The dog has 4 senior passes. Problem with dog maintaining a cast  slightly  left or right . Somewhere between over and back. At times dog take an excellent cast. Thanks for responding.

Gary Collins

There is a Drill that is called pattern blind lining:  featureless field or pond

A                                                                      B                                                                  C







                                                                          DGHD


ABC about 40 yds away from one another  50-60 yards from B to DGHD
1- Teach piles line to piles for a few days
once piles are known

Line to B
Line to C; stop: left angle to B
Line to C
Line to A; stop right angle to B
Line to A
Line to B; stop right back to B
Line to C
Line to A; stop; left back to A
Line to B

This is a drill that Chris Jobman , Flatlander Kennels, uses and is very effective for taking a cast attention to whistle control, use indirect pressure.

9 point drill flat very low cover field - 1 bumper per spot
Nine Point

 3                             4                             5                                   6                                 7

2                                                                                                                                     8

1                                                             DGHD                                                              9

1&2= 80 yds from DGHD     5= DGHD

Teach 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 with white bumpers 3 days
Teach 2, 4, 6, and 8 days 4-7 with white bumpers and 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 orange bumpers
Day 8 switch to all orange bumpers (mark your spots, same field same locations every day)
Day 8-21 run and teach  stop and cast dog to keep dog on line to each bumper
Day 21-28 stop and cast dog to  keep a very tight to line - attrition and indirect pressure

Month 2  twice a week
Month 3 once a week helps with confidence

Hard running dogs like both these drills. Remember this is not a lining drill. If the dog is off line stop them and cast to the pile, keep you lines tight Chris Akin, and Chris Scott taught me and use this drill.

Hope this helps, none of this info is mine the guys mentioned above are a lot smarter then me.  Jobman just had a seminar last weekend on Transition work would have been a good one for you to go to attend.

Tom
 

What is a "concept mark"?

 Myles, 

A concept mark is a mark that becomes it's own suction.  There are many names for different marking concepts, Hip pocket double, Flower pot double, Converging marks, over- under and inline singles. 

The first, a Hip Pocket, is a double mark that is thrown from a position at the point that the bird lands, behind or close to behind that fall is the bird station for the second mark, throws a similar mark in the same direction.  The concept is that the dog must drive past the 1st bird to the go bird, the second (go bird). 

The second, you should be familiar with however done uses so much of the conventional flower pot,  try throwing one in and one away and when they become good at that try throwing both on the same side.  In Charlie Jurney's book he talks about a drill that he loves where the bird thrower goes and stands in one spot and throws 4 birds in a square (singles) and the thrower never moves.

Converging marks are similar to one another. Example would be a right to left throw and a left to right throw that  would land 40 - 50 feet from one another. 

Over under would be the same except there would be distance involved between marks.  I have run some AKC over unders that are directly behind one another with the live flyer being the first bird! 

In line singles,  my favorite, probably no simpler drill out there that teaches more simply put.  Your thrower does all the work so you need a radio or some one you trust that understands when your dog is breaking down.  Every 50 yds there will be a mark thrown right or left, after that mark the thrower steps back another 50 yds and throws the opposite direction and keeps going till you get to 300 yards (6) marks.  Keep in mind it takes a strong dog to do all 6 marks... if you do the math I think it totals about 6200 feet a little over a mile in 3-4 minutes. 

All these drills should be practiced as singles and ran with cross winds. Most pros will train 80% singles 20% multiples, rarely will they run a entire set up.  Lots of Double doubles another concept drill that is hard to explain with out pictures.   This is what makes training fun.  Most amateur trainers have a hard enough time understanding what the environmental factors do to their dog and rarely put together the issues of a concept and factors.  Never throw a mark for your dog unless you have taken the time to think out what factors will eat your dog up and what you are trying to teach.  I would be more than happy to sit and discuss this in more detail.  For several years I have heard that the difference in AKC and HRC is that they are more concept oriented and we are more hunting.  My belief is that when you start to break down your hunting scenarios you will find that these concepts happen every day in hunting season. Especially when one dog is watching as several gunners have their way with a group of birds.

 What are the concepts in "concept marks" for Started and Seasoned dogs?  All of these marks are a must for started and seasoned dogs.  Simply put, all of these ideas are teaching the dog to not succumb to the favors (suction).  The best of hunting dogs do this and the best of test dogs do this. And the best of judges set up to test for this.  Remember if you were to train 6 days a week only one of those days would be a multiple mark training day.

Would you consider a short mark to excite a dog a "concept"?  Yes, but I don't think of it that way. The excitement causes confusion with the multiple marks, thus testing the memory because of the proximity to the suction which is the concept.  You need the obedience and the reps to make sure that the dog will stay focused.  Any dog or handler can pick up that 10 ft bird but ultimately you want the winged one at 70 yds while you still have your eye on it and then pick up the 10 footer.   It is no different than throwing an outgoing diversion. The dog needs to learn to stay focused. Unfortunately HRC no longer allows this concept. You will see it in AKC and the SRS.  Excitement is great and needs to be trained that way. The true test will be to walk your dog to the line at heal with a live duck walking around the bucket. Give it a try!  Remember your training for success.  Teach...Train... and test.  then start the cycle over again.

This is good stuff and I could talk for hours on this.  If any one wants more track me down at a training day or give me a call.

Tom