Wednesday 8 June 2011

Training Day Ashdown Forest

Mum and me went with Mum's friend Katie and my girlfriend Willow to a fab training day organised by the Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla Association on Saturday.
It was a pretty long drive, nearly 2 hours. We were both very good dogs in the car.
When we arrived there were lots of HPRs.
The day started off with some water retrieves which was great as I was a pretty hot dog as the weather was scorching. I loved going in the water to retrieve the dummies but wasnt so great on the whole sitting and waiting thing beforehand. Willow isnt very keen on going in the water so the trainer suggested that me and her 'buddy' up, I was sent in to get the dummy and it encouraged Willow to go a little way into the water.
Then we did the obedience stuff, not my strong point I know. We were all lined up and I was supposed to sit. Nope wasnt going to do that, I point blank refused. Willow was sat there perfectly and didnt move at all. When I eventually sat the trainer asked Mum to leave me, oh no wasnt having any of that and followed her, was prompty returned to the original position and a man had to stand on my lead to keep me there. Mum does practice this with me loads usually and I sit for ages not moving but I tend to get a bit panicky when there are other dogs around. Mum has said I need to pay attention to Willow and be a good dog just like her.
We had lunch and a little rest and then headed off again to a different part of the forest. Mum freaked out a bit as there were MONSTER sized wood ants everywhere and the trainer warned us to look out for adders, Mum muttered something about the fact that she shouldnt have worn shorts!!! She didnt stand still for very long and kept looking at the ants running everywhere!
We did lots more water retrieves in a bigger pond, some of the other dogs didnt go in to get their dummies so the trainer sent me in a couple of times to get them for him, I loved this. Then when it was my turn he told the dummy thrower to really really launch it far, the man threw it soooooo far it was nearly over the other side of the pond..... Mum thought I wouldnt swim that far, little does she know, I swam straight for it leaving a wake behind me, I picked it up and then brought it straight back to shore. See Mum I may be a bit rubbish at the obedience stuff but tell me to retrieve something and I'm your dog!
No pictures this time as Mum said she wanted to concentrate on what we were being taught. I did get a certificate for attending though :-)

3 comments:

  1. Hey Fergus, Chester and I attended this but I don't think we were in your class? We still have a bit to learn!

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  2. Oh we still have LOADS to learn, we work well together on a one to one basis and on shoots but we're not so hot on the working trials, the trainer did say on Saturday that he's a perfect beating dog but not so much a working trials dog..... We'll have to wear name badges next time so we can recognise each other LOL

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  3. You can easily spot me. I'm the one with the naughty/moaning Vizsla .... we're working on that too!

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