We went out training today onto some land which enabled us to range the young dogs out and increase their distances on their retrieves. The majority of the retrieves were blinds placed in rough cover and long grasses or tightly placed under the foot of walls making the dogs get their heads down and use their noses.
TEST 1 - A blind dummy placed in long reedy grass (which you can see behind Elder in the photo). We walked further up the field to a distance of around 200 yards then straight lined him to the dummy which was placed well into the the reeds and tucked right under the wall. He did extremely well with his straight lining, winded the dummy as he approached the area and then jumped straight into the reeds, hunted round a bit and then picked the dummy.
TEST 1 - A blind dummy placed in long reedy grass (which you can see behind Elder in the photo). We walked further up the field to a distance of around 200 yards then straight lined him to the dummy which was placed well into the the reeds and tucked right under the wall. He did extremely well with his straight lining, winded the dummy as he approached the area and then jumped straight into the reeds, hunted round a bit and then picked the dummy.
Glen and Elder.
Glen waiting for his next retrieve which was a blind placed into a hole under a tree - and in brambles and long grasses (distance of around 220 yards). He did this test with ease, and proudly delivered to hand.
Elder delivering his retrieve from on top of a muck stack (roughly placed at around 175 yards away).
All the dogs today performed well - especially the younger ones. We are really pleased with their progress over the last month or so and are thoroughly looking forward to working with them on a shoot day or at working tests.
