Workingtest Belgium (Sint-K.-Waver)
Last Sunday (4/4/2010) I spent a great day at the Working Test in Belgium. Sadiki (Seawild´s I´m A Game Getter) was entered in “beginner class” . The WT started at 9 o´clock so I needed to get up a 4:00 am *yawn*, but it was worth it! ;))
Station D:
A mark (+ shot) was thrown at a distance of apprx. 30 m, as soon as the dummy hit the bottom the judge asked you to turn around ( 180 °) and you were supposed to walk straight until the judge said stop. Your dog was expected to sit while you kept on going and threw another mark. As your returned to the dog , handler and dog turned around and walked back to the place where they stood in the beginning. The judge asked you to send the dog on the first thrown mark and after delivering this dummy, the dog should be sent to the second thrown dummy.
Sadiki was steady, but I needed to give an extra command for turning around. The heelwork was okay and when I threw the second mark he stayed on his place. He delivered the dummies in a good speed, but he carried them with a very soft mouth and dropped it once but picked it up without a command. We got 15 points.
Station A:
A mark was thrown on the other side of a pond the way into the water was quite difficult for some dogs .
Unfortunately Sadiki didn´t enter the water at all….he behaved as if he had never seen water before! :/ We got 0 points ( test failed)
Stations B:
A dummy was thrown on the other side of a small ditch. Again the into the ditch was quite difficult and Sadiki was hesitating and finally decided not to cross the ditch, he rather stayed by my side. 0 points
Stations C:
A mark was thrown at a distance of apprx. 40 m and when the dog was on his way back to the handler a second dummy was placed on the same spot where the first mark was thrown. As soon as the dog delivered the mark the handler should send him on the second dummy (blind).
Sadiki marked very well and delivered both dummies in a good speed. I was really happy about the blind, because he didn’t hesitate to take my direction! We got 18 points
Station E:
Walk-up with 2 teams!
Two handlers walked in a line and at a distance of 30 m the marks were thrown. Each dog had to deliver 2 marks.
Sadiki was steady, marked very well and did a good heelwork. We got “full house” – 20 points! :D
Although we didn´t pass ( 0, 0, 15, 18, 20) I enjoyed the day at the working test and Sadiki got a big treat in the end! ;)) I´m really happy that he did so well on the walk up, because it shows that tollers can be steady! Besides I got inspired by this WT and now know that I need to train more markings which are thrown on the other side of the water instead of training marks which are thrown into the water.
I´m already looking forward to our next WT!
Station D:
A mark (+ shot) was thrown at a distance of apprx. 30 m, as soon as the dummy hit the bottom the judge asked you to turn around ( 180 °) and you were supposed to walk straight until the judge said stop. Your dog was expected to sit while you kept on going and threw another mark. As your returned to the dog , handler and dog turned around and walked back to the place where they stood in the beginning. The judge asked you to send the dog on the first thrown mark and after delivering this dummy, the dog should be sent to the second thrown dummy.
Sadiki was steady, but I needed to give an extra command for turning around. The heelwork was okay and when I threw the second mark he stayed on his place. He delivered the dummies in a good speed, but he carried them with a very soft mouth and dropped it once but picked it up without a command. We got 15 points.
Station A:
A mark was thrown on the other side of a pond the way into the water was quite difficult for some dogs .
Unfortunately Sadiki didn´t enter the water at all….he behaved as if he had never seen water before! :/ We got 0 points ( test failed)
Stations B:
A dummy was thrown on the other side of a small ditch. Again the into the ditch was quite difficult and Sadiki was hesitating and finally decided not to cross the ditch, he rather stayed by my side. 0 points
Stations C:
A mark was thrown at a distance of apprx. 40 m and when the dog was on his way back to the handler a second dummy was placed on the same spot where the first mark was thrown. As soon as the dog delivered the mark the handler should send him on the second dummy (blind).
