Today's session

[nimkii]

Went out with Topshelf this afternoon to do some water work. His pup is awesome. She is rock steady, even when shot over, no movement, no noise, I was thoroughly impressed. She'll run all day.

Abbie was her usual unsteady self, pulling barking, whining everything. Taking off and not returning when called, thoroughly frustrating. By the end of the session while on lead I was throwing, 5 to 10ft. (if that) marks into the water and telling her quiet, no noise. If she was still and silent away she went. She was better by the end. We pulled out the gun before we left and tried a couple of marks and she went bananas again. Took a couple of minutes of commands for quiet until she was good to go.

Took her out again in the evening for some field work, simple baseball, wagonwheel lining drills.

I'll keep on the steadiness though, hopefully I'll nip it.

[Huntmaster]

Noise, no bird, burn when make noise, repeat,repeat,repeat, the dog will get the picture!!

[AD18]

I'm working on the same issues right now with my black dog. You've seen him and I've seen your dog so they are sort of similar "activity" wise. I would be flexible on how you deal with this. In my experience the pressure (collar, healing stick, etc.) actually made the problem worse or at the very least did not solve the problem. The pressure route was totally useless at a hunt test when I needed it most too!!!! Over the last few years I've tried the various methods suggested by my mentors, pros, and countless other hunt test friends to no avail. I've done a 180 and have gone to a absolute NO PRESSUE routine and think I'm making progress. I was given the basics by the late Karl Lachowski and got some further tidbits from Sandy Bond on how to do it. It isn't rocket science but seems to be working for me. It probably boils down to your dogs temperment and how she reacts to pressure on which method will work best for you. If you'd like to know what I've done to date (and it may not be by the book) PM me and I'd be glad to share it. Good luck either way.

[nimkii]

Thanks AD18, check your PM's.

Ross

[Tim]

AD18 is right about the pressure, sometimes when pressure doesn't work more pressure will work less, and for every action there's a reaction. I think everyone has to deal with this issue at some point in time, I started with the pressure and the marking went out the window, the pressure created anxiety. So I turned to attrition. I set up a winger at about 25 yards with a duck in it, holding blind, bucket, gun, calls, if he moved at all or made a sound he was told "no sit" or "no quiet" and watched me pick up the bird and bring it back, then to the holding blind while I reloaded the winger. It wasn't easy, but was worth it, took about 3 weeks of this to see solid results.
On the upside of it all I got ALOT of excercise.
Just another way of doin it, hope you find a way that works for you.
Tim

[topshelf]

First i would like to thank Nimkii for his kind words i remember a black dog broke on a retrieve, still working on steadiness. Also Abby is not as bad as he says. She has unbelievable drive, little noisy but LOTS of drive. I would love my old girl to have that drive then i would not have bought the pup. One last thing Nimkii............. i will practice my shooting ha ha ha

[nimkii]

One last thing Nimkii............. i will practice my shooting ha ha ha

That's a lot of practice...lol...

Anywhoooo, was out again this morning with Topshelf. He had a nice little set up for us. Had a boat set up with dekes out in the field. I brought Abbie out of the truck and took my time with her getting to the line. No movement if she made noise. Finally got her in the boat and settled, uplander went off and she started singing. Back to the truck she went.

Dutchess was up, she ran very well. I like watching that dog go.

We repeated Abbie this time and to start I walked her through the dekes and then to the boat. I really took my time on this one, as well I threw marks by hand. We did 3 that way and back in the truck, success and no noise.

We then did some lining drills and both dogs did well.

Thanks Topshelf for a good day.