Aye Mates,
I ran a joint training session last night, Thursday 7/11/19, which included field training for K9 trainees STORM and JACKSON. The focus of the evening session included maximizing recreational and socialization opportunities, field obedience whilst under distraction, and recreational swimming for the dogs with little to no training pressure applied throughout the session. Both dogs were ran on e-collars, corrections being kept to a minimum throughout the session and only applied as called for by each dog’s specific actions or behaviors that necessitated corrective pressure.

Both STORM and JACKSON had a grand time afield tonight as did I in working with them both. Both of these dogs are coming along nicely and should be ready for their initial hunt test runs by the end of this summer. Both dogs will see time afield as gun dogs this coming bird season as rookie year gun dogs. Emphasis will be placed on maintaining obedience whilst making bird contacts with a focus on development and reinforcement of the concept of steadiness to wing, shot, and fall. Practical and applied field training is a critical element of my total training program for the honing of upland hunting skills for young dogs, the emphasis being on maintaining excellent control whilst simultaneously capitalizing on intensification of the natural bird drive inherent to each retriever. During such sessions, I often have partnering gunners shoot whilst leaving me free to concentrate specifically on watching the dog whilst being worked on a long check cord and / or an e-collar. Quartering ahead of, but in range of the guns is critical and carefully controlled. A sit upon the flush is expected to be maintained until the dog is released by name to make retrieve of the downed bird. Earlier pre-season drills using radio controlled release boxes with homing pigeons are utilized to maximize bird contacts whilst steadiness upon the flush is instilled in the gun dog trainee. The use of increasing and random delay of the release command is utilized to increase both steadiness and to intensify bird drive in the gun dog retriever trainee.

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STORM and JACKSON ~ Recreational swim in a smaller pond, one of nine ponds on the property I regularly train on.

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JACKSON and STORM ~ On the run, an opportunity for them to burn off pent up energy. I often work in remote whistle /stop and sit drills during this portion of such sessions.

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JACKSON and STORM ~ Remote sit on a stone wall. Given the verbal command “UP”, both dogs jumped up onto the wall. A quickly following single blast on my whistle had both dogs sitting simultaneously and patiently awaiting their next command.

What might seem like a simple walk to the untrained eye, is in fact a strategically designed exercise for the development of gun dog related skills that will allow the handler to carefully maintain the level of control of these dogs whilst hunting that will make them a complete pleasure to hunt over.

Cheers,
THE DOG WHISTLER ☘️🇮🇪🇺🇸