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Central Ky is one of the last  hunt test  of the season in the midwest. We left  friday morning to meet up with training buddy, Nancy Pal in Paducah to shop and dine at a place called Patti’s. Before heading to Patti’s we drove around the hunt test grounds and found an area to let the dogs run after a 5 and 1/2 hour road trip. Keaton was a trooper as usual and enjoyed a chance to kick it up with Nancy’s golden Ryder and Susan’s Chili. All three are intact males and have no problems being out together. In fact, Keaton and Chili will even play tug and chase with each other. These boys are a testimony to the temperament of the retriever breed.

Patti’s in not only a family owned dining establishment, but has a variety of shops and  is always decorated for christmas. They are known for their famous homecooked comfort foods and pies. In fact, there was as many different types of pies as there were entrees. I had a chicken dish drenched in a special sauce that was so tender! Of course, dessert was a must and I had “sawdust pie”, a concoction of coconut, bananas and a pecan pie type filling. It was so rich that most of it was taken home.

The CKRC grounds are DNR land and the ponds contained pennisulas which can always provide for some interesting marking set-ups.

You will commonly hear that the further south you go the tougher the judges. This test was going to be just that. I have never seen so many “concepts” wrapped up into one test.

Our first series was a walk up besides a large mound for a single middle flyer. Then you were to no your dog off the flyer and send them to a long blind to the right of a large pond. You got it a POISON BIRD! The scent of the flyer was blowing right towards the dogs. There were lots of scalloping casts back toward the flyer due the strong winds. In addition, the dog had to cross a gravel road into a featureless field.

After running the blind, you received your dog on the mound which changed the dog’s perspective of the poison bird. Rather than sending your dog for the bird, then the gunners  were signaled for 2 more marks. The first(or second if you count the poison bird) went left to right angled toward the gunner station of poison bird. This is known as a hip pocket concept. Then the 3^rd bird went right to left and landed in a strip of  vegetation.

The “go” bird(the last bird down) landed with a white wing tip up. These are called the million dollar birds since the dog can see the bird on the ground. He picked up the other two clean but did put on a hunt. By changing the location of the line and adding the factor of running off a mound, across a road and into a tall featureless field made marking tough for the dogs.

There was another land blind under the arc of the far left bird. Keaton lined it and was carried to the second series. He had no problems with the bird handling and I was relieved.

The second series was another challenging set up on  a beautiful pond with a peninsula . The first two gunner stations were on the peninsula with the first mark going right to left to land on the far side of the peninsula without a splash. The second mark came from the same holding blind going left to right on the peninsula. About 20 feet to the right of the second mark was a blind(not hot-which means there was no bird planted) Although there was no bird, there was scent and a strong wind! Depending on how far the second mark was thrown, it created a lot of problems if the dog didnt pick up the second mark quickly.

The test became even tougher when they added a THIRD  close mark to the left of the pond on land. Keaton line manners were good being quiet in the holding blind, steady and following the gun. After returning with the Go Bird, I lined him up and off he went in a nice line to the right bird. He overran it and put up a good hunt, but got into the blind scent which confused him. He caught scent of the first bird and started to run toward it. I had to handle which was not easy as I too was confused where the darn bird had landed. I got him there, but it wasnt as smooth as I wanted.

I lined him to the first bird, but had a difficult time reading him , but sent him. He swung left off a point and went out in a direction to the left of the island. I knew I could not handle a second time on one series as I helplessly saw him go “out to sea”. This was a BIG pond and the swim to the far left shore was at least 100 yards. Unfortunately, he was too far left to catch the scent and kept swimming. He did eventually “beach”, hunt and then started swimming back knowing he was not right. He then winded the bird and picked it up.

One of the judges told us that we were done as he was “out of the area”. We did not get a chance to run the blind. The blind was short, but challenging as they required to cross a point of a small peninsula and then stay in the water to pick up the bird which was in a small cove at the water’s edge. The other difficulties on this blind included its close proximity to the second bird, a cross wind blowing scent from the gun station on the large peninsula and a blind station  15-20 behind the blind. In addition, the sun was quickly setting and the judges were determined to get the series finished. The last dog was a yellow lab and you could not even tell if he had the blind bird in his mouth on the return.

