Wednesday 13 July 2011

Water Training Day

Chester and his buddy Jack (Large Munsterlander) went to a water training day on Sunday. Lovely location down in Sussex.

We were in class 3 - Swimmers who needed practice on different entries. Good group - only 6 of us so lots of opportunities to practice and talk to the trainer.

Chester is quite confident in the water as he splashes about in the river near us all of the time but has only swam a couple of times.

Starting off with an easy entry. Chester was a little hesitant but swam out well and returned the dummy. He did drop it before he got out of the water though. doh!

Jack wasn't so confident in the water but was uber keen. He is a splashy swimmer and doesn't like to go too far out but by the end of the day he was a lot better.

We practiced lots of different entries - straight into deep water, shallow entry but v muddy, a steep slope through bushes etc and then into water.

We learnt just to stay quiet and let the dog work it out. Give your command and point then in the right direction. If they go off track, a simple 'no' set them up and cast them again. Don't say anything while they are in the water (assuming they are on track to get the dummy) and then stand back for the delivery.

Chester continually dropped the dummy but I know this is a problem in water and we need to work on it. On one occasion he couldn't actually see me as he came out of the water. It must have shocked him so much he held onto the dummy, run up the bank and delivered to hand. Excellent! Lots of praise and a little game :)

At the end the trainer had a dead duck to see what the dogs who hadn't experienced this before would do. All dogs were sniffing away. Chester had a good sniff and attempted to pick it up but not very successfully. Trainer said it wasn't ideal for a first time :( I don't know enough to tell whether that means he'll never pick game or not.

The lovely Jack however, picked the duck and just carried it in his mouth all the way back to the car. Brilliant!!

Had a great day, met some lovely people and learn a lot.

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