The Spaniel Annals
working and living with performance spaniels
recent posts
about
I’m a retired English instructor, now devoted full-time to training, showing and enjoying my spaniels in many sports.
- agility
- Behavior
- competition
- conditioning
- dockdiving
- dual champion
- English Cocker
- English Springer Spaniel
- Fetch!
- field work
- Freestyle
- Gordon Setters
- heeling
- heeling journal
- Irish Water Spaniel
- match
- mental preparation
- new freestyle behaviors
- puppy training
- rally obedience
- retrieve
- scent work
- TEAM
- tracking
- training
- Uncategorized
- Utility obedience
Category: Gordon Setters
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Today I pushed the restart button on Journey’s freestyle routine. First, I won’t be asking her to put any of the sequences together for at least another week, while we work on the individual pieces of the routine, trying to build her confidence and speed. Those pieces are: rightside heeling, spins in different positions (in…
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Gael will be 2 years old on the 23rd. To celebrate, I put together this simple little video. I have a much more sophisticated movie-making software program in my computer, but the intimidation factor will keep me from finishing the video in time, so here’s the primitive Flipshare version. By the way, I’ve already decided…
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Tonight I found out about the passing of a great obedience dog in the Gordon Setter world. I never got to see her work, but heard much about her and her owner, Diane Bartlett, and watched their progress and successes over the years. Tory earned an AKC UDX, a Canadian OTCH, and won several all-breed…
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When I got Gael as an 8-week-old puppy, I knew I’d need to be a little careful introducing her into a very tight-knit pack of 3 springers: mother, son and daughter. I expected Kani to use common sense, but she would also be inclined to issue “motherly” corrections. Rozzie I could trust absolutely. At the…
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A brief stint as English department chair this fall quarter meant the training continued, but the blogging didn’t. This fall Reardon and Gael have been getting back to tracking. With a tracking test coming up locally in March 2012, it’s time to get that TD for Reardon. He’s done a lot more tracking of other…
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Gael continues to surprise me with her versatility and boldness in trying new things. At a recent July field practice in Oregon, I took Gael to the pond. Just to see how she’d respond, and not really expecting much, I tossed out a stick a few feet into the water. Gael promptly dove into the…
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This past year, I’ve struggled with getting Gael to trot when she is attention heeling. I’m still using a lot of food, but no matter what, she has so much reach and drive that I could only get her into an extended walk. Finally on the suggestion of a German Shepherd friend of mine, I…
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Yesterday Gael made a major transition in her training. It might sound like a little transition, but not to me and Gael! In the past several months, Gael has developed a phobia about training at shopping centers. I routinely train at places like outlet malls and shopping strips because they provide distraction and usually have a…
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I’ve been re-reading Patricia McConnell’s great book For the Love of a Dog, and came across the point she makes about stays: that they teach a young dog not only physical control, but also emotional control. She’s so convinced of this that she even has an addendum in the book with the details about teaching sit stays. …
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Most folks in the dog show/performance world amass boxes full of ribbons won over the years, and we all love to brag about our titles won and placements awarded. But in the end, it’s really not about those titles and ribbons. Behind those colorful strips of nylon are the stories: of dreams achieved and dreams…
The Spaniel Annals 