Tag Archives: Chesapeake Bay Retriever

This ‘N That Thursday

Posted in dog training, Hunt Test, This 'N That Thursday by

Welcome to the This ‘N That Thursday blog hop!

It’s a little of this and a little of that and everything in between…

First I would like to thank Ann of Pawsitively Pets for running a great give-away for a bottle of Wondercide Skin Tonic Spray.  I was super excited to learn that I was the winner.  From the Wondercide website:

Our Skin Tonic Spray is a safe and natural anti-itch spray for people and dogs. Wondercide Skin Spray is made with essential oils of lavender, atlas cedar, lemongrass, and organic neem oil. Skin Tonic Spray is the perfect remedy for dry skin, itching skin, irritated skin, hot spots and numerous other skin issues. This amazing Skin Tonic Spray can be applied right onto the itch or all over the body, providing gentle comfort from serious skin irritations.

I think this is a perfect edition for our first aid kit.  I like to include items that are safe for pets and people.  I can see this coming in very handy, especially for those dang mosquitoes that love to attack me when I am not looking.  :)

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Thanks Again To Ann And Wondercide

Finally, to finish off last weekend’s training we ran all three dogs on a long single water mark.  This mark would require the dogs to swim a bit, cross a strip of land, reenter the pond, and swim some more to get to the bumper.

The Strip Of Land

The Strip Of Land

Long Single Mark

Long Single Mark

We used the winger and launched the bumper from a ridge of high ground that runs along the side of the pond.  We placed the winger a long distance from the edge of the pond because we did not want the wind to carry the bumpers to the other side of the pond.

All three dogs did a really nice job on this one.  Thunder and Storm have run many water marks like this so it was a sort of refresher.  Freighter is newer at the game so we were anxious to see how he would do.  No problem for him, he held a nice straight line out and back.

Here are some pictures I took standing up on the ridge:

Freighter Watching The Mark

Freighter Watching The Mark

Freighter Catching Some Air

Freighter Catching Some Air

Freighter Hang Time

Freighter Hang Time

Splash!

Splash!

Freighter Heading Out

Freighter Heading Out

Thunder Almost To The Strip Of Land

Thunder Almost To The Strip Of Land

Thunder Up On The Strip Of Land

Thunder Crossing The Strip Of Land

Storm Over The Strip Of Land

Storm Over The Strip Of Land

Freighter Made It Over The Strip Of Land

Freighter Made It Over The Strip Of Land Too

Back In The Pond Heading For The Bumper

Thunder Back In The Pond Heading For The Bumper

Thunder Almost To The Bumper

Thunder Almost To The Bumper

Freighter Almost To The Bumper

Freighter Almost To The Bumper

Storm Almost To The Bumper

Storm Almost To The Bumper

Storm Has It

Storm Has It

Back Over The Strip Of Land

Storm Back Over The Strip Of Land (With a Curious Bird Watching)

Storm Almost All The Way Back

Storm Almost All The Way Back

Storm Back At Heel

Storm Back At Heel

Freighter continues to be solid on his marks so we are going to start to reintroduce some handling which will be lining drills for now.  We have also entered all three dogs in their first hunt test this season which is in the middle of July.  Thunder and Storm are entered in Masters.  By the time the test rolls around, it will be one year since Storm ran her last test.  I expect she will be rusty.  :)   We entered Freighter in Juniors.  He is not ready for Seniors so we might as well work to finish his Junior title.  At least he will get back into the hunt test frame of mind.

That’s it for this edition of TNT.  We would love for you to hop along!

This is a Blog Hop!

This 'N That 3

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Time To Cool Off

Posted in dog training, Hunt Test by

The brown dawgs were ready to do some water training after running marks in heavy cover.  We set up a nice double for Thunder and Storm.

Thunder Storm Water Marks 1

Water Double

The wind was really blowing so we made the long mark the “Go” mark.  We were afraid that if the dogs didn’t head to that mark first, then it would blow off across the pond and make a super long swim.  We didn’t need a long swim for this set up because we were working on the dogs staying in the water and not docking on the little strip of land to retrieve this mark.

I hand threw mark #1 to the corner of the pond and used the winger to throw mark #2.  Thunder’s mark #2 landed in the spot where we wanted it, but Storm’s must have been caught up in a gust of wind and landed off the far side of the strip of land.  This meant that the line Storm would have to take to mark #2 would take her over the strip of land which is not what we wanted.  But it was still a good opportunity to see if she would carry the line correctly or whether she would dock early, (which she has been known to do).

Thunder was up first.

