[Tommy Burford]

I will try to help give enough info to help with answers, so here goes. I am using the lardy method with my dog. We are in the middle of transition as far as drill work and field work with the exception of the following, a week before a junior test I let my son handle my dog and we ran singles. After the test I continued with drill work, and kept on running singles from multiple guns for about one month now. Today I set up an "easy" double as a sort of fun run to keep her spirit up. The memory bird was 50 yds and the go was 70, in light cover,seperated by 90 to 100 degrees, almost visible from the line with no apriciable wind. The go bird was very nice, back at the line she appeared to have the memory dialled in, but when released she missed it twenty feet and never slowed down, she is a fast dog and I was surprised by her action. While I was watching wondering what happend she hunted her heart out, out to about two hundred yards, then hunted back in to about 100 yds, sat and looked for direction. It wasn't a pop but a " I just can't find it, can you help?" I handled her to the bird. I had another winger loaded so i threw a 30 yd memory, heeled 90 degrees and hand threw a go bird. Again it was flawless. Then came the memory and she locked on, I released her and she didn't have a clue, she hunted around and eventually found the bird. Before I went to a strict diet of singles she was doing doubles well enought that I had started teaching triples. But, after a month of singles it is like day one ! There seems to be a fair number of proponents of throwing mostly singles. Did I not give her enough doubles before going to mostly singles. I was somewhat surprised that she could regress so quickly from where she was. From what she showed me today I need to go back and teach simple doubles. Anyone ever been here ? Any help would be appreciated. thank you.

 

[Hotchocolate]

First thing that comes to mind is female hormones,where is she regarding her heat cycle?

 

[James Yerby]

she's just rusty, simplify a little and she'll catch on again. I think a month is a little long to not run anything but singles & to expect her doubles to be crisp from the word go.

 

[winger]

was the terrain featureless? i've got a firebreathin heathen and he can over run stuff in featureless terrain real quick.

 

[Wayne Nutt]

Doing lots of singles is very important but don't completely forget about multiples. I do about 25% mulitples with the rest singles. From a practical point this is about one or two days a week on multiples. Some days are a mixture of singles and multiples.
As someone pointed out going a month with just single is a long time.

 

[Tommy Burford]

Thank you. We will revisit them in a teaching manner and not leave them cold for as long. Still learning, and a long way to go. Will let you know how it goes in a week or so.

 

[John Lash]

I call it "singleitus."

You do singles off multiple guns for a variety of reasons. Headswinging, or anticipating the second or third bird to the point of not paying attention to the first and second bird being one of the big reasons.

If you do it a lot you will notice that they tend to get good at the singles part and bad at the multiples part.

 

[JS]

I call it "singleitus."
.......

Or it could be called "balance".

To quote a famous dog guy: "Work to achieve balance in training. Training that enhances one aspect of training diminishes another (almost always)."

JS

 

[Tommy Burford]

Right on, John and JS. She had started a head swing, and marking had gone down as we moved into doubles and a few triples. Which precipitated the long time on singles. She will slap burn a hole in a single mark now and step on it. I too read "Balance in Training ". And it came back to me after we had our episode. Live and learn, thank goodness they are resillient and forgive our shortcomings. I will strive to give her the same ! Thanks for all the help and the encouragement that she can get it back. Great Forum !

 

[JS]

Right on, John and JS. She had started a head swing, and marking had gone down as we moved into doubles and a few triples. Which precipitated the long time on singles. She will slap burn a hole in a single mark now and step on it. I too read "Balance in Training ". And it came back to me after we had our episode. Live and learn, thank goodness they are resillient and forgive our shortcomings. I will strive to give her the same ! Thanks for all the help and the encouragement that she can get it back. Great Forum !

It is a lifelong thing in all aspects.

JS

 

[Evan]

Or it could be called "balance".

JS

TA-DA!!!

Often the case. And it usually is an easy fix.

Evan

 

[Tommy Burford]

Thanks for the reply Evan. It is incouraging to hear that it may not be hard to fix. Thanks also for willingness to share knowledge in "Smartworks". It has been a great tool when other systems weren't working. The more tools you got in your drawer, the more nuts you can turn ! (not calling dogs nuts)
thanks again

 

[Tommy Burford]

Yahoo ! Got my old dog back! Mind like a steel trap, well... almost. Taught doubles on the 28th, "real" doubles on the 29th, and she did well. Thanks to JS, John, Winger, Dutch, Hot Chocolate, and Evan for your replies ! Will do some singles for a few days and hit multiples again.