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:)
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Copyright Riverrunchesapeakes 2012
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