We had a beautiful day for training on Saturday. It was bright and sunny, (which made it a challenge to get good pictures), but it was cool and very pleasant.
The dogs got in plenty of water work which involved lots of ins and outs. By ins and outs I mean swimming through a smaller pond or part of the pond, exiting, crossing some land, and then getting back in for a nice long swim to get to the mark which was also thrown up on the land. The line to the marks required the dogs to enter the ponds at an angle which makes them a bit more difficult. Younger dogs want to square off as they enter a pond, but as they progress in their training, you are going to want them to take the angle. We train angle entries quite often.
Here are some pictures of the first set-up we ran:
Thunder was up first and had fun. He doesn’t always take the exact straight line to the bumper but he usually comes back with it. Since he is retired, he gets more of a pass than the other dogs. 🙂
In the next picture, I have marked the position of the bumper with a white arrow. It was up on land away from the edge of the pond.
Freighter ran the same marks that the Master level dogs ran. He did pretty well considering his level of training. He is expected to make more mistakes than Thunder and Storm just because he has not been training as long.
You may remember that Freighter was having trouble understanding that he might need to get out of the water and find the bumper on land. He had a bit of trouble on this mark too, so the thrower helped him by faking a couple of throws. As the day wore on, he did seem to understand that he might need to get out of the water.
Storm had more issues than Freighter because she kept trying to avoid the angled entries and she kept trying to get out of the water too soon rather than take the long swim. She was either recalled and resent or handled to keep her in the water and on line as necessary. Typical Storm. Trying to take the easy way.
On Saturday Freighter started licking his toe again so he did not get to go and train at our Club’s training day on Sunday. He seems better today, but he is back on rest for a few days to let that nail heal some more. He probably banged it jumping around at home before we left for training on Saturday. The vet warned that it may be tender and fragile as it grows out.
Nail and pad injuries can be frustrating because they don’t look like much but they seem to take forever to heal up!
Hoping Freighter isn’t too injured!!!! Hopefully rest will help. Love your water photos!
sure looks like fun. we are sending well wishes for your tootsie
retro rover
It’s great to watch them at work (specially the big splash) I hope freighters paw is better soon and can join the crew again :o)
So funny that Thunder likes to take the scenic route. Sounds about right for a retired man. 🙂 That picture of Storm swimming back with the bumper is beautiful, and Miss Harper Lee sends healing kisses for Freighter’s sweet toe.
Nice to see everyone out in the sun and enjoying their work. Hope freighter’s nail grows soon and everything is all healed up. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Nice to everyone having a grand time at work in the sun.
Lots of Woofs from Earl and I at Earl’s World!
Great report – I love that Freighter wanted to go right through those tangled up trees…what do you expect from a Freight-train right?
This is probably a silly question, but how do they locate the bumper? Is it a scent, do they watch it or how do they find it?
Not a silly question. Theses were marks, so they watched the bumper being thrown. You want them to use their eyes. Often marks are thrown 100+ yards away. Once they get out to the area of the fall, they use their eyes and noses if the bumper is in cover or they are near it but don’t spot it right away. If they are not able to find it, usually the thrower will fake a throw to help or throw another bumper, or the handler may use arm signals to direct them. For blinds, which they do not see, they are always directed with arm signals.
Got it, that makes sense.
Glad this question was asked and answered 🙂 Cos I didn’t know either!
Great photos and training session! Hope that toe heals up fast.
I hope Freighter’s toe feels better soon, it can be frustrating at times (I know) but hang in there.
Looks like a fun training session! Great job, guys! Much love, The Scottie Mom.
Hope freighter doesn’t bother the toe that much! Makes me want to take Donna to one of the doggy pools to learn swimming… but I think it will take some getting use to for her… and she is the type to take the easy way out too!! Hah!
Poor Freighter…hope he gets completely healed up soon. Those look like fun exercises, and must be such a great workout for them, combining the swimming and the running.