We ran a training group last night with 7 people attending with their labradors and one cocker spaniel. A good friend of ours brought her 2 working bred labradors and 1 show bred labrador and asked me if I would work her show bred lab. We wanted to do steadiness training so we did a walk up with dummies being thrown out in front of the dogs which were to be ignored as we walked on. We then walked up to the other end of the field, turned the dogs back to face the dummies and then sent each individual dog to pick a designated dummy and not to swap or pick two dummies up. We also concentrated on tidy heel work, directional work and delivery to hand and must say all dogs are coming along just fine.
Now for the show bred lab which I ran - must say a very good bitch. Very keen and eager to please, watched and marked very well, was very steady throughout the entire session, retrieved very well to hand, was on the stop whistle, recall whistle and did her directional work perfectly. This bitch is also nicely built - not your big hefty show lab, she was of the perfect size and carrying no fat or blubber which allowed her to move freely and with style. Mmmm - very nice indeed.
A good training session all round and its very rewarding to see all the young dogs improving each week. Looking forward to the next one.