Tooey Junior Hunter

Just under two years ago, on April 3, 2011, Tooey started her retriever hunt test career at the Marin Retriever Club 2011 Spring Hunt Test. Today, she completed her retriever Junior Hunter title with a pass at the Greater Pacific Northwest Retriever Trial Club 2013 Spring Hunt Test. (The spring in between, she was busy having puppies.)

Tooey — CH Stanegate Second Thoughts RN JH WD

Tooey does have a few idiosyncrasies:

• Tooey likes working with Russ, but she likes me to be there to watch her. She just runs better for him — more focused, more willing, and more energetic going out to get the bird and bringing it back in. But she wants me to be there to watch her. While she’s moving from holding blind to holding blind on her way to the line, she looks around until she finds me. That has meant that I must go find some place in the gallery to stand, call out to her so she knows where I am, and then stay standing there in that very spot until the series is over and Russ brings her to over to me.
• She doesn’t like wet hunt test birds, whether they are retriever hunt test ducks or spaniel hunt test pigeons. If they’re wet, she puts them down and then picks them back up before bringing them in. On the other hand, in actual hunting, she’s perfectly happy to crash into whatever water there is to bring back something Russ has brought down.
• It’s better if you can practice a few weeks beforehand at the hunt test grounds, and have that practice include strangers out in the field throwing birds. That way, when strangers pop up out in the field during a hunt test, Tooey doesn’t have to stop and sit in the middle of her run to wonder, “Who ARE those people and WHAT are they doing here?”

Tooey coming back with the 1st land bird

Tooey and Russ getting ready for the 2nd land bird — a live flyer
photo by Norm Koshkarian

In a pinch, the land series could have stood in for a water series. The field was crossed by numerous ditches filled a foot or so deep with water. The line was set up just on one side of one such ditch, and for each of the marks, the dog had to splash through (or leap over) at least one ditch. From the dog’s point of view, the ditches were camouflaged really well, and several dogs stopped at them as if the ditches were walls. Conditions were great: overcast or sun breaks, light breeze coming down the field toward the line, about 45 degrees F.

The land marks were straightforward. The field was interspersed with patches of 2 foot cover, but was generally only about 1 foot or less. The first was about 65 yards, and the second, a live flyer, was generally about 85 yards, except when the bird decided to hook back over the road rather than out over the field.

Tooey marked her birds really well. She trotted pretty much straight out and straight back, with very little hunting. And on those land birds, she did a beautiful delivery to hand from the heel position.

Tooey delivering the 1st water bird
photo by Norm Koshkarian

So, Team Tooey went on to the water series. Russ was clever. The trek out from the parking lot to the pond was about 1/4 mile. Because he was slated to be the #4 dog, he arranged for me to take Tooey to just outside the test area while he attended the handler’s meeting at pond’s edge. That meant that since dogs #1, #2, and #3 weren’t there yet, he and Tooey were ready to go first. And that meant that Tooey’s birds would start out dry. Later dogs could easily get birds that had been used in the water once already, and so were likely to be wet to the skin and stinky.

Like the land marks, the water marks were clear cut. Both birds landed with a splash into the water, with the first one being 40 yards out and the second one about 60 yards out. The second bird was a bit tricky because it landed next to the bank in a dark shadow cast by the surrounding trees. But again, Tooey went straight out and straight back.

All was happy going until she dropped her 1st wet bird on the bank and proceeded to bop it with her nose several times. After only a few moments, she picked it back up, carried it a few feet, and then dropped it again. And then, after several long heartbeats, she picked it up and delivered it to hand. She pulled exactly the same routine on the 2nd water bird, only this time with maybe one fewer drop of the bird.

We didn’t know exactly what this bird-dropping would do to Tooey’s chances, but when all the dogs were done, after a long wait, Tooey’s name was called and Russ was handed that beautiful orange ribbon.

So now Tooey is done with retriever hunt tests. She has her show championship (CH) and her retriever Junior Hunter (JH) title, so next we’ll tackle the Obedience Companion Dog (CD) title. It would be great to have two All-Around IWS in the house.

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Environment is half of everything

I think I had one of those ah-ha moments. It was another one of those things that my teachers have told me, but which I hadn’t really started to understand for myself. The moment occurred last Tuesday, while I was practicing Obedience with Tooey, and it maybe explains why she refused to go into the water at the last hunt test of the season.

Taken from the AKC Obedience Regulations, amended January 1, 2012, page 73

Tooey and I have been working on the broad jump. The broad jump consists of four white telescoping hurdles, all about 8 inches wide. (See the diagram.)

We’ve been gradually adding hurdles — starting with her jumping over one hurdle and then two. On Tuesday, after several beautiful jumps over two hurdles, I added a third. I gave her the command to “Fly” over the hurdles, she trotted toward them as usual, really slowed down as she got closer, stopped when she got to them, put one front paw on the nearest hurdle, and looked up at me.

Her expression clearly said, “What am I supposed to do now?”

Just that one change, from two hurdles to three hurdles, was enough to stop and confuse her.

My teachers (and many of the books I’ve read) have all said that environment and context are as much a part of the correct execution of a behavior as the command or signal. That a command to “Sit” in the living room does not necessarily mean the same thing to the dog as a “Sit” in the backyard or at the park. You have to practice it many times in many situations until the dog “generalizes” the behavior, and understands that “Sit” means butt down no matter where you are, who else is around, and what else is happening.

Similarly, to Tooey, “Fly” over two hurdles is one thing; “Fly” over three hurdles is clearly something else. She understood the first, but not the second. So I went back to the beginning, throwing cookies over the three hurdles until Tooey was as happily flying over them as she had been over two.

