is shaking after I take the bird and it is messing up his alignment. How do I correct this bad habit? I made him shake once because I thought he would go out a few yards and shake.

http://youtu.be/iGDUrLVFJA0

Would you have had this fight? I did a single for Rowdy on the middle bird to work on his line. His initial line was good and he avoided the island. But wanted to beach early on the right. There was no ecollar pressure, just voice as he hates to be yelled at.

http://youtu.be/xiE3T0rCvU8

A water blind.
http://youtu.be/MAOrzgkwxzI

I look like I am leaning right. That's because I am, to keep from being blown over. I wanted to incorporate the island in the blind but I would have been running into the wind.

As always I welcome any constructive comments, especially on the two questions I asked.
 
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#2 ·
Nice place for $10. The last video the pond looks really nice! Worth the money I bet!:)

On the first video if he moved forward I noticed you did on the setting him up for the blind. He should stay where you want him.

Yes that is how I would have made mine do what you wanted him to in the second video and used attrition. If he refused again I would have used my voice and attrition again. Since you had the collar do you think it would have been easier to do an indirect pressure correction. Would Rowdy have accepted the correction?

Thank you Wayne for great video. They are very helpful!
 
#3 ·
Appreciate the videos. We teach our dogs to come back, line up and then shake off. They realign better for us that way. As to the blind and not incorporating the island. They have to learn to fight factors. We are training them to become AA dogs and the wind would have been a major factor and challenge the blind. Shorten it up if a problem and then repeat at distance. At a recent Qual set up a similar situation and ate the dog's lunch. Judges had to scrap the test because way over the head of most of the Qual dogs.

Jeff
 
#4 ·
Wayne

As to video 1, I don't know whether Rowdy has a problem. However, I think you do. Rowdy comes into your side at 2:01 and at 2:04 you have already taken the bird from his mouth. That's an elapsed time of 3 seconds. Three seconds.

Dogs are more supple with the bird in their mouths. So, don't take the bird, until your dog is aligned the way you want.

I would try to line Rowdy up as he came into my side, let him get oriented to his next mark, then say "sit," let him sit and settle into the bird, and then take the bird. I think you are rushing the process (which is easy to do) and not letting Rowdy settle into his next mark. Slow down

As for video 2, at the 037 mark, Rowdy makes a hard cut to dirt, which I thinks demands attention. So, yes I would pick that fight to fight.

Hope this helps

Ted
 
#6 · (Edited)
Thanks Ted. What about the shaking off the water. How does that fit in your technique? Are saying get him to your side aligned on next mark, let him shake, align, say sit and then take bird?

Single was run second after triple.
 
#7 ·
Thanks Ted. What about the shaking off the water. How does that fit in your technique? Are saying get him to your side, let him shake, align, say sit and then take bird?

Single was run second after triple.
Wayne

Some people have a specific shake command (e.g. Rorem). I do not. I don't make any specific accommodations for shaking. When I go out training tomorrow, if weather permits and we are in the water, I will pay closer attention to my mechanics

Ted

 
#8 ·
Thanks in advance Ted. We'll be back at Akermans on Sat.
 
#9 ·
Wayne, the way I was taught ( I am still a wannabe) is dog lines up for next mark with bird in mouth. Confirm the dog is locked in, take bird and give shake command, dog lines up again, send for mark.
 
#11 ·
There was a strong cross wind left to right. Even though the previous dog went to the island I thought Rowdy would drift to the right with the wind. But I was terribly wrong. Not the first time.
 
#12 ·
I skimmed through some of Lardy's handling techniques on water retrieves in TRM. The time from when the dog quit shaking the water off to send varied from the quickest was 5 sec and the longest I saw was 12 sec. Lean Mac was 6 and 8 sec. I noticed he did not shake. Rascal was 5 sec, 6 and 7 sec after shake. Prior to the last send Mike told Rascal to shake.
So tomorrow I will slow down.
 
#13 · (Edited)
http://youtu.be/IEPI_Ye9sL8
Slowing down. Six seconds after shake on left bird, 10 seconds after shake on middle bird

55 degrees with 20 mph north wind (left to right). Nothing went where we wanted because of the wind.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Takes a lot of guts to post these, and I appreciate it. I learn a lot from them.

On the marks in the first video, you raise your head and watch the marks go down instead of watching the dog to see if he head swung, etc. I am in the process of retraining myself on this as well after about watching the picture off of the Dave Rorem handling DVD. Not an issue that day, but if there was a flyer involved and you didn't know your dog was trying to swing to it instead of watching the other marks go down, you lose the opportunity to move at the line and help your dog. I have discovered my dog was doing lots of stuff I didn't know about because I wasn't watching him - I was watching the marks, which is otherwise known as his job. My job is to make sure he gets a good look at all of them, and I can't do both jobs at the same time.

On the water blind, it is hard to know because everybody casts a little differently, so take this with the understanding that I may be completely wrong. It looked like you were not allowing for the strong cross wind in making your casts. I am assuming you were asking for angle backs in both cases I saw, and when you did that with the wind you almost got an over whereas the same cast into the wind almost got you a straight back. Again, I don't know your casting style or your dog, but that's what it looked like to me in isolation. If you were asking for straight backs in both of these instances, then it looks like you did allow for it and got what you needed.

I have also been beat up on for doing what Ted pointed out, which is getting in a hurry when my dog returns.

Good looking dog for sure.
 
#17 · (Edited)
RT, I hear what Dave Rorem says. He is talking about a FT or hunt test situation where every bird, except the flyer, goes in the same place. When training alone or with only one other person you need to glance up as the winger goes off. Dennis Voigt and others
advocate this. In a FT or HT for instance the judges will tell you when there is a no-bird.
Maybe my glances were a little long. LOL!
I didn't understand your comments about the blind. I wasn't all that concerned about the wind. I was more concerned about a blind that I had run previously that was to the left. When lining him up for this blind he was glancing over toward the previously run blind.
Thanks for your comments as they are always welcome.
 
#18 ·
Wayne, I hear you that Rorem is talking about a test situation, and you certainly have a point about training alone and no birds, particularly in a wind like that.

On the blinds, I was wondering if you were getting some overcasting with the wind and undercasting into the wind. The suction of the other blind played into that as well I am sure.
 
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