retrieving ~ 22/52
a bit of a boring shot, but I ran out of time (packing has begun) or interesting options ... I do have a "Saxon the smartypants" story that goes with this location though so although it's a few weeks old now, here goes:
so one day retrieving here Saxon ran one way while I threw the ball the other, he didn't see where it had gone, so I got him searching "find it"!
When I do that I try not to help or move too much but I do point which of course he isn't so good at following, you know only goes so far away etc. but he actively searches well, just not everywhere ...
Multiple attempts around the park and he couldn't find it, I could see it sort of in the hollow of the ground about half way between where I was and the tree/path on the other side so I gave his nose the benefit of the doubt.
He was getting tired so I called him in to me and directed him straight across the park with a "go" ... often times "go" pre-empts "clock" or "count" which means go around an object (usually a tree) either clockwise or counter-clockwise so he honed in on one of the trees across the other side and swung around it with gusto ... "surely I'll get my ball reward with this" he was thinking ... he came running back to me in hope slowing up when he realized no ball was to be presented ... I was hoping on the trips from me to the treeline he would catch the scent of the ball and would have found it, but he didn't
so I send him out again "go" and he's a little off center for running right over the top of the ball so I throw in another command "over" which means move to his left, which he followed well but spied another tree that he thought I must mean for him to "around" ... he runs around it and starts coming back to me in hope of the ball again, this time a lot closer to running right over the top of the ball, I thought for sure he'd catch the scent of it, but again he didn't ...
so I send him away again "go" then again "over" to get him in a nice position, he spies the tree and heads for it, this time I pull him up back towards me (not sure what words I'm using, maybe just his name), and just as he's about to run right over the ball again "sit" ... I wait as the ball is maybe a foot or two right in front of him, he still doesn't catch the scent so "forward" (not a command I usually use but something to get him up out of the sit and moving slowly, he's already heading my way anyway) then a quick "down" and the ball is literally 2 inches from his nose ... he finally catches the scent of it ... YAH!!!!
anyway not sure how easy that is to read and understand as far as stories go, but I enjoyed watching him follow my directions so well to achieve our goal in real circumstances, he's such a smart cookie :-)
retrieving ~ 22/52
a bit of a boring shot, but I ran out of time (packing has begun) or interesting options ... I do have a "Saxon the smartypants" story that goes with this location though so although it's a few weeks old now, here goes:
so one day retrieving here Saxon ran one way while I threw the ball the other, he didn't see where it had gone, so I got him searching "find it"!
When I do that I try not to help or move too much but I do point which of course he isn't so good at following, you know only goes so far away etc. but he actively searches well, just not everywhere ...
Multiple attempts around the park and he couldn't find it, I could see it sort of in the hollow of the ground about half way between where I was and the tree/path on the other side so I gave his nose the benefit of the doubt.
He was getting tired so I called him in to me and directed him straight across the park with a "go" ... often times "go" pre-empts "clock" or "count" which means go around an object (usually a tree) either clockwise or counter-clockwise so he honed in on one of the trees across the other side and swung around it with gusto ... "surely I'll get my ball reward with this" he was thinking ... he came running back to me in hope slowing up when he realized no ball was to be presented ... I was hoping on the trips from me to the treeline he would catch the scent of the ball and would have found it, but he didn't
so I send him out again "go" and he's a little off center for running right over the top of the ball so I throw in another command "over" which means move to his left, which he followed well but spied another tree that he thought I must mean for him to "around" ... he runs around it and starts coming back to me in hope of the ball again, this time a lot closer to running right over the top of the ball, I thought for sure he'd catch the scent of it, but again he didn't ...
so I send him away again "go" then again "over" to get him in a nice position, he spies the tree and heads for it, this time I pull him up back towards me (not sure what words I'm using, maybe just his name), and just as he's about to run right over the ball again "sit" ... I wait as the ball is maybe a foot or two right in front of him, he still doesn't catch the scent so "forward" (not a command I usually use but something to get him up out of the sit and moving slowly, he's already heading my way anyway) then a quick "down" and the ball is literally 2 inches from his nose ... he finally catches the scent of it ... YAH!!!!
anyway not sure how easy that is to read and understand as far as stories go, but I enjoyed watching him follow my directions so well to achieve our goal in real circumstances, he's such a smart cookie :-)