So, what might this say about her performance at the hunt test last weekend?

Tooey had made it through the land series really well. She did her usual workmanlike job of going out and retrieving the ducks, and she did it with little of the hunting around that many of the other Junior dogs were doing. We were pleased and very excited. This meant that if Tooey also got her two ducks in the water series, she’d pass her 4th retriever Junior Hunter test, and would have her Junior Hunter title.

But when she and Russ got to the start line at the edge of a deep pond, she was clearly distracted and confused. She sat at Russ’s side, marked where the duck had fallen on the other side of the pond, heard Russ send her, but then wouldn’t get into the water. She looked up a Russ a couple of times, clearly confused. He sent her again, and she moved out along the bank for a few feet or so, and then came back to Russ. That was it — she was out.

Russ leashed her up, and we went home, without the pass or the title, and ourselves clearly confused as to what the problem could have been. Tooey loves the water. She has always loved the water. Getting into any kind of water has never been a problem. If we had been asked to predict what might fail Tooey in a hunt test, not getting into the water would never have occurred to either of us.

But on Tuesday night, maybe the problem was at least partially defined: A command in one environment is not necessarily the same as the same command in another, new environment.

We’ve practiced at all kinds of ponds and rivers — still water and moving water, deep swimming water and shallow running water, and steep banks and flat banks. But this test was set up at water unlike anywhere we’ve practiced. This was deep water with a 90 degree drop for a bank, just the pond’s edge with tall grass. At the line, the dog sat on the edge; take one step and the dog is in deep water, needing to swim right away. Nothing gradual about it.

Tooey doesn’t usually do the water-spaniel leap like Cooper does (see the banner photo at the top of the blog). She usually walks in, at least part of the way. But to get into the water at this test, there was nothing to walk on. So she was confused, just like she was on Tuesday with the hurdles. Her look up at me on Tuesday was just like her look up at Russ on Sunday: “What am I supposed to do now?”

That is exactly the question. But now, at least, having formulated a hypothesis as to what the problem might be, we can keep working on it, and see what happens next year.

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Cooper Senior Hunter Upland

Compared to Cooper’s Saturday’s Spaniel Hunt Test, Sunday’s upland course was a straightforward soccer-field size course with a nice mix of cover — tall grass, Scotch broom and ferns, and low brush. This test was put on by the Mt. Rainier Sporting Spaniel Association. Cooper was the 4th Senior dog to run, so it was still relatively cool with a slight breeze.

It often happens that a dog will not need the entire course to find and flush all his birds, so the next dog often follows along behind with the gallery. This happened in Cooper’s case on Sunday, so Cooper actually started halfway down the length of the course. He pretty quickly found and flushed up a bird on the right edge of the course. This bird flew down the length of the course and disappeared into the Scotch broom at the far end, without being shot. Cooper ran after the bird and disappeared into the broom for a few minutes, and then returned without the bird. This is something that the judges didn’t mark Cooper down for because Senior level dogs don’t have to be steady to the flush, and once a bird disappears from sight, no one can know where (or if) the bird landed.

Fortunately, Cooper returned straight to Russ, who sent him off again quartering the course. On the left edge of the course, just as Cooper turned to cut back toward the right, a bird flushed up behind him that he didn’t see. The gunners shot it and it went down, outside of the left boundary of the course.

Because it was obvious that Cooper had not seen the bird flush behind him and couldn’t have marked where it fell, Russ chose to handle Cooper to the area of the fall. Russ send Cooper for the bird, and on the way out, Cooper found and trapped a third bird and delivered it to hand. But because there was already a dead bird down, that bird still had to be retrieved.

Russ lined Cooper up to the dead bird, told him “Dead bird!” and sent him out to the bird with a “Back” command. Cooper knows that “Back” means to go straight out, but apparently he was feeling somewhat independent. Russ gave him some “Over” and “Back” commands, but Cooper wasn’t exactly following Russ’s instructions, so the retrieve took much longer than it should have. Finally Cooper found the bird, and delivered it to hand. The judge gave Russ a a backwards compliment, saying that this was a case of the “handler saving the dog’s ass.” Another way of thinking about this is that this really is a team sport — the dog and the handler have to help each other out to get the job done. This works better if the dog actually pays attention to the handler.

Apparently, the judges were satisfied with what they saw in the upland portion of the test, so Cooper was called back to the hunt dead part of the test. The instructions were straightforward — Russ pretty much knew exactly where the bird was. He lined Cooper up, but once again, Cooper decided to do his own thing. He hooked left like a spaniel rather than going straight like a trained retriever. Russ helped him out as best he could with whistles and “Over” and “Back” commands, but Cooper wasn’t particularly listening. Very frustrating! But the good thing was that Cooper’s hooking left actually sent him downwind of the bird, so he was able to find and retrieve it well under the 5 minutes allowed for the hunt dead part of the test.

Last was the water work. He had done well enough so far, and if he passed this part of the test, he’d have his 4th pass and his Senior Hunter Upland title. Russ walked Cooper to the line at the water, and then took several minutes to get Cooper into heel position, reminding him to “Heel” and “Sit.” Cooper was anxious to go and kept creeping forward, so Russ took his time, reminding him again, “Heel in,” “Sit,” “No, heel in.”

After Russ called for the bird, the bird was thrown, and the shot was fired. Cooper scooted out a foot or so and stood up, cocked and ready to launch. Russ halted him with a verbal “No,” gambling that this would be less bad than Cooper’s actually breaking. And it worked — Co0per stayed in place and didn’t break for the bird, even as it was slowing floating away downstream. Because of the possible infraction, Russ held him back for several extra tense moments to prove that Cooper was steady. After several beats, Russ released Cooper, who jumped a quarter of the way to the bird and completed his retrieve.

