The weather was absolutely beautiful for training on Saturday.  The temperature was in the 40’s, with no wind and sunny skies. The nice weather brought a great turn-out.  The set ups were difficult.  Yep, it was definitely training for big dogs.

We worked on a series of double marks with the gunners standing in line and throwing black or black and white bumpers right and left.  The far mark was thrown first and the close mark thrown second.  These marks were difficult because of the position of the gunners (shown by a black box) and because the dogs had to run past the close gunner to pick up the far mark.  This set-up kind of messes with the dog’s memory and comfort level.

First Series (Order bumpers are thrown in white. Order to pick up the bumpers in black.)

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Series 2 (Order bumpers are thrown in white. Order to pick up the bumpers in black.)

Both Storm and Thunder had trouble with these doubles.  Storm had no trouble picking up the close mark, but had trouble pushing past the short gunner to the far mark on the first series.  The second series sort of blew her mind and she had to really hunt for the long mark.

Storm Watching Marks Fall–First Series

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Storm Nailed The Short Mark–First Series

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Here She Comes

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Good Girl

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Storm Going For The Long Mark–First Series

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She Finally Got It

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Storm

Next was Thunder’s turn.  The first series, he could not find the short mark to save his life, but nailed the longer mark.  I don’t know if he didn’t mark it, or if he just had a bit of Spring fever and wanted to sniff around the field.  He had no trouble on the long mark for the first series.  The second series, he got that short mark, but had to really hunt for the long mark.

Thunder Waiting For Marks–First Series

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Off To The Short Mark–First Series

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Thunder Finally Got The Short Mark

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Thunder Got The Long Mark No Problem

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Good Boy

Since both Thunder and Storm were having trouble with these doubles, we ran the last series as two singles.  Storm had a bit of trouble with them which is not her normal.  Thunder nailed these singles.

Series 3–Thunder and Storm ran as two singles.  Short mark first and long mark second. (If run as a double, order bumpers were thrown is in white. Order to pick up the bumpers in black.)

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Thunder

Finally we did a drill.  The black bumpers were put away and we used only white bumpers.  Two piles were set out on either side of two seated gunners.  The idea was to work with communication between the handler and the dog to line them to each pile.  The dogs were sent on their names rather than the usual “back” because as the trainer explained, sometimes you will need to send the dog to a mark that they may not remember seeing and you will use their name.  The idea is to point them in the direction and hopefully they will run in a straight line and run into the mark.  In the higher level tests lining and getting those nice long lines are key.

This was the set up:

Lining Drill (Gunners are shown by squares and white bumpers are indicated.)

Again the dogs had to pick up a bumper that was placed even with a gunner.  This can throw a dog off.  Each dog went through this drill twice, picking up a bumper from a pile (right or left) and then picking up one from the other pile, and then repeating it again.  Storm was a bit confused by her handler sending her on her name rather than a “back” command.  After she understood, she did OK, except she had a bit of trouble picking up a bumper from the left pile the second time around.  It could have been how her handler lined her.

You have read this whole thing and wondered where the heck is the mischief?  Thunder did the drill great the first time and had no trouble picking up a bumper from the right pile the second time around.  However, he was the last dog  for the day and he just would not pick up a bumper from that left pile the second time around.  His handler ended up handling him to the pile, but he just kept passing over it.  He must have looked at those bumpers three times.  Maybe he was asserting his Chessie-ness.  Maybe it was revenge for bringing a puppy home.  Whatever it was, he acted like he just could not see that big pile of white bumpers right in front of him.  But guess what?  He was made to stay out there with whistle sit after whistle sit until he finally picked one of those bumpers up.  Mischief or not, that wrapped up the training for another Saturday.

Monday Mischief

This is a Blog Hop.  Thanks to  Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, Luna, a Dog’s Life, and My Brown Newfies for setting up this hop.  Please go to any of the sponsoring blogs to find out who else has been mischievous.

Tomorrow how Freighter enjoyed going to his first training day.

28 thoughts on “Monday Mischief–Big Dog Training”

  1. It sounds like you had quite the training day Saturday. I’m still amazed at how smart Storm and Thunder are. Those training exercises would have me confused! I had to laugh at Thunder not wanting to pick up or acknowledge the last white pile of markers. Payback! LOL!

  3. Hi Y’all!

    Hey Thunder, if I don’t want to pick it up, I go pee, then sniff around. But the end result is still the same…eventually I still have to go pick it up…but at least I’ve proved I’ll do it in my own good time!

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  4. All of that sounds confusing even to me. Ha, ha. It sounds like they were given a big challenge and did fairly well. Maybe they will get them all right next time.

  5. Hey Guys,

    That sounds like a big day of training – you make me laugh Thunder with your Mischief – way to go buddy!! You showed them!! Tee Hee

    Maybe you both had Freighter on your mind and you were missing him? 🙂

    Have fun,

    Your pal Snoopy 🙂

  7. You mean WE’RE not the only bteed that doesn’t follow directions when we don’t want to?!? Good to know!!

    -Bart and Ruby

  8. Storm, Thunder,
    you guys are so smart! Great job!!!

    The lining drill diagram looks like a smiley face 🙂

  9. Well, I sure don’t understand it all, but it sure looks like you were learning something outside!
    Lovies, Miss Mindy

  10. Well after never having a tracking or gun dog I was totally confused. Thunder and Storm seemed to understand what they were required to do. Looked like the day was pretty much a success, but I understand there can be no mess ups. Thunder did decide to skip the last white bumper (what bumper??) but after being there a while felt he had proved his point and wanted to go. Great job Thunder and Storm!!

    1. Thunder and Storm are training for the next level of tests, the highest level. They need to be able to fetch a triple (three birds thrown in the field) to pass. We were only doing doubles (two thrown) and they were having trouble remembering and fetching them. We have a lot of work to do with them before we can run tests. 🙂

  12. Oh man, took Mum a while to figure out what you had too do, looks like lots of hard work for you guys, your both so clever!

    Dante struggles to bring a ball back, BOL.

    Slobbers
    xxx

  13. I love Thunder’s mischief! When you say you direct the dog to the bumper, do you actually have the dog look at you and you point to where you want them to go, or do you give them commands like left, right?

    And did you bring a little puppy with you to watch the big dogs play?

    1. It would be just like handling them on a blind retrieve. We would use a whistle sit and “over” (right or left), “back” to send them backward, and a recall whistle to call them closer.

      Tomorrow’s post is on what Freighter thought of training. 🙂

  14. Love the action shots. Glad you had a great day to be outside. It has been a sort of mild winter here too!

    Doggy Kisses,
    Tanner

  15. Ah, so Chessies have a bit of a stubborn streak also!!! Great pictures and great training techniques… Its great to learn how this is done. 🙂

    Your friends,
    The Collies and Chuck 🙂

  19. I wonder if Thunder is protesting? I have to say that I love his stubbornness just a bit, but I am sure that this is not what you like to see here!
    I have a question-In the first 2 pictures of Storm, what is up with the dog sitting behind the barrier? Is that the next dog up?

  22. It’s good that your handler didn’t let Thunder get away with his little act of rebellion, otherwise he’d know he had a new trick that works! I always wonder what gets into our pups’ heads when they get really stubborn like that. Otherwise, it sounds like he did very well that day. 🙂

  23. We looked at all these wonderful pictures and wondered where the mischief was…glad you explained. It has to be so much fun watching them train. Hugs and nose kisses

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