I volunteered to run as test dog for the third series on Sunday and the judges were happy to let us participate. The third series was the water series on another large pond with several coves and a peninsula off the left side of the pond. It was a triple with an honor.

The  first mark was left to right arching over the peninsula and landing in the cove behind it. The middle mark also went left to right and landed in another cove about 90 degrees to the right of the first mark. The third mark was a short “punch” bird from the same side as the line. Depending on how the winger launched the bird it was either a “wiper” or a “in-line”. A wiper bird is when a short bird is thrown across the line to  a previous mark. In many cases, this interferes with the dog’s memory on that mark . An “in-line” is a mark that lands in line with the previous mark They may think that they have already picked up that mark or it may make them hunt short especially on land where the scent is still present from the last bird.

Keaton did take a nice line to the middle mark, but then lost his picture and hunted the shore before working back to the water and picking up the bird. He marked the bird over the peninsula well and his honor was solid.

I was overall very pleased with Keaton’s work. We have certainly improved since starting our master debut in June. It is not going to be an easy road nor have we failed our last test, but it has been a great learning experience for me. I met  many hunt test enthusiasts and have had some great dining experiences from backyard grills to hole –in- the- wall bars. We have had the opportunity to train on a variety of different training grounds and watch about every type of retriever recognized by the AKC work in the field.

We are hoping for a mild winter to train, train, train. !

Although Hamden Nursery is a 5+ hour drive from Indy(near Cleveland), I always enjoy the grounds here. Hambden  are private grounds belonging  to a  local family who has generously allowed the retriever clubs use of the land.The foliage was rich with fall colors  so the drive down was quite enjoyable as we listened to a book on cd(well the dogs were sleeping ) and the GPS barked out her directions.

I drove up early to get Keaton acclimated to the surroundings early with some pretest training at the grounds on Thursday. I met Tara and her training partners at Hambden . We set up a land and water series that the master judges from the previous weekend had put together for their test.

The Land series was a triple down a narrow field with all the marks progressive further out and angled back. A double land blind was angled past the road. It was to be run through a slot of trees, and across the ditch. The first mark was the longest and most difficult to visualize as we used a thunderbird launcher. This launcher is a propane fueled launcher that pops off black and white bumpers that look similar to a paint roller. Her bumpers did not have streamers which made it even more difficult. All the dogs put up a hunt on those marks.

The water series was a double with the memory going right to left and landing on the land behind the water. The go bird was a land mark down a narrow strip from right to left. The water mark was a “cheaty” mark and the dog needed to get into the water .  A cheater is a dog who runs around the bank into order to get the mark vs going straight into the water . It is often faster for the dog to run around the edge than swim out for a bird. Real duck hunters don’t care HOW the dog picks up the bird just that the dog finds it and brings it home. Hunt test  handlers and particularly field trialers are “control freaks” so the line the dog takes to a bird may often determine if the dog returns to the next series. As one field trialer told us once ” If its an “over”, its  ”back” to the truck.

We had dinner in a little hole in the wall bar and the food was excellent. The following afternoon we met Tara at her home which is truly set-up for dogs.

She had a “permanent” double T field out with obstacles(logs) in a yard fully fenced back area. Within her t field are agility articles. The double T is an exercise that teaches a dog how to handle(take hand signals from a distance). It involves piles of bumpers arranged in a T configuration. The top of the t  is “back pile and you run from the base of the T. It is called a “double t because at the t crosses you have 2 sets of over piles. The piles are “known”(i.e. you have identified the piles by either tossing a bumper to the area before first sending or with a white bucket or flag. At various  points, you sit the dog with a whistle command and then “cast”(give your hand signal with or without a verbal command).