We didn’t know for awhile if Cooper’s scooting out at the water would be enough to disqualify him from passing the test or not. In other tests under other judges, it might have been. But during the ribbon ceremony, they called out Cooper’s name, and handed Russ that beautiful orange ribbon. With that fourth pass, Cooper earned his Senior Hunter Upland title. He is now CH Realta Rosario Cooper CD RN SH SHU!

Russ, Cooper, and their 4th Senior Hunter Upland ribbon

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Mixed results for Tooey’s second spaniel weekend

Tooey had a great Spaniel Hunt Test on Friday, a terrible one on Saturday, and a somewhat improved one on Sunday. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, we were all exhausted, and decided to leave early and skip today’s test in favor of going home and sleeping in our own bed. But I digress.

All the Spaniel Hunt Tests this weekend were held at the Scatter Creek Wildlife Area near Rochester, Washington. The upland portion of the Junior tests were held in reasonably tall grass cover all three days, with some sections in which the dog disappeared into the grass and other sections where the grass what shorter and greener. Friday’s course also had patches of tall Scotch broom. All three days. the bird planters planted the courses with pigeons and chukars.

Tooey almost hidden, quartering across the field

Tooey out at the edge of the field near the gunner — photo by Christine Robertson

Tooey trying to get a look around the field

Friday was Tooey’s best day. In the test put on by the Puget Sound English Springer Spaniel Association, she successfully quartered the field, found and flushed one pigeon and two chukars, and retrieved the birds that were shot, one chukar and one pigeon. For the flushed pigeon, she actually sat to the flush, something dogs aren’t expected to do until they are at the Master level. So she passed the upland part of the test. And on the water, she watched the bird go down, leapt out to retrieve it, swam to it and grabbed it up, brought it back to the land by the tippy-tip of one wing, and spit it out at Russ’s feet.

The spit-to-feet is not ideal. What we want her to do is deliver the bird to hand. In other words, put the bird in Russ’s hand. That’s what we’ve been training her to do, and that’s what she needs to do with ducks in retriever hunt tests, so, like I said, the spit-to-feet is not ideal. But at the Junior level Spaniel Hunt Tests, getting it to within two steps of the handler is acceptable, so Tooey passed.

Russ and Tooey and her second Junior Spaniel Hunt Test ribbon

Saturday was terrible. She found a bird soon into the course, but just stood there and looked at it for a moment before going on to see if she could find a different bird. That’s called blinking the bird. Then she flushed up a second bird, it was shot, and she ran over to where it fell. She found it, sniffed it, and then declined to pick it up, even with Russ encouraging her to fetch it up. She kind of wandered around and accidentally flushed a third bird, but because she wouldn’t retrieve the second bird, the gunners let that third bird fly away. Finally, the judges told Russ to leash her up and walk her off the course. Argh!

Sunday was better. She actually hunted the course instead of wandering around on it. When she found the first bird, she started her “stand around and blink the bird” routine, so right away, Russ started to encourage her to “get it!” After a long moment, she stuck her nose down and flushed the chukar, it was shot, and Tooey retrieved and delivered it to hand. Soon thereafter, she located another bird, and Russ encouraged her to get it. This time, it was a pigeon she flushed, it was shot, and she delivered that to hand.

While Russ took Tooey off the field, I remained in the gallery behind the judges and marshal to see if I could learn anything from the judges’ discussion. They liked her bird finding ability and her retrieves, but a spaniel should not need encouragement to flush a bird — that’s supposed to be natural behavior. The concluded that they would have to discuss it.

Since Tooey “made call-backs” (i.e., was invited to complete the water portion of the test), they must have decided to give her another chance. Going into it, it looked good. Tooey was eager. In fact, Russ had to restrain her by the collar so she wouldn’t leap into the water before the bird landed. When Russ released her, she swam straight to the bird, grabbed it up, swam back to land, and spit it out right at the shoreline. All of Russ’s encouragement didn’t persuade her to pick it up and even spit it close to Russ’s feet. Instead, she stood at the waterline, looking for another bird to land. Finally, the judges told Russ to leash her up.

So, an improvement in flushing and retrieving on land, but still not up to standard for retrieving a bird out of the water.

We’re not exactly sure what we’re going to do. We suspect that she doesn’t like pigeons, especially wet pigeons, so when it’s a pigeon she finds, she’s reluctant to flush it or deliver it. We could spend the time until the spring tests training her to pick up pigeons, or we could start training her for Senior tests, where they don’t use pigeons. When we hunt, we don’t hunt pigeons, so there’s no practical value in training her to pick up pigeons. We’ll take a break, and then decide.

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Cooper one of three Spaniel qualifiers

Today’s Spaniel Hunt Test, put on by the Clumber Spaniel Club of America, was a tough test. Out of 17 entered dogs, no Juniors (including Tooey), only a handful of Seniors, and 3 Master dog made it out of the land hunt to be called back to the next part of the test.

The Senior/Master upland course was set amidst an oak and Douglas fir grove, winding through narrow fields of 2 to 3 foot tall grasses, 5 to 6 foot tall Scotch broom, an assortment of ferns and brambles, and hidden yellow jacket nests. The trees have branches hanging down to the ground. Several of the shorter dogs were invisible to their handlers much of the time, and most of the flushed birds were visible for only moments, making it tough for the gunners, dogs, handlers, and judges to see the birds before they were swallowed into the forest shadows. Several dogs took the entire course (and about 15 minutes to run it) without finding any birds, and a couple dogs were given a rerun at the end so they can cool down.

