For best chance to succeed on marking series in competition, we want the dog to give every ounce of attention to each throw, then fully commit to retrieving that bird. Ideally, the dog watches the throw and then locks onto his or her line, allowing nothing to distract him unless and until the gunshot or duck call for the next mark sounds. The dog then gives that mark the same dedication, and perhaps then another, or even a fourth. Ultimately, the dog is sent to the go-bird (the last bird thrown), which he has been locked onto since the moment he turned to it. But meanwhile, pictures and thoughts of the earlier throws are also burned into his memory from the concentration he devoted to each of them.

A dog exhibiting that style of line work is to some extent a matter of breeding and of individual drive and focus. The handler also has a role to play that day, by not intentionally or inadvertently distracting the dog from each mark. But some of that commitment to each mark is learned behavior, and early learning is especially important. A habit of poor focus learned as a puppy could persist the rest of the dog’s life regardless of attempts at retraining.

In fact, even for advanced dogs who already run marks with that kind of mark-by-mark focus, many experienced trainers will often set up a series with three or four visible gun stations for practice and then have the dog run each mark as a single. Even if the trainer originally called for a multiple, if the dog swings his head on a particular mark without at least watching the bird to the ground, the trainer may send the dog to that mark instantly as a way to help the dog learn not to head-swing.

All of this pertains to the first stage of the PRT program I’m developing and using for Lightning. Because PRT is modeled on Mike Lardy’s TRT, and because Mike lists introduction to yard multiples as one of the items in the socialization and introduction to field section of his TRT Flow Chart, I have been giving Lightning a bit of practice running short doubles, first in the house, then in our yard, and lately at practice with an assistant. The same person makes both throws, and the throws are widely separated so that the handler can intercept Lightning if he tries to pick up the go-bird and then run, carrying it, directly to the memory bird without returning to the handler first.

But, because of my concern that Lightning could develop a behavior of looking for another throw rather than giving all of his focus and commitment to the first one, I always start and the end the session with singles, and most of the marks are singles. Also, while we run singles at distances up to 200y, the doubles are much shorter, in keeping with Mike’s term, “yard multiples”.

Lightning will learn to run doubles and triples during this first stage of his training, but far more of his experience will be with singles. We have plenty of time to work on multiples when his marking habits are more thoroughly established.

A poorman mark is a mark you go out to throw while leaving your dog in a sit at the start line. After you throw, you return to the line and send the dog.

I learned the term “poorman mark” from my mentor, Alice Woodyard, so I guess it’s in common usage at least in some regions, though I’ve never heard anyone else use the term. In fact, I suspect many trainers never use this skill, or even train it, either because they never run marks alone or because they use launchers.

Though launchers are valuable, I think poorman marks also have their place. They’re a lot faster than setting up launchers, and the dog can learn some steadiness even before you begin to explicitly work on that skill. Poorman marks also give you an opportunity to practice the verbal Sit cue, and a way for the dog to get a solid understanding of his or her name as the release cue on a send out. More generally, poorman marks require the dog to exercise self control, since you are not there to physically restrain the dog while throwing. 

I’m not sure how early you can comfortably train poorman marks to a puppy. It may be a matter of age, it may be a matter of familiarity with the retrieve pattern, or some other factor might be involved. I tried to train the skill to Lightning several weeks ago and decided it was too soon. Perhaps he was to distracted that day, but in any case, I decided to put it off for a while Then this morning I took him out to the driveway in front of our house to try again, and this time it went smoothly.

Here’s the approach I’ve used to train poorman marks to my dogs. Holding a bumper, you first stand in front of the dog and cue Sit. Toss the bumper back behind you. Then slowly step forward and turn so that you are standing next to the dog. Put your hand down like a gun sight and without moving it, cue the release by saying the dog’s name. If the dog is able to stay in the Sit until released, and launches well when cued, you’re in business. If not, it might be too soon for this training.

If the first trial goes well, the next time, set up as before, but take a step backwards before tossing the bumper behind you. Continue to add another step or two of distance. Then, the next time, toss the bumper at 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock rather than 12 o’clock straight back, so that the dog sees a throw a bit.

With more trials over several sessions, you can build additional distance; set up initially at the dog’s side, cue Sit, and walk straight away; throw the bumper as normal rather than behind you; proof at more challenging locales; add a gunshot for excitement; and throw two or more marks while you are in the field, which you can then send the dog to one after another, practicing line mechanics as you select each mark. This gives the dog an introduction to retired guns as well as multiples.

I don’t know whether it’s possible for any dog to learn steadiness on flyers with poorman marks, and you won’t be able to train steadiness to competition level without training with flyers. I’ll discuss a positive approach training steadiness with flyers in a future post, when Lightning is further along in our training program.

