training in fall/winter when you have to work?

[jgrammer]

Ok, so what do all of you that have to work during the daylight hours do for training your field dogs in the fall/winter. In the past, I have just trainined comp. obed. and agility and it was very easy to find ways to keep training either indoors or in the backyard. I have my first dog that is training for HT and she will be coming home for Oct-mid Jan. for the hunting season. Yeah, we will still get to go up for lessons once a week but what can you do during the week when it is dark when you head to work and dark when you come home. I have been trying to identify some lit up areas that might be large enough to do some drills but not finding too many. We will make the most of the weekends but still trying to figure out how to maintain the training daily. Or do you just have to back off?

Any thoughts from those of you that have been in the same predicament will be most apprecitated! Sorry if this sounds silly but I just don't want to lose the momentum.

Jean

[Swift River]

Hi,

For years I have used a horse riding arena. It works out fine. You can do all the drills you need to, wagon wheel, walking baseball, single and dble T etc. I have even put out fake christmas trees and decoys and run a "test".

It might be cold and drafty and you might have a litttle distraction (horse poop) on the ground here and there, but it beats the dark and snow/ice.

I also have to work around the people riding, but thats the way it goes.

Buck

[Steve Shaver]

Dude (or dudette) you have got to get your priorities straight. Quit work!

[Patrick Johndrow]

Find a school football field and see if you can get the maintenance guys to set the timer to go off about 7pm in the evenings.

Local roundup club and see if the will let you use there arena for a price.

Parking lots (clean ones..no glass or such) make good spots to run drills

[jgrammer]

Yeah, dudette speaking, someone has to pay for the food, vet and pro training! As I have always said....I work for my dogs . If I could quit, I would! In the mean time, I have to figure out something else. In a few years, maybe it will be an option. Jean

[jgrammer]

Lighted parking lots I think I can find. As for football fields, well we have the one the WSU Cougars practice on.....not seeming to do them much good so maybe I could get in there

Jean

[Flats3]

I've had luck renting the obedience/agility training centers when they're not in use. Even when they have classes they usually have an open ring that I can rent for $10-15 hour. They have plenty of room for drills but I can't use the whistle unless I have the whole facility to myself. Sometimes a group of us get together to rent the facilites on a Saturday morning.

Hal

[Legacy 6]

Hi,

For years I have used a horse riding arena. It works out fine. You can do all the drills you need to, wagon wheel, walking baseball, single and dble T etc. I have even put out fake christmas trees and decoys and run a "test".

It might be cold and drafty and you might have a litttle distraction (horse poop) on the ground here and there, but it beats the dark and snow/ice.

I also have to work around the people riding, but thats the way it goes.

Buck

As I work with horses daily... (see the Horses thread) I work in my sand pit training arena all the time. It's nice, but like Swift says above... the Horse poop sometimes provides nice distractions for my young dog.

[jgrammer]

I do have access to an arena that we use for agility, however it is during the daylight on Sat. And the horse poop has never been a problem (now I have probably hexed myself . On the weekend, I can think of lots of places to train, it's during the week I am concerned with (BTW, the arena we use is 50 min away). Jean

[Legacy 6]

the arena we use is 50 min away

Ouch...

Hmm. I think someone already suggested a lit HS football, soccer or baseball field?

Maybe there is a Elem/MS/HS gym you can use too?? If you're living in a "city" there might be some outdoor basketball courts they have lit until something like 10pm...??? Maybe?

It might sound stupid, as even as I think it it does, but they do make glow-in-the-dark bumpers as well. If you can at least work in twilight, those might be a good option to help you and the dog out.

Hmm, trying to think what else... Hmmm. If I think of anything else, I'll write again. OH!!! Have you tried looking up on google earth satelite view of your town/city for open fields? We have a few places behind some buildings that are lit by the back lights on the buildings... it's long and only about 100 yards wide, but that's good enough for some decent training sessions, and it has good changes in cover as well... You might just look around town... hmmm City Park parking lots rather than business parking lots????

I hope I helped more than I hindered... good luck!

Richard