An invitation yesterday evening to join some friends (Lab men... ), along the shores of Lough Ennell, for some training was an oppurtunity I just could not pass up.
Water work, in respect to Working tests, can be a blessing or a curse. When prepared for properly, it can be a real asset if all the land tests have not been challenging enough to spread the dogs.
Water, however, brings with it a WHOLE set of other challenges that land work never seems to present.
This was certainly something I had noticed repeatedly last Summer as I trapsed around the working test circuit. Time and again dogs that had performed well throughout the day on the various land retrieves, threw it all away when it came to the water. I then began to notice a pattern or was it merely coincidence? The dogs that performed consistently well on water were generally owned by handlers who trained along the lakes in the Midlands and Cavan. With that in mind I knew that I needed to devote a lot of time this summer, to some serious waterwork.
So when I joined them yesterday evening there were MANY, many aspects I wanted to work on. Everyone who's ever owned a Chesapeake can attest to their absolute passion for water, but they will also agree, that if there is a problem pertaining to water training a Chesapeake will find it!! There is also a lack of lakes in the beautiful pastureland of County Meath. Most of my waterwork, up until now, has been on and across rivers. Great for teaching a dog to mark with changing ground elevation and to come back the same way you sent them but not so good for teaching them to look out on water for a retrieve, swim long distances in open stretches of water and cope with diversions such as swans...
One of the things I've loved about Bertie since he's been a puppy is his absolute desire to retrieve anything. It doesn't matter if its a milk carton, a dummy or a bird his sole purpose for existence is to retrieve the object you've sent him for. It's meant that he's been able to cope with training as pressure has been applied which in turn has kept his momentum and drive that sometimes disappears when the rough edges are knoocked off a young dog in training. However, the converse of this is that he has learnt to count in line and he knows when the dog next to him is on his return, he's next up..it's a phenomenon called 'creeping' and it's proving to be a very difficult problem to correct. So, again, this was another reason why I was anxious to avail of some serious waterwork sessions this Summer as I feel if I can control him in a water line up, where he is at his most keen, then the rest will follow..
The session started off with him as I expected. He was giddy and keen to retrieve every dummy thrown even when not for him! No running in, just lifting and shifting after each retrieve. However, after an intense two hour session involving some complicated retrieves on both land and water he had relaxed and settled in line. I know the problem is not fixed but am happy that it is fixable and with regular session work over the coming months who knows .. he finished with a two hundred yard swim between two headlands for a blind retrieve, ignored the two swans that were calmly bobbing in the shelter of the bay and swam back rather than running the shoreline. Happy times:)
.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
Sunday 29 April 2012
Friday 20 April 2012
Working towards start of Working test season.
April 17th.
It was so good to get back out training this morning after a two week lay off. School holidays, the flu and massive numbers of dog boarders conspired to ensure that training was way down the list of priorities.
Our training group that had started off with so much promise in February has fizzled to just two. Training ground is now also becoming increasingly difficult to find as the full throttle of Spring farming has pushed forward. Livestock are out and crops are planted.
This morning we headed to the peace and quiet of Oristown Bog. On the surface this ground has everything required to test a dog's marking skills... wide open areas,a mixture of short and lightish cover backed by Birch trees.It is uneven underfoot so what appears to be a straight line means a dog has to constantly readjust it's perspective while aiming for a retrieve.There is almost always a crosswind which helps draw the dog in.
It is not great ground for blind work training as the uneven ground lends itself too much to a dog going off line..which in turn means more whistle work is needed. I find if I overwhistle and handle my dogs, (this observation purely applies to my chessies), when doing blindwork training they lose confidence and shut down very quickly. So although we mixed a few short blinds into the training session today, the main emphasis was on Marks and Memories.
I spoke earlier in the year of my plans to reverse the roles of Mossy and Bertie this Summer. Bertie is entered in his first Championship show in early May. Mossy's training has been progressing steadily and I would hope to have him ready to compete at a working test by the end of May.
