July 17, 2010Jersey, GA
After we skipped the June training day due to the heat, we managed to go this month. I quickly realized that 2 months is too long of an absence, as Tessa has much regressed. I planted 4 birds and when we took Shane and Tessa out to the field, Shane methodically and with great style found and pointed the first one, and Tessa ran ahead, her wild and crazy self, to the farthest corner of the field, found the last one I planted, pointed it for a moment, definitely not long enough for me to get myself there, then flushed and chased it. ARGH! Thankfully, the bird flew onto the nearest tree and Tessa didn't catch it, but that was almost back to the pre-Junior Hunter level and seeing this right at the beginning of our run was very frustrating.
Overall, she did well with locating the birds in the field but she's not the least bit steady and that is a bad thing. I had her on a 20-ft check cord which of course is useless when Tessa is 150 ahead of me in 10 seconds, so next time there has to be a different approach involving much more restraint. I have to proof her "whoa" before letting her run the field again.
When we left the field though, she was wonderful, I was able to heel her back to the car, and could have her off-leash with her staying close and minding well. In that regard, she has come a very long way. Just a year ago, whenever I unclipped her, she would bolt out of the parking area into the fields in search of birds and would not come back, and it is so nice to be able to relax more about this now.
The soak.
Water work was more play than work. Tessa is nuts about the water, she gets so excited that she whines while swimming which a lot of people find amusing. Her water retrieves were better than usual today. After a while we switched to another pond where there were many live ducks, and let the dogs chase them. Ducks are very fast, and they fly and dive, so there was no danger to the birds, and the dogs had a good workout.
After 4 hours, it started to get hot and Tessa started to get tired. She folded into her crate in a weirdly twisted way and remained in that position all the way home (one hour) - passed out!
Overall, she did well with locating the birds in the field but she's not the least bit steady and that is a bad thing. I had her on a 20-ft check cord which of course is useless when Tessa is 150 ahead of me in 10 seconds, so next time there has to be a different approach involving much more restraint. I have to proof her "whoa" before letting her run the field again.
When we left the field though, she was wonderful, I was able to heel her back to the car, and could have her off-leash with her staying close and minding well. In that regard, she has come a very long way. Just a year ago, whenever I unclipped her, she would bolt out of the parking area into the fields in search of birds and would not come back, and it is so nice to be able to relax more about this now.
The soak.Water work was more play than work. Tessa is nuts about the water, she gets so excited that she whines while swimming which a lot of people find amusing. Her water retrieves were better than usual today. After a while we switched to another pond where there were many live ducks, and let the dogs chase them. Ducks are very fast, and they fly and dive, so there was no danger to the birds, and the dogs had a good workout.
After 4 hours, it started to get hot and Tessa started to get tired. She folded into her crate in a weirdly twisted way and remained in that position all the way home (one hour) - passed out!
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