Sunday our club had a training day ahead of next week’s hunt test which will be held on the same grounds.
The set-up was a group creation. There were all levels of dogs from Junior to Master. We set up a triple with two of the marks in water and one mark on land in cover. There was also a Master level blind which ran along side one of the water marks and a Senior level blind which ran along side the land mark.
This is a rough diagram:
You will notice that the triple is really spread out. Normally it would not be so spread out, but since there were some Junior dogs, the marks were not placed too close together.
Even though it was spread out., the triple was not an easy one because the dogs had to really turn to see the marks and they were long. There was also a lot of cover the dogs had to break through, even to get to the water. Any time a dog has to break cover, it can mess up their line to a mark.
A bumper was thrown for the memory mark (Mark #1), but the other two marks were dead ducks. The blind was orange bumpers and the placement of that blind was tough because it provided suction from Mark #2 and it ran along side of the pond in some heavy cover. It was a hot blind which means that the bumpers were out in the field and if a dog got up on the bank heading to Mark #2, then they were likely to get pulled over to that blind. Mark #3 was an angle back into the heavier cover.
Storm ran this triple. The marks were thrown 1-2-3 and she was required to pick them up 3-2-1. Storm was steady, but then again there were no shot flyers so of course she was steady.
In the above picture, it looks like she does not see the Mark #3. Trust me. She saw it.
I don’t have any pictures of Storm running the blind because the cover was too high. She kept getting lost in the cover and it was not a great blind for her. The high cover did not help so it was probably not the best spot for a blind either.
On the whole we were really happy with her marks because they have not been great lately. It was nice to see her do a good job when there was cover and distance involved. She has a couple of Master tests coming up, and hopefully she will not break and be able to run some marks. No matter how she does on the test, it looks like she is ready for hunting season. 🙂
Storm I cross my paws for your upcoming tests, you are a fabulous girl !
You go Storm!! I hope she does well on her up coming tests!!
Good luck Storm!! All the good work must build up to something 😉
Wishing good luck to Storm. We agree surely all that hard work will pay off. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly
That is great! Best of luck in the upcoming tests, but the main thing is to have a good time and enjoy the process!
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love your posts. It has given me new energy to get out there with my pup! Looking forward to hearing how the tests go.
Good job Storm, you show them how it’s done. Great pictures and great set up for different level dogs.
Great to hear she’s ready for hunting….good job, Storm! That looks like a great place for training and testing…good luck with the upcoming tests!
Hi Y’all!
Now that I’m older I’m not real keen on going into heavier cover, especially if there are briars. You look so great on those marks. I know your test will be perfect this weekend!
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog