Ah water.  It can be the downfall of many a hunt test dog.  The test is going along great and then you get to water and oops.  With hunt test season fast approaching we have been trying to get in a lot of water training.

There was a nice turn out for Saturday’s training.  We trained a bunch of different water marks which were set based on the level of the dog.  The first two marks for the Master level dogs were set up as follows.

Water Marks

These marks were run as singles.  The mark to the right was run first.  After all of the dogs ran the first mark, the bird boy moved down a bit and threw the mark to the left.  The dogs had to cross a small road and then more-or-less follow the lines as I am showing them in brown, (the black arrows show the direction the bumpers were thrown and the blue arrows show the direction of the wind which was stiff).  The difficulty of these marks was due to the wind which can cause a dog to get on land (or dock) early before they get to the mark.  You want the dog to try to fight the wind and not let it push them into the land too early.

Thunder and Storm both did a nice job on this.  They both took acceptable lines to the marks.

Some pictures of Thunder.

Calling For The Mark

In the next couple of pictures you will see the bird boy who must have had an internal heater because he wasn’t wearing a coat and I had on two.  🙂

Off To The Water
Splash!
At The Mark
On His Way Back
Swimming
Back On Land
Heading Back To His Handler
Good Boy Thunder!

Some pictures of Storm.

Storm Watching The Mark
Off She Goes
Not Much Splash
Swimming
She Has The Mark
On Her Way Back To Her Handler
Good Girl Storm!

The Master level dogs also did a super long water mark and I will have pictures of that on Thursday.

26 thoughts on “Working On Water

    1. I really enjoy watching all of the dogs work, even the lower level dogs. It is great when you see the light bulb go on as they are learning. Some of the younger dogs were learning not to run the bank. That entailed the trainer running back and forth to sort of block their path on land while pointing toward the water as their owners/handler called them back. It was quite comical and some made it past the first time, but eventually they all got the picture….stay away from the crazy man waving his arms toward the water and head back toward their handler.

    1. I know…shorts! Wherever we head north, I am always amazed that people seem to wear shorts way before I would even consider it.

  1. I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than watching a dog do what is was bred to do. Thunder and Storm look amazing!

  2. Awesome job Storm and Thunder as well as mom on the photos. Maybe the bird boy wasn’t too cold because he was moving about. I know when I get all crazy running around I get pretty warm. 🙂

    1. Even moving about it was cold. burrr. I just figure he is from further north and used to the weather. lol He did tell me that he was supposed to wear white and that shirt was all he had, (but hey kid put the white t over another shirt…lol). He seemed a nice kid.

  3. Neat pictures!

    I know you only just started training Freighter, but is there a minimum age requirement (6 months, a year, what have you)?

    1. The minimum age for AKC hunt tests is 6 months. HRC has no minimum age. We won’t be rushing Freighter to run tests though. It is very easy for a dog to develop bad habits (ie bank running, switching) during a test because you can’t stop and teach the dog the right way. I have seen this with HRC Seasoned tests especially. Some things that are allowed in that test are not allowed in AKC Senior or the higher level tests. Once the dog has the habit it can be difficult to correct for the next level test. Best to be a bit more advanced in training imo.

  4. So when you are just playing. Not training….cause I am no good at that, but when you are just playing, I wanna come and play with you guys. You have a great place with lots of green and lots of water. The perfect combination for a perfect day.
    Bert

    1. Only if we can come and play where you are because you have rivers and mountains. But not when you are doing your search and rescue work because that sounds really hard.

      the brown dawgs

  5. Your wonderful posts are a real education. I never knew about this type of training until I started following your blog. Great pictures!

  6. I love to look at your training pictures, Thunder and Storm make it look so easy (I’m sure there are times when it isn’t). I trained Lexie in water rescue not for tests just because it is what they are bred to do and she jump in and swam the first time I took her to water at 4 mos. But the training you are doing is so much more complicated. Are their coats made for cold water? Great job Thunder and Storm.

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