I took my dog up to a trainer I have used in the past to get him cleaned up for the tests this fall...and of course for the season. My wife shot this video so it is not the best. I noticed several things the Handler needs to work on! I definitely need to work on getting him lined up properly. The second blind was about 200 yards(the trainer wanted to see is limitations) and after I reset him after the dogs barked and he crept I never got him on line. From there I was working to get him back on line, as he wanted to go to where I lined him up!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai-69bmnWPQ

I am a pro trainer and this is just my opinion. Like you said you have got to get the dog lined up properly...it is crucial. At a Senior test I would say 75% of the dogs that go out are on blinds. You paid your money so slow down and get the dog lined up properly. Now in training you can line a dog up correctly and they sometimes will not take the line. When this happens stop your dog and bring them back and do it again until he takes the correct line(attrition). DO NOT CORRECT THE DOG WITH THE ECOLLAR when you recall the dog. Just a Stern NO .....Here. If you use the ecollar, you may get no goes. Since I can't see your cast in the video I don't know if the dog is taking correct cast. If I was running your dog this is what I would have done. I would line him up on the que DEAD BIRD. Once he is lined up sent him on BACK. As soon as he got offline I would immediately whistle sit and stop him. He would not be offline more than five yards. Then I would give him a literal cast to the blind. If I gave him a BACK and went OVER...immediate whistle sit and try again. If he did it again it would be an immediate whistle sit. I would tweet him back to the spot were he took the wrong cast (whistle sit, nic, whistle sit) using indirect pressure with the ecollar. Remember this is training. Now if you are running without a collar then I would walk out in the field and correct the dog. I would then walk back to the line and recast the dog to the blind. It is imperative that your dog know that you will come out into the field or into the water and correct them. I have swam 100 yards to a dog, and walked out 200 yards in a field many times to correct them.

Now lets talk about your dog...from what I see he is enjoying what he is doing and thats great. One other thing I notice is that he is out for himself...he is not being a team player...kinda of going were he wants to. Now in a Senior test the judges are looking for one thing CONTROL. The blind is a control test. So they don't care how many times you blow the whistle they just want to see that you have CONTROL of the dog all the way to the blind. If your dog gives you cast refusals that is not control. That is why we correct them in training like we talked about above. If you go out there and your dog does not challenge the blind and you don't show control, well you know what will happen.

Senior Judges will set up very challenging blinds. I have seen down the shoreline, blinds behind fallin down trees, deep channel blinds.......basically places dogs do not want to go. You have to train for this.

Just remember to get you dog lined up properly...take your time and don't get in a hurry you've paid your money. Kick your dog off to the blind and keep him TIGHT to the line all the way to the blind. Use that whistle and be quick with it. Don't let your dog get offline...and you will be fine...good luck.....you'll get a ribbon!

There's a lot more to clean up with the dog than the handler here.

Fall Flight- A lot of good points in this post. Thx for the input. He's young. He's just 2 , and I haven't worked him for the past 6 months so he was a little rusty in that video. That is why i took it easy on him, and why he is in a formal training program. He's a good dog though. Very easy to train.

However it was interesting seeing a video of yourself working a dog. I noticed a lot of the things you mentioned. I need to be much quicker with the whistle when he breaks off line no doubt. This is my second dog to run in SH. I enjoy working and training dogs. I think this one on though will make it to MH. We will see.

Bigdtex- Never insult a man's dog or his family.

Not trying to be insulting, just that the dog needs quite a bit of work too. Just being honest. You came on a public forums and asked for opinions...Don't ask if you don't want to hear...Sorry you got your panties in a bunch.

I couldn't view the video. But just a word of advice, Don't run senior unless you are VERY close to ready to run master. I've seen Senior test that were just as difficult as the master on the same weekend.

Also if you plan to run Master and chase the MH title... Why even run senior? A SH title only makes it to where you have to pass 1 less master. Is it really worth all that time and money spent for a SH? Is it worth any bad habbits your dog can pick up at a test. Remember every day spent running a test is in some form erasing training. You would be much better off training more until the dog is ready for master and simply running him then. You will save yourself money and heart ache. Just my .02

I hear you. I spoke to the trainer today, and he is ready for MH today minus the marking. She said he is getting locked on the first fall, and just ignores the duck call to mark the second bird, let alone the third! I think this is because he is hunting dog, and he hears a duck call all the time, and he is not associating the duck call with a down bird. She is working with him to get him to look away from the first bird, but apparently he just get's locked on the 1st downed bird. Until he learns to look for the second bird, he wouldn't be able to run in either! Blind work, handling, water work, all is solid (this is from the trainer who trains and has multiple MH) so I trust her feedback. I wanted to get him ready for the SH/MH but run him in the SH to get him used to running in test's, and to give hm a positive experience. But, if he will only mark one bird he won't be running in either!

We will see.

Very true, i agree with you on that. When you get to the Master level the handler has just as much to do with a pass as the dog. A good handler can plug a weak dog through a test. A bad handler and keep a good dog from passing....

Seems like i've seen Streak and Homer somewhere.....

Were you at the Spring Grand in LA?

Yeah, I was in flight B at the LA grand.

I know Jimmy Neely from over in Texas. Were you with him? or Janet Kimbrough?

There is obviously some experience on this site. Any suggestions for getting a dog to look down field for the second and third mark? This is my fault, because in my training sessions I would tell him to leave it, heel, and mark before the second throw or flyer. You obviously can not do this in the test's. He is with an experienced trainer who I hope will be able to work through this, but if you have any suggestions to get the dog to associate the duck call with a new mark it would be appreciated. Thx.