1:1 Training

Had a great 1:1 training session last night. Chester always seems to be super well behaved in these and his concentration levels are great! I come away feeling a lot more confident and with a new plan for the next couple of weeks.

I mentioned that although his heel work is now FINALLY great on the lead that I really need to pick it up off lead. It's looking good but I'll incorporate this much more into our daily walks.

We then did recall, recall, recall. Really testing him against distractions of the trainer's dog, dummies etc. He did well, so I'll keep this up. He must have also spotted a rabbit in the field next door and did a beautiful point! Not long enough to really steady him but nice to watch :)

Worked some more on our retrieves, really concentrating on him bringing the dummy right into me. This is something I can carry on with at home, inside the house or the garden also perfecting the hold as he's getting old enough not to drag the dummy around by the toggle or the end.

Trainer and I were chatting while Chester was having some off lead time. He'd gone to the other end of the field so I put in the stop whistle. He stopped quickly, turned, sat and looked at me. The trainer put in two pips and tried to cast him off to the side. Although it was slightly to the side, it was more of a return to us so this is definitely something we can work on making sure he is going at right angles when sending him off. I currently only turn him when he is hunting.

We've got about 10 days now until the next group training so I'm really going to work on those retrieves and make sure everything else we already know is spot on.