09/02/2025
Last nights training program was just a little different than before for me. I worked two dogs and added a new factor into the mix.
Up to the plate first was Bella. I was curious on what she had in her and were she stood. I laid her a short easy line with little lay time. I had zero expectation for what was in store. We all loaded up and headed out. I put a harness on her and clipped her lead. We walked to the flag in which her line started. I told her to sit and she planted her but at my feet. After some time I pointed at the ground and told her “find it.” She stood up and put her nose to the ground and locked on. With in the first 15 yards or so she bracketed really hard and I was curious how it would go. I was not expecting what would happen after that. Bella was like a train running on the rails. (Her line is the one pictured) She ran the line at an easy steady pace and never left it. Once she got to the end to her leg she didn’t show much excitement but from what have have saw in the few hours we have had her, I wasn’t surprised by that. When I say she is a very calm relaxed dog, it is an understatement. However, I made sure she knew how I felt about what she just done.
Clyde’s turn at bat. Clyde’s line was much further and had much more lay time. The last time Clyde was in the woods it seemed that hardest part for him was in the creek so two creek crossing were incorporated in this line. We did our normal down, sit, stay before giving the “find it” command. Once given, Clyde locked on and went. Clyde worked the line at a slow steady pace as normal. He doesn’t like being off of it more than a couple feet or so and when he gets out of that zone he’s turning around and retracing his steps until he’s back on top of it. He seemed to not want to enter the creek bed on his first crossing. This is were team work comes in. He knew where the line was and he knew where he needed to go but he didn’t trust himself to take his big clumsy puppy paws on down. I climbed down the steep bank to show him it was ok to help build trust in himself. Once in the creek, he worked the scent pool quickly and figured it out. He climbed the other side with out issues and carried on. Shortly after, puppy brain started to take over and he started to loose focus. I made in my opinion what a mistake as a handler. I restarted him. He took to the line and went another 75 yards to his next creek crossing. He crushed it this time spending less time working the scent pool. Once he climbed to the other side he had 50 yards to go. In this 50 yards, puppy brain was getting bad. He wouldn’t drift and leave the line but his interest was as close to zero as it could get. Instead of just restarting him, telling him to “find it” quickly stapped him back into the game. It wasn’t long before he had his leg in his mouth. He is one proud dog when he gets to the end of the line. I can’t wait to see him on some fur this fall.
Tonight, we put the dog box in the truck as the dogs will be riding to and from the woods this fall in it. Scarlett is a fairly big dog but Bella is much taller and I figured that she would be the hardest to get to go in so she was up first. I picked her up and put her on the tail gate. She went straight in like a rocket. The only issue, she was not able to turn around. I thought “well, we just worry about tha down the road when I go to get her out” as I close the door. I sat Clyde on the tail gate and the first half of him went in freely but his rear half took a push of encouragement. Over all, they did great on that part.
I wish I remembered to hit record when I started Clyde’s line but I didn’t. I wish I could have gotten more pictures but I was working with a finger that I trimmed up with a knife the day before and had no working Garmin so the other hand kept a tight grip on the lead. I could not be happier with these two dogs. Bella clearly needs a more advanced line and Clyde just needs to go for a few walks in the woods to simply get new smells and sights off brain before continuing on training lines.
