Pic of Nathaniel and Argus on cold morning. About 15 degrees. This is at our local field on Weatherbee Rd in Acton.
Argus did great on doubles at about 100 yards. He also did great this morning on overs and back. The single T drill.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Training partners
Pic of Nathaniel and Argus on cold morning. About 15 degrees. This is at our local field on Weatherbee Rd in Acton.
Argus did great on doubles at about 100 yards. He also did great this morning on overs and back. The single T drill.
Argus looking at his training partner Nathaniel
Nathaniel walking in from doing bird boy duty. The big fur ball is interested
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Cold Morning - Post Training - Over Success
Argus after training this morning - temperature about 10 degrees. Does not seem to faze him.
An interesting thing happened in training today. Here's the story -
We trained last night with Buck. Working on the Over command. He did fine if I identified the pile first - he goes right over on command - command is say word "Over" plus point arm in the direction - right/left. He had a problem when I did not id the pile - he would just look up at me confused.
Buck gave some suggestions on how to handle - basically move closer and enforce a "fetch" if he hesitates. Fetch is a very specific command - one that Argus knows and that he must obey. It is a command that he was "forced" on - basically an absolute command with ramifications if Argus does not obey. Buck normally does not like to use this command to solve another problem, but thought Argus needed it to break through whatever block he had.
So, we went out today in the cold weather to work on it.
I set it up, warmed him up with some Over's where I id'ed the pile. Then, did an Over without ID. Argus did not move and had the confused look on him. I moved closer, repeated and added the "fetch" - Argus went right over and picked up.
Try again, and he has similar problem.
For some reason, I think back to training the previous night. At Buck's, it is "first come, first served". So often you have to wait around and watch others get trained before your turn. It is usually very productive just to sit and listen - most of Buck's training is actually training the human.
Well, a couple people before me was a guy who is a little ahead of us in training. Buck was working with him on Over's, Back's and Angled Back's. One thing Buck said was that sometimes, if you yell your command on an over, the dog will go back. Back is the primary direction in teaching dogs to run blinds, so it is the command we most often do. So, when stressed by the handler yelling "over", a dog will sometimes go back and/or fade back.
So, using the same logic - I sometimes have to out think Argus, maybe Argus is confused because I yell a command and point. Let's just try the point - with no words. Well, lo and behold, I do a silent Over - no words, just point to pile - Argus goes immediately over. No problem. We proceed to do about 10 of these - both directions - without any problems. All this time I was frustrated with him for not understanding, but seems like he was confused with my signals. Need to learn to speak Poodle next time.
We'll see if Buck is ok with Argus' silent Overs!
An interesting thing happened in training today. Here's the story -
We trained last night with Buck. Working on the Over command. He did fine if I identified the pile first - he goes right over on command - command is say word "Over" plus point arm in the direction - right/left. He had a problem when I did not id the pile - he would just look up at me confused.
Buck gave some suggestions on how to handle - basically move closer and enforce a "fetch" if he hesitates. Fetch is a very specific command - one that Argus knows and that he must obey. It is a command that he was "forced" on - basically an absolute command with ramifications if Argus does not obey. Buck normally does not like to use this command to solve another problem, but thought Argus needed it to break through whatever block he had.
So, we went out today in the cold weather to work on it.
I set it up, warmed him up with some Over's where I id'ed the pile. Then, did an Over without ID. Argus did not move and had the confused look on him. I moved closer, repeated and added the "fetch" - Argus went right over and picked up.
Try again, and he has similar problem.
For some reason, I think back to training the previous night. At Buck's, it is "first come, first served". So often you have to wait around and watch others get trained before your turn. It is usually very productive just to sit and listen - most of Buck's training is actually training the human.
Well, a couple people before me was a guy who is a little ahead of us in training. Buck was working with him on Over's, Back's and Angled Back's. One thing Buck said was that sometimes, if you yell your command on an over, the dog will go back. Back is the primary direction in teaching dogs to run blinds, so it is the command we most often do. So, when stressed by the handler yelling "over", a dog will sometimes go back and/or fade back.
So, using the same logic - I sometimes have to out think Argus, maybe Argus is confused because I yell a command and point. Let's just try the point - with no words. Well, lo and behold, I do a silent Over - no words, just point to pile - Argus goes immediately over. No problem. We proceed to do about 10 of these - both directions - without any problems. All this time I was frustrated with him for not understanding, but seems like he was confused with my signals. Need to learn to speak Poodle next time.
We'll see if Buck is ok with Argus' silent Overs!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Doing Pick-up duty at Addieville last weekend
Here are an assortment of pictures from last weekend's pick-up duty at Addieville. It was a 1,100 bird shoot. To Argus, this must be like heaven - Dad brings me to a place where birds fall from the sky all day.
We shared a station with Nancy Wolston - friend from prior hunt tests. She had her female dog - Layla? - retrieve in morning, then Yaeger - pictured below - in the afternoon. Yaeger will be going to Westminster dog show next month - we'll be cheering for him. Yeager is a wonderful 105 lbs of lab - "slab of lab" - a term new to me about describing a great large lab.
Yeager is a Master Hunter and tried to show Argus the ropes. Argus was the young, excited dog - by the end of the day - Yeager did not want to have anything to do with this young upstart - as you can see from their picture. Yeager is looking away and not happy.
Here's a link to Yeager's page.
http://www.lobuff.com/yeager.html
Overall, great day for everyone - beautiful winter day, sunny and warm. We retrieved over 70 birds. Great training for his upcoming tests.
We shared a station with Nancy Wolston - friend from prior hunt tests. She had her female dog - Layla? - retrieve in morning, then Yaeger - pictured below - in the afternoon. Yaeger will be going to Westminster dog show next month - we'll be cheering for him. Yeager is a wonderful 105 lbs of lab - "slab of lab" - a term new to me about describing a great large lab.
Yeager is a Master Hunter and tried to show Argus the ropes. Argus was the young, excited dog - by the end of the day - Yeager did not want to have anything to do with this young upstart - as you can see from their picture. Yeager is looking away and not happy.
Here's a link to Yeager's page.
http://www.lobuff.com/yeager.html
Overall, great day for everyone - beautiful winter day, sunny and warm. We retrieved over 70 birds. Great training for his upcoming tests.
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