We simply ran the dogs on the t for confidence and exercise. We also did several site blinds(piles identified with visible pile of white bumpers) on water.  Reagan got a chance to do some water retrieves in the pond through her lily pads and decoys. She had no problems.

Our test started saturday and our section had been set to run at the Reckert’s personal property who is a field pro. His property is not as pretty as the nursery, but suitable for a master test. The most interesting thing about this property is that the front pond is home to 50-100 wild mallards. They certainly played a role in distracting the dogs.

Our first series was a land triple on a piece of flat farmland with moderate to high cover. The marks were tight and the cover and flat field left little for the dogs to mark off of. Then you were asked to turn around and run a double blind. One parallel to the duck pond on land and past the far edge of the pond and one in the water past a point and up onto land on the other side.

The morning was particularly windy which made scent swirl and the “background noise of the wild ducks behind us was distracting. The shots and plain background scenery made it difficult for the dogs to identify the marks and many dogs were handled to a mark. I have always had difficulty being able to read Keaton when marks are tight or blind is tight to a mark. He often knows exactly where to go and I have sent him on poor lines many times. Poor guy, he keeps sticking with me.

I noticed that Keaton taking more time than normal on picking up his birds and then it happened-he froze on a bird! He had this glazed look in his eyes and held onto the bird. He wasn’t giving it up. I reheeled him, I set him up for another blind. He backed away. I was stunned . Who is this dog and where did my Keaton go? Finally, he released it and I looked at the judge in dismay. He had never even been sticky on a bird let alone clamp down on one.

The judges were willing to give us another chance and we got a call back for the second series.He done such great work on the marks and blinds in the first series and I knew that wanted him to do well.

I was very shaken up and I am sure my anxiety was apparent to my dog. The second series was a land- water double with 1 mark up on land falling behind a mound. The go bird was a breaking bird close and thrown right to left into the water. The water had a pretty big drop and the go bird land fairly close to the line of the land mark. They did not require the dogs to take a straight line into the water for the memory bird and few dogs did. Most skirted around the right shore to the bird.

The few dogs that took the correct line sucked into the old fall and had to be handled. Other dogs went too deep on the memory and got scent from the wild birds on the back pond.  Always be wary when you hear”Its just a double”. Keaton gave me the first bird well-I was relieved. The second bird he put up a good hunt without handling but was sticky.

Then we had a land blind angled behind us throw a row of cover. Keaton took a nice line and got his bird with 2 quick handles. Then he froze again. It seemed like hours but finally he released the bird. They did not take us to the third series. The judges were as disappointed as we were.

It was nice to be surrounded by friends who were able to watch the performance and offer suggestions and words of encouragement. Friend and pro trainer, Mitch White recommended we use more birds in training,and helped us later in the day with some obedience exercises. A number of factors can make  a dog sticky or freeze on a bird he said including stress or pressure of the test, a dog trying to control the game or even the way the ducks are processed for the test.

I suspect it may have something to do with Keaton being on antibiotics during the trial as he had developed colitis on the trip down . This antibiotic is very bitter tasting and has been known to produce neurological signs. Who knows, but I would find it hard to believe Keaton would try to manipulate the test at the line as he is normally such an agreeable dog.

The following weekend we had ANOTHER test up in Albion In. This is our “local” retriever club and the only AKC hunt test held in Indiana. I don’t normally like to run tests back to back because not only do we spend all week catching up with work, but it leaves us little time to train for any problems which may have shown up at the previous test.

I also enjoy this test because it is held close to my friends, Janet and Fritz Krull. They own “Whisper”, Disney’s only daughter. I usually stay at the Krull homestead which is on Lake SeaCrist in Leesburg. It is a scenic peaceful place and the dogs love the fact that water is only 15 feet from the back door.

We arrived Thursday evening after work around 8 pm. There is more posted on the Reagan Diaries  about the pups experience away from home. Since it was a Double Master, the first test started on Friday and ran through Saturday. The second test started Saturday and ran through Sunday.

