Some more structure is needed

Today's practice was at Circle W with Shoni, Susan R., and Cathy.  Al provided some additional firepower.  There was a nice chill and the field was dry.

Our biggest collective mistake was to run the dogs with the wind at their backs.  This encouraged large bites, and this was exacerbated by the fact that the mowed portions of the field ran in the same direction as  the wind.  Some dogs (Larsen) took this as license to move way out into the field.  In retrospect, and just this minute I thought of it, I didn't make him tack back hard enough.  It could have been much, much more productive if I had done that instead of trying to force the dog to quarter in the usual way.

Larsen was not steady at all on his first bird.  On his second, I pipped him to a sit when he had a bird nearly trapped.  The bird got away and ran about 4 feet in front of the dog.  Larsen went into a down position and watched the bird walk away.  This is really pretty spectacular.  I then told him to get the bird, but in so doing, he (of course) broke.

Finally, I wised up and put the check cord on him.

Larsen flushed the bird and sat to the pip.  He broke to the gun, but this time I had the check cord on him and he went nowhere.  I pipped his return, and he came and sat.  Then I sent him.  After some looking, I finally had to toss one for him.  A good end, and some new thoughts on next week's outing.

The plan will be to give him flushes with more structure than just being loose in the field.  Less structure than the drill, but still a firm hand on the check cord.

Larsen's retrieves remained messy, and I added to that by letting him carry a bird after a sloppy retrieve.  His retrieves on hunt-deads are much better.  How can that be?

Larsen waits for the command to fetch the bird.


(photo courtesy of Statesman WSS)