Mixed weekend

Hi all. Had a busy and mixed sort of weekend. Went shooting saturday with Olli & Becki and had a really good day. Olli was superb again so last week wasn't a fluke! He picked up 9 pheasants this week, but most importantly, he actually used his nose more and found 2 which had landed in deep undergrowth quite a few yards away from us, and he did it all on his own. I was thrilled. He was obedient and totally focused. Another real good point was that a bird landed about 50 yards from us, which he watched, but one of the guns was working a new lab and sent him to retrieve it. Olli was off, but all i said was a firm "Leave it" and he stopped, turned and came back to sit at my side, and watched the lab do the retrieve. Now thats what I call obedience! Love him to bits.

Becki came out in the afternoon and picked up 3 brilliant retrieves. Funny, she didn't bark, and stayed by me off the lead!!! I think she's feeling pressure from Olli being so good that she's trying really hard. Bless her!

Went to a small show yesterday with Lily and had a bad day, but with good points too. The 1st ring had a weird tunnel around a corner against a wall (it was indoors) and she went halfway in then turned and came out. Never done this before, but no matter what I tried she refused to go in. They changed the tunnel soon after as a lot of dogs did the same. The problem was then that in the next ring she was wary of the tunnel and took 3 attempts to go in. Very bizarre, but she is a dog who is easily put off due to her nervous disposition. The final class, she stopped once but then went in the 3 tunnels and had a lovely fast round with just a 5 for refusal. On the other hand, she was hyper, lively and starting to really become aroused by the equipment so her speed and focus was really improved. Have to make sure we dont now have a hang up with tunnels, but training at Marks this weekend should put a stop to that!