Well it's Monday and Hudson passes his first Seasoned Test on Saturday and Sunday. He passed both days which I am really excited about, but I did see something that I need to work on.
In all of my blind work w/ him thus far, (I run Seasoned and Finished level blinds in training) I have used bumpers. I did not think about the affect this might have. He has been through swim-by and all that and handles great. But what I noticed at the test was that when I get him close to the blind (about a 10-20 ft. radius) he smells it and is way more likely to slip the whistle. part of this may be my fault b/c on two of the blinds I whistled for him to sit when he obviously smelled it and would have gone to it. So I am going to start training w/ birds at the blind pole and doing sit nick sit if he does refuses the whistle in the vicinity of the blind. Is this a pretty common thing?
Also, what is the thought process of judges on this? For example if the dog takes 3-4 casts to get the area of the blind and is running off line by say 15 ft. and the handler just lets the dog wind it and go over and pick it up, is that ok? I think I may be trying to handle the dog too perfectly to the blind, I.E making him step on it. How much room for hunting at the Finished level is there? I don't want to eliminate his hunting instinct, I mean when we are duck hunting there is no blind pole and he may know better than I do where the duck is when he gets in the area. So could I get some input on how to handle a dog around the blind, say in a 20-25 ft area?
Thanks.
I am very happy to get the Seasoned passes and only need one more for the title but I want to make sure I am training for the next level!
In all of my blind work w/ him thus far, (I run Seasoned and Finished level blinds in training) I have used bumpers. I did not think about the affect this might have. He has been through swim-by and all that and handles great. But what I noticed at the test was that when I get him close to the blind (about a 10-20 ft. radius) he smells it and is way more likely to slip the whistle. part of this may be my fault b/c on two of the blinds I whistled for him to sit when he obviously smelled it and would have gone to it. So I am going to start training w/ birds at the blind pole and doing sit nick sit if he does refuses the whistle in the vicinity of the blind. Is this a pretty common thing?
Also, what is the thought process of judges on this? For example if the dog takes 3-4 casts to get the area of the blind and is running off line by say 15 ft. and the handler just lets the dog wind it and go over and pick it up, is that ok? I think I may be trying to handle the dog too perfectly to the blind, I.E making him step on it. How much room for hunting at the Finished level is there? I don't want to eliminate his hunting instinct, I mean when we are duck hunting there is no blind pole and he may know better than I do where the duck is when he gets in the area. So could I get some input on how to handle a dog around the blind, say in a 20-25 ft area?
Thanks.
I am very happy to get the Seasoned passes and only need one more for the title but I want to make sure I am training for the next level!