Part of hunt test training is drill work (also referred to as yard work).  Drills are set-ups where the dog repeats a skill over and over again in order to practice or reinforce that skill.

Some dogs like drill work.  Our Chessies hate it.  They get bored fairly quickly and the value you can get from drills decreases as their boredom increases.  As a result, they probably do not do as much as they should.  There are ways to practice without the doing actual drill work, but sometimes you just have to get back to basics and do the yard work.

Freighter has progressed in his training this summer to more complex set-ups.  As the complexity has increased his basic skills have become sloppy.  I am not sure why this is.  Maybe because he has a lot going on in his brain.  The harder set-ups seem to have him over thinking when he should gust trust his handler to get him to the bird.

For example, his initial line to a blind has become sloppy.  He will look straight ahead but flare off to the side.

Freighter Should Follow The Center Line, But He Has Been Flaring Off Which Is Not Acceptable
Freighter Should Follow The Center Line, But He Has Been Flaring Off (Dotted Lines) Which Is Not Acceptable

Now hubby could bust him for that because Freighter knows better, or Freighter can do drill work and practice going straight.  Drill work it is.

A good drill for this is called Wagon Wheel.  Wagon Wheel is just as it sounds.  You set a bumper or piles of bumpers around an imaginary wheel, stand in the center, and the dog runs the spokes to get to the bumpers.  Depending on the dog’s level you can use white (visible) or orange (less visible) bumpers.

Basic Wagon Wheel
Basic Wagon Wheel

This drill is a good one if the dog is just starting.  If the dog starts to go to the wrong bumper, the trainer can recall, reline and resend the dog so the dog understands to go where he was pointed.

But you can work on more with this drill.  The dog can practice looking straight rather than swinging his head around (which is also part of Freighter’s problem).  The dog can practice carrying the straight line and the handler and dog can practice moving and turning together on the line.  They can practice turning a lot or maybe just a step or two.  You can add more and more “spokes” and make it more difficult and make the “circle” as small or as large as you want it.

More Advance Wagon Wheel
More Advance Wagon Wheel

With drill work repetition is important so you would want the dog to go around the basic wagon wheel a couple of times at least and you would want to repeat the drill over time.

Last weekend after Freighter had run a couple of marks and a couple of blinds, we still had the park all to ourselves so it was Wagon Wheel drill work for him.  It was morning but kind of humid so hubby set up a basic wagon wheel (4 spokes) which Freighter repeated twice.

Freighter Being Sent
Freighter Being Sent
Get It Freighter
Get It Freighter
Freighter Has The Bumper
Freighter Has The Bumper
Good Boy!
Good Boy!

The following video is Freighter working this drill.  You can see the improvement with less head swinging as he goes around.   At one point Freighter passes over a pile.  He took a decent line, but was slightly off and did not see or smell the bumpers or was going so fast he just missed them.  There was not much wind and orange is supposed to be hard for a dog to see which I suppose may be true in Freighter’s case.  It also could have been the white line painted on the field that caused him to veer a bit.  Who knows?  At any rate hubby handled him back to the pile.

If the video doesn’t play try here.

During one of the “spokes” hubby says “good dog” after he has sent Freighter.  This is not his normal practice and it confused Freighter, like he may have done something wrong and hubby was going to recast or resend him.  Hubby just stayed quiet and eventually Freighter continued on his way.  At least it shows that Freighter is really in tune with hubby and trying to be a team player.  That is a big improvement from last summer.

Freighter is in decent condition, but even he was struggling a bit on a warm muggy day.  When he gets hot and bored, he tends to get sloppy and not give up bumpers which you can see on the video.  You have to be careful not to overdue drill work on hot days.  It is better to quit rather than push too hard and loose whatever you have gained.

A special shout out to Glory over at Sand Spring Chesapeakes.  She is due to whelp anytime with Thunder puppies.  Hoping for an easy whelp for her and for healthy puppies!

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks to SlimDoggy, MyGBGV Life, and To Dog with Love for the FitDog Friday Blog Hop!

FitDog Friday
FitDog Friday

19 thoughts on “Wagon Wheel Or “Oh No Not Drill Work”

  1. I used to do drills in obedience. I had one dog who became really creative if she got too bored, so a few drills were all we could do. Another one really grooved on them. Freighter did a good job, despite the weather and the fact that there were no real birds!

  2. that sounds good and I think it would be great to try it with Easy… we have no bumpers but it probably works with balls or some of his victims, too :o)

  3. Sounds a bit like Bailie and I with boxes. Nose work starts with boxes, and boxes are containers. We love searching containers, but when the containers are boxes and not something interested we get so bored with it. We have to practice it, but it is really hard to keep it interesting, so we totally understand the basic work being boring.

  4. I get sloppy when it’s hot and humid too. 🙂 Glad the drill is helping Freighter.
    Have a nice weekend.

  5. This looks nice and challenging – we all need a challenge every now and again. Good job.

    sumskersandearlskers13.blogspot.com

  6. Loved the video. Freighter looks great! Rocco hates drills, at least he hates drilling them. He loves doing anything for a few minutes. So we have to keep “drills” short and do them often, then he’s into it. We do something similar in a wheel formation, sending Rocco out to jumps or just out and around poles.

  7. I think all chessies hate drill work, nice job freighter. I’ve went back to drill work with Gambler too to get his mind back in the game. Thanks for the shout out, the clock is ticking away and Glory is panting away and no poopie puppies.

  8. Wow – you big dogs get to have so much fun! I think I’m going to try to ask momma to make this on a smaller (maybe a 1/2 or a 1/3) scale size! Thanks for sharing – looks like fun!

  9. Nice job, Freighter & Hubby 😉 It’s hard to concentrate on basic stuff in the humidity, so extra kudos to you!

  10. Training hunting dogs fascinates me! The video was a lot of fun to watch! Thank you for sharing what you did in your post! Very cool!

  11. I can see where that could get boring. Yet if if was Cricket with a ball, she could go and go all day (except when it’s that hot). 🙂
    Congrats on Thunder being a Daddy, that is a big litter!

  12. Hi Y’all!

    Since I don’t get to hunt anything but hidden bumpers and Dokkens, my Human often sets up drills to keep me “sharp”. My trick, after I run out and get the bumper, if I see the next one around the spoke, instead of returning, I take the bumper I just got and switch it with the 2nd one and then take that one back to hand! About the 3rd time restarting I run it properly. BOL! Drives my Human crazy! BOL! Keeps the drill from getting boring! It’s fun!

    Y’all come on by,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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