The nice thing about getting out to train on a holiday is that the parks are mostly empty. Mostly.
We did have a couple of people come up to us when we training in the water. The entire park was empty, but they always seem to find us.
For some reason the woman had to let her dog mess with our bumpers. You can’t see it, but Thunder is holding a sit just out of my camera view while the woman lets her dog sniff. He sat patiently until they finally moved on.
But I am skipping ahead.
Since the park was mostly empty, we immediately headed to the field. It was a cool morning so we were able to set up a nice long mark in combination with a double blind.
After the dogs’ poor performance the week before, we wanted to get them working on set-ups that required them to run marks and blinds together. We also wanted to get some distance so the blinds we set up were quite long.
We threw the mark up on the side of the hill which made it visible and we hoped that would make the blinds a bit harder since they had to look off the mark to line up for Blind #2 and pass by the mark to pick up Blind #3.
All the dogs did fine on this set up. We were set-up in a soccer field so there were frames for nets and chalk lines drawn on the field. Sometimes these things can throw them off. We also tried to take advantage of the slope of the field and a couple small hills just off the field.
Freighter’s handling on land has not been as solid as it could be. That is partly because we are not able to run him on these long blinds as much as we would like. But this day the park was empty so it was a good opportunity to get in some distance. 🙂
For Freighter the plan was for hubby to move up to handle him if he started to look unsure of himself. He did fine on Blind #2. He needed some handles, but took the casts very nicely. Blind#3 was a bit harder for him and hubby did move up a bit and Freighter took the casts better than I expected. We came back to that same field and set a similar length blind a couple of days later and hubby did not need to move closer to Freighter that time, so his confidence is improving on long blinds.
Here are few pictures of the dogs running the mark. Since they were on a hill, I liked the perspective for these pictures.
Thunder was up first.
Next up was Storm.
Last up Freighter.
Tomorrow I will have some water pictures.
Announcing The Winners Of Our Jones Give-Away
Thanks to everyone who entered the give-away. I made a list of everyone who wanted the Lamb Lung Puffs and a list of everyone who wanted the Windee Rings. I numbered each list and then used Random.org to pick one winner from each.
And the lucky winners are two long-time blog readers!
Anna won the Lamb Lung Puffs and becomingcliche won the Windee Rings. I should say that Luna and Wyatt are getting the Lamb Lung Puffs and Phoebe is getting the Windee Rings.
Congratulations! I will get your treats in the mail soon. Hopefully this week. 🙂
If you entered and didn’t win, not to worry. I have another give-away going on for South Bark Blueberry Facial & Pet Shampoo. It is a tearless natural shampoo for both dogs and cats. Open to US and Canadian residents.
More details about how to enter here.
An Award!
I am also late in thanking We Live In A Flat for sharing the Shine On Award with us. Thank you so much.
Donna and her people of live in a flat in Singapore. Stop over and say “Hi”.
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What is it with people having the need to interrupt you when training? Our nose work class was at a busy park for distraction practice and people tried to come right up to a searching dog. Our instructor handled it, but it happened like five times! Nice that you had the park to yourselves mostly. Around here we see people working their “retriever” dogs for drills like yours early in the morning. We enjoy watching but from quite a distance and only for a very short time.
We don’t mind questions or people watching, but there are times that they actually get between us and the dog, even though there is plenty of other places for them to go. That can get a bit frustrating.
I suspect most people haven’t a clue as to what you are doing. I tend to leave other owners alone regardless of whether they are training or not. If our dogs seem to have a peaceful meeting great, but I’ve met plenty of people with aggressive dogs that seem to have no control, so I’ve learned to keep to myself unless I’m sure about the encounter. Others however, forge ahead without thinking about those around them.
We are like you and usually avoid other dogs. There are some people who think that all dogs should meet and socialize then I usually have to say something (which I hate).
Hi Y’all!
