I purchased two new bumpers this weekend with the hopes that with new bumpers, she would not exhibit the obsession that she does with the other bumpers. Sunday evening, I resumed Sophie and Dakota’s training – or at least attempted to.
Dakota:
With Dakota, I went all the way back to wing-on-a-string training in the pasture and she did very well. No bumpers, just a wing on a string. However much of my time was spent trying to get her to “stay” long enough to toss the wing. The neighbor dogs didn’t help our training session any by constantly trying to play with Dakota, with me trying to keep them at a distance so that we could train.
Sophie:
Sophie did quite well with doubles and blind retrieves, but we were distracted by the neighbor dogs who constantly tried playing with her. I had to chase down our neighbor’s boxer on a couple of occasions when he stole a wing or bumper. I noticed that Sophie was having problems with long retrieves.
Tags: bird dog training, casting drills, double retrieve, hunting dog training, retriever training problems