The aerial photo below was probably taken some years ago, before the vegetation had grown up and the smaller trees had filled in. Imagine all the open areas filled in with the vegetation mentioned above. The photo also shows how wind-y and crowded the 200-yard course was through the trees, particularly in the 2nd half of the course.

Aerial view of Saturday’s Spaniel Hunt Test course

Flushed pheasant disappearing into the trees

Russ  narrates a video of the first quarter of the course, where Cooper ran his hunt. You can see how torturous the course was and the first part wasn’t the worst of it. Upon reflection, it didn’t seem particularly more difficult for the dogs to flush birds than any other course we’ve been on, but it was harder for the dogs, handlers, judges, and gunners to see the birds fly and fall, for the handlers to see their dogs to handle them, and for the judges to see the dogs’ work.

As you look at the video, notice that we can only occasionally see the gunners to the right and left. Look for orange moving through the trees — those are the gunners. At certain sections of the course, one or both of the gunners had to come out of the trees and walk the middle of the course with the handler and dog. Often the dog would not be visible and sometimes you could know where they were only by hearing them panting. At the narrowest points, the dog couldn’t get more than 10-15 yards to either side due to the trees and dense cover. To get through the course, we followed a winding path marked by orange flag.

You saw from the video that Cooper gets his job done in the wide section in the earliest part of the course. While he was out of sight on the right, he flushed a pheasant out of the tall Scotch broom. That bird evaded both shots by the right-hand gunner and disappeared into the forest. Russ called Cooper back to the center of the course and resumed the hunt.

Shortly thereafter, Cooper flushed up a bird near the center of the course, and the left-hand gunner knocked it down almost instantaneously. Cooper retrieved it, delivered it to hand. With two flushes and a retrieve to hand, Team Cooper got the job done in just the first 50 yards of the course — and he’d barely warmed up. An English Springer Spaniel moved up to the spot where Cooper finished, and that team took the entire rest of the course to get their birds.

With such good work, Cooper was called back to do the hunt dead. The bird was hidden around the back side of a scraggly small oak. Russ lined Cooper up facing just where Russ figured the bird would be.

Russ lining Cooper up to the hunt dead bird

Cooper went out about 45 yards or so but but then started hunting, taking himself way off line, too far to the left. Russ whistle-sat him, and sent him to the right. Cooper went too far over to the right, so Russ whistled him again and sent him back left, where he found the bird, and delivered it to hand. If this were a retriever hunt test, this would be seen as sloppy. But for a Spaniel test at the Senior level, where some quartering is not unexpected, it worked out fine.

Having succeeded at the hunt dead, Cooper was called back to the water. The water retrieve always makes me nervous because Cooper has had a history of breaking on the water, going for the bird before being sent. But on Saturday, he stayed sitting, butt to the ground. The bird was thrown, the shot was fired, the bird splashed, and Russ waited 3 beats to confirm in the judges’ minds that Cooper was steady. Only then did Russ send Cooper for the bird. Cooper did his usual dramatic Realta rocket entry into the water, snatched up the pheasant, swam back, and delivered it to hand. Then, for an added flourish, he leapt up and put his muddy paws on Russ’s shoulders, kind of a Cooper-ish high 5. Good job, Dad! Can I go get another one?

Realta dogs do good work — Christine with Riki (Master pass) and Russ with Cooper (Senior pass)

Three dogs qualified in this test, two of them were Irish Water Spaniels, and both of those are Realta dogs. Cooper got a Senior pass, and his half-brother Riki got a Master pass.

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Tooey has three retriever legs

On this cool almost-Autumn morning, Russ, Tooey, and I ventured over to Carnation, Washington to compete in another retriever Junior Hunt Test, this one put on by the Puget Sound Labrador Retriever Association. (Cooper came, too, but alas! to his sorrow, he didn’t get to compete — he just had to listen to gunshots and duck calls all day, poor boy.)

Tooey was in the Junior B group, which started with the water marks first while the Junior A group was doing their land marks. The Junior B judges decided to use the same marks that the Seniors had had the day before, only as singles instead of the double that the Seniors had done. (Later I heard that the Junior A judges simplified the water marks for their group.)

The start line for the water series was located on a bank maybe 6 feet above a long channel of swimming water. The right-hand mark was down the bank, across the narrow width of the channel (maybe about 10 yards wide), up the opposite bank, and then about 40 yards farther to the area where the live flyer would most likely fall. (You can never tell exactly where a live flyer will fall — it all depends on how far the duck flies before it gets shot.)

To the left along the length of the channel, there was an island topped by weeds, brambles, and grass. A dog swimming that water to the left-hand mark would go down the bank into the channel, swim the length of the channel past the island, hopefully ignore the decoys at the water’s edge, and climb up the opposite bank onto a grass-covered promontory where the bird had landed.

Tooey ran third — enough time for Russ to see what some of the difficulties might be. On the right-hand mark, while they were down in the channel swimming, some dogs lost their mental picture of where the duck had landed. On the left-hand mark, some dogs got sucked in by the island, thinking, as they swam near it, that the island is where they should get out and look for the bird.

The right hand bird was first, and Tooey’s performance was pretty straightforward. Down the bank where she hesitated briefly, swam the water slowly (Russ joked that there must be a “no-wake zone” down there), climbed up the opposite bank, and trotted the distance to the bird. She grabbed it up and brought it back. She did drop it on the bank near the start line, but then picked it up again to adjust her grip, and delivered it nicely to hand.