I agree with Bailey. Most people have no idea what y’all are doin’. The woman probably had no clue that the bumpers had any connection to Thunder who waited patiently on the other side. Her dog smelled the scent on the bumpers and was drawn to them, but she was too busy watchin’ y’all to sniff ’em herself. BOL!!! (My Human can’t smell a rotten egg…she depends on my Human Papa to pick up things like that.}
Love the photo of Storm in flight!
Congratulations on a well deserved award!
Y’all hurry on by now!
Hawk aka BrownDog
I suppose she could have missed the whistles but I kind of doubt it. She had already walked by once….lol.
Yes, storm, you can fly! I wish I had a nearly empty place to work with the pup, I’m always the “lucky one” who gets visitors (they probably think I’m a park-comedian lol). Congrats to your award and congrats to the lucky winners!
Storm really leaps high when running! 🙂 Congratulations to the lucky winners!!
Leave the bumpers alone!!! Glad to hear you got some training in and it sounds like it helped Freighter. He’s getting it just needs more practice. Beautiful side hill photos. Storm is so much fun just flying out there. Congrats to the winners and to you for your cool award.
Love the pix — and can’t wait for the water ones!! The brown dawgs are all so handsome/beautiful!!!
Oh! And a hearty Congrats! On your award, and to the winners of the giveaway!
Practice makes perfect, and Freighter will get there!
You always take the best training pictures. Did you have issues with fireworks at the park at all? I normally take the Icies out to run at a few local parks, and since even before the 4th we have not been able to go to a park without someone setting off fireworks either in the park or very nearby. Kelinn is fine but poor Jeni can’t handle it so she’s gotten much less exercise and work than she should lately.
No we didn’t hear any, but we were there at like 9am. Nothing happening at 9am…lol.
What great pictures! The running pictures really capture how strong your dogs are! Thanks for sharing with us!
It gets kind of frustrating when people interrupt your training session. I also don’t mind if people come and ask me questions, but there are times that I am obviously working intently with my dog. I just tell myself that the interruptions help my pups practice their self control!
Great training photos and congratulations on the award.
I can understand that people may not know what you’re doing, but I still wouldn’t let Daisy mess with another dog’s bumpers, toys, or anything else that someone brought for their pet. I think it’s really rude and a bad idea for other reasons too – not all dogs are as well behaved as yours and an issue could arise. Anyway, those are great photos!
It must have been so nice to have that park to yourself!! Except for that silly woman of course.
I’m glad you announced your winners because I totally forgot all about my contest so I’ll have to announce it tomorrow.
Storm has such enthusiasm for her job, I love it!!
Fabulous photos – especially love flying Storm 🙂 Congrats on your blog award!
Storm is a bundle of giggle glee when she runs marks, isn’t she? Love all of their enthusiasm and that the Brown Dawgs know how to patiently handle bumbling strangers.
Phoebe is SO excited about the Windee Rings!
Great shots and good on Thunder for being patient when interrupted.
Beautiful photos of your dogs in action!! Makes me kinda miss when I had labs and competed in field trials, as well as actually hunting. That was before we switched to raising Great Danes 🙂
OMD, we have had SO many problems with people interfering with our training in pubic! We compete in noseworks now, and have to practice in lots of public places. People want to pet our dog, pick up what we’ve hidden, and even report us for “suspicious activity”!!! We finally had a patch made that says, “Don’t pet me, I’m working” to put on our dog’s harness. Silly people.
♥ Behr Behr 🙂
Really? I would imagine the park might be busy on a holiday like that. But maybe that’s just because the one across from my house always has some festivities going on for the 4th, including the city’s firework show.
Good job they all did! That lady should not have let her dog fool around with your bumpers. Your dogs are so obedient and well behaved. Loved the picture of Thunder sitting and waiting patiently until the lady and the dog went on. Hugs and nose kisses
Don’t you wish you could have your own private park with fields and water and everything you needed, so you didn’t have to deal with ignorant and nosy people? 🙂
Oh well, you do great with what you have to deal with it, and of course the photos of the dogs in action are great too!