tune up drill

[flyntwt]

Hey guys-

Been crazy busy at work, so little training was done prior to hunting season. And, due to this lack of training, my dog's casting was less than stellar (in the drink) when we went hunting.... Alot of scalloping and binary casting- backs and overs. To tune up her water casting, I've been doing some walking baseball and tune-ups (on a local square pond).

Gotten in some good corrections, and have seen some change in behavior. But still some scalloping.

Anything else you guys would be doing?

Thanks,

Warren

[B3]

Water tuneups do not improve casting. They will likely promote more scallops than big casts.

Bill

[B3]

You might try the walking baseball into and across your pond.

[EvanG]

What is the average distance on your casts on Walking Baseball?

EvanG

[flyntwt]

[B3]

You can set up a 3 legged pattern blind on water. Teach the blinds but once taught stop dog half way and cast to the other destination. This gets him casting and holding a cast. Not something I'd do much once the water is cold though.

[EvanG]

[flyntwt]

[B3]

I am by no means an expert but I'll give it a try. As I understand them water tuneups consist of 6-8 repeated blinds along shore lines. They are very cheaty and technical. They may require angled entry or exits,on and of points,reentries,etc. The point is they are run on a line a dog will typically be very uncomfortable running coming out of basics like cheating singles. Typically the dog after cheating singles be very and possibly overly "watery" and will be considering that tight cheaty area between the shore and open water as a no mans land to avoid. Tune ups are run to make that area more comfortable.

Tuneups are run on a very tight line. The first time or two will be very ugly with tons of whistles and very small casts. No collar pressure and lots of attrtion. These same blinds are repeated several times over several days and get better and better until the dog is either taking a few whistles or lining the blinds. The dog never gets big casts on these blinds and does more lining than changing direction. The goal is to get the dog comfortable with angles,shorelines etc and if anything after tuneups will likely be more cheaty and less likely to take a big cast than before.

This is just my take on tuneups. I don't pretend to know every thing about this stuff. If I want to work on big casts it will be with things like the casting from one pattern blind to another or a dog leg blind where the dog takes a big cast and a thrower steps out throwing a bumper into the water as a "pop up" reward.

Hope this makes sense.

Bill

[EvanG]

[flyntwt]

[EvanG]

[flyntwt]

Going well; it has been too cold for any water work, so she has had a steady diet of wbb and singles. She's a driven little girl, out of CatSquirrels GRHRCH and by AFC FC Roux, but is intentional too. I can tell she's working with me to try to get the bird, but it's my inexperience that may ask a little too much sometimes. Other to times, she takes hard concepts on like basics. So, to answer your question more completely- I asked a little too much of her the second time we went out for wbb, and are now building up to that challenge again. She's in between your intermediate and finished wbb level. I guess the "learning more" level

Thanks for the interest

[EvanG]

Always glad to help. Once her casting has begun to mature you can start advancing in Transition by stretching out your pattern blinds to around 150 yards, and then move on to Bird Boy Blinds all winter long. There are some others when you're ready.

EvanG