I am still recovering from last weekend’s test.  Unlike Junior and Senior tests, Master tests can be a marathon because they take so long and require three series.  Last weekend, the first Master series started at 8:30 am on Friday and finished around 6pm.  The second series started at 8am on Saturday and finished up after 8pm.  The third series was on Sunday.  Since this was our Club’s test, we stuck around both Friday and Saturday to help tear down equipment.  By the time we got home Saturday it was after 11 pm.  Long days!

The first two series of this test were challenging.  If you follow us on Facebook, you know that both Thunder and Storm made it through the first series, completed the water triple on the second series and blew the water blind in that series.  We know water blinds are their weak point.  We just do not have the water available to us to train those as much as we would like.  Even with going to the training grounds, there is only so much we can work on each time we are there and we know we need to work on water blinds more.

I did not see the dogs run the second series because I was Marshaling at the Junior stake.  The test was a water triple (with a walk up) and a long shoreline blind.  A shore line blind is where the handler needs to direct the dog to swim parallel to the shore to get the bird.  (I was told this blind  was 150 yards.)  These can be very difficult because the dog may want to “dock” early on the land and or head off to where they just picked up a bird rather than swim straight.  Storm’s handler picked her up during the blind because she was working her own program and Thunder got to the bird, but it took too many whistles to get him there.

Even though they did not pass this test, we were still happy with them.  You may recall that we were working on certain issues and those have greatly improved since the last test.

One of the issues we have been working on is the dogs going to the line under control.  I did not get pictures of the dogs going to the line, but here are a couple of them going to the holding blinds and their obedience was much improved.

The first series was a land triple, double land blind and an honor.  Each dog runs the marks, then the blinds and then does the honor.  If the dog doesn’t complete the marks, or the blinds, or for any reason the dog scores “0” by both judges on any element, then they will be asked to honor on lead.

This field was actually a dried up pond and there were several hills which I have indicated in darker green on the diagram.  The marks were thrown up close to the dogs which invites the dogs to “break”.  The way the marks were thrown, the dogs had to pivot their bodies in order to see them clearly.  Since the dogs had to move to see the marks, this also invites creeping and breaking.

Both Thunder and Storm were steady for these marks.  Hooray!  Storm did not break.  She crept a little, but did not leave until she was sent.  Even Thunder was better than the last test where he almost left before he was released.

The far right mark was the flyer which sometimes fell on the cut grass and sometimes in that grassy cover.

The middle mark fell at the base of a small hill.  You can actually see it in the picture of Thunder watching Mark 2.

The third mark fell to the left and when it was thrown they had the winger set so that the bird went way high in the air.  This just amps the dogs up and makes it difficult for a breaking dog (Storm) to stay seated.

Both Thunder and Storm did very well on this triple.  Storm needed a bit of hunt on the flyer (but she ran late in the day and the birds were all falling in different spots so there was a lot of scent in that field).

This series had a double land blind after the triple.  This blind was tough because the shorter blind to the left took them very close to the marks they had just picked up.  The blind to the right was difficult because the dogs had to travel under the arc of Mark 2.  Requiring a dog to travel under the arc of a mark can be hard because they want to go back to where they saw the bird fall.  Also this blind required the dogs to go between two hills.  This has been a difficult concept for our dogs in the past and we have really been working on it.  That work paid off, especially for Thunder.  His blinds were very nice.

Storm had a lot of trouble with the right hand blind.  She ducked around the hill and probably should have been out right then.  Her handler got her back and got her to the bird.

The last thing the dogs had to do for this series was the honor.  This honor was particularly difficult because the birds were close and the working dog had to pass right in front of the dog honoring.

Thunder and Storm’s handler elected to get down next to them to make sure they sat tight and didn’t mess up the working dog.

Both dogs were fine on the honor and that completed the first series. The judges passed both to the next series (which was a gift to Storm as far as we were concerned).

Even though they both went out on the water blind the next series, we were still happy with them.  There was huge improvement in the specific items we worked on since the last test.  Storm was steady through two triples (6 birds thrown) and an honor.  Since she broke the last two tests, this is the first time her handler has had an opportunity to do blinds with her in a test.  There is going to be a learning curve for both.  Now that she has shown she can be steady we are working on her handling.

Thunder was absolutely solid on his triples.  I am very proud of him.  There was a time when he struggled with singles, but his marking is now spot on.  The second series had a bit of a cheatie corner where the dogs might get out on land rather than take the direct line to the bird and Thunder did not get out of the water.  Most important he gave up his birds.  He was a bit sticky on one bird during the first series, but he gave all the others up easily.  Last season he went out on at least two tests because he would not give up his birds.

We have another test this weekend.  Storm is entered in Masters and Freighter is entered in a Senior test, (that is a whole post in itself).