The boys had a particularly awesome training session today out in the field. We did the five point drill, which is basically the nine point drill but with five points instead of nine – ha. Not rocket science I guess.

The blinds were all completely cold. One was in the middle of heavy swampy cover (remember we trained the quad-brush drill so they were prepared to charge in). Then a really long (100 yard) one placed in the middle of nowhere, but with a marker so I could see it. Then the remaining three were long, short, long, with the “killer” blind being one rung of that sequence, the long one, where they wanted to go to the shorter ones surrounding it. Markers were all unique – skewers with orange tape, an upside down bucket, reflector posts, a T-shirt on a pole. My boys were just brilliant, with the most remarkable part being taking every whistle sit immediately and no corrections. They weren’t perfect on every cast, but were receptive to the sit and adjustments. Q lined the one in the brush, the long one, and the short outside one. Prinz needed adjustments into the brush, but lined the long one and two shorter ones. All of their blinds would have passed tests, and obviously got me my dinner.

Last week, we introduced some simple triples and the boys did a really nice job. There was a long outside right one that I “taught” first, then a shorter outside left, both of those hand thrown by gunners, and the one in the middle was the thunder launcher straight back. This helped them really get revved for that go bird. Q had a little trouble with memory on the long outside right one when we taught the double first, then went right to it on the triple. Prinz went right to them all with a small mishap where he tried to go for the pile by the gunner, he quickly adjusted and got the one he marked.

Another day I brought out hunt test ducks for doubles and a blind, since they’ve been getting juicy wild ducks out hunting I wanted to see what they thought of them. They were definitely “lower” but fetched them up just fine.

With the history of “over-working” my dogs last year, I am very aware of keeping the sessions succinct, fun and to the point. No more “perfectionism;” this is not a term dogs know. No more redoing it until it’s perfect. Once I think they got it/ learned the lesson / figured something out I simply leave it there. Everything is kept very high and positive even if I must correct, the tone is bright. We go out less often, and do specific things. It is really paying off with the boys doing so well and tail up the whole time. It is very fun to see.