Last Friday we took the day off work to do some training and then head up to our cabin.  It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and the heat wave wasn’t yet in full swing.

Thunder and Storm worked on blinds, blinds, and more blinds.  Their blind work could be better, especially their water blinds.  Freighter got marks which we threw as back-to-back singles, just like he is going to see at the test.  He also got a mark where he had to swim and then get out of the water to retriever the bumper.   It seems like those kinds of marks are becoming more and more common in junior tests so we ran one just so he could see it.  He did fine on his marks so hopefully he is ready for his test.  Of course anything can happen when ducks are involved.  🙂

Today, some pictures of the dawgs’ water work.  Just looking at the pictures makes me feel cooler.  We are supposed to have temperatures in the 90’s all week and heat indexes into the high 90’s for Friday which is the first day of the hunt test.

Thunder Whistle Sit In The Water. The Blind Is Behind Him To The Right.
Thunder whistle sit in the water.  The blind was 125 yards and is behind him to the right.
Thunder has the blind.
Thunder has the blind.
Thunder can walk some parts of this pond.
Thunder can walk some parts of this pond.
Nice picture of Thunder swimming back with the bumper.
Nice picture of Thunder swimming back with the bumper.
Storm brought two bumpers back from the long water blind.
Storm brought two bumpers back from the long water blind.
Another water blind for Storm.
Another water blind for Storm.
There are feathers in the water. Was a nice distraction at the start of the blind. Both dogs wanted to check out the feathers, but eventually their handler convinced them to leave them alone and follow his casts.
There are feathers in the water. It was a nice distraction at the start of the blind. Both dogs wanted to check out the feathers, but eventually their handler convinced them to leave the feathers alone and follow his casts.
Nice job Storm!
Nice job Storm!
Freighter got water marks. He was swimming hard toward this one that was just past some dead trees.
Freighter got water marks. He was swimming hard toward this one that was just past some dead trees.
Good job Freighter and a bunch of pond weeds too.
Good job Freighter.  He got the bumper and a bunch of pond weeds too.
Freighter headed to another mark.
Freighter headed to another mark.  We set up some long swims for him.  He did great on those.  He likes to swim.
It was starting to get kind of steamy. Oh no that is just Freighter shaking the water off.
It was starting to get kind of steamy. Oh no that is just Freighter shaking the water off.

Thursday I will some pictures of their land work.  This week is going to be heavy on pictures so that I can catch up reading and commenting on your blogs.  🙂

33 thoughts on “Trying To Feel Cooler”

  1. with the heat here in Michigan they are lucky to be in the water. No cool off my furiend until I think Friday. Today 92, tomorrow 93, Thurs 91………I am going NO WHERE………keep cool.

  4. Great pictures! You got one of Thunder with water coming off his tail, I love water droplet pictures. The weeds look like they are thick, it is hard for dogs to swim through that stuff but good conditioning exercises. Yeah Storm bringing back 2 bumpers, Norman loves to do that, he ain’t no dummy if I bring back 2 I don’t have to make another trip! Have a cool day.

    1. Storm reminded me of Norman when she brought the two bumpers back. First time she ever did that. Usually she shops until she finds one just right! lol

  5. Great that you got a chance to go up to your cabin and the dogs got a chance to cool off while having fun training. I hope the predictions are wrong and it cools off some for your upcoming test. 🙂

    1. Yes. AKC Junior. He has two legs and needs two more. He isn’t ready for Senior yet, so we figured we would try and finish his JH. It will tell us where he is and give him an opportunity to run some hunt tests this year.

      1. Oh! Hunt tests are 4 legs. 3 legs never made sense. A three-legged dog would never be allowed in competition! 😉

        1. LOL UKC Seasoned tests need only three legs if the dog has its Started title. Don’t ask. It is confusing. 🙂

  7. Those photos made me feel cooler too! The photo of Thunder in a whistle sit in the water…does that mean Thunder is really sitting in the water?!? Oh dear dog…I hate the water and could never sit still in there. Some really great photos today!

    1. With Thunder it depends on how deep the water is. 🙂 But usually they are treading water, however the verbal command is “sit”.

  10. We are in a 4 day heat wave with temps in the 90’s and a dewpoints in the 70’s. We are now getting warnings about that dangerous algae in the water. Do you have to worry about that with the dogs or do they just ignore it? Here in MN several dogs die every year from ingesting it.

    1. Yes, we have to look for it and would not swim our dogs in a pond that has it. I have never seen it on this property in all the years we have been going out there.

  11. So he didn’t really SIT in the water, did he? It’s just a term that means, stop, turn around and look at me when in water, yes? LOL

    We are in a brutal heat wave too, it’s like swimming through soup outside. Disgusting. We are expecting cooler temperatures in a few days, so I hope you get those too!

    1. The verbal command in the field is to “sit” which mean stop and turn around and wait for a cast. The whistle blast also means the same. We also use “sit” as a stay. “Sit” means stop, sit, and don’t move until released.

  13. I feel cooler just looking at these pics. Keep em coming. I don’t mind that the posts are heavy on pics, especially if Thunder, Storm, and Freighter are the subjects. Funny how Freighter picked up a bunch of weeds too. 🙂

  14. I think everyone is living in Florida this summer…in fact most of you have hotter weather than we do right now (though maybe not our humidity) One thing that used to bother me a lot at our Hunt Tests was when folks would leave their dogs in the car with the AC running all day, only bringing them out to run their test…Seemed so wrong to shock their systems like that

    1. You saw that too? That makes me crazy. Best just supply shade and water and fans if possible and skip the ac.

  15. Swimming does look nice right about now. It cooled down yesterday quite a bit but looks as though the heat is back today. Still not as hot as normal though.

  16. Loved reading this post and all of the comments. My humans and I are very sorry that so much of the US is getting our Gulf Coast weather. We know how miserable it is and completely sympathize with you. Down here, we just live for October, which means cooler temps and the end of the active part of hurricane season. Until then, doggy activities are limited to very, very early in the morning and after sunset.

  17. Hi Y’all!

    I’ll be rootin’ for Freighter Friday! Storm and Thunder should do great too.

    Y’all come back now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  21. Hey Freighter

    So nice of you to save some of the water so you could share it in a shower and everyone could cool off too! 🙂

    Have fun

    Your pal Snoopy 🙂

  22. Hanging out in the water is sure one way to stay cool 🙂 Is it humid where you live? It’s not very humid here but I know anything over 80 degrees starts to feel uncomfortable to me.

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