by Kerry Webster » Fri 12 Mar 2004 11:55 am
Hi All,
I must say I personally like watching, when a dog stops to shot. It just appears that the dog is switched on to happenings on the run, and is attentive.
I haven't taught any of my dogs to stop to shot. My Golden does it naturally, without any prompting from me. The young Lab, having only had two/bird retrieves, so far in trials, almost stops and looks in the direction of the thrown bird. I feel happier if I can see that my dog has actually acknowledged the fall of the two bird/doublefall.
Re Jack's episode at the Nationals in W.A.; even though I was working at that trial (Lady dog's business caused us to not compete), I didn't see the run that Jack is talking about.
Just for everyones info. we have ANRTC trials here where for Novice we have three judges on simultaneous runs, then Restricted has the same, then All Age has two judges each having two runs to judge and running them simultaneously, so competitors go from Run one straight on to Run two. Most times, these runs are within 100 yards of each other, so our dogs have to be focused on the retrieve they are on and learn to ignore shots fired on adjoining runs. Novice dogs obviously, have the most trouble adjusting to this, but really, the Restricted and All Age dogs do not seem to experience problems.
Kerry
My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am.