Tooey returning with the live flyer

Tooey delivering to hand, lined up facing the left-hand mark

The left-hand bird was tougher for many dogs, but Tooey handled it beautifully. She swam past the island only getting up onto the submerged edge of the island at its far end. She then swam the rest of the way, got onto the shore, briefly sniffed the decoys, and then climbed up to the promontory to find the bird right away. This bird she delivered without dropping it first, halleluiah!

Tooey returning with her second bird, swimming past the island

With such nice work, we were not surprised that she was called back to the afternoon land series. The land series was held at the back the property just east of a nice stand of tall cottonwood and oak trees (so the gallery and dogs could wait in the shade). The marks held in a long grassy area bounded by blackberries on the left, a gradual hill in the middle dotted with fallen-over decoys, and which then fell into a swale on the right. The first bird was another live flyer that fell into the right-hand swale at about 75 yards. The left-hand mark was very short — pretty close to the blackberries, about 50 yards out.

The live flyer was first. The gunners threw the duck, which then hooked right, was shot, and fell right behind the gunner’s station, out of sight of Tooey, the judges, and the handler at the line. The judges offered Russ the option for a “no bird,” which would mean he’d have to go back in line about three dogs. Tooey was amped, though, so he declined the offer. The gunners retrieved the first bird, threw another, and shot that one. That duck had flown a better pattern and landed in the swale where they had intended the flyers to land.

Tooey going out at full speed to retrieve the land series “live flyer”

Tooey zoomed out, disappeared briefly into the swale, and then reappeared as she went straight to where the first bird had fallen, right behind the gunners station. Ignoring the gunners and finding no duck there, she then went back up the hill to the decoys. No duck there, either, so she went back down into the swale and along its length, out about 150 or so yards.

I could see Russ touch his whistle, thinking about getting ready to try to handle her to the bird, but he stopped himself and waited while she worked it out. Tooey then turned and started coming back toward the line on her own. On her way, she must have winded the bird. She trotted over to it, grabbed it up, brought it back at a deliberate pace, and delivered it to hand (without dropping it first, again halleluiah!).

Tooey emerging from the swale with the bird

Retriever ribbon #3

The left hand bird was much more straightforward. A short out and back, done and thank you. She and Russ did a great job during this test, and I am very proud of them both. This is her third pass of a retriever Junior Hunt Test. If/when she passes one more, she’ll have her Junior Hunter title.

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Cooper’s Senior Spaniel weekend

Whenever we’ve gone out upland bird hunting or to Spaniel Hunt Tests, Cooper has always shown his stuff in finding, flushing, and bringing back upland birds. So, since he got his Junior Hunter Upland title last May, we decided to try him out in some Senior Spaniel Hunt Tests this past weekend.

It was a beautiful setting in a little valley near Monmouth, Oregon. You can see from the pictures below that the Senior and Master dogs were running in 2-3 foot high grass cover, interspersed with tall, wide bushes and low patches of blackberry.

Both days were very hot, in the high 90s and low 100s F. Bright blue skies, and very little breeze in the morning, with a touch of wind coming up in the afternoon.

For the two tests this weekend, the course was about 200 yards long by 80 yards wide, slightly uphill. The first part of the test started about 8:30 in the morning. Pheasants were planted (out of sight of the dogs) in various places in the course, about three to four birds per run.

At the start, the handler, dog, judges, and bird shagger stood at the middle of the lower edge of the course, and two gunners stood, one on each side of the course. When the judge indicated, the handler sends the dog to go hunt up birds, and the team walks up the course together.

The dog is supposed to cover the course thoroughly, looking and scenting for birds. Each breed of spaniel has an official “hunting style” that describes how that breed should hunt in an AKC Spaniel Hunt Test. IWS are not required to go back and forth in a windshield wiper pattern, but they do have to hunt the width of the course efficiently and at moderate speed as they move up the length. The handler can help the dog by whistling them to turn in the other direction, come in closer, or go a bit farther out (Cooper doesn’t usually need help to go farther out).

Once a Senior dog flushes a bird, they don’t have to be steady to wing and shot: sit and watch as the bird flushes and the gun is shot. What they do have to do is mark where the bird fell, go out to it, fetch it up, and deliver it into the handler’s hand.

Cooper did just fine in this part. Both days, he got his two birds while covering about two-thirds of the course. You can see him in the pictures below from Saturday, bringing back birds: one that he flushed, the gunners shot, and he retrieved; the other that he trapped alive on the ground.

Cooper brings back a flushed bird

Cooper brings back a trapped bird

Then there is the “hunt dead.” For this part of the test, a dead bird is planted in a different patch of land, at a specified distance away from the handler (35-40 yards for Senior dogs). The handler is told generally where the bird is, but not exactly. (This is unlike the “blind retrieve” used in retriever hunt tests, where the handler knows exactly where the bird is and is required to send his dog directly to it.)

But the hunt dead is actually pretty easy for Cooper. He was trained to do blind retrieves, so he generally goes out in the direction that Russ sends him, but then hunts up the bird once he gets out into the field. On Sunday, this went beautifully. Russ made a good guess as to where the bird was planted, and sent Cooper just a bit downwind of it. Cooper went out until he scented the bird, did a sharp right, took a couple of steps, nabbed the bird, and brought it back.

Cooper brings back his “hunt dead” bird

Saturday’s hunt dead was a bit tougher than Sunday’s because there was some confusion between where Russ understood the bird should be and where Cooper’s nose told him it actually was. But even so, Cooper passed the hunt dead portion of both day’s tests.