The most difficult aspect to train for is steadiness in line as, at the moment, there are only two of us training together. Last year I tended to use the Working tests as an opportunity to show up any weaknesses in training.It had its limitations as you really don't have the same level of control at a working test to correct a problem as you do in training.
So although I would liked to have had my working test season well under way by now I find I've been holding back until the longer evenings allow me the opportunity to join a group training on the Cavan lakes.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
It was so good to get back out training this morning after a two week lay off. School holidays, the flu and massive numbers of dog boarders conspired to ensure that training was way down the list of priorities.
Our training group that had started off with so much promise in February has fizzled to just two. Training ground is now also becoming increasingly difficult to find as the full throttle of Spring farming has pushed forward. Livestock are out and crops are planted.
This morning we headed to the peace and quiet of Oristown Bog. On the surface this ground has everything required to test a dog's marking skills... wide open areas,a mixture of short and lightish cover backed by Birch trees.It is uneven underfoot so what appears to be a straight line means a dog has to constantly readjust it's perspective while aiming for a retrieve.There is almost always a crosswind which helps draw the dog in.
It is not great ground for blind work training as the uneven ground lends itself too much to a dog going off line..which in turn means more whistle work is needed. I find if I overwhistle and handle my dogs, (this observation purely applies to my chessies), when doing blindwork training they lose confidence and shut down very quickly. So although we mixed a few short blinds into the training session today, the main emphasis was on Marks and Memories.
I spoke earlier in the year of my plans to reverse the roles of Mossy and Bertie this Summer. Bertie is entered in his first Championship show in early May. Mossy's training has been progressing steadily and I would hope to have him ready to compete at a working test by the end of May.
The most difficult aspect to train for is steadiness in line as, at the moment, there are only two of us training together. Last year I tended to use the Working tests as an opportunity to show up any weaknesses in training.It had its limitations as you really don't have the same level of control at a working test to correct a problem as you do in training.
So although I would liked to have had my working test season well under way by now I find I've been holding back until the longer evenings allow me the opportunity to join a group training on the Cavan lakes.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
Friday 13 April 2012
..the Puppy-Picking Puzzle...
...and then from around twelve days their eyes open, they begin to hear and move around on all fours. This is the time I enjoy the most. Its amazing too to watch how Winnie now manages them. She spends more time away . Sleeps outside the whelping box and staggers the feeds to a more structured timetable rather than on demand.My job gets harder as now weaning begins.Cleaning up and more emphasis on socialising and exposure to all sorts of sights and sounds becomes part of their everyday life.
I've been watching them for 3 weeks now and the science and art of puppy picking never gets any easier but is still such a brilliant excuse for time wasting. Hours and hours of puppy gazing and I never tire of it.I change my mind a hundred times or more in my decision as to which girl I'll keep.
In the end I know it'll be the one I originally was drawn to. As I believe that in spite of studying all the puppy puzzle books and listening to the science of picking at six hours, six weeks ,six months etc. ..there is something unquantifiable and unmeasurable that draws me in that final choice. It's the thing that you search for when judging a line up of dogs in the show ring. You may only feel it for a second but it makes your heart skip and no matter how many times you look back over that line of dogs your eye is drawn to that one.That is what I base my final decision on in the puppy-picking puzzle..
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
I've been watching them for 3 weeks now and the science and art of puppy picking never gets any easier but is still such a brilliant excuse for time wasting. Hours and hours of puppy gazing and I never tire of it.I change my mind a hundred times or more in my decision as to which girl I'll keep.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
Wednesday 4 April 2012
Do all retrievers have the same basic traits?
The only common trait, in my mind, among the retriever breeds is that they were all developed to retrieve. After this their paths deviate greatly. They all originated in different contries and even continents . They all have a different selection of foundation breeds in their backgrounds.Do many people have a stereotypical idea of how a retiever, regardless of breed, should behave?
I think it's fair to say that before I had a Chesapeake I had very little experience with gundogs of any sort. I grew up with terriers and greyhounds, both are breeds left very much to their own devices. Working them merely involves bringing them to a location where rabbits, hares or any quarry are to be found and letting them get on with the job.
