We are ready for another weekend of tests.  The weather has turned hot again and there might be some storms on Saturday as a cold front passes.  Hope not.  Hunt tests have to stop when there is lightening in the area.

I took a couple of videos of Thunder’s land blind training.  We had already run water blinds and water marks, so these were the last things we trained that day.  You might notice that the ducks we were using were not in the greatest condition.  They had been around for a while.

First, we ran a shorter blind.  Thunder did well on this, (except for shaking the bird :)).  His handler is also working on lining him using his voice and subtle leg movements.  For the next level of tests the dog will need to look out in various directions when given the command “dead bird”.  If the dog looks the wrong direction, he is quietly told “no” so he looks out in another direction.  The changes in direction can be very subtle.  Once the dog is looking in the correct direction, the handler will say “good” and send the dog with a “back”.  This is a work in progress for both dog and handler.

After the first blind, we changed the line and ran one perpendicular to the first.  Thunder has run blinds in this area before and he tried to go to a spot he had picked up a bird in previous training.  However, this blind was in a different place.  He did fine on this blind.  He needed one slight correction to remind him to follow direction.  Thunder’s handler is also working on “angle backs” with him.  This allows the handler to send the dog in a direction that is in between a straight “back” and a side “over”.  In the video, some “backs” are more overs than backs because the handler gave an “angle back” signal rather than an over signal with his arm.  Again, work in progress.

I mentioned in my last post that if Storm passed one more test, she could come home.  That was a bit of a joke because she is already scheduled to come home on Sunday.  We miss her and hunting season is coming.  However, this time away has been really a good thing for her.  She is a much more confident dog now.  Darrin has done a really good job with her training, but also as part of her training she was exposed to other people and other dogs while doing something she loves.  I saw her do something at the tests last week that I never thought Storm would do.  As she was going to the line, she went up to both judges, tail wagging a hundred times a minute all excited to see them.  She has never been one to approach strangers, (and technically she should not be going up to the judges, but cuteness can usually be forgiven  :)).

Have a nice weekend!