Having passed the flushing and hunt dead portions of the test (and after lunch), it was on to the water portion of the test. The water portion was held in a wide oxbow bend of a river, with handler, dog, and judges standing on one side of the river, and the gunner and bird thrower standing on the opposite bank.

Watching this part made my heart pound. At the water, the Senior dog has to be steady. He has to watch the bird go up, listen to the gun go off, and see the bird hit the water, all while sitting in place with no forward movement.

Being steady has not historically been Cooper’s strong point. In Senior Retriever Hunt Tests, the dog is okay if he “creeps” out a few feet out in front of the handler. This fact has helped Cooper pass those tests. But in Senior (and Master) Spaniel Hunt Tests, creeping is not allowed.

But this weekend, Cooper stayed steady, both days. He sat in place and waited. Now, admittedly, as you can see in the picture below, his butt was 6″ off the ground. One of the judges even said that he looked like a rocket ready to blast off. But he didn’t move forward. And then he even stayed in that crouch for a few more beats after the bird hit the water, enough time for Russ to look at the judge, the judge to nod his head, and Russ to send Cooper.

Cooper staying steady at the water

Cooper leapt in with his typical, dramatic style into the water, swam to the bird, snatched it up, and brought it back to hand. He swam so hard that he stirred up the river bottom silt. I think I started to breathe only after I saw that wet bird clutched in Russ’ left hand.

Russ reminding Cooper to “Hold!” that bird

All in all, it was a great weekend for Team Cooper. And the two passes, the two ribbons, and friends to share it with are always great, too! And just for icing on the cake? His first Senior pass fulfills the requirements for a WDX (Working Dog Excellent) certificate from the Irish Water Spaniel Club of America!

Norm and Scarlett with Russ and Cooper with Saturday’s ribbons

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Tooey, one-half a Junior Hunter

Let’s get to the good news first: Tooey qualified. Today she earned the 2nd leg (of 4 needed) on her retriever Junior Hunter title.

Team Tooey

During the month since Tooey’s been home from being a mom, we’ve been getting her back into training for retriever hunt tests. Russ was convinced that she could do the work, and it turns out that she works really well for him. So we entered her in the Salem Retriever Trial Club test this weekend, with Russ as handler.

The weather started out warm and cloudy, with a very slight breeze. The first series was held at a long beaver pond. The first mark was about 80 yards: 30 yards of land, 30 yards of running water filled with tall-growing reeds, and about 20 yards of swimming water. The duck splashed, and Tooey zoomed out, swam past the duck, turned around, climbed over a floating log, paddled to the duck, grabbed it, and came swimming and trotting back to deliver it to hand (good “Hold,” Tooey!), all without getting her back or topknot wet.

The second mark was about 60 yards, half land, half swimming water. Tooey is usually somewhat sedate in getting into water, but for this mark, she put on her full water spaniel style, and gave it a running leap. She grabbed the bird, and came back with it. My heart dropped a bit when she put the bird down upon getting back onto land (she has failed hunt tests for putting down the bird and refusing to pick it back up). Fortunately, though, she was just repositioning the bird in her mouth. She trotted back to Russ, got into a nice heel, and delivered the bird.

Several hours later, we got to the land series, and the weather had risen into the 80′s F and sunny, with only the occasional breath of a breeze. The land series was held in field of mostly high grass cover with a few rows mowed into it. The first mark was about 90 yards. The first 75 yards or so consisted of a mowed row, and that last 15 yards was that high grass cover. That mark was hand-thrown using a giant sling shot, so birds sometimes landed into a low mowed section and sometimes into high cover. Tooey’s landed into high cover. She ran out to the area of the fall and searched the low stuff for awhile, scenting birds retrieved by dogs before her. But she widened her search into the tall cover, found it, picked it up, and brought it back to hand.

The last mark was short, only about 50 yards. But short does not necessarily mean easy. The cover was so tall that once the dogs got about half way to the area of the fall, they completely disappeared. All the handler could see, really, was waving grass. Tooey went straight out toward the bird, but once she got out of sight, it was hard to tell where she went exactly. At one point, it appeared that she’d gone to a close-by area where ducks had been thrown on Wednesday at practice. No duck there. More waving grass. No Tooey. Finally, Russ thought he saw her stop at the spot where the duck had gone down, so he whistled her in. No Tooey. More waving grass. Nothing. Hot seconds pass. Russ waits, and the judges start shifting their feet. Finally, we see Tooey emerging from the cover with a duck in her mouth. Thank goodness. Good girl!

And so she passed, with about half of the 32 dogs that entered. Amen.

Some improvements I saw today:

• She delivered all her birds to hand.
• She ignored the gunners and the guys out in the gunner’s blinds. In the past, these guys have seemed to her to be completely out of place, so she’d stop her work while trying to figure this out.
• She did a water spaniel leap into the water. Yay, Tooey! A little style can go a long way.
  

  “Good Job Russ” . . . Tooey

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Cooper officially JHU

Last month on May 27th, Cooper passed his 4th Junior Hunter Upland test. He went 4 for 4 — 4 passes in 4 Junior tests. So we knew he’d get his JHU title — it was just a matter of when the AKC would publish the fact.

I’ve been checking their website semi-regularly, and finally found the confirmation today:

Next task? Get Tooey ready for Junior spaniel hunt tests? Get Cooper ready for Senior spaniel hunt tests? Or maybe get Tooey ready for Junior retriever hunt tests, or maybe Obedience? So many choices, and all of them good.

