It’s not all that often that I rave about Merlin’s behaviour; probably because I obsess over his health issues rather than realizing what a really good dog he is... Bad me. Anyway, on Sunday I was sooooo proud of him. With the days getting shorter I have moved the gundog class I give to Sundays, right after Merlin’s beginner class. I wanted to test whether I could take both dogs, and have Merly on the peg while I give my class. Poppy is fine during the beginner class, she doesn’t even need to be on the peg, she just sits and watches (rolling her eyes and tutting at the young ‘uns, I imagine 
).
So, we rocked up at 10:00, for a 2-hour beginner class. Merlin worked really well - we started with a marked retrieve, where you watched the dummy fall, then walked 10 meters with the dog at heel, then sent the dog for the mark from that new position, followed by a blind memory retrieve at the same spot (I.e. the trainer put a dummy down at the exact same point of fall, while the dog was running back with the first retrieve, so he didn’t see it). Now, this is actually fairly complicated, there’s a lot going on in a task like that for a young dog, but we are working towards the so-called ‘Dummy A’ test, which is similar to the Working Gun Dog certificate, and a walk up combined with a retrieve from a different perspective is one of the tasks.
We did a couple of variations on this, tried a double mark (with varied success), and finished up with a task where the dogs worked in a line and were sent to a mark which fell into a hedge, then to a mark at the far end of the hedge - and then finally the dogs were sent back to the spot where the original mark fell, and told to search for a dummy which was hidden there. So, in this task they had to show steadiness in the line, to remember where the first dummy had fallen and to return to that spot after a retrieve to a different place, and then to search diligently in the cover... Not an easy task at all, and I was very, very proud of my boy.
Here he is in the line - obviously I’m not in the picture because I’m taking the photo!
Then it was time for me to give my class. The dogs in my group are more advanced, and include Poppy (OH was her handler for this), the trainer from the previous group and his dog, another trainer and her dog, and a couple of others, all keen enthusiastic workers who all love dummy work! I put Merlin on the peg for most of the time, and he was so good and patient, no fussing or whining, just quietly but alertly watching us. I was amazed, to be honest - I mean, I know he was tired from his training session, but he was so chilled and so good, I thought it was astonishing for an 18-month-old boy... I really just wanted to see if this would work, as I have my hands full during a class (literally, with dummies and walkie-talkie), and it is brilliant to know I can do this with both dogs. At one point I had to move away out of sight to throw dummies at some distance, and at that point I took Merlin with me on the lead. I let him hold a dummy while I was throwing for the other dogs, and he was very interested, but calm.
Afterwards I was bursting with pride about my lovely boy. We’ll forget about him continually sticking his nose firmly up the bottom of one particular female dog he is in love with, until she finally rounded on him... Today Maelstrom was nowhere to be seen, it was Merlin the Magnificent all the way. Good Boy!!!
).So, we rocked up at 10:00, for a 2-hour beginner class. Merlin worked really well - we started with a marked retrieve, where you watched the dummy fall, then walked 10 meters with the dog at heel, then sent the dog for the mark from that new position, followed by a blind memory retrieve at the same spot (I.e. the trainer put a dummy down at the exact same point of fall, while the dog was running back with the first retrieve, so he didn’t see it). Now, this is actually fairly complicated, there’s a lot going on in a task like that for a young dog, but we are working towards the so-called ‘Dummy A’ test, which is similar to the Working Gun Dog certificate, and a walk up combined with a retrieve from a different perspective is one of the tasks.
We did a couple of variations on this, tried a double mark (with varied success), and finished up with a task where the dogs worked in a line and were sent to a mark which fell into a hedge, then to a mark at the far end of the hedge - and then finally the dogs were sent back to the spot where the original mark fell, and told to search for a dummy which was hidden there. So, in this task they had to show steadiness in the line, to remember where the first dummy had fallen and to return to that spot after a retrieve to a different place, and then to search diligently in the cover... Not an easy task at all, and I was very, very proud of my boy.
Here he is in the line - obviously I’m not in the picture because I’m taking the photo!
Then it was time for me to give my class. The dogs in my group are more advanced, and include Poppy (OH was her handler for this), the trainer from the previous group and his dog, another trainer and her dog, and a couple of others, all keen enthusiastic workers who all love dummy work! I put Merlin on the peg for most of the time, and he was so good and patient, no fussing or whining, just quietly but alertly watching us. I was amazed, to be honest - I mean, I know he was tired from his training session, but he was so chilled and so good, I thought it was astonishing for an 18-month-old boy... I really just wanted to see if this would work, as I have my hands full during a class (literally, with dummies and walkie-talkie), and it is brilliant to know I can do this with both dogs. At one point I had to move away out of sight to throw dummies at some distance, and at that point I took Merlin with me on the lead. I let him hold a dummy while I was throwing for the other dogs, and he was very interested, but calm.
Afterwards I was bursting with pride about my lovely boy. We’ll forget about him continually sticking his nose firmly up the bottom of one particular female dog he is in love with, until she finally rounded on him... Today Maelstrom was nowhere to be seen, it was Merlin the Magnificent all the way. Good Boy!!!
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It also sounds as if you're being able to do quite a lot more with Merlin than you'd feared at one point.
Going forward it is so lovely to know Merly can just "hang out" whilst you teach other classes.
. He is a credit to your training and hard work Karen 
xx You and OH trained him Karen so here's a