My normal routine for a hunt test involves finding a school yard or park and letting the dogs run off some excess steam.  This was my first mistake of the weekend. The weather was cool and the winds were swirling. Our section was running in a reclaimed Coal Mine owned by the Amish. A lot of our helpers were Amish men and children who worked hard all day for us.

Our first series was a triple with a flyer , a double blind, and an honor. The high winds were creating havoc for the gunners. Sadly, multiple shots were required to bring down the birds. In addition, the series was “within a bowl” and the  duck calls and gun shots echoed off the high dirt walls.  The marks were tight and close . For “breaking” dogs, you can’t get a whole lot more exciting than that!

I walked Keaton around the grounds to try and desensitize him to the excitement, but he was ready to rock and roll. We try to stay out of the closest holding blind because he like to “sing” . Vocalization is a tough problem to resolve and corrections often escalate the behavior. For Keaton, I try and place him in a down stay and reward quiet relaxed behavior.

We were pretty late in the running order so he had to sit in the van for at least an hour and ½ listening to the gun shots. I made my way to the line with Keaton who wanted to retrieve NOW. The first bird was thrown down an incline toward a bush from left to right. Then the middle bird came left to right. By this time, Keaton had jumped out in front of me 2-3 feet and was ready to go for it.  Then they started shooting at the flyer. After the 4 or 5^th shot, Keaton had had enough and starts for the second bird. Once you signal for the birds, you cant talk to the dog until he picks up a bird.

Rules clearing states that dogs are not to be released until the final bird is down and the judges call your dog’s number. Knowing that we had already failed and determined NOT to reward him with a bird , I called him back in(firmly). We honored on lead.

Since we were toward the bottom of the running order, the dog in front of us still needed an honor . They needed a “by dog”. Basically, this dog needs to sit for the marks and then be released to give the “honor dog” a chance to stay or go. I volunteered Keaton to work as the by dog. It gave me a chance to tell him to SIT for all the marks.

Well, we were done for the day so I stayed to watch the next series which was the land/water combination as a walk-up and the memory bird was a flyer. The wind again created difficulties not only with bringing down the birds, but location of the fall. The wind often caused the bird to float to the right in the water making it close to the memory(first bird) mark. As a result, the dog may think it had retrieved a bird in the area and hunt elsewhere .

I left midday and spent the rest of the day hanging out with my friends at the lakefront. I also put Keaton through his steadiness drill in their backyard with the help of Janet and her neighbor. Tomorrow we would have a different strategy !

I set the alarm early and headed out to a park a mile from the Krulls to let Keaton run. It was still dusk, but we could see the paths and Keaton ran, sniffed and pottied. I made him come in frequently with whistle recalls and slowed him occassionally with whistle sits(he was wearing his e-collar). We also worked on some basic obedience heeling and a short stay. After 30 minutes with a more settled dog, we headed to the the grounds for master.

Saturday was a busy day for the club. We had 2 master stakes finishing from friday, 3 new master series , a junior series and a senior series. As a result, we were missing greater than 50% of our dogs/handlers at other stakes. I was suppose to run 25 but ended up running 2nd!  In this game, you have to be prepared to go earlier . I thought it would be better if I went when there were fewer dogs and people milling around.

The first series was meaty. It was a land triple with a blind and an honor. It was again a tight triple. The difficulty of this series was the terrain. There were large strips of cover in a the field with moderate winds and light rain. Often dogs will skirt around cover and “get off line” to the mark making the bird harder to find. Even if the dog takes a straight line thru the cover, he can lose his”picture” of where it fell and need to put on a hunt. If the dog hunts an area, but does not come up with the bird , he may “switch” . A switch is when a dog hunts an area then gives up his search to go to another fall area and hunt. Many judges will either severly penalize the dog for perseverance or drop the dog from the series. It is an option for the handler to handle the dog if it leaves the area. MOST, but not ALL judges will allow 2 handles /dog but not 2 handles in 1 series.

