Congratulations To Clare & Autumn!
Autumn – born 3rd April 2015, started Grade 1 on 6th September, took test on 15th November Passed with Merit.
I started the grade one test just as Autumn was 6 months, very early on she picked up retrieval and on lead heel work, we struggled on the sit stay, the biggest problem was distraction of wind and the distance I needed to stand away from her, she was not used to being away from me. We did a mock test the week before and she did everything including the sit stay perfectly, unfortunately on the day the wind picked up and she would not sit stay, however her retrieval was fantastic and delivered directly to me. She was very keen to learn and please, a little bit of work went a long way, I would recommend this level for basic obedience along with fetching.
Started Grade 2 on 6th December, took test on 6th March – Passed with Distinction
Grade 2 improves on the Grade 1, making the retrievals and sit stay’s more difficult, for grade 2, I have to sit stay Autumn for 1 minute at a defined distance, stop on the whistle and walk on, straight fetch, marked retrieval, directional retrieval and hunting up. As mentioned in the grade 1, heel work was not a problem, Autumn walked off lead without a problem and I knew retrieval would be okay, but we had never tried a stop whistle nor directional retrieve.
During the 10 week course, I had real highs of achievement, getting further away with my sit stay, but I was still kneeling to receive the retrieve, because at Grade 2 it needs to be to hand, with 4 weeks to go I had to move to standing up, this caused some problems. I worked with my trainer during the sessions but also on one to one lessons to make the transition to standing up easier, unfortunately we could not get Autumn to bring to hand, during the correction of this, she lost confidence and 2 weeks before the test, she would no longer retrieve the dummies. I was also struggling to get the distance on the sit stay, I managed to get 3 yards from her but she would not stay and definitely not for the minute, 40 seconds was the maximum. As you can imagine I was disappointed and knew I needed to work hard to turn this around otherwise I was not going to be able to do the test, so I spent 2 weeks with one to one sessions and training each day, twice a day for the week leading up to the test. I concentrated on getting her interested in the dummy again, making
her excited about all different dummies, not just sticking to the green ones, I’d spend time on one thing, then move onto another once I had achieved the positive, then move back to it again once I had calmed her down again. Then in the other session of the day I would concentrate on the heel work and sit stay, I managed to get her to stay for over 1 minute at over a distance of 30 yards during the week before the test, so I was on the right track and was really pleased that we could still do it.
Then on the Thursday night before the test, Autumn became ill with a bacterial infection, we rushed her down the Vets on the Friday, because I knew if she did not go then, we were definitely not going to make the test. Due to her being unwell we did no training on the Friday and Saturday, I did not cancel the test as I discussed with my trainer and we decided we would see how she was on the morning. Sunday morning came and she seemed okay, so we loaded up and went for a trail run in the local country park, we went through everything for the test, she did it perfectly, without too much correction, including retrieval, so we went to do the test and passed with flying colours.
I am very proud of Autumn, she picks up instructions really quickly, only having to tell her a few times, she is very keen to please and every time people see her, they comment on her work ethic. Now looking forward to a summer of simulated hunting days with the first one on the 16th April and Grade 3 soon all with a view to work her next shooting season.
