IN DETAIL
TOSTARTTHISLESSONI amgoingtomakeit aseasy
toachievesuccessaspossible.I havea perfectset-up
witha cornerofa field.FirstI dotwosinglemarked
retrievestotheleftandtotheright.Withthewaythe
fencerunsit isveryeasyfora youngdogtoholda lineand
understandthedirectionI’msendingherin.Togetit
wrongshewouldphysicallyhavetorunallthewayback
pastme,soI couldeasilyintervene.Thisisinvaluable
whentrainingonmyownasI cankeepcontrol.
Onceshehaspickedbothassinglemarks,I throwtwo
outandletherwatchboth.I thentakemytimeandline
herup.If shegetsthefirstonerightI willallowhertopick
thesecond.If shestrugglesormakesanattempttogo
tothewrongone,I simplystarttheexerciseagain.
ShecopedverywellwiththesetwosoI decided
tomakeit slightlyharder.I threwa thirdmarkinto
theopenfieldnotfarbehindme.I sentherforthisone
firstthenchoseoneoftheoriginalleftandrightmarks
tosendherfor.ThethirddummyI senta differentdog
for,againreinforcingthefactthatnoteveryretrieve
ishers,andshetakesdirection picking only what I ask
her,notwhatshechooses.
Aftera fewweeks,if I feelsheiscopingwiththetwo
exercisesI haveintroduced—thelauncherandmultiple
retrieveswork—I canthenbegintocombinethetwo
bylaunchingfourdummiesata timeandselecting
whichoneshepicks.Wearen’tquitethere yet, but it’s
something I am working towards.
SIKA: MAKING
IT HARDER
EllenasendsSikaoutfora dummy;ina shootingsituation
there would be more than one retrieve and not all for her