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#21 ·
I prefer to train alone or with only one other person, the reason being that in any training group there is a certain pecking order that is established and low dog on that order seems to get short changed. case in point, yrs ago when I was starting out with my own dog I was low man on the totem pole and never seemed to get what I wanted out of the training sessions, even on my own lease...fast forward to a future session and I showed up with my brother's titled dog then it seemed that my group all wanted to test themselves against the titled dog...needless to say I have been a loner on the training field since those days...I do however like to help others train but without my dog present,this way I can be of help with their agenda
 
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#23 ·
bonbonjovi said:
I prefer to train alone or with only one other person, the reason being that in any training group there is a certain pecking order that is established and low dog on that order seems to get short changed. ..needless to say I have been a loner on the training field since those days...I do however like to help others train but /quote]

Amen to that!
There seems to be a lot of this going around in certain areas. It's absolute BS! We are all there to train our dogs and improve their/our skills in the process, and NOT try and WIN the training session;which is meaningless.
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Discussion starter · #24 · (Edited)
Doug Main said:
M,

All your marks do not have to be singles. I do a lot of multiple marks where I walk, from mark to mark, and then to the line to send the dog.
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Do you do what Tim suggests and use stick men?

Are there any disadvantages in terms of the time spent between throwing the marks and returning to line? Someone else mentioned that the dog really gets a breather while you're walking off to the next mark and when I'm throwing the singles that's how I feel. I'm really hiking out there! To expand on the question: is there a disadvantage in terms of focus & memory when the dog is watching the mark thrown, watching you walk to the next mark(s), throw, return to line. Is there a danger in starting to see backsiding the gun or wider hunts, etc.? Or-should they be capable of holding the picture? He's a good marker & very good on retired guns, etc.,-I just want to keep his success rate high on marks-challenge, but not set him up for failure.

I do know that having my wingers back in action is going to be a Godsend!

I appreciate ALL the replies-very helpful and encouraging. Makes me feel this is not only doable, but how many of you who train your own dogs get it done.

THANKS!

M

Carol-Finn says "Hey!" back at ya! :)
 
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#25 ·
Miriam Wade said:
Do you do what Tim suggests and use stick men?
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Yes, I do what Tim does a lot (use the 4-wheeler and drive from station to station).

As far as using stick men, it depends on the dog and what I am wanting to work on. With a younger dog, I'll use more stick men. With an older dog, I'll use them depending on what I'm working on. If I want to train on short retired guns, I'll put stick men on long guns to add difficulty and suction. Conversley, if I want to train on long retired guns I may make them run past a couple stick men set up short.
Miriam Wade said:
Are there any disadvantages in terms of the time spent between throwing the marks and returning to line? To expand on the question: is there a disadvantage in terms of focus & memory when the dog is watching the mark thrown, watching you walk to the next mark(s), throw, return to line. Is there a danger in starting to see backsiding the gun or wider hunts, etc.? Or-should they be capable of holding the picture?
Click to expand...
I actually think training alone in this way increases the dog's focus and memory. I am the only one in the field for the dog to focus on. There is no other gunner to head swing to, all the dog's focus is on me and the bird I threw.

Walking back to the line, and sending the dog forces the dog to increase it's memory. Doing multiple marks stretches the memory even further. Obviously, if the hunts are getting too big, you simplify the setup.

I really like walking back to the line to send the dog. It allows you to work on a lot of communication with the dog that you would not be able to otherwise, like cuing the dog on shot retired guns, loud sends with your hand for long retired guns, secondary selection, and even handling the dog which fails to fight a factor.

Of course like Howard said, you still need plenty of setups with multiple gunners in the field.
 
#26 ·
Dennis-if you're still on here-do you have advice for when you are training only one dog? Sometimes I think I cram things together too quickly because there aren't other dogs to run to give him down time between setups. What do you do for a breather in between setups? Onward & Upward! M[/quote said:
Miriam, One of the things you can do training alone are the versatile, valuable and often [for me] under utilized wagon wheel drills. Also push pull drills. They can be done in most suburban settings as they don't take much space; and are really good drills that can really build teamwork and help in moving cohesively as a team at the line.

Additionally, they aren't very taxing physically and can be used in between setups for a partial breather, and to break things up a bit.
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#27 ·
This morning since time was limited and I was by myself, I got the bright idea of taking the dog with me while I planted blinds from my bicycle. The first one took a narrow angle into and through a big ditch, back into the woods, about 90 yards. The second was straight across a mowed lawn but the line ran between picnic tables and trees and was planted in the edge of the woods in some leaves, about 100 yards, and the last one was from corner to corner of the field but with some close together "picture frame" type trees to run through, close to 150 yards here I think.

Anyway he heeled well with the bike but did get to see each one planted. I ran them out of order from how we placed them, but it was obvious to me he remembered them as "marks" by the way he lined out for them. I did get some good handling in, keeping him between the trees, stopping short of the blind, etc. but in the end I am not sure this is a set up I should repeat. What am I doing here, delayed marks or some sort of pattern blind? Is there a better way seeing as I don't have a hiding place for the dog?
 