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Portrait of a Spaniel

I was going to start out this post by saying that Cooper is now a Spaniel. But the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous that sounded. He’s always been a Spaniel, hunting up birds, even when the only available bird was a rubber toy I’d hidden in the living room.

So, I guess what Cooper really is, as of yesterday, is a titled Spaniel — Junior Hunter Upland (JHU). To celebrate, Russ did a portrait of the boy:

SHR CH Realta Rosario Cooper CD RN SH JHU WC CGC FdX

Somewhat less formally, a couple of shapshots also got taken this weekend after his 3rd and 4th pass in two junior-level Spaniel Hunting Tests, both held by the Western Washington English Springer Spaniel Association.

3rd pass — May 26, 2012 — WWESSC

4th pass and JHU title — May 27, 2012 — WWESSC

Cooper had the same successes and the same weaknesses as last weekend:

• quick flushes of the birds (on Saturday, Cooper didn’t even get 20 yards down the course before he flushed both his birds),
• laser-like retrieves to hand on the land,
• over-enthusiam (read: out of control) going to the line at the water (fortunately, at the Junior level, you can hold them by the collar),
• dramatic water entry (read: flying leap) — one judge on Sunday even said, “Water entry: 11!*,
• quick swim and decisive grab of the chukar in the water,
• and an embarrassing spit to foot (rather than a deliver to hand) of the soggy chukar on the water portion of the test.

Spaniel hunt tests are way more appropriate to Cooper’s talents and how we actually like to live. So, there is a possibility that we’ll keep working on the boy to get that enthusiasm under better control. Stay tuned. We’ll keep you posted.

* out of 10. In Spaniel Hunt Tests, a dog can earn 10 points for each area being scored: hunting ability, bird finding ability, flushing ability, trained abilities, retrieving abilities. These past two weekends, Cooper’s scores were strong on everything except trained abilities. This would not be a surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog. Sigh.

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Top retriever IWS

Last night, Rosemary called me, and Christine emailed me with congratulations. Well, actually, first Rosemary called to ask me to confirm that Cooper had 3 passes in Senior-level retriever hunt tests in 2011. And then Christine emailed me to say that I would probably get some good news, but that she couldn’t tell me what it was.

Well, OK. I love good news. And getting good news this way is a little like Christmas. You know something good is probably coming, but you have to wait. And just in case something good ends up not coming, you reserve yourself a little for protection. And besides, with the excitement and many hours of lost sleep due to Tooey’s new baby puppies, I was exhausted. It’s hard to feel too excited when you’re exhausted.

But then I actually got the good news itself. Rosemary called me to say that Cooper had won the Top Retriever Hunt Test IWS for 2011 award* from the Irish Water Spaniel Club of America. And then Christine emailed me with congratulations.

Cooper with duck

So it’s real, after all, and very cool. This is the first year this award has ever been given, so Cooper will go down in the club history books as the first one to win this.

And since I actually got a few hours of sleep last night, I can now feel EXCITED!

Hooray! Go Team Cooper. And many thanks to Russ for persevering. And thank you to Tim, Rosemary, Christine, and Elissa for putting this award together.

*Top Retriever Hunt Test IWS for 2011 – Presented to the IWS who while competing in AKC Retriever Hunt Tests amasses the highest number of points as a result of passing tests in the Junior, Senior or Master Retriever Stakes in any one year. Bonus points to be awarded for completion of a title, qualifying for the Master National and/or completion of the Master National (Retriever).

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Cooper, All-Around IWS

Well, it’s official. Cooper qualifies.

The Irish Water Spaniel Club of America awards a Certificate of Recognition called the “AKC All-Around Irish Water Spaniel” to IWS that are AKC Champions of Record (CH), have earned an AKC obedience title of CD or better, and have earned an AKC hunting title of JH or better.

And today, the AKC officially recorded the last of the necessary titles to recognize Cooper as an All-Around IWS.

He earned his JH first by qualifying in the Umpqua Valley Retriever Club 2010 June Hunt Test on June 19, 2010.

Then, after more than three years of showing in the conformation ring, he got his second major and last points to earn his CH at the Dog Fanciers Association of Oregon show (part of the Rose City Classic set of dog shows) on January 22, 2011.

And finally, he qualified for the third leg of his CD at the Mt. Hood Keeshond Club Obedience and Rally Trial on March 18, 2012.

Like all owners of All-Around IWS, I am very proud of my dog’s achievements. But I am most proud of the fact that Russ and I — 1st time IWS owners, 1st time show dog owners, and 1st time performance dog owners — did it (mostly) ourselves.

• Russ handled Cooper to all 4 of his JH legs (and all 4 legs of Cooper’s SH, too).
• I handled Cooper to 11 of his 15 conformation points and both of his majors (of the remaining points, 2 points were won when handled by a pro, 1 by Jayme, and 1 by an available stranger when I couldn’t be there).
• I also handled him in all 3 of his Obedience legs.

We did it ourselves, but of course, we didn’t do it by ourselves. We had help, and lots of it, with training, grooming, transportation, housing, more training, more grooming, and untold amounts of emotional support.

So a lot of thanks are in order.

For the JH, thank you to Andy Fontenot who trained both Cooper and Russ in the ways and means of the hunt test game. Thanks also to Tellus, Hank, Holly, Janice, Norm, Matt, Christine, Rod, Renae, and Martyn, and all of our hunt test friends, training groups, and members of the LCHRC who helped Russ and Cooper with training scenarios, advice, stories, real hunting experience, commiseration, and encouragement.

