Dummy practice

I caught up with Susan and Allen W. to give our dogs a little bumper work at Lake Allatoona this morning.  I brought Larsen. Susan and Allen brought Lars and Mazie, Larsen's sire & dam, and Tatum.  We did some bumper retrieves on land and water.

Larsen's retrieving was nothing to write home about.  Certainly not where he needs to be for October, but there were some solid things to build on:

• Larsen minded my commands, including commands to come, even when he was otherwise preoccupied with the lithesome Tatum.
• Larsen would return to me, hup, and then head back out when I resent him for a bumper (albeit one he had failed to return).
• When Larsen didn't feel like picking up the bumper, he made moaning and groaning sounds, but did it anyway.

This is hardly JH stuff, but now I see that we should change our practice time allocation from one of pure obedience to one of fetches of different things, including cloth bumpers and then wings.  (To this point, I've had him fetch a large piece of cotton rope and some rubber bumpers.)  That's progress!

I'll also make sure I get him on the table every day to pick something up and hold it.  We'll repeat retrieves, pick-ups, and holds every day for the next few weeks.   

Tatum set a great example for both land and water.  She's a very eager little dog who clearly enjoys any type of field work.  Mazie is simply fun to watch.  She's very accomplished and responds to the whistle with a beautiful nonchalance - - as though she herself independently had determined to do the very thing that the whistle asked of her.

It was a nice time and, like any group training no matter how small, renews your enthusiasm for the work.

Larsen hups along the berm of Lake Allatoona.

Susan and Allen prepare the dogs for some retrieve work.

Larsen waits.  

Dogs can be circumspect and even obstinate when asked to retrieve, but are always indescribably eager when asked to wait their turns.

Mazie completes a water retrieve while Allen and Tatum observe.