We were back to cold weather this week including some snow showers. It is a good thing Freighter got some water work in last weekend. In addition to the blind work we did last Saturday, (links to those posts here and here), we set-up a single mark in a long oval pond. We wanted to throw multiple marks, but the wind was so strong that we knew the bumpers would blow around and probably not add much training value. The idea of setting up this long single was just to see if Freighter would fight the wind and swim in a straight line. This kind of water mark probably best translates to hunting because the dogs often must fight wind to retrieve waterfowl during the hunting season.
This type of set-up is also a great strengthening exercise.
That was a very nice job by Freighter. He held the initial line all the way out to where he watched the bumper fall into the pond. Some dogs will allow the wind to push them off line when they have to swim against it, but Freighter is a strong swimmer and doesn’t mind fighting the wind.
Thanks to SlimDoggy, MyGBGV Life, and To Dog with Love for the FitDog Friday Blog Hop!
Bravo Freighter, you are like a speed boat! We got bad weather too… out of the blue, the temperatures went down from 25 to 12°C, no wonder that nearly all people got a meow-graine yesterday :lo(
Nice job Freighter – I Love seeing these photos – he’s so strong.
Excellent retrieve, Freighter! So smart to find the bumper after it was blown off…and such a strong swimmer! Well done.
You’re awesome, Freighter! We had to train in snow showers the beginning of the week. April weather.
Freighter is straighter! Our dogs retrieve in the river with currents, eventually they learn to anticipate the movement of stick, bumper or fallen bird…kind of like a submarine periscope!
Eyes on the prize, they often meet it coming towards them and snag it.
When it was safe to hit the waves in Lake Erie (no toxic green slime) they looked like surfers
headed out. It is a delight to watch the adjustments they learn to make to retrieve.
Of course, we do not train for hunt tests so we rely on their smarts!
Sunny here and again Sunday, hopefully true Spring is finally here!
Go Freighter! Have a great weekend.
Ugh will this fickle weather never end? Glad to see he did what was expected of him, he’s learning. 🙂 Hope you have better weather this weekend.
Hi Y’all!
It’s been chilly here in the mountains, but not that chilly. I know my Human is anxious to get back to the Low Country.
Freighter looks impressive on that retrieve!
We’ve been gettin’ so much rain that we (Humans and me) aren’t gettin’ much exercise. When I do get some retrieves in I like to carry them on a sight seeing tour on the way back. My Human must realize I’ve got beaucoup pent up energy, ’cause she hasn’t been correctin’ me like usual.
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Well done Freighter!!
http://blog.4knines.com/activities-for-your-dog/dogs-7-facts-should-know/
awesome job, that is hard work swimming into the wind.
Good job, Freighter! You’re going to be in great shape for your hunt tests.
Linda nice job of foto how straight the line was…and Freighter used his nose to find that darn bumper which wanted to ‘trick’ him. Loved the squaring he had to do to fetch it up = orange ribbon 🙂
Lookin’ good Freighter!! 😀
What a great swim and retrieve!
Great job Freighter you went straight for the bumper and looked until you found it. Being a strong swimmer will help a lot with hunting 🙂
Nice job, Freighter! I love how enthusiastically you jumped into the water 🙂
Great job, Freighter! I hope the nicer weather comes back soon for all of us!
And now I have the song stuck in my head.
You are welcome. Yesterday I was listening to the 80’s channel on XM and The War Song by Culture Club came on. I did not flip the station quick enough and now a song which was stupid when it came out in 84, and one I haven’t hear in years, is stuck in my head!
Good job Freighter. I couldn’t believe the weather on Thursday we had here – it was snowing. Enough that we even had it left over the next morning. I took Laika out to the park that day and as we were walking along the trail she jumped right into the water, I really wasn’t expecting it considering it was snowing and all.
Love seeing your dogs train. Great job, Freighter!
You go Freighter! And wow… still snow this late in the year. It seems crazy!
Nice job!