For the CH, thank you to Tammy, Colleen, Jayme, and Rebecca for their skills and hours of grooming help. And to Jayme, Tammy, and Emily Fish for training Cooper and me to run properly around and up-and-back in the conformation ring. And to Dorothy, Liz, Colleen, and Sharon, and all the other IWSCOPS and IWSCA members who applauded our efforts at shows and specialties.

And for the CD, my gratitude goes to my teachers Joan Armstrong and Cindy Leung. And to Tammy who encouraged me and let me cry on her shoulder, and to Jayme and the trainers at the Academy of Canine Behavior. And to Rod, Renae, Russell, Jayme, and Paul for their help at the dog show that tried to kill me. And to Dee and Lee for letting me practice with them in their back yards, to Donna for letting me join in her practice sessions, and to all the members of the Sherwood Dog Training Club who set up matches and played judge for Cooper and I to practice on.

And most of all, thank you to Rosemary and Tammy, who placed Cooper with us. And to Russ, for everything.

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Ring nerves visualization

I’ve been searching around for ways to handle my nervousness at dog shows. I love this quote*, which I just found in the Yahoo group, Clicker Competition Obedience Training:

…Any time you start to feel nervous, take a nice deep breath and picture three images in your head. First think about the first time you ever saw your dog. Next think of something your dog does that makes you feel proud. Lastly think of something your dog does that makes you laugh. Practice it now. I bet when you finish you will end up with a great big smile on your face.

I am inspired. I’ve starting sorting through my mental list of Cooper images. Most of them are just in memory, but others are actual photographs.

The first time you ever saw your dog

I first saw Cooper at Tammy’s parents’ house. I had met Tammy only a couple of times before, but she had taken the trouble to fly out from Minnesota with my Cooper, her Mowgli, and Amy’s Maggie. When Russ and I arrived, Tammy’s mother directed us into the laundry room, where Tammy was giving a very wiggly 8-week-old Cooper a bath.

I commented something like, “He doesn’t like the water? I thought he was an Irish Water Spaniel.”

“He’s a water spaniel,” Tammy replied, drying Cooper off, “not a bath spaniel.” Something your dog does that makes you feel proud

Cooper’s hunting and retrieving skills and his intense enthusiasm for the work makes me proud every time we go out to hunt or train. He found the thing he loves in life very early, when at 9 weeks he first retrieved our morning paper.

Since then, Cooper has pursued field work with the kind of passion that makes me snort when I hear people say, “My passion is…” or “I am passionate about…” They (and I) would be very lucky if they felt 1/10th the passion Cooper exhibits when he’s hunting.

The illustrative event that sticks in my mind is Cooper’s 2nd AKC Junior Hunt Test. This was a very hard test: Only 31 dogs passed of the 56 entered. The retrieves were long, the marks were launched against a dark backdrop of trees, and the many shadows, dips, shallows, and tall cover made the test difficult. (Not to mention the pink flamingo line markers.) But Cooper succeeded and brought back all 4 of his birds.

In fact, in all the hunt tests he’s ever entered, even the ones he’s failed, he has never failed to bring back his birds. And in all the hunting we’ve done, he’s brought back all his birds except for three: two of these were not found even though multiple dogs and multiple people looked for them, and the other was finally located by another dog after two long searches.

Something your dog does that makes you laugh

Cooper has a multipurpose relationship with his toys that makes me laugh every time.

One is that he uses his toys to express his understanding of value and fairness: He trades a toy for something he wants that is not his. We’ll walk into the bedroom and find, instead of two shoes, one shoe and a toy. Or, in the bathroom, we’ll find a toy instead of the washcloth.

Another funny toy thing is, we’ll say, “Want to go for a ride in the car?” Tooey will race to the front door, but not Cooper. Cooper runs first to the toy drawer so he can grab a toy to take along for the ride. I wish I had a video of this, but when I’m getting ready to go for a ride with the dogs in the car, my hands are full of leashes, keys, a coat, my purse, a couple of treats, and several plastic bags.

*Credit where credit is due

The quote was most recently posted by Libby on July 31, 2011, but she said she borrowed it from a previous post on the list. Later I heard that this probably came from Leslie McDevitt, who includes a similar classroom exercise on page 67 of her book Control Unleashed (2007):

When the dogs and handlers look ready, I ask each student to close her eyes, and while keeping her hands on her dog, remember the first time she saw her dog. I’ll give her a minute to take in that memory. Then I ask her to think of something her dog has done that makes her laugh. Lastly, I ask her to think of something her dog has done that made her proud. I love to watch my students, beaming and chuckling and petting their dogs as they’re doing this exercise.

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Pictures from the Senior hunt test

Thanks to Matt Johnson, we have a few pictures of Russ and Cooper during yesterday’s hunt test:

Waiting in the blind, photo by Matt Johnson

Bringing back the live flyer, photo by Matt Johnson

Going out for the second duck, photo by Matt Johnson

Swimming back with duck #2, photo by Matt Johnson

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Cooper always brings back his birds

A summary of this long weekend’s overdose of hunt tests: 1 Senior retriever test, 2 Senior spaniel hunt tests, and 1 more Senior retriever hunt test.

• 6 ducks launched, marked, and retrieved
• 3 ducks hidden, found, and retrieved
• 0 ducks missed
• 4 chukers trapped and retrieved
• 2 chukers flushed, shot, and retrieved
• 1 chucker flushed, chased for 200 yards, caught, and retrieved
• 2 chukers hidden, found, and retrieved
• 0 chukers missed
• 1 orange ribbon for the Oregon Hunting Retriever Club hunt test today

"Hold!"

Cooper may not always bring ribbons home from hunt tests — but he ALWAYS brings back his birds.

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