Hi All,
I believe Gareth has hit the nail on the head when he wrote,"Part of the difficulty in dog training is knowing how and when to alter your training program to suit your dog. The ability to read a dog is important." The only alterations I would make is to substitute the word "difficulty" with the word "skill" and change "important" to "of paramount importance".
In developing a program to suit your dog you must firstly gain a clear vision of the goals you are seeking to achieve. In general terms, the goals of the programs should be to:
Instill and maintain obedience
Develop and maintain control
Maintain momentum
Develop marking ability
Improve memory
Improve hunting ability
Teach lining and casting
Teach the dog how to handle adverse factors such as cross winds, side hills, heavy cover, angle entries into water and diversions, which come in many forms including Two Birds, Double Falls, marks before blinds and No-No birds.
With these goals in mind, the time you have available to work with your dog, its level of maturity, the training facilities you have at your disposal and the necessary resources, helpers, throwers etc will all need to be taken into consideration.
In an overall sense, a teaching program for young dogs might look something like this;
7 weeks to 3 months
crate training
socialization
play retrieves
"come" and "sit" and "wait" at meal time
3 to 7 months
bonding with the handler through walks and play
further obedience training on "sit", come", "heel" (single and double sided), learning "kennel" and "truck" commands
casting games
simple single and double retrieves
7 to 12 months
Force-Fetch (once adult teeth are in place)
three handed casting exercises
whistle conditioning
force to pile
single "T", double "T", modified double "T" and Run by
Swim by
Steady to shot
more difficult "non-cheating" retrieves and simple triples
12 months and over
lining and casting drills
cheating singles
cold blinds
retrieves involving placement concepts, tight angles, remote entry into water, pyramid and indented triples etc
blinds with diversions
return to basic training as needed and for re-inforcement
begin all age training.
Trial dogs should stay in regular and consistent training while ever they remain in active competition. This is in order to gain and maintain the consistency and "polish" necessary to be successful. At all times one should strive for a balanced program with an emphasis on maintaining momentum. By this I mean that for every long mark you should do a mid-distance and a short mark; for every land mark you should do a water mark; for every land blind you should do water blind and this applies to both "taught" or "hot" blinds as well as "cold" blinds.
The following program is designed for advanced dogs worked daily over a 30 day period, after which the cycle is repeated. The program provides the regular training on control, marking, hunting, memory, lining, casting and blind retrieves necessary to underpin success. The amount of training that can be accomplished in any one day depends on the time available, the eagerness of the dog and the availability of resources and/or help.The schedule is designed for someone who can train before and/or after work and on weekends. On some days it may be possible to do only one exercise while on others two or more. Nevertheless, the variety and rotation should be maintained in order to cover all the important aspects of training. In addition, the principle of maintaining flexibility should not be overlooked and constant adjustments may needed if your dog is to gain the maximum benefit. At times there may be a need for greater emphasis on blinds and at other times the emphasis may shift to marks and in some cases to improving control if heeling, creeping or moving in the hide become an issue.
Day 1 - single marks at varying distances
Day 2 - three-pile lining drill on land
Day 3 - multiple marks in water which may include Double Rises, Double Falls and/or Two Bird retrieves.
Day 4 - casting drills on land
Day 5 - multiple marks on land, doubles, triples, Double Rises etc
Day 6 - lining drills for angle entry into water
Day 7 - single marks into water at varying distances
Day 8 - Cold blinds on land with and without diversions
Day 9 - single marks on land at varying distances
Day 10 - cold blinds in water with an emphasis on angle entries
Day 11 - mulitple marks on land
Day 12 - "ABC" drill - single marks where subsequent marks are pinched to the previous fall and/or launch point
Day 13 - three-pile lining drill in water
Day 14 - multiple marks in water
Day 15 - depth perception marking drill using large white bumpers thrown as singles with casts angled toward and away from the Firing Point
Day 16 - lining drills with diversions, lines under the ark of a fall , past a fall and/or launch area (look for tight lines)
Day 17 - multiple marks on land
Day 18 - multiple marks in water
Day 19 - three-pile lining drill on land
Day 20 - multiple marks on land
Day 21 - single marks on land at varying distances
Day 22 - cold blinds on land
Day 23 - single marks into water at varying distances
Day 24 - cold blinds into water
Day 25 - three-pile lining drill in water
Day 26 - multiple marks on land
Day 27 - heeling patterns, "come in" and "sit, stay and come" drill
Day 28 - single marks in water at varying distances
Day 29 - mulitple marks in water
Day 30 - depth perception drills in water - marks thrown directly toward or away from the Firing Point - use white bumpers if necessary.
I hope that, in part, the above answers the original question posed by Teresa. In closing, I cannot stress enough the importance of developing a program and recording, on a daily basis, your analysis of how the dog performed the "task/s" for that day!!! On this point, Prue is at least half way there, well done!!!
BFN, RWT