Saturday, July 28, 2012

Fourth Qual ribbon in a row for Laddie

Laddie competed in another Qual yesterday, and again completed the trial and came home with a ribbon, this time Reserve JAM in a field of 17 entries, six dogs finishing.

I'm guessing anyone who's interested knows what a typical Qualifying stake is like, but just in case that's not the case, here's what Laddie had to survive in this particular Qual:

Series A.  Land triple with flyer as go-bird.

Series B.  Land blind with line running "behind the gun" of the previous stake's flyer station, though all of the equipment had been removed (thank you, judges).  Suction of duck scent a significant factor.

Series C. Water blind.  Line to blind had no landings until far shore, but went past a point on the left, then an island on the right.  The island was surrounded by shallow water, which can be major suction to pull the dog onto the island and around to the back.  That would put the dog out of sight, technically "out of control", and generally results in the dog being dropped (happened to one of the nine dogs who made it to that series).  Note that judges expect handler to "challenge the blind", which I decided in this case to mean that you might get dropped if you played it safe and kept the dog well away from both landings.  Instead, I let Laddie roll toward the point, then stopped him and cast him around it when he got fairly close.  Additional challenge on this blind was that bird was planted at top of dike, so dog had to push thru reeds at water's edge and up hill, without getting diverted to planter's holding blind behind reeds on right side.

Series D. Water triple with honor.  Though no gunners retired, the test dogs and 3-4 of the working dogs who got to the fourth series, including Laddie, never saw the middle throw.  They watched the long throw on the right, then for some reason turned to the short left station to watch for that throw.  Gunfire was not enough in those acoustics to draw their attention back to the middle gunner when he threw.  To deal with that situation, you had to run the middle mark, past the island, as a blind, as either the second or third retrieve.  If you were lucky, you wouldn't have to handle, and the dog would swim past the island to the blind.  In Laddie's case, he thought I was sending him to the island and I did have to handle, hence the RJ rather than, perhaps, a placement (none of the placements handled).

As you probably know, distances on field trial retrieves are generally considerably longer than other US retriever competition venues.  The water blind yesterday, for example, was around 210y, with 180y swimming.

Laddie now has ribbons in four successive trials: RJ, JAM, JAM, RJ.  Not bad for a Golden (all the placements in yesterday's Qual went to Labs).  Also not bad for an amateur owner/trainer/handler (three of the placements went to pros).   Even one FT ribbon is precedented, to my knowledge, for a dog trained without physical aversives.

LL&L

Friday, July 27, 2012

Challenged blind

I think I made a step forward as a handler in today's Qual. The water blind was quite long, I'll say 180y, and the line went past a point on the left, then an island on the right.

Per Alice's recent advice, even though Laddie would be the first dog to run it other than the test dog (#1 would run later and #2 scratched), I thought about what the judges might need you see, and decided they needed to see the dog challenge the point.

So when Laddie took a line toward the point, I let him roll till he got fairly close, then stopped him and cast him around the point. I didn't mess with the island, though. I felt the judges had what they needed and kept Laddie away from the island and its surrounding shallow water, which I knew could draw a dog onto the island and from there to the back of it, putting the dog out of sight, technically "out of control", and dq.

Laddie did pop as he approached the point -- a current flaw in his work -- but otherwise I thought he did a great job on a tough water blind.

LL&L

Fwd: Another Reserve JAM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Lindsay Ridgeway" <ldridgeway@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 27, 2012 7:11 PM
Subject: Another Reserve JAM
To: "Alice Woodyard" <fetch@surewest.net>, "Jody Baker" <baker.jody@gmail.com>

Laddie finished another Qual today, and for the first time in a Qual came out in front of one finisher in the judging. Her dog got a JAM, Laddie got Reserve JAM. That's because she handled in two marks on the water triple, I only handled on one. The four numeric placements didn't handle.

More later if I have time. Right now,  another grueling 350-mile, 8-hour nighttime drive ahead of me.

Another Reserve JAM

Laddie finished another Qual today, and for the first time in a Qual came out in front of one finisher in the judging. Her dog got a JAM, Laddie got Reserve JAM. That's because she handled in two marks on the water triple, I only handled on one. The four numeric placements didn't handle.

More later if I have time. Right now,  another grueling 350-mile, 8-hour nighttime drive ahead of me.

Friday, July 20, 2012

RE: Third green ribbon in a row

Woo woo Lindsay, that is VERY good! It is cool for any dog, especially a first time owner-trained one (first time in FT), and of course first 2Q. But even for 4Q it is a good accomplishment. FTs are a hard row to hoe.    As you know!

 


From: Lindsay Ridgeway [mailto:ldridgeway@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 2:07 PM
To: Alice Woodyard; Jody Baker
Cc: Test Series
Subject: Third green ribbon in a row

 

Laddie finished his third Qual in a route, rhoda time the Western New York Retriever Club's O/H Qual.  He again ended up with a JAM.

Obviously we'd like to get something more than a green ribbon someday, but I guess it's pretty cool for a positive-trained dog to get this far.

Details to follow if I have time for a write-up, but besides all the call-backs, Laddie did need to get thru the honor on the water triple (dead birds), so that's good.  Also, he had excellent whistle sits on both the land and water blinds.

LL&L

Third green ribbon in a row

Laddie finished his third Qual in a route, rhoda time the Western New York Retriever Club's O/H Qual.  He again ended up with a JAM.

Obviously we'd like to get something more than a green ribbon someday, but I guess it's pretty cool for a positive-trained dog to get this far.

Details to follow if I have time for a write-up, but besides all the call-backs, Laddie did need to get thru the honor on the water triple (dead birds), so that's good.  Also, he had excellent whistle sits on both the land and water blinds.

LL&L

Driving to Batavia

At times this sport can push one's tolerance for hardship. Tonight is one of those times.

Pitch black, needing to reset GPS every few minutes (what if it falls?), rain the whole way obscuring visibility and pushing ETA back, one headlight out, too little sleep all week because of long hours working, will only get four hours tonight because work delayed planned departure, lonely eight hour, 350 mile drive.

So tempting to turn back and scratch from event.

But I press on, fighting to stay awake and keep up speed. Laddie asleep in the back. Will he be ready to give his best? Will I?

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