Sadiki marked very well and delivered both dummies in a good speed. I was really happy about the blind, because he didn’t hesitate to take my direction! We got 18 points
Station E:
Walk-up with 2 teams!
Two handlers walked in a line and at a distance of 30 m the marks were thrown. Each dog had to deliver 2 marks.
Sadiki was steady, marked very well and did a good heelwork. We got “full house” – 20 points! :D
Although we didn´t pass ( 0, 0, 15, 18, 20) I enjoyed the day at the working test and Sadiki got a big treat in the end! ;)) I´m really happy that he did so well on the walk up, because it shows that tollers can be steady! Besides I got inspired by this WT and now know that I need to train more markings which are thrown on the other side of the water instead of training marks which are thrown into the water.
I´m already looking forward to our next WT!
Workingtest „Zwischen den Meeren“
August 23rd my alarm clock rang at 5:30 am - although it was a Sunday morning! But it was a special Sunday morning, because today Sadiki´s second working test took place.
I was really nervous and it got even worse when I arrived at the “test ground”. At this test there were 4 stations planned for the beginner dogs and when I was on my way to my first station, a friend of mine told me that there was probably a walk-up planned and the judge wants to see 4 dogs UNLEASHED walking in a line at heel while 4 markings are thrown. “OH my GOD” I thought, but the other participants told me not to worry about this, because it was probably just a rumor…well we´ll see .
Fortunately my first station was not a “walk-up”, but a single mark followed by blind. At a distance of 40 m a single mark (with shot) was thrown, on command the dog was supposed to retrieve and deliver this one. When he was on the way back another dummy was thrown in the same spot, so when he delivered the first one you should send the dog to the second dummy. Sadiki marked well and delivered it immediately, so I called him to the heel position and sent him with “back” to the second dummy, he kept the line really well, but he was a bit attracted by the throwers, so 5 m in front of the dummy he turned to the right and I had to stop him and gave him a “ right over” followed by a search whistle...and again he was on the way back and showed a nice delivery! ;) We got 18 points!
The second station was a single water marking with a brief heelwork “session “. Dog, handler and judge stood on a small way, on the left side there was a lake in which the marking was thrown. On command handler and dog walked on (at heel) after apprx. 10 m dog and handler stopped, turned around to the left and the mark was thrown. The judge gave a sign when you were allowed to send your dog. Sadiki showed a nice heelwork (it was really worth it to concentrate on his basics!), when I gave him the command to retrieve he just jumped into the water without thinking about a better place to enter the water…unfortunately he chose the worst place to enter the water, because there were a lot of boughs which blocked his way to the dummy, so he turned around, went out of the water and immediately found a better place to enter the water and delivered the dummy. Well, we got 15 points.
Our third station was a single mark and a blind: This station was located in the forest and on the left side there was a lake. First a mark was thrown at a distance of 30 m. When the dog delivered the dummy , dog and handler turned around (to the left 90°) and you sent the dog directly to the water, but just 1 m in front of the shore there was the blind hidden. The judge accented that he doesn´t want the dogs to enter the water, if a dog did so he would deduct points – and in some cases those dogs would even get a 0. Again, Sadiki marked well and when I turned him around he immediately got out and kept the line…he was really fast, so I stopped him right in front of the shore, sent him to the right, gave a search whistle and “bingo” he got the dummy! The judge really liked his work and we got “full house”: 20 points! :D
The last station took away my breath….it was really a walk-up with 4 dogs. The judge wanted to see them walking at heel without leash while 4 markings (each for one dog) were thrown. The thrower and shooter walked in front of the line ( at a distance of 30-40 m) Sadiki showed a really nice heelwork and he was so steady…he absolutely didn´t give any noise :D He was the last dog who retrieved the marking and again he marked well! We got 19 points!