Thunder Off To Pick Up Mark #2

Thunder Off To Pick Up Mark #2

Big Splash

Big Splash

Thunder Swimming Along Side The Strip Of Land

Thunder Swimming Along Side The Strip Of Land

Thunder Has It

Thunder Has It

Thunder Took A Nice Line Back As Well And Stayed In The Water

Thunder Took A Nice Line Back As Well And Stayed In The Water

Storm was up next.

Storm Off To Mark #2

Storm Off To Mark #2

Storm Getting Up On The Strip Of Land To Follow The Line To The Mark

Storm Getting Up On The Strip Of Land To Follow The Correct Line To The Mark

Still On Line

Still On Line

She Has It And Is Heading Back And Following The Same Line Back

She Has It And Is Following The Same Line Back

Back In The Water. Nice Job Storm!

Back In The Water. Nice Job Storm!

Storm Heading To Mark #1

Storm Heading To Mark #1

Nice Job Storm

Good Girl

Freighter ran this as three singles.

Three Singles

Three Singles

We threw mark #1 to challenge Freighter to swim along side of the strip of land rather than getting up on it.  Not problem for Freighter.  He likes to swim.

Freighter Heading Out To The First Mark

Freighter Heading Out To The First Mark

Swimming Along Side Of The Land

Swimming Along Side Of The Land

He Swam Straight Out And Back

He Swam Straight Out And Back

He also did fine on the second mark.  He had to fight the wind a bit, but her is a strong swimmer.

Mark #2

Mark #2

Nice Job!

Nice Job!

For Mark #3, I just dropped the bumper at the edge of the water in the corner of the pond.  We wanted to see whether he would cheat around the bank to get to it.

Heading To Mark #3

Heading Straight To Mark #3.  Can’t Miss An Opportunity To Splash Into The Water.

Heading Right For The Bumper

Heading For The Bumper

He Has It. Would He Get Out Of The Pond For The Return?

He Has It. Now Would He Get Out Of The Pond For The Return?

No He Turned Right Around And Swam Back. very Good Dog.

No.  He Turned Right Around And Swam Back. Very Good Dog.

We ran all of the dogs on one more water set-up.  I will have that one for you on Thursday.

Monday Mischief–Searching

Posted in dog training, Hunt Test, Monday Mischief by

We got out to do some training yesterday.  It was a perfect day with cool temperatures and a bit of wind.  The area we were thinking of using was already taken so we had to pick a different one.  Since we had the van, we did not want to venture too far down the farm roads and chance getting stuck.  We picked an area right up front which had some nice shade, but really high cover.  We did not mind because we have been trying to challenge the dogs in cover.

We wanted to work on triples with Thunder and Storm, but the cover was waist-high and we were using bumpers rather than ducks, so we decided just to run them on doubles.  In that cover, they were going to have to really work to come up with the bumpers as it was.  Thunder did a bit better on this double than Storm did.  I think it is because he has had more experience and is much taller.  It was easier for him to get his bearings.  He had a big hunt but stayed in it and eventually came up with the bumpers.

Thunder Hunting The Cover

Thunder Hunting The Cover

Found It

Found It

Heading Back

Heading Back

Storm struggled with this.  She is a bit out of practice and a bit out of condition.  The last time she hunted in this kind of cover was back in November when we took Storm and Freighter pheasant hunting.  She hunted and hunted and tried to use her nose but was having trouble catching the scent.  Eventually I gave her a bit of help by faking a throw and that helped her find the area and the bumpers.

Storm Off To Find The Bumper

Storm Off To Find The Bumper

You Can Barely See Storm

You Can Barely See Storm

Good Job!

Good Job!

Next up was Freighter.  He ran the double as back to back singles.  This was a really good opportunity to see what he would do with bumpers in really high cover.  We used a winger to throw the first mark.  He put on a big hunt, but stayed with it and eventually found the bumper.  The second one was hand thrown.  He hunted and hunted and hunted.  Wouldn’t you know it, I threw it in the highest clump of cover which was well over my waist, (oops!).  I had to help him a bit because he was getting heated up trying to find that bumper.  He found it though.  Thank goodness because there was no way I would have found it.

We repeated the second mark for him.  This time I did not plan to help him.  He put on a big hunt.  At one point, he started heading towards the first mark, but he stopped.  I could almost see him saying to himself, “No this is not right”.  He turned right around, hunted a bit more, and came up with the bumper.  It is kind of neat when you see the wheels turning.

Freighter Hunting

Freighter Hunting

Found It

Found It

Good Boy

Headed Back

Nice Job

Nice Job

The dogs got pretty warm hunting in all that cover so we moved to water.  More on that tomorrow.

Thanks to  Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog and My Brown Newfies for hosting the Monday Mischief blog hop.

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