DIVERSITY

The winter weather in the upper Merrimack Valley has driven us nearly crazy!  How grateful I am that we plowed a "runway" in the field to exercise and drill!  We've done all sorts of routines with bumpers and a Dokken mallard. We mix up basic commands with various "retrieving games".  

Speaking of  commands,  an exercise that we do on 'whoa' (stop, stay still, don't move) was initiated by my grandson when he was visiting.  He's only 11 and  couldn't throw the bumper far enough to satisfy himself, so he put K-Lee at 'whoa' and walked about 150 feet, threw the bumper, then walked back to the dog and sent her on the retrieve.  He did that several times, and then varied his toss locations.  It was good exercise for both of them.  I wish I had taken a picture, but "Papa" (I) saw that things were "good" with those two, so I turned my attention to my little grand-daughter. The four of us had a great time in the snow.    

A guy has to know his priorities.

Now that the grandchildren have gone back home, it's back to 'K-Lee and I'.  We both miss them, but we don't let that hang us up.  We've started working on a "diversity" theme.  With some PVC training aids, bumpers and even water filters (yep) from our "force-fetch" training days, we've mixed it up a bit. Diversity--a good word for mixing it up to avoid boredom.

We've even increased tracking exercises. A nice new harness from "In The Company of Dogs" cost about half of the cost of "professional" ones.  The only visible difference was that this one is red and the pro ones are mostly paramilitary colors.  I can live with that.  Her vest is fitted with  Velcro strips on the side to add messages such as "Service Dog", or "Therapy", "Search & Rescue", "Do Not Pet", etc.  I didn't want the Velcro strips to get all clogged up with lint and debris, so we put an "IN TRAINING" strip on the side and called it "good".

It didn't take long for K-Lee to  associate the harness with a tracking exercise.  It's wonderful to see her work a scent and track.  Today, she blew by a 90 degree turn, realized she lost the scent and went back, picked up the trail and made the turn which led her to her reward.  It doesn't take much, but it's a great way to break things up a bit.  Just a little diversity does the trick.

I have to admit, I'm a bit envious of my friends who are using their German Shorthairs as sled dogs in this weather.  They look like they're having WAY too much fun!  I play the video streams and watch those dogs run in the snow.  It's very apparent that they are loving it as much as their handlers!

What else y' got boss?

I'm a one-dog guy, but there still may be an opportunity here.  The field is fairly flat.  If I used a bit of wisdom, I could plow a trail, pick up a sled and trappings, ... all in the name of "diversity". 

What are you doing to break things up and maintain "diversity"?