Help with T work

[acemedic1]

Hey guys, I have a couple questions for yall.

I have an 11month old BLM that I am currently going through land T with. He has been through OB, FF, FTP, etc.. We spent a month or more on pile work getting it thoroughly engrained. After teaching and extending the pile, I forced to the back pile using low continuous for a few seconds and then switched to higher nicks at various distances from the pile. That all went great. We then went through mini T ( from front sit) with the back pile around 30-40 ft away for several days, then from heel for several more (all without pressure). That too went great. We are now on day 8 of the full land T with the back pile at 100yards and the 2 over piles around 40 yards from the line, 30yards off to the sides. Had to do a pretty good amount of teaching and simplifying at first because he was driving through to the back pile when I gave overs(im guessing because I CC'd the right and left backs during 3 handed casting, leaving out the overs).

Around day 5 I started getting a loopy sit and a little flaring. We worked through the flaring pretty easy and with help from a member here we are doing an 8 day drill to correct the loopy sit. Both yesterday and the day before we ran a 14 bumper (10 back, 2 on each overs) T almost flawlessly. Both days he took all casts correctly, only thing was the sit being a little loopy and slow (but getting better by the day). I have not used any direct pressure at this point on the full T, just indirect if he needed it. I was thinking that since we got the teaching part down I could start to add pressure and reinforce my backs enroute just to clean up the drill and pressure condition him to the commands again now that the overs piles are out and playing there part.

Question is, after I run a couple days with direct pressure to the back pile, when do I start teaching the other two over piles and start the double T? How clean should my lines and casts be before adding the double T? How proficient is your dog on the T before progressing?

I have been taking my time and on several occasions stepped back and redid some things I did not have down as well as I thought. I dont want to move on to the double T too soon, but I do want to keep it interesting for the dog.

Along with the yard work, we have been marking about 2 days a week. Still just simple singles on low cut grass, but I have been working in some factors and adding distance. Friday Scotch nailed his longest mark to date at 190yards across a terrace in the field and did it 4 times from different angles!!!...I was pretty pumped. Anyway sorry for the book, but wanted to give yall some background. thanks for your help!

[Steve Shaver]

Sounds to me like your doing a pretty good job.
I put out the second set of overs right off the bat when moving from a small mini T to the larger TT just so the dog is not stopping in the same place all the time. Doesnt sound like you should have a problem doing that now but I think you need to clean up the sit and the sooner the better.

[acemedic1]

Thanks man!...Should I stop the T work until I finish cleaning up the sit or can I continue to run it?.....part of me thinks I should stop for obvious reasons and not build a bad habit, the other part thinks that if I continue to correct the sit during T work (giving a No, here whistle to reline the sit whistle again) it will help the dog make the connection between the drill and actual work...dont know if im thinking along the right lines or not.

[Steve Shaver]

Thanks man!...Should I stop the T work until I finish cleaning up the sit or can I continue to run it?.....part of me thinks I should stop for obvious reasons and not build a bad habit, the other part thinks that if I continue to correct the sit during T work (giving a No, here whistle to reline the sit whistle again) it will help the dog make the connection between the drill and actual work...dont know if im thinking along the right lines or not.

Oh no the T is THE place to fix the sit. You can do a sit whistle drill away from the T also but you will still have to transition to the T field. Are you getting a crooked sit or a loopy sit or both. For a slow loopy sit I use a whistle nick whistle or sometimes a whistle and low continous till the but hits the ground then just a toot toot and a sit whistle if the dog is crooked. But again to me a big part of the design of the TT is to refine or fix things such as a slow or loopy sit.

[acemedic1]

Gotcha, Thanks man!