Freighter has been training in the tall grass.

Freighter is a funny dog.  He has a big water entry and never seems to be concerned about launching into a pond.

However, when it comes to breaking through tall grass, Freighter is a bit more hesitant.  He will often go around a large clump of grass or cover.

This can be an issue when Freighter is running both marks and blinds.  When he is retrieving multiple marks that are close together, if he veers off line to avoid clumps of tall grass, that can put him too close to the scent of an old fall.  Once that happens, it can make him forget where he was originally headed and going to an old fall at a test is a fail.

When Freighter is doing a blind retrieve, we want him to carry a nice long straight line.  Avoiding clumps of tall grass shortens those lines and takes him off track.  Hubby then has to stop him and put him back on line.

Rather than allowing Freighter to avoid the thing that he does not like, hubby has been making set-ups that require Freighter to run through tall grass.  With enough practice hopefully Freighter will feel comfortable enough not to avoid it.

Freighter is getting more comfortable, but at times he still tries to avoid the tall grass.  Of course this means that he will be doing more training in it.

What do your dogs avoid?