Keaton picked up all his marks clean, but did put up a good hunt on the middle bird. His blind was adequate which was my fault for not having a good sense of the depth of the blind. We were carried to series 2! This series took till mid afternoon. The second series didnt start till around 5 pm with only a few hours left of light and a club party at 7. By the time they got the test set-up, we ran only 7-10 dogs. I would run on sunday. The logistic of this set-up included a long walk and mutliple holding blinds and another BIG set-up which was time consuming.

Sunday the weather was much more agreeable. Still it was cool, but sunny and lighter winds. This was a land/water  triple as a walkup with a double blind. We had 2 marks on water and 1 on land. The double blind included a down the shore water blind and a land blind off to the back of the gun on the right.

Keaton again picked up the marks cleanly and was steady. He 1 whistled the land blind and handled beautifully on the water blind taking every cast . We were in the 3rd series.  Since we had limited help at our stake, I offered to take birds from the judges for the first two series. This is the best seat in the house to watch the dogs and handlers. It was a great learning experience. In the first series I had the extra bonus of taking cover under the judges’s tent avoiding the rain!

One of our judges wanted to set up another triple for the final water series. He compromised with his co-judge as she had an 11 hour drive home and we had already had a couple tough series to see the dogs run triples. We had a down the shore double. UGH, I thought. This is a tough concept as both birds land near the shore which often makes the falls look very similar. In addition, there was 1 lone decoy that could lure the dogs off line. Surrounding the water’s edge was dense, tall cover. If your dog drove up on shore you could lose him . You cant help a dog that you can not see nor can a dog hear well as they run through the cover.

They also increased the excitement of the test by calling from the line. Keaton was steady and went for the go bird. I lined him for the memory and he looked out correctly and I sent him. His line was good, but he saw the decoy which caused him to shore alittle early. I was ready to blow my whistle, but as he got out of the water, he winded the bird and dove around the bush to pick up the mark.

We had our second ribbon!

Our next trip was to Michigan for a test at Omega Farms. Omega farms is a working cattle farm in lower Michigan . The owners and property managers have also been working the grounds in hopes of it becoming a premier dog training/trialing site.

This test was appealing not only because of the beautiful grounds, but the judges’ panel. All the judges  owned and trained flatcoats and were familiar faces to me. I knew they would give ALL breeds and handlers a fair chance.

Unfortunately, the hunt test game is primarily a Lab dominated sport . To a lot of pros and judges, it is the ONLY breed and the only color is black. The flatcoat is actually an older breed than the lab and was known as the Gamekeepers’ dog. They were used to pick up all the birds, wounded or dead, that were left by the pointing dogs handled by Royalty on the estates.

We had a large entry of 72 dogs. If the test is advertized over 2 days, the club holding the event must split the test if over 60 dogs. However, the test can also be advertized to run over 3 days which allows the number to not be split until 120.

Susan and I had planned on going up a few days earlier to train with a friend and his 3 flatcoats. He has a pup sired by Keaton out of his Master Hunter bitch, Dixie. Jim and his wife Sandy live in an adorable log home set out in the woods of MI. Jim has access to several private grounds near his home.

The first day we worked on land marks and blinds . The property had nice rolling hills and adequate cover . In the suburbs of Indianapolis, we have few areas to train with cover and virtually no hills.

Jim had also brought flyers(live birds). Flyers often increase the excitement for the dogs and may lead to “breaking” or losing the memory of other marks. Not all tests use flyers. The use of flyers can also mean less predictability on where the fall lands which means that the test may be a little different for each dog.

Keaton, like his mother Disney, is wired to break. Breaking is a term that means the dog went for the retrieves before being released by the handler. In AKC hunt tests, it is the judge who signal to the handler that you can send your dog. The judges will often call your dog’s number or just say”dog”. Most handlers send their dog by calling the dog’s name. This prevents your dog from confusing his release command with another dog’s command. At the master and senior level, your dog is required to honor another dog’s work. It would highly unlikely that there would be another “Keaton” running right after us!