My first dog as an adult was a Golden Retriever who's still pottering around at 13. Bailey was one of those dogs who simply accepted and did anything you asked him to do. He never suffered any adolescent 'angst'. I think the most rebellious thing he's ever done is dig up a rosebush :) he applied himself to agility, obedience and made a fairly useful gundog even winning a few prizes in working tests.
Chester, our first Chesapeake now just over 10 years old, was to be our first real introduction into gundog competitions. Looking back now I think we both truly believed we were bringing home a wavy coated chocolate labrador, with a temperament similar to the Chocolate Labs that Des had grown up with. We expected the usual puppy problems that go along with teething. The digging of the garden etc..but he seemed much more independent at an earlier age than Bailey (our Goldie) ever was. He was quite happy to wander off and go hunting by himself. It was normal on walks for Chester to be plodding along by my side then to suddenly take off after an errant scent, through a ditch and be gone for ten minutes or more. No amount of whistling, calling or cajoling would make any difference. He would return, tongue hanging and be perfectly biddable again...until the next time that was!! There were other differences also ..he showed little interest in dummies..would race out to them, sniff then walk off. I was completely exasperated and confused. This was not what a retriever was supposed to do. In my mind a retriever should want to retrieve anything. He was birdy..spent his whole time following up on scents of all sorts but ask him to retrieve something I wanted (other than a bird) and that was a whole different ball game.
I took him to Gundog training that first Summer. Alas it did nothing to alter Chester's attitude to dummies. One of the first evenings we were there, the 'dummy thrower' felt Chester wasn't returning to me fast enough and threw the bag of dummies at him!! This only had the effect of Chester dropping the dummy and, for a long time afterwards, when at a working test, once he got in view of the dummy thrower he refused to go for the retrieve.
Of course it wasn't just Working tests that Chester differed (from what we thought a retriever should be like)..He was more protective of his own patch and altogether much more male than Bailey ever was. He very quickly, once adolescence hit home, asserted himself as top dog. Something Bailey was quite happy to relinquish. He was stand-offish with strangers..not everyone's friend like you expect a retriever to be but once he got to know you he was marshmallow in your hand..
In those few short years Chester rewrote the rule book for us with regards to how a retriever should behave.
He absolutley lived for hunting. I have seen him tip-toe over brambles to pick up a dummy at a working test but crawl on his belly under thick brambles until his eyelids and nose are ripped to shreds in pursuit of a pheasant. I have watched in exasperation as he pussyfoots around the edge of a pond before he retrieves a dummy at a working test but had my heart in my mouth when he plunged into a raging river and was swept out of sight after a wounded duck (he made it back ..with the duck)
I guess somewhere along the way our minds were opened to the fact that all retrievers are different. As it turned out I quite liked the challenges Chester presented me with. There was no greater leveller of humility than competing with him at working tests! He got his game together during hunting season and that to me, was much more important. And once the first flush of testosterone settled in his system he is actually a very laid back chesapeake.
We were helped greatly by our regular trips to the UK to attend Chessie events run by the UK Chesapeake Bay Retriever Club.
It was these trips and meeting fellow Chesapeake owners that taught us more than anything that our Chesapeake was trainable it was simply a matter of applying a more open minded approach. Of course in my frustration a lot of the time I forgot the one core ingredient in Chesapeake training PRAISE!! This is a breed that trains better with affirmation as opposed to negation. Chester went on to win the Spring Open CBRC Working Test in 2006.
I like to think of the retriever group very much like a classroom. The labrador is the one at the top of the class, sitting in front of the teacher, that accepts without question everthing the teacher says. The flatcoat is the one throwing the paperclips across the classroom behind the teacher's back but clever enough to apply himself when called upon. The chesapeake is the one that questions everything the teacher says. When they have argued every point and understand it thoroughly then they will accept and respect the teacher's word.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
I think it's fair to say that before I had a Chesapeake I had very little experience with gundogs of any sort. I grew up with terriers and greyhounds, both are breeds left very much to their own devices. Working them merely involves bringing them to a location where rabbits, hares or any quarry are to be found and letting them get on with the job.
