So far our Spring has been cold and windy.  It is supposed to be 50 today, but windy.  50 is nice but windy is not so nice.  Yes I am complaining.  It has been a long winter.

We are far behind with our training this Spring.  In addition to our Saturday training, hubby has been getting out weeknights when he can.  That means when it is not snowing, or freezing rain, or icy.

Last Sunday it was freezing cold (like 15 degrees or something) and very windy.  The snow has finally melted in the parks, so we got out to throw the dogs some marks.

It was also my first chance to get out and play with our new gadget.  We bought a remote control to launch our winger.  It will allow us more flexibility to position the winger.  It will also allow hubby to train when I am not able to go and will help us throw the dogs multiple marks.  Ideally if you are throwing a triple, you would like two or three people in the field.  Unfortunately it is usually just me, so the winger acts as another person.

I took video of our training session with my small waterproof camera.  Please forgive the bouncy camera work.  I was trying to hold the camera, the remote for the winger, bumpers, and a duck call all while my hands were in gloves (did I mention it was freezing?).  I had to launch the winger and then throw bumpers.  I could have used two more hands.  I also realize that I dated some of these videos wrong, (not that it matters because it is more for my info), so please excuse that.

Some video of the winger being launched.  It has a duck call and you can put a primer in it for a pop, but we cannot pop at the local park.

If the video doesn’t play try here.

I took this video of the winger then immediately turned and threw another bumper for a double.  I have to say my throwing was a bit off because I was wearing my heavy winter coat.  It is hard to toss bumpers while wearing a puffy winter coat, at least for me.  Plus the wind was blowing in my face and that made it so the bumpers didn’t carry as far.

We set up pretty easy marks.  We haven’t done many multiple marks with the dogs this Spring so we made it fairly easy.  Normally for a dog at Freighter’s level, you would try to put the marks at 90 degrees to one another.  We set them less that that because the field we were using was flat with no grass.  I had an extra bumper if I needed to get a dog to a mark, (I would have tossed it to help the dog), but I did not need to use it.

Double
Double

Setting easy marks also gave hubby a chance to work on line manners.  This is a video of Freighter and you can see him dancing at the line.  We need to get rid of that dancing around.  Dancing around leads to breaking at a test.  We will be working on his dancing a lot.  He did OK on this double.  Poor thing got a really bad throw from me so it is lucky there was no grass for the bumper to get lost in.  :/

You might need to make it full screen to see the dancing.  🙂

If the video doesn’t play try here.

We ran each dog on a couple of doubles, reversing the order.  They did really well so we decided to try a simple triple.

Triple
Triple

Storm has trouble with triples.  She has trouble with any multiple marks because she has a habit of looking up at her handler to release her when she thinks all the marks are down in the field.  So if you are running doubles and throw in a triple, she will look off the last mark because she wants to go.  Sometimes she will catch it out of the corner of her eye.  On this day she totally missed Mark #3.  It was the last to be thrown and should have been the first she picked up.  But it wasn’t.  Instead she picked up Mark #2.  Her handler tried to send her to Mark #3.  As you can see, she keeps trying to line herself to Mark #1 because she saw that one.  At a test her handler probably would have sent her to Mark #1 and then tried for mark #3.  This is training so he insisted she take the line to Mark #3.  She did take it initially but then turned back to Mark #2.  At that point he stopped her and handled her to Mark #3.

If the video won’t play try here.

We put her up and ran Freighter and he did a very nice job on this triple.  His handler let him pick the order that he was going to pick up the marks.  It looked like he was lining up to pick them up in reverse order, 3-2-1.  But in the end he picked them up 3-1-2 or outside-outside-middle.  That is usually the better order so in the future his handler will insist on that order.

If the video doesn’t play try here.

After Freighter ran his triple, we ran Storm again and she did a good job because she watched all the marks this time.  We will be running a lot of triples with her to get her back in the habit of watching the marks.

If the video doesn’t play try here.

This is FitDog Friday and as you can see there is a lot of running involved with field training.  These marks were fairly short and as we progress, we will be lengthening them and if our ponds ever open, we will include some swimming.  Once our weather improves the dogs will usually get out 5 times a week to train.  Field training is an excellent way to keep the dogs fit.

fitDogFriday_150x126

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34 thoughts on “Cold And Windy”

  1. I think we are going to skip Spring all together and go right into Summer. Winter just does not want to end. Two days ago, we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground, and now today it should be 50.

  2. Freighter is very happy to be working, at least. But you can definitely see ground through that “sit.” 🙂

  3. We agree we can see one heck of a waggy tail so Freighter is well happy. Have a fabulous Friday and stay warm.
    Best wishes Molly

  4. I can see how this training would keep them fit…and focused too. I kind of liked Freighter’s little dance…so anxious to get started, but I understand it’s not a good thing…

  5. NEW TOY FOR MOM! How fun is that?

    Now my goal in life is to be able to say “No, I can’t get that for you. I’m holding the duck call.

  7. Hopefully spring is on its way to you. We start our warm up tomorrow and almost 60 on Sunday after a high of 30 today. It is awful out here since it rained, snowed, and froze. Now it is really enough.

  10. Very cool gizmo! Hope the weather will cooperate and give you lots of good training time soon!

  13. Awww, Freighter is just soooo excited! Your dawgs always impress me! I have a sunshine award for you today on Barking from the Bayou! Even though it is still winter at your house, you always bring a ray of sunshine to us! I hope you enjoy it and give the boys a high five for me!

  14. Oh please – it’s perfectly tropical there :-))))

  15. That is definitely a great way to keep fit! I like Freighter’s dancing, even though he shouldn’t be doing it, it’s the same dance my beagle does when Dad is bringing her a treat before leaving for work! 🙂
    Boy, I hear you on the weather. If we get a warmer sunny day the wind is blowing. Today it finally got above freezing, so it’s raining, which just makes it feel raw and cold. The only good part is hopefully it’s washing some snow away. I’m jealous that you have all that bare ground!

  16. Definitely LOTS of running and a great way to stay fit! Love the videos. Rocco does a better job fetching than retrieving so I wind up doing a good bit of running too. haha! Rocco responded to the duck call on the video, he was trying to find them!

  17. Hunt tests sound so complicated! I think I’d fail miserably at them! XD

    Anyways, your pups are so great at this type of work. It’s really fun to watch them in action! 🙂

  22. Hi Y’all!

    Excitement! Oh yes!

    Here the high winds are keeping my Human from doing much but a short walk with me. High wind warnings are keeping even the professional fisherman from going out.

    Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a couple of Awards from one brown dog to 3 brown dogs.

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  26. Good job Storm and Freighter!! Thunder won’t be doing tests this year, is that right? Would that be why you aren’t doing a lot of training with him?

    We got snow again this morning. GAH will it never end?

    I hope you are staying warm.

  28. My Mum would whine a lot too in that freezing weather!!

    Maybe I can send you some california sunshine? 🙂

    Hope you’re having a fun day

    Your pal Snoopy 🙂

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