What training problems keep you up at night?

Lack of land, including water. No experienced group to train with. Which both add up to lack of knowledge and experience! I’m sure you’re looking for more specific challenges, but these are my reality.

From running and judging lately the three things I see causing problems across the board are:
1. Short retired thrown at flyer, especially a hen pheasant short bird.
2. A sluice water blind with a relatively long entry on land.
3. A long, retired punch bird pretty tight to the flyer.

Great Stuff. Thanks for your quick reply.

PatBurns said:

Great Stuff. Thanks for your quick reply.

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PatBurns said:

Great Stuff. Thanks for your quick reply.

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One of my shortfalls was a retired checkdown bird that was well placed at waters edge with a longer bird out in the field. Another is pil due to contrary conditions on water blind with young dog, my 360 degree heeling drill and wagon wheel drill being overcome by conditions. Third is basics breakdown due to over handling on marks.

Jerry S. said:

3. A long, retired punch bird pretty tight to the flyer.

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This.

After watching Retrieving for Love, I realized I need to incorporate ABCD drill into my training every 1-2 weeks along with X marking drill.

Many answers can be forthcoming as we re all
on different spots on the journeys of life and dog training
a great question

Noise, Noise and Noise

2tall said:

Lack of land, including water. No experienced group to train with.

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Along with this, when I get the rare opportunity to train on tech water that has been built specifically for training --- what to work on, because usually it is for a day only (or two setups, for the dog's sake) and how to do accomplish the most, training alone?

As for specific training - as I shift my training perspectives, I find myself now thinking of how I can incorporate/combine and then phase out marker training in force fetch and collar work (Pat Nolan'ish) and if it will have the effect(s) I am looking for.

1. Knowing when a concept or behavior has successfully been taught, so that I can move on to something else. I don't want to stay on something too long and get the dog out of balance, but I want to finish the lesson and have the dog able to generalize it.
2. Achieving and maintaining the optimum success rate for my now 16 month old.
3. Being consistent myself.

Great question!

1. Lack of a training group. My sweet gentle Maggie fell apart running test dog in a AKC/HT last weekend. I never saw her behave like that before, but the test WAS super exciting - more duck calling that I've ever seen in a test. The excitement is impossible to simulate alone, but I'm going to try to get creative.

2. Loose control at the end of blinds. My fault and I need to work on it with all my dogs.

3. Slowing me and the dog down on various things. Bad training alone habits where I need a whistle, duck call, controller, heeling stick, blank gun - more than I can handle. OK at home, magnified at tests.

There's more...

ABC
Attitude Balance Control
When one rule should be eased up or stiffened up for the sake of the other.

CLEARLY….I repeat, CLEARLY understanding the communication between my dog & I. Breaking down a problem that has come up into small parts so I can communicate with her. How do you really know a dog is “Collar Conditioned?” I feel that phase is thrown around, but is it really truly understood at an individual dog basis? I want to learn it at a deeper level.

Doesn't keep me up at night but on blinds, taking and holding casts into water, wind, cover, uphill or any combination of those factors at considerable distances.
On marks it's head swinging. Not watching the marks all the way to the ground.
From what I have seen, those are the top two reasons for a dogs failing tests.

Having a regular day job that interferes with my training schedule
Knowing my dog has more potential then I do as a trainer
Not enough sessions with others to shoot live fliers and honor those...

Improving memory in my 2 current competitive dogs.

My 3 biggest challenges keeping me from being more successful in field trials?
Time, money, and talent. More specifically, I struggle with striking the right balance between challenging the dogs versus maintaining confidence. What's the right formula for the dog to perform best on the weekend? You can run singles (or combo tests) until the cows come home but they won't make the dog remember the third bird of the triple. You can do triples all the time, but if the tests have any kind of meat to them, the dog's confidence will eventually suffer and they won't be as sharp. Maybe the balance changes depending on the dog and your training. Perhaps if I shot 2 or 3 flyers a week, I could push the dogs more.

Another issue I struggle with is evaluation of talent. Am I getting the most out of my dogs and they fall short because they just don't measure up or is there a higher level we could achieve with better methods or resources?

H2O_Control_guy said:

Noise, Noise and Noise

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Here is the link to the MasterClass I did with Paul Sletten on noise. Elite Retrievers

Pat Burns said:

Here is the link to the MasterClass I did with Paul Sletten on noise. Elite Retrievers

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You'll have to sign up for free & then you can scroll through the Purina MasterClass Library. Look for the one with Paul Sletten.