Drills

We worked on drills, and I kept an eye on his tail. If Larsen's tail is wagging, you can go another round, if it's not, you'd better think of something new.

We were at Circle W with Cathy, Humphrey, and Zelda. I took Larsen out and heeled him around. I pipped the sit whistle and popped the lead if his sit was desultory. Round and round we went. I changed direction and if he didn't follow, I gave him a pop.

Finally, I sat him and walked a few feet away. I tossed a dead bird over my shoulder while I faced him. I called him to me (and toward the bird). I stopped him at my feet and hupped him. We did that a few times. One bird tossed, or two. He waited, I called him to me, and hupped him at my feet. Tail wagging. If he crept forward on a sit, I gently pushed him back by his chest to get him to the spot where I pipped the sit whistle. Again we did the toss, call, sit. Toss, call, sit. We finished with a hunt dead. Larsen was sent to fetch the downed bird, and he brought it back. A vocal correction brought the bird to hand.

Now to the field. I started him and quartered him. Pip-pip, two quick pips to turn him. If he turned at a good spot, no pips at all. Just let him go. Larsen was pretty sticky in that he stayed close to me. That will loosen up over time. Then I'd pip him to a sit as he quartered in front of me. If he slid, I gently pushed him back to the point of infraction by his chest. That correction works much than trying to grab him by his collar to correct him. He's much more accepting of the correction and did not jump away as I reached out.

Down the field we went, back and forth on the quarter. Pip sit. Pip-pip-pip, come here. Pip sit. Go on out again, I'd send him.

I had his e-collar on and used it if he strayed out too far and ignored the whistle. Pip-pip-pip, come here. If he continued to hunt, he got corrected. It took only one correction on 1.5, a very low correction. (I can hold the collar in my hand and give myself a 1.5 jolt. It feels odd, not really pleasant, but also not unpleasant and it certainly doesn't hurt.) More quartering.

Larsen did a very good job on a the hunt dead. No tricks here. We put the bird down 60 yards away in full view of the dog. He ran out and came back at the same speed, which is what is desired, and brought the bird to hand.

He cheated an inch on the water retrieve. Cathy thought that the infraction did not warrant bringing him back to the car (he deserved the bird), so I backed him up by pushing his chest, and reset him and recast him. His retrieve was quite nice and to hand with only a little harumphing on my part to encourage him to bring it all the way in.

For Cathy, I finally hit all of Humphrey's birds so he had honest retrieves. Humphrey hunted with vigor. Zelda came out of her shell from last week and also looked good in the field. She is more biddable than Humphrey, but I like Humphrey's work. He seems to be a thinking dog with a spaniel way of thinking, if it can be called that, which is charming when it is not exasperating.