We had a couple of good training days with Thunder last week and one not-so-good day.  Maybe Thunder was having an off day?  Maybe so, because his handling in water was off and his marks, (which have been good), were way off!

This was not a good training day.

After the not-so-good training session, we decided that we needed more help with training the handling in water, so we called the trainer.  Of course the day we picked turned out to be nasty, windy, and rainy.  (What’s new?)  It was raining so much that I didn’t even take the camera out of the car.  Since I have no pictures from our most recent training session, I will intersperse some pictures of Thunder’s land triple from when he was training with the golden retrievers last week.

Training with the Goldens-Thunder waiting to be sent to a land mark.

Once we arrived at the trainer’s place, he went and got Storm and then we took Thunder and Storm for a little trip around his training pond.  He left a couple of bumpers where we were standing and then we walked a little way to a spot opposite of where the bumpers were left.  First Storm was sent to pick up a bumper.  These retrieves required the dogs to run a bit on land, get into the pond and swim, exit the pond, get the bumper and come back through the pond.  Storm was handled by the trainer and she did very well.  One issue that we asked the trainer to work on with her was her tendency to want to run the bank before getting into the water.  The trainer has done such a good job.  She went straight to the water and didn’t even seem to think about cheating the bank.  Another thing the trainer has worked on with her is her handling, both on land and on water.  Her handling has progressed very nicely.  She turns quickly in the water and takes his direction.  It is such a kick to see her go.  Hopefully she will work nicely for him next weekend because she is entered in her first Senior tests, (fingers crossed).

Training with the Goldens-Thunder bringing back his first bird.

After Storm brought her bumper back, it was Thunder’s turn.  His handler took him to the line and he went right into the water! (One issue he was having with water blinds were “no-go’s” or refusing to even get into the water.)  He started to swim and if he got a bit off-line, the trainer made suggestions to Thunder’s handler of commands to give to help Thunder get to the bumper.  Once he got the bumper, Thunder thought about bringing it back by running around the pond rather than swimming, (another issue with his blind retrieves).  Again, the trainer made suggestions to Thunder’s handler of which casts to give to help make it clear to Thunder that he was expected to swim back with the bumper.  It wasn’t long before Thunder was back with the bumper.  Yippee!  Success!

Training with the Goldens-His second bird.

Then we left the bumpers where we were standing and moved to another area of the pond and sent the dogs to get the bumpers we had just left.  We kept repeating this all around the pond.  The trainer explained that this can be a very effective way to train water blinds because even though you are sending the dog for a different retrieve, it is in a familiar area.  It is a good way to build confidence while training blind retrieves.  It was also a fun way to train this skill since the picture was always changing.  In some places the bumpers were clearly visible, but in others they were not.  In some places the wind was blowing across the line that the dogs were swimming, in some places the wind was in their faces, and in some places the wind was not a factor.  Both dogs did very well, even on the more difficult retrieves, (wind blowing across them or in their faces).

Training with the Goldens-His third bird. Good boy!

We worked our way all around the pond ending at the very spot that gave Thunder problems when we were training last week.  He was tentative going to the water and started to run around the edge of the pond, rather than swim to the bumper.  (That is faster isn’t it?)  He was told to sit and given the command (cast) for a left over which would put him into the pond.  He followed that cast and got into the pond.  He was then told “back” and off he went to get the bumper.  Success!  Now to get him back through the pond, (rather than around the bank).  He was given a “here” command.  He glanced at the bank, but decided to swim straight back.  Good boy!  We all told him what a good boy he was.  Of all the pictures I missed due to the rain, I am saddest that I missed a picture of Thunder looking all proud prancing with that bumper in his mouth as he came back to heel next to his handler.

I think (hope) that Thunder is starting to get the idea about what handling in water is all about.  We have more work to do, but it was a very good training day!

I still have a pile of pictures of the cute Goldens from our training last week.  I will try to get a few up next post.

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