In total we got 72 out of 80 points and passed this test with “Very Good” (there is just one point missing to get an “EXC”) and 8th place (out of 49 dogs). Little Sadiki, once again I´m so proud of you and it is a real pleasure to train you! :)
Sadiki´s first official Workingtest: “Castle—Trophy 2009”
On August 8th, Sadiki and me took part in our first official working test which was organized by the German Retriever Club. In total there were 5
stations in “beginner class” and here we go:
Our first station was a “team work”, so there were 2 dogs. Sadiki and me were the 4thparticipant. The handlers stood about 6-7 m apart from
each other, first there was a little “drive” (“standtreiben” in German) where several dummies were thrown, then we had to turn around (180 °) and a dummy was thrown (with shot) at a distance of about 40 m into a small “grass island” in the forest. The dog to the right was supposed to retrieve this dummy first. After this, another dummy was thrown to the left side into the undergrowth, now the left dog was supposed to retrieve this dummy. When he brought this dummy, the handlers and dogs changed their positions, so that finally each dog retrieved 2 dummies.
Sadiki and me first started from the left position and during the “drive” Sadiki was steady, and when the first shot was given he was really focused on this dummy, but he was still quite steady while the other dog retrieved it, at least I got the impression. The next dummy was thrown for Sadiki and he marked well and showed a nice delivery. Now we changed our position and Sadiki was supposed to retrieve the right dummy…I told the judge I was ready and she lifted her arm…Sadiki turned around and was totally focused on the judge , the shot was given and I was afraid if I told Sadiki to pay attention to the shot that he would think he got a command to retrieve, so I didn´t say anything and Sadiki just heard the place where the dummy “landed”. So I decided to send him with “voran” (=”back”) and he ran the line but stopped too early and turned to the right to the first place where his first dummy was thrown, so I stopped him again and send him to the right, stopped him again and send him “back” again…when he reached the “grass” I gave him a “search-whistle” and he found the dummy…I was actually a bit proud, that he still responded so well to my casts. So now the other dog was supposed to retrieve the other dummy and a shot was given on the left side and the other dog was sent to retrieve it… Suddenly Sadiki made “peep” once (and not so loud at all) and I said “stop it” and made him pay attention to me again so he was silent as usual again. When I turned over to the judge she immediately said that my handling (she was probably refering to my casts) as well as my dog was far too loud and that´s why this was a “0”… I was a bit disappointed at first, because I just couldn´t believe that Sadiki made a “peep” and especially at the very last shot… I don´t really know why he did it… Furthermore some people said “Yes, that´s why I don´t want to have a toller, they just can´t be silent.” But I told them that he is actually a really silent dog, but of course they didn´t believe it, although Sadiki´s peep was really really “silent” and “just” once. Of course dogs shouldn´t say a peep at all…but as I´ve written Sadiki is actually silent…so I was a bit worried.
But nevertheless I decided to go on with the working test, because I wanted to see how the other stations would work.
Our second station was a “team work” again. Two handlers and dogs walked on a narrow meadow which was surrounded by trees , after 5 steps a dummy was pulled from the right side to the left. Then we walked on and after 10 steps a dummy was thrown (with shoot) at a distance of about 40-50 m. The left dog was sent at first when he delivered the dummy , a second dummy was thrown for the right dog.
Sadiki´s heelwork was not the best because he walked a bit faster than me, but, as I already noticed at my last training seminar, that´s a thing I really need to train, so I knew he wouldn´t show such a good heelwork, but he marked very well and when the other dog retrieved the dummy he was silent as he is used to be. The judge said that we needed to train the heelwork but otherwise it was a really nice work. J And we got 16 points! So after this station I was not as worried about Sadiki´s “peep” any more…because here he was the Sadiki I know from my training Hihi
The next station was a “double mark” on a meadow. The first mark was thrown at a distance of 50 m . The grass right in front of the handler and dog was quite high, and the dummy was thrown behind a little “grass hill”, so the dogs – and especially little Sadiki – were just able to follow the dummy “flight” but not the place where it came down. When the dogs were on their way back, another shot was given and a dummy was thrown to the left side of the meadow at a distance of about 50 -60m. The dog was supposed to mark and retrieve this dummy as well.
