Well it all sounds much more impressive than my humble attempt, and thanks for describing it in such detail - really interesting. Good work with that water - what a nice memory to take away
I'd put this aside "so to speak" when you posted it and I had a lot on. Wow, Riley boy, you are a star. When is the next one?
We did our third test yesterday (and our last one for this year) The day started off misty but that soon burnt off and it was a hot and airless day. We were out in open fields so there was very little shade. All the competitors hugged the hedge lines for the tiny bit of shade that was around. There were about 40 dogs so with that and the heat the organisers had decided on four tests. They weren't as varied as the last WT we went to. Our first test went well. A mark with shot down a track followed by a short heel walk to a blind down another track at 90 degrees to the first one. Riley was on his toes from the off and couldn't stay at heel so I lost marks and got 18. Self control was to be our downfall today!! Next was walk up and Riley couldn't contain himself and ran in I ran after him but didn't get to him before he got the dummy I also made the cardinal sin of throwing the dummy back towards the dummy thrower. Someone kindly pointed out to me the error of this as it could cause another dog to go to that area. Perhaps unlikely but definitely possible and not fair. We still finished the exercise but on the lead for the heel parts as the other dog needed to show its steadiness to a dog running past it. Rileys retrieve was good but he was clearly over excited! The next two tests were ok, not brilliant but not a disaster. I lost marks for noisy handling as I kept reinforcing his sit/stay.....I didn't want him running in again! First we had a double mark. One in long grass and one in the open. Unfortunately the mark in the long grass was behind a massive buddlia(sp?) so once Riley had gone round the bush he had travelled past the mark. I had to pip him back towards me and hunt him. I lost marks for that but the judge agreed it was the right thing to do in the circumstances. The mark in the open was sttaightforward so 16 points for that exercise. Our last exercise was a long mark through a boundary followed by a blind in the same spot. The mark was ok although Riley got drawn offline a little at the boundary, he came round and picked though without any help. The blind was trickier, he got hung up on the hedge and I had to stop him and push him back. He also had a pee but the judge let me off that as several dogs had peed in the same spot after a bitch had peed there so I guess she's coming in to season and all the boys were getting over excited. If it had just been Riley peeing we'd have lost marks. Then Riley headed out of area to the left, I tried to stop him but his brain had melted and he picked after being self employed gggrrrrrr. Another (probably generous) 16 and it was time for some shade and lunch. Very pleased with my boy working amongst so many dogs with such enthusiasm now we just need to establish some control and I'll be a very happy person. The judges were again universally lovely and one of the competitors in the special puppy class was actually a judge from our first disasterous test and she said how well we'd come on which was nice. The judges all gave good advice and support. Although it's a bit nerve wracking everyone is so nice it really was a lovely day out!! Now time for some emergency heelwork and steadiness before we actually go shooting!
Gosh, that's fantastic! Well done, Riley. I am trying not to imagine how much control I'd be lacking in similar circumstances! Argghh......
I think one of the most surprising things has been how well Riley has adapted to this new adventure. Honestly after the first test I thought it would take forever for him to acclimatise to working amongst a bunch of strange dogs in a new location. He seems to have got the hang of it though and luckily all the other dogs are always on lead if they're not actually doing a test so they aren't as distracting as you might think
Do you think he was a bit antsy in the first 2 tests because you were just starting off?sounds like once he knows why he's there he gets down to it and shows what he can do,clever boy! I'm not surprised you were reinforcing his stay....and without knowing the marking system I guess you lose less points for that than a run in?blimey did you do a full accelerated sprint to get to try to get to that dummy before him....impossible I'd say!Isnt is great that everyone is so supportive and nice ...especially to comment on your progress.I bet when your heart rate returns to normal and you look back you feel like you've had a really wonderful day.Well done yo you both x
You definitely lose less for verbally reinforcing his sit/stay than a run in. You get zero for a run in you're not allowed to touch your dog once his lead is off though so you couldn't put a hand on his collar or chest for example. I legged it like a woman possessed and normally when he knows I'm coming he stops but this time he only had one thing on his mind!!! The lady who told me I shouldn't throw dummies about (which I totally agree with) also said I shouldn't run after my dog but I'm afraid we'll have to disagree on that one and several people told me it was up to me if I wanted to go and get me dog or not. I think it can be easy to get caught up in the formality of it all but I still have quite a training mentality and if somethings not ok in training it's not ok in a test either. I was really close to going and getting Riley on another test when he didn't stop but he picked and was on his way back before I had a chance.