Meanwhile, poorman marks provide a good introduction to steadiness with bumpers and thawed birds, and provide a convenient way to work on a number of major training goals on those days when you’re training alone.

Yesterday I worked with Lightning and Laddie using Peter as my assistant. Laddie’s foreleg seems to be fully healed now, so I ran him on two series, each consisting of a double and a blind, distances 150-300y. For the doubles, Peter would throw one, then move to a different location to throw the other, so that the memory bird was in effect retired.

I had brought a mat out, and ran Laddie from it on all of his retrieves, with different placements for the two series.

Between the two series, I put Laddie back in his crate and ran Lightning. After placing the mat in a suitable location, I asked Peter to handle Lightning while I threw five walking singles. I had meant to throw six but accidentally left one of the bumpers behind. Although I am still in recovery from my back injury and shouldn’t be walking far, especially on uneven ground, it would be even worse if I had to chase and catch Lightning on one of his returns. Peter never had to leave the starting line as it turns out, but I couldn’t be sure that would be the case as we started. Besides, I continue to believe Lightning benefits in his understanding of the retrieve pattern by having multiple handlers. The day before, Liza, one of my other assistants, handled him on some doubles while I again did the throwing.

I thought I’d mention a couple of points about yesterday’s session.

First, the term “walking singles” refers to a particular way of practicing. Instead of the thrower remaining in the same place and throwing several singles, perhaps in different directions, the thrower starts at a relatively short distance, and then moves further away for each throw. For example, yesterday I started at 80y and worked my way out to 180y by the last throw. I didn’t walk in a straight line but headed off in different directions each time I moved, and I also randomly alternated whether to throw to left or right.

The other concept I wanted to mention is called helping. In one case yesterday, Lightning ran to a rock thinking it was the bumper, and then became confused and raced off in the wrong direction trying to find the bumper.

If he had not left the area of the fall, I would have let him hunt. That’s a useful discipline that occurs often in competition, and you don’t want the dog becoming frustrated and giving up or popping (looking back at the handler) when a hunt is needed. But at some point you might conclude that the dog is lost and that the hunt is no longer productive. 

Different trainers decide to stop letting the dog hunt at different times, so when you’re throwing, normally you don’t make the decision whether to help or not.  The handler will call for help if he or she wants it, and may not appreciate a thrower helping when not asked. In fact, some handlers will let a dog go on lengthy hunts far from the area of the fall believing that helps the dog’s training, assuming it’s safe. And some will invariably blow a sit whistle and handle a lost dog, or at least get the dog going in the right direction, and will never call for help from the gunner. 

I agree with handling when the dog has consciously run in an undesired direction, for example to avoid water or high cover. Of course I haven’t yet trained Lightning to handle. Instead, at this stage, I avoid running him on lines where he can obtain reinforcement for taking such a detour, since I want to build a habit of laser straight marks. 

However, I usually don’t handle when the dog gets lost during a hunt and leaves the area of the fall. Instead I want the gunner to help. Handling is fun, and in competition, you have no choice but to handle if it becomes necessary. You can’t ask for help from the gunner unless you’re giving up on the competition, so you need to practice occasionally to make sure the dog learns to switch from hunting mode to handling mode when you blow the sit whistle. 

But when you blow the whistle in practice, you lose a golden opportunity for the dog to learn an important strategy, which my mentor, Alice Woodyard, calls Plan B. What you want is for the dog to remember where the fall is and run directly to the mark, or at least to the area of the fall and put on a short hunt. But if the dog doesn’t remember where the fall is, getting confused during the retrieve as Lightning did at one point yesterday, you don’t want the dog habitually looking to the handler for help, since that’s a pop and hurts the dog’s score. Instead, Plan B is for the dog to look for the gunner and mentally calculate where the mark is likely to have been thrown. 

It might seem obvious for the dog to look for the gunner when he or she can’t remember the fall, but experience shows that apparently it’s not always obvious to dogs, since dogs sometimes hunt hundreds of yards away from the fall, which hurts their score or gets then eliminated entirely in competition. Helping is a way to teach the dog that the gunner is a beacon. You’re teaching the dog, if you can’t remember where the mark is, look for the gunner. The gunner always throws a typical distance, so you as the dog can figure out about where the mark must be. The more often a handler takes the opportunity to call for help, the better the dog learns this Plan B strategy. 

By the way, I might also mention how to help. In the first place, the gunner should sit down immediately after throwing, facing more toward the fall than just straight at the start line. Since the dog gets used to the gunners all sitting down, a gunner can simply stand up and face the mark. Often that’s all the help an experienced dog needs, and you want the dog to figure it out with as little dependence as possible on the behavior of the gunner, who won’t move at all in competition. 