#28 ·
before you plant blind throw a bumper drop blind and recieve dog in another spot
 
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#29 ·
Doug Main said:
I actually think training alone in this way increases the dog's focus and memory.
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I'll second what Doug has stated. I train alone a lot, 99.9% of the time. Most of my training is done at a gravel pit that has been turned into a city park. No guns and I'm the bird boy. My current dog has been trained this way 100%. We don't play any retriever games and he isn't trained to the level of Dennis' of Dougs' dogs. But, he is as capable as any dog I have trained.

Some of the city workers have gotten to know us and will sometimes stop to watch us do a long blind. There are sometimes added, unanticipated distractions though. After planting the last water blind of the year a couple of fly fisherman worked their way between me and the dog. This usually isn't a problem except they were wearing whiter clothes than me. Everytime I stopped Muddy he would turn and look at the fisherman instead of me. It took me a while to figure out what he was doing. I called him back and we walk around the pond some and ran a different blind.

Be creative and you will be surprised just what you can do.

Tom
 
#30 ·
Kristie Wilder said:
I wish you would put together a "boxed set" of training alone articles -- kine of like Mike's training books. Then you won't have to worry about writing the book mentioned, at least for now. :)
-K
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"We" have plans for all sorts of things but it seems enjoying dogs, ducks, deer and horses keep getting in the way. The Training Retrievers Alone DVD project is still very much alive as we have finished filming but still working on sound and editing. I once predicted Christmas time but no way and I won't make another prediction.

I can tell you that there will be a quite comprehensive manual with it so that some of the content of my TRA articles will be included.

Eventually, we hope to develop a series of "BEST of ONLINE" --collections on topics such as Marking, Blinds and Handling, Favorite set-ups and Favorite Drills.

Meanwhile, the commitment to get our bi-monthly issues of Retrievers ONLINE out remains a regular challenge. Perhaps, s!me of you may have experienced the phenomenon of getting busier than ever after retirement.

Cheers

PS. Some very good suggestions spread throughout this thread. Beware, like all training, some procedures work better for some than others.
 
#31 ·
I have trained alone for many years and prefer it most of the time because there are no hassles with arranging schedules, changing setups for every dog, down time while you throw for others etc. etc. My older dog was not a problem training alone because he was so laid back and did not get hyped up at tests. My young dog is a high roller and I have seen a definite disadvantage with too much training alone. With her I have to simulate test/trial conditions as much as possible with holding blinds, stick men, remote wingers, dummy laucher. She just gets too wound up at tests/trials and I have to work on line manners and control constantly. I now train with a group when possible but still spend about 80% of my training by myself. Lots of stand-alones mixed with blinds. I just start at the truck and move around the property running marks, dropping blinds and working on concepts like angle entries, fighting factors, etc. I use an 8-shot pistol and when I run out of shots it's usually time to quit if it's cool. When it's hot I keep an eye on the dog and cut it short if they get too warm. Like the others have said, you can get a lot done by yourself in a relatively short time.
 
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#32 ·
moscowitz said:
before you plant blind throw a bumper drop blind and recieve dog in another spot
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Mike, I can not throw a bumper far enough for my dog not to get back with it before I move far enough to "hide" the blind. Serious!
 
#34 ·
Carol,
You mentioned the placement of 3 blinds in this field, How tight were these blinds? How big is the field?
Could you place 6 blinds setting up a land blind "tune up"? You may place these as you ride around in order (making some short, some long, some squaring some at angles to that ditch) but picking up the 6 in a random order will help take the memory aspect out of it.

Tim
 
Discussion starter · #36 ·
Tim Carrion said:
Carol,
You mentioned the placement of 3 blinds in this field, How tight were these blinds? How big is the field?
Could you place 6 blinds setting up a land blind "tune up"? You may place these as you ride around in order (making some short, some long, some squaring some at angles to that ditch) but picking up the 6 in a random order will help take the memory aspect out of it.

Tim
Click to expand...
Carol-

The other thing I've done-along w/ Tim's suggestion is something that I think in Carol Cassity's book is called a swish drill. Bumpers (I use brds when I can) in a pile-I like a half dozen too. The destination remains the same, but you are rotating around the field so that each line/blind incorporates a different factor-just like what Tim described above-water. cover, angles, etc. It's proven to be a very, very good drill and when you're training alone -it makes it easier to plant that one pile (not that I don't do multiple/separate blinds too) & if you have the right field (mine is great w/ lots of cover changes, interesting pond, etc) you can get a LOT out of this.

As for Mike's suggestion about throwing a bumper for your dog so you can plant a blind-you really don't have to throw it far at all-it's just so that you have time to pitch the bumper behind you & keep walking. I have a field that I have to walk into quite a ways, so it's not practical to leave my dog in the vehicle to set things up. So in that field I do have him with me when I'm planting the blinds, but the "bumper toss" works. Just make sure that since you likely won't be able to take time to tie a ribbon that you choose something in the landscape so you know exactly where you've planted your blind.

M
 
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Discussion starter · #37 ·
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#39 ·
Lucky guy and she can shoot too.
 
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Miriam Wade
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