He was definitely on his toes all day. When he was steady he was just hanging on by a thread. I need to work out how to keep him attentive but calm. He's a bit all or nothing at the moment
That sounds amazing - well done! When you find the magic spell for 'attentive but calm', could you let me know?
I'm sure there will be a training approach you can get advice on that will help you with this (obvs not from me ) but you might find the more chances you have to participate the more 'normal' it will be to him ? hence not sooooo exciting.....is that me and my optimistic ,wishful ( naive) thinking? I think you've made a great start...things to work on now for your dates next year x
Great to hear this Barbara. The good and the bad! Really helps to feel we can all make progress. Well done
I think that's very important actually Barbara, not to let your dog get away with things in a working test that you wouldn't allow in training. I had some very good advice recently (maybe from Heidrun?) which was to look at a working test as a training opportunity. You learn something every time, and the dogs learn from every task. So why would you let them get away with something you don't like? OK, so you ran after him - you were going to get the zero anyway, and you didnt want him to self-reward by getting the dummy after running-in. You may not have stopped him; but he will have been aware that you weren't too pleased, so I think it was fine. Sounds like he's calmed right down working together with other dogs, which is great (although it's obviously still hugely exciting for him). I hope you enjoyed yourself, and that Riley did too.
We did Karen The nice judge from my awful first WT said it was easy to ruin a good dog by going to tests and letting them get away with stuff you wouldn't normally and then the behaviour will crop up odd places or they'll become test-wise and know they can do stuff they wouldn't do normally. I think the other dogs have started to become positive excitement rather than sensory overload which is a massive step and I've certainly learned to stand on my own two feet as it were. I think I was cruising a bit in class and waiting to be told what to do. Going to the tests has made me try harder and make my own decisions.....wrong ones often but my own at least. There are some tests I look at and know exactly what I want to do and others where I'm still pushing him out and not quite hoping for the best but there's an element of hope rather than plan or where there's a plan I've missed a significant factor. We're definitely heading in the right direction though.
To try and address our steadiness issues we've gone back a bit and been doing some walk up without shot and dummy launchers. Yesterday we worked in amongst 4 other dogs on a flat field with short grass and both our heelwork and steadiness improved. Today we were out on Salisbury Plain with two other dogs, we were in the middle of the line and Riley got nothing until he'd visibly relaxed. The two handlers either side of me were throwing as their dogs were steady. I just had to concentrate on Riley. In between training we're working on our heelwork with a clicker as Riley starts to pull as soon as it gets exciting. It was so much easier to make improvement without all the hoopla sending his arousal levels off the scale!!!
Just catching up on all this! Well done to you Barbara, so pleased you are doing this with Riley - and thanks for writing up your experience for us, it is so helpful to others.
I hope it does encourage people to do Working Tests Pippa. I've met some lovely people and had a great time. It's helped my confidence as a handler as in class I often feel like I have a safety net with the instructor there. It's been really valuable Our next challenge is to actually go shooting!! We were due to do some live game training in early September that would have spaniels out front flushing and getting the odd retrieve, three guns and labradors in pairs retrieving with a gallery of handlers and dogs on leads behind but I've put that off for a month at least for two reasons. One, I want to do LOTS more walk up at a lower level of intensity to improve our heelwork and steadiness and two I want to do live game without the spaniels so that we only add one excitement inducing factor at a time! The plan for the next few weeks therefore is more walk up with dummies followed by walk up with dummies and shot followed by cold game retrieves followed by cold game and shot. Then we'll put it together with live game in October if we're ready. If not I'll push it back some more.