My first dog as an adult was a Golden Retriever who's still pottering around at 13. Bailey was one of those dogs who simply accepted and did anything you asked him to do. He never suffered any adolescent 'angst'. I think the most rebellious thing he's ever done is dig up a rosebush :) he applied himself to agility, obedience and made a fairly useful gundog even winning a few prizes in working tests.
Chester, our first Chesapeake now just over 10 years old, was to be our first real introduction into gundog competitions. Looking back now I think we both truly believed we were bringing home a wavy coated chocolate labrador, with a temperament similar to the Chocolate Labs that Des had grown up with. We expected the usual puppy problems that go along with teething. The digging of the garden etc..but he seemed much more independent at an earlier age than Bailey (our Goldie) ever was. He was quite happy to wander off and go hunting by himself. It was normal on walks for Chester to be plodding along by my side then to suddenly take off after an errant scent, through a ditch and be gone for ten minutes or more. No amount of whistling, calling or cajoling would make any difference. He would return, tongue hanging and be perfectly biddable again...until the next time that was!! There were other differences also ..he showed little interest in dummies..would race out to them, sniff then walk off. I was completely exasperated and confused. This was not what a retriever was supposed to do. In my mind a retriever should want to retrieve anything. He was birdy..spent his whole time following up on scents of all sorts but ask him to retrieve something I wanted (other than a bird) and that was a whole different ball game.
I took him to Gundog training that first Summer. Alas it did nothing to alter Chester's attitude to dummies. One of the first evenings we were there, the 'dummy thrower' felt Chester wasn't returning to me fast enough and threw the bag of dummies at him!! This only had the effect of Chester dropping the dummy and, for a long time afterwards, when at a working test, once he got in view of the dummy thrower he refused to go for the retrieve.
Of course it wasn't just Working tests that Chester differed (from what we thought a retriever should be like)..He was more protective of his own patch and altogether much more male than Bailey ever was. He very quickly, once adolescence hit home, asserted himself as top dog. Something Bailey was quite happy to relinquish. He was stand-offish with strangers..not everyone's friend like you expect a retriever to be but once he got to know you he was marshmallow in your hand..
In those few short years Chester rewrote the rule book for us with regards to how a retriever should behave.
He absolutley lived for hunting. I have seen him tip-toe over brambles to pick up a dummy at a working test but crawl on his belly under thick brambles until his eyelids and nose are ripped to shreds in pursuit of a pheasant. I have watched in exasperation as he pussyfoots around the edge of a pond before he retrieves a dummy at a working test but had my heart in my mouth when he plunged into a raging river and was swept out of sight after a wounded duck (he made it back ..with the duck)
I guess somewhere along the way our minds were opened to the fact that all retrievers are different. As it turned out I quite liked the challenges Chester presented me with. There was no greater leveller of humility than competing with him at working tests! He got his game together during hunting season and that to me, was much more important. And once the first flush of testosterone settled in his system he is actually a very laid back chesapeake.
We were helped greatly by our regular trips to the UK to attend Chessie events run by the UK Chesapeake Bay Retriever Club.
It was these trips and meeting fellow Chesapeake owners that taught us more than anything that our Chesapeake was trainable it was simply a matter of applying a more open minded approach. Of course in my frustration a lot of the time I forgot the one core ingredient in Chesapeake training PRAISE!! This is a breed that trains better with affirmation as opposed to negation. Chester went on to win the Spring Open CBRC Working Test in 2006.
I like to think of the retriever group very much like a classroom. The labrador is the one at the top of the class, sitting in front of the teacher, that accepts without question everthing the teacher says. The flatcoat is the one throwing the paperclips across the classroom behind the teacher's back but clever enough to apply himself when called upon. The chesapeake is the one that questions everything the teacher says. When they have argued every point and understand it thoroughly then they will accept and respect the teacher's word.
Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
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