You will often see young dogs or inexperienceds dog be uncertain about picking up freshly shot birds or wounded birds(cripples). The experience of the gunner and weather conditions can also affect what type of bird the dog might get for his retrieve. Some fly off and some land running! Chili’s flyer never saw a shot and took off running. Chili saw the running bird and started looking for something else. Once coaxed that this was the correct bird, he fetched it up willingly. Keaton’s bird was successfully shot, but landed 20 feet from where it was supposed to land. This made his marks closer together and harder to find.

Keaton and Chili struggled a little with the cover, but work it out well so we were very pleased.

The next day we used a large pond for a down the shore double and a blind. This can be a very tough concept . This is a hard picture for the dog to understand as both marks look very similar coming off the shoreline. All the dogs wanted to go out past the memory bird and had to be handled despite running the memory as a single first.

Jim had a golf cart which was quite handy moving equipment and reloading the launchers. I felt more comfortable with the golf cart than the ATA, but still managed to get myself in trouble. As I got off the cart to reload, the cart  decided to keep moving and plowed into the launcher before stopping . I was horrified as both golf carts and launchers are not cheap and I didn’t have the money to buy either. Thankfully, all was intact -just a tangled up mess. Lesson learned: make sure you lock the brake when you decide to walk away from your cart!

The day of the hunt test was exceedingly windy and the judges wanted to do a flyer on the first series. After several unsuccessful attempts to bring the flyers down, the judges decided to scrap the flyer idea. The first series was a delayed triple with the middle bird being a poison bird to a land blind. A “poison” bird is not a bird that was given a toxic substance, but one that the dog is not to pick up until directed.

Behind the middle bird(the poison) was a thick line of cover that went downhill toward the blind. The land bird was to the right of the middle bird across a road in cover. I was able to no Keaton off the poison bird and  handle him to the blind. As he returned with his blind, he had to sit for the double marks off to the left and right. He was steady, marked the birds and then was allowed to go for the poison bird. He got off line and into the cover. Being an inexperienced handler, I let him go into the cover hoping he was would wind the bird and pop out of the cover. When he continued to hunt, I attempted to call him in, but he could not hear my whistle(or chose to ignore it). Eventually, I got him out of the cover to the bird, but I was dropped for “losing control of the dog.”

Another lesson learned: You have the tool to keep the dog out of trouble by using a handle. I was too late on the whistle and we were out.

I did stay the rest of the day to watch other dogs and handlers run and see what the second series was all about. It was a wiper double with both marks landing on the shore, but set up along a pond divided into 2 parts with a peninsula. Then there was a double blind: one to the back of the memory in the water and one in the second section of water along the back shore line. The second blind had a long land entry to a narrow body of water with an island off to the right. It was easy to lose your dog around the island . Other dogs wanted to skirt around the edge of the land and had to be handled into a small deep body of water.  The bird placement was excellent and really made you think.

Overall, I had fun despite our fumble in the first series. What I like most about hunt tests is being with other people who enjoy the sport and dogs as much as I do.

What a great experience. Wonderful people, awesome dog work and  supportive judges. The blind set-ups had master challenges including under the arc and to the back of the gun blinds along the shore line. Lots of dogs sucked to the gunner stations or area of one of the water marks. It was easy to lose a dog into the cattails so you had to be quick with your whistle if you had a fast dog. The dogs who liked to cheat the shore on their marks often lost their marks.

Keaton has always been an honest water dog and it sure helped us on the water series with all the cattails as his marking was excellent. His initial line on the shoreline blind was off  the right as he tends to want to stay away from the gun stations. I was pleased overall how well he worked with me.

The land was mowed into a variety of patterns which made the land marks and blinds challenging especially for green master dogs. As a dog busts through the cover, he loses his picture and often it causes him to veer off course. If the cover is dense enough, the handler can easily lose his dog . If you cant see your dog, you cant handle him out of trouble. This gets us into big trouble in our next attempt at master.

We made out with no handles, good marks and our first orange ribbion.