If standing doesn’t draw the dog in the right direction, next you take a long step, and then possibly another, toward the mark. Again, often that’s enough. 

If that’s still not enough, the next thing to try is faking a throw using an exaggerated motion. You might do that, wait a second or two, and repeat it if the dog hasn’t responded yet.

If the dog isn’t looking at you when you’re trying to help, or isn’t responding to your visual cues, you can help further by calling hey-hey-hey, usually accompanied by faking a throw. Even for an inexperienced dog, that’s often enough to get the dog headed for the mark. It was enough for Lightning yesterday, the first time he ever needed help on walking singles

As a last resort, you can go all the way to the mark, pick it up, call hey-hey-hey to attract the dog’s attention, and throw the article a short distance.

What I’ve just described is the way I was taught to help in some of the groups I’ve trained with. But each group has it’s own culture, and I’ve seen some variations. For example, even though in general you’re not supposed to help unless asked to, in some groups you are expected to automatically help, without being asked, if the dog gets behind you. Some trainers want you to follow exact instructions on how to help during each incident, while others just request help (with a holler or, preferably so you don’t attract the dog’s attention, over the radio) and expect you to use your own judgment as you work thru the help options, during down as soon as the dog has figured out where to run to. Another example of a difference in approaches is that some trainers expect you to always have a second article in hand when you throw, and if the trainer calls for help, you’re expected to immediately throw the second article to the same place as the original throw, without taking extra time to reach down and pick another article up. (By article, I mean bird or bumper, whichever your training with.) I have trained with pros who never throw a second bird, and at the other end of the spectrum, others who use that strategy often, especially with young dogs, sometimes even if the dog isn’t lost, I believe to build motivation.

As you can see, you have a number of options to deal with a dog who becomes lost on a mark. You can let him hunt; you can handle; you can call for help by having the gunner stand, or take one out more steps, or fake a throw, or call hey-hey-hey, or go to the article, pick it up, and re-throw it; or you can call for another throw. I’ve explained my preference for calling for help, in order to train the dog to look for the gunner when lost as a Plan B strategy, and I actually welcome opportunities to call for help, even with Laddie, to continuously strengthen the dog’s understanding of that strategy. But dogs are smart and resilient, and can be successful with other approaches as well.

Midway thru Mike Lardy’s list for socialization and introduction to field, which is the basis for the first stage of the PRT program I’m developing, is “walking on leash (two sides)”.

Lightning has had lots of experience with lines in various contexts: in his first few weeks with me, I kept him tethered to me indoors most of the time, for a number of benefits including house training; in the field, he is always on a check cord to promote quality returns during retrieve practice; and when necessary out of the house, such as for vet visits, he’s been on a leash.

However, because of the injury I sustained the same day I picked him up at the breeder’s on November 2 last year, I have been unable to walk more than a short distance at a time, if at all, until the last few days. But now I can walk several hundred yards, so among our various other training activities, I’ve finally begun to work with Lightning on sustained leash walking.

The process I’m using is relaxed. I’m not trying to work on recall, Heel, or other related skills while walking Lightning on lead. Other skills may be merged into leash walking in time, but they would change the experience at this time from a stroll to nearly continuous training, and I feel from experience with previous dogs that it would be difficult to maintain a high rate of reinforcement adding such criteria to this early stage of leash training.

That means no verbal cueing during our leash walks at this time, and it means a relatively long leash, a little over 6′. Lightning only has one rule to learn: attempts to pull against the leash in a forward direction cause Daddy to stop in his tracks, and if sustained, can even cause Daddy to back up.

Although I’m using a fairly long leash, I’m not using a retractable. I think those are the most comfortable way to walk a dog on leash, but I’m not sure the dog learns anything about not pulling. In fact, the dog may actually obtain reinforcement for pulling.

I’ve also switched to a harness instead of a flat collar. My Goldens have always worn collars when leash walking, and Lightning had, too, till I switched to the harness. The reason I switched is that Lightning sometimes pulled so hard that he would make himself gag, and my holistic vet suggested a harness to avoid a throat injury.

As for location, I believe I mentioned before that I’ve never walked Lightning to the end of our driveway nor into our neighborhood. As a result, I can let him out in our yard, even though we have no fence, and he generally makes no effort to go outside the boundaries he’s learned. Of course I keep my eye on him, and if he or Laddie do wander too close to a boundary, I call out, “Don’t go over there.” I know dogs don’t understand English, but they know what I mean in this case. That makes it possible for them to run around, play, and explore safely off lead while I rest inside watching thru a window, or sitting in a lawn chair outside with them.

