by Bill Bailey » Wed 27 Apr 2005 1:54 pm
Your judgement determines how long you "hold your dog" after you have fired at the game. With practice both you and your dog soon will learn to do what is needed pretty quickly. If the judge thinks you are taking too long and penalises you, that is no concern of yours. Your concern is to help your dog work as perfectly as possible, as a matter of habit. You will be surprised how quickly the following can become a matter of habit for both of you.
Your dog has to learn to do several things before and after the shot at a marked retrieve.
In my experience dogs soon learn to naturally mark the general area and then go to a downwind position to use their sense of smell to locate the game. This is of tremendous importance in a shooting situation, to help ensure recovery of wounded game, as quickly as possible.
With experience dogs that have plenty of practice on retrieving dummies/bumpers will soon learn to mark more closely. But the ability to work more widely is still of enormous value in situations where "game" is not found where expected, by the dog. Dogs needs practice in both situations
Before you get ready to fire at a mark, your dog needs to be given a brief opportunity to get the general picture of what is in front of him, before the game is cast. With experience he will learn to look in the same direction as you are. After the game falls he needs to mark the area as closely as he can and also determine in his mind the best way to reach the downwind point from which he can expect to succesfully wind the game on that retrieve.
So you need to develop a technique with your dog at the firing point that is suitable for all occasions and that is a matter of habit.
Once I had a better idea of how I could help my dog, I tried never to break his concentration on the fall by moving after I had fired at the game, until I felt that my dog had marked the fall. I generally fired at the game while it was going up and then held my position with the barrel of the gun aimed in the direction of the fall. After a few seconds wait, while I tried to memorise the fall, I would slowly lower and then quietly "break the gun".
If it was a double mark I would always complete the first mark as indicated above, then I would turn and tackle the next "mark". If as a result my dog had to do a blind find on the second one, then that was what we did.
I am firmly of the opinion that it is folly to run the risk of spoiling completion of one task so that you can probably hurriedly make a mess of something else as well.
I think the secret of success with a retriever is a bit like building a brick wall. Every brick is put in place correctly before you tackle the next brick. If you have an enthusiastic and steady dog just keep it that way. At the end of the day enthusiasm plus obedience is a combination that is hard to beat. The hard part is achieving it, so if you already have it hold on to the enthusiasm and gradually develop the obedience.
PS Never forget that your dog does not know where the game will be thrown from. He may have picked up a movement in a different area. He therefore may not see the fall unless he gets a clue from the direction in which you fire.
As a Novice you do not have worry about more complicated retrieves for a while but you do need to establish sound habits of work that will benefit you now and in the future.
The hard part of training is get it done correctly the first time and every time. The easy part is to create bad habits and general confusion.
Every dog has to learn "Controlled Enthusiasm", it has to learn to keep its own brake on its enthusiasm and learn to mark each fall as needed, kowing that it will be sent to retrieve enthusiastically, when the handler says so. By the sound of things you are off to a good start.
Regards Bill Bailey