With daylight savings time kicking in I am leaving for work in the dark and returning home in the dark. I thought I could do some simple casting drills in a grassy area near the high school gym that has lights on it at night. The problem is the dog really seems to be struggling with the whole idea. Has anyone else tried training under artificial lighting and would it confuse the dog?
GregD
Oh man, used to all the time...almost a necessity for alaskans with day jobs... Problem is that the asphalt in the parking areas is just too hard on a dog. If you plan on continuing at the ball field just keep things short and simple until your dog becomes comfortable with the new surroundings... probably won't take long.
As the guys say, it's pretty common currency; I've done the soccer pitch thing and it was fine. A mate took a Springer virtually to Field Trial level doing the same, so there it isn't any fundamental reason why it isn't working out for you.
One thing you might care to check out is the position of the lights relative to your dogs eyes. Because he's lower down than us, he has to look up at a greater angle to see anything that's in the air, and the lights will tend to blind him. He hasn't learned yet how to handle this by turning his head a bit and looking away from the glare.
For the main part I only used plain white dummies which have more contrast than the others; worth a shot.
In short, do as Tobias suggests, and let Fido get used to the idea. Iffen it was me I'd forget anything flying through the air for a while to avoid the possible dazzling / puzzling stuff and concentrate on obedience work; walking to heel off lead, sit /stay, recall, whistle sits at distance, plus a few memory retrieves of dummies dropped as you walk along, rather than throwing them. When you're happy with that throw dummies away from the lights rather than towards them for a bit.
It'll come good, best of luck,
Eug
One thing you might care to check out is the position of the lights relative to your dogs eyes. Because he's lower down than us, he has to look up at a greater angle to see anything that's in the air, and the lights will tend to blind him. He hasn't learned yet how to handle this by turning his head a bit and looking away from the glare.
For the main part I only used plain white dummies which have more contrast than the others; worth a shot.
In short, do as Tobias suggests, and let Fido get used to the idea. Iffen it was me I'd forget anything flying through the air for a while to avoid the possible dazzling / puzzling stuff and concentrate on obedience work; walking to heel off lead, sit /stay, recall, whistle sits at distance, plus a few memory retrieves of dummies dropped as you walk along, rather than throwing them. When you're happy with that throw dummies away from the lights rather than towards them for a bit.
It'll come good, best of luck,
Eug
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