So, since I don’t want to walk Lightning in our neighborhood, for our new leash-walking practice, I take Lightning and Laddie to various nearby locations such as parking lots or fields that are large, have little or no traffic, and are relativity free from distractions. I keep Laddie on one side at heel but off lead, and Lightning on the other on his lead and harness. When Lightning wanders to the other side, I switch Laddie as well.

This is so much more relaxed than trying to keep Lightning on a tight lead at heel. As he comes to understand what we’re doing and the rule that pulling won’t work, I’ll gradually shorten the lead over a period of months.

By the way, I guess some field dogs are taught fairly early to walk under control on a tight lead. However, from the standpoint of Lightning’s preparation for field competition, I don’t think that’s necessary. In the stakes he’ll be running, he’ll never be on lead when under judgment, and if he isn’t perfect at leash walking and pulls at times, it won’t affect his score. So I think just a moderate proficiency is all he’ll require for this particular skill. That will leave us more time and energy for other training. 

Mike Lardy doesn’t list catching a ball on his 18-item checklist for “Socialization and Introduction to Field” at the top of his TRT Flow Chart, and since TRT is the basis for the PRT program I’m developing, it may not be an essential training objective for competition retrievers.

However, playing catch can provide a lifetime of fun, indoor and out, for any dog. It has always been a favorite game for Lumi and Laddie, and Lightning, not yet 5mo, has also discovered he can catch a tennis ball in the air.

Besides the obvious opportunity to develop and practice the athletic facets of the game — reflexes, focus, coordination — catch is also an opportunity for the dog to continue discovering the intrinsic pleasure of the retrieve pattern, including not only an exciting version of the chase and also the return, but adding a deliver-to-hand component with a tennis ball that in my opinion, as I’ve mentioned before, is too soon to train for a field retrieve of a bumper or bird at this stage.

Whereas Lightning has shown in the field a deterioration in his motivation and performance when a retrieve article, especially a bird, is taken from him rather than the handler waiting for him to drop it, the opposite happens when Lightning and I play catch with a tennis ball. I toss the ball, he rises up to catch it, and then a high percentage of the time he brings the ball straight back to me, releasing it as soon as I grasp it. As quickly as I can, to reinforce the behavior chain, I toss the ball again.

Like other dogs I’ve trained to play catch, Lightning quickly grasped that the only way to get me to throw the ball again is to bring it to me and then release it when I reach for it. He’s also seen that if he drops it on the ground, I pick it up and put it in front of his mouth, cueing Take it and then Out, before I toss it again. Since that’s not as much fun as the quick toss that results from simply delivering to hand in the first place, he quickly learned to make that choice. When the time comes to work on delivery to hand as the finish for a Formal Retrieve, Lightning will already have a positive reinforcement history with the concept. 

So far, we’re only playing catch indoors. But when the weather dries out, we’ll move the game outside as well. We’ll mix tosses that he can catch in the air with throws that he has to chase down, and strengthen his reinforcement history with delivery to hand even further. 

Let me end with a couple of notes of caution: First, a young dog can sustain skeletal injuries with jumping activities before the dog’s plates have closed, which occurs around the age of 14 months, so I plan to keep my throws low for the next ten months to prevent high jumps, and also to end the game sooner at times than Lightning wants in order to avoid an overuse injury.

And second, a dog at any age can tear a ligament landing the wrong way after a high leap in the air to catch a ball or other article. Too often have I sent Laddie soaring by tossing or bouncing a ball over his head so that it would come down behind him. It was fun to watch his exquisite, gravity-defying acrobatics in mid-flight and his joy in the game. But that was before I realized the risks. I don’t do it with Laddie any more, nor do I plan ever to do it with Lightning. 

Update: After some time, Lightning became fairly compulsive about playing catch at times, bringing me the bank over and over again, just as my two Goldens had in years past, and just as Laddie still does.

With Lightning, that gave me the opportunity to introduce a cue we won’t officially train till Stage 2 of the PRT program, the Fetch cue.

It works like this. When I see that Lightning is excited about playing catch, especially with a squeaky ball, I place the ball on the floor and use my hand to block him from getting it until I’m ready. Then I say “Fetch”.

Since I already know he’s going to lunge for the ball and bring it to me as soon as I release him in some way — he’s already shown that behavior to me repeatedly — all I’m doing now is associating the cue “Fetch” with that response.

After a little experience with the cue, I can put the ball some distance away, say Fetch, possibly wave a hand toward the ball, and he’ll pounce on it and bring it to me to toss back  to him. Squeaking it a few times before tossing it seems to make it even more delicious for him, based on the intensity of his focus as I rehearse the throw to get our timing in sync and then toss it to him.

Update: For an example of how catching an article played a practical role in Lightning’s later retrieve training, see The heel and catch game.