It’s Follow-up Friday.  The blog hop that:

Let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Thank you to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog for asking me to co-host the hop.  It is always so much fun!

Follow-up Friday 8-2-13

The dogs’ obedience tune up is coming along nicely.  Of course we aren’t using live guns or ducks.

I wanted to clarify something.  We aren’t teaching the dogs a “back-up” command exactly.  What we would like to see, is that they stay on the left side of the handler, however they get there.  They don’t have to move exactly at heel as long as they make an effort to move with the handler.

Pam asked:  But, I do have one that you’ve probably covered a long, long time ago… long before I discovered your blog: What first got you started with hunt training? What was your first experience with it that made you know you wanted to have retrievers and train them as hunt dogs?

I appreciate the question.  It is one of the most often asked questions.  It just so happens that a year ago I wrote a post about it after Thunder finished his Working Dog Qualified certification.  I warn you it is quite long but tells our story:  From WD To WDQ

So many of you asked about the correct way to hold a bumper.  Hopefully you didn’t miss our Monday Mischief post where the mystery of bumper holding is explained.  🙂

Monday Mischief–Get A Grip

Doggy’s Style asked:  How heavy are the bumpers?

They are not heavy at all.  They are made of plastic.  I can easily carry a bucket full of bumpers across a field when we train.  The birds are heavier than either the small or large hex bumpers.  But birds are not that heavy either.

Donna  asked:  Do they get penalized on a test for dropping the bumper as long as they pick it up again? Do they get penalized for holding the bumpers wrong?

Jessica Rhae (@YDWWYW) asked:  I imagine they might also be trained where to hold the bumper because they have to hold the retrieved bird in a very specific place too?

Pam asked:  I think someone else asked this too, but do they get penalized if they do an improper hold during a test?

Jessica is correct.  At a test they are retrieving actual ducks but they don’t have to hold them (or the bumpers) in a specific place.  Carrying the birds seems more instinctive because despite how our dogs carry the bumpers during training, they seem to carry a duck (or a pheasant) properly.

At the Junior level the dogs are granted more leeway should they drop the duck, less at Seniors, and very little at Masters.  That is why it is better for them to hold the bumper in such a way that they don’t drop it during training.  You need to figure out if the bumper dropping is an issue that you have to correct or just a lazy hold that won’t be repeated with a bird at a test.

I had to laugh.  Monday evening we went out training and Storm picked up a bumper by the rope.  It proceeded to slap her in the face several times.  She is pretty clever because she adjusted her grip on the bumper as she was running so it wasn’t slapping her anymore.  She never stopped and did not drop it.  Sorry no pictures, I did not have my camera with me that session (darn).

Am I A Senior Dog?

Thunder is relieved to know that you don’t think he is a senior.  You may have noticed that he has a bit of grey/white around his muzzle.  He also has some on his belly.  His color hides it pretty well.  Storm has more, or maybe it just shows more because she is a darker brown.  It is not uncommon for Chessies to grey prematurely.

Wordless Wednesday–Drive

We have been working on Freighter’s return with the duck so that hopefully he knows to come straight back with it and not mess around or drop it at a test.  To work on this we picked a pond with a bank which has a drop off because we wanted to make it more difficult for him to get out of the pond, (compared to one with a sloping bank).  The idea is to practice this enough so he understands the proper way to bring the duck back.

He did quite a few in a row, which meant he was able to launch several times which was fine with him.

This ‘N That Thursday

I probably should have clarified that the AKC and the UKC both send certificates for any titles that the dogs complete.  My husband belongs to an HRC club and they also give a plaque for titles.  We also belong to an AKC club and they give a plaque for hunt titles the dogs earn.  Long time readers might remember these plaques from for titles earned in 2011.  I have since put pictures into the empty slots of the two AKC plaques.  They look really nice on the wall.

Gizmo asked:  One question…I can see where you got “Storm” from her registered name…How did “Freighter” come about?

Freighter’s name comes from a line in the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” about a “freighter” that sunk in Lake Superior in 1975.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

when the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more

than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,

that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

when the “Gales of November” came early.

We have tried to keep to a Great Lakes theme in our dogs’ names and include some form of the word “north”.

Finally, Donna commented:  I agree that Storm doesn’t look too thrilled about it. Maybe she’s worried she still has some prego-pounds to lose?

Maybe.  What do you think?

We plan to get out for a lot of training this weekend.  Thunder and Storm have a test next weekend so we need to work them.  The weather is supposed to be nice and not too warm.

Have a nice weekend!

Many thanks to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog for asking me to co-host!

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