I knew Sadiki wouldn´t look at this dummy at all, because he never looks at dummies which are thrown when he is already on the way back, so I decided to try casting/directing him to the second dummy. But first I sent Sadiki to the 1st mark and to my surprise he marked it well again ( I actually thought markings were our problem)…but on the way back he didn´t look at the second dummy at all, fortunately I watched it carefully and so I got him to the heelposition and sent him with a “voran” (=back) to the dummy. He kept the line really well, but he stopped too early again and tried to turn around to the first mark, so I stopped him again and sent him to the right and “back” again, but again he stopped to early and so I sent him back and “pushed” him with several “voran” and then I made the “search whistle” and he started searching for the dummy, after some seconds he gripped it and delivered it! J I was so happy he took my line and responded so well to my casts, I was really a bit proud of him, although I knew it was a “marking”, but I just was happy that – although he didn´t see anything- he trust me and took the line without hesitation, so I was cuddling Sadiki when the judge told me: “The first mark was okay, but the last mark was really bad, and it´s so BAD your dog didn´t mark, it´s a REALLY great fault and the worst thing a dog can do is not to mark a dummy, that´s really bad….” I was like: “Oh my god! :O “ and somehow I got the impression as if she wanted to say “Don´t cuddle your dog he did a really bad job and he´s not worth the attention you give him…” I just told her that I´ll train such situations and left this station. But we got at least 10 points here. As I said, of course it would have been much better, if he had marked this dummy, but I think it was good job for a “ beginner” dog to respond to my casts so well. But I´ll keep this situation in mind, so I can really train it.
The next station was a single mark over a 4 m wide “river”. The place from where you sent the dog was about 3 m away from the shore, so quite close. I told the judge that I was ready and there was a shoot given and a dummy was thrown on the other side of the shore. On command I sent Sadiki, but he didn´t jump into the water as usual, he suddenly stopped in front of the shore and I was getting nervous because I thought he wouldn´t remember that the dummy was thrown on the other side, but suddenly I heard some noises coming from where Sadiki stood and then I saw a red rowboat which passed this river, followed by 2 others. The judge told me to call Sadiki back and he apologized for not noticing the boats earlier, so he said I would get a second try….and when all boats were gone I got a second try and Sadiki immediately entered the water, and retrieved the dummy from the other side of the shore! J Lucky me I got a second try, and 19 points!
The last station was a little free search. 5 dummies were hidden in an area of about 20x30 m in a circle. But the judge (L. Reynders, B) wanted to see the heelwork as well, so we started at a distance of 6 m in front of the search area. Then 2 shots were given and we had to walk on until we reached the search area. On command we could send the dog. I did some heelwork before this station, so Sadiki´s heelwork was nice at this time ;) as well as his search and in less than 1 minute Sadiki delivered the 2 dummies. We got 19 point here, the judge deducted one point because he didn´t like Sadiki´s delivery (he didn´t wanted Sadiki to jump at me).But he was quite satisfied with Sadiki´s search style and so we got 19 points!
So in total we got 64 points, but because of the zero which we got at our first station we couldn´t pass this test…a real pity, because otherwise the points are quite good for such a young toller!
In general it was a really nice workingtest and a good experience for Sadiki and me and it´s still good that he failed this test with one 0 “only”, although I know he could have been much better at this station… But I know what I´ve to train more often to improve Sadiki´s ability and although he peeped just once and quite silently I´ll keep an eye on Sadiki´s steadiness. I still don´t know exactly why he did this peep, but I don´t want to start panicking either, because it happened just once at his first working test and he is still a young dog.
Anyway, Sadiki and I still had great fun at the working test and so I´m looking forward to the next working test!
BIG HUG to my little Sadiki! :D
