The day started in water and I knew we would have no problems there! I am very confident in his water retrieves.
The test started with a retrieve to the left side of the pond and then a short walk to make a retrieve on the right side.
We are waiting in the blind for our turn to go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g2JRI3kP60
That is a video of our water retrieves.. I was really proud and happy with how well he did! We felt the test was a bit challenging for "Started" dogs since they had to swim through lily pads as well as the contoured grounds around the water. I was not worried about Cooper, but some of the other dogs did struggle a bit.
Cooper was such a Happy boy coming out of the water!
The second half of the day was our land retrieves and I went into it worried a bit and Cooper went into it, not wanting to pick up birds, apparently! Cuz I had to STRUGGLE to get him to pick up that damn bird.. It was a bit embarassing to stand on the line for so long and have him run off and wander around at the other scents in the area... I had to call him back to me at one point and send him off for a "resend" to see if he would focus a little better and get the bird. He did actually do better and finally brought me the bird. We waited all day in anticipation of the awards ceremony in hopes of receiving a pass, but hence my name was not called :( I approached the judges afterwards and asked where we went wrong but didnt feel satisfied with the answer I got.. I was pretty upset as I had the feeling we had passed, so after waiting 7 hours to find out we did not, was a bit devastating in my mind. The judges basically said that Cooper was on the bubble and they had to do a lot of talking about him to make a decision, but because he was more interested in doing his own thing out in the field and was not responding when I said "Fetch it Up!" they failed him.
I had to walk over to our rig and have a little cry session. It was really nice because Pam (a friend from our hunt club) she had seen me approach the judges and knew I was going to be upset with my first ever fail, so she followed me back to my rig and gave me a nice hug and chatted with me about it a bit. I told her I understood why I failed just that it sucked really bad! She left me a lone as I needed to gather my thoughts and collect my emotions so that I could go back to the ceremony and not look like a blabbering fool.
When I got back they were in the middle of the raffle game for the really nice camo Benelli Shotgun! I wanted that gun.. Basically when we bought in for the game, we had a less than 1% chance of winning (yes I did calculate it out). There is a deck of cards and you pay $20 to pick a card, tear it in half and then keep one half and the other goes into a basket. During the game, they start to draw cards one at a time. If you have an A-10, when your card is drawn, you have the option to pay $10 to have your card put back in the basket. If you dont pay, then your card is done. If you have a J K or Q, you can buy back your card 2 times!! Well I drew a King.
After a very long time had gone by, our card had not been drawn yet and when there were just 6 cards left to draw from, our King was finally pulled out! So we of course paid the $10 to put it back in. When they were down to 3 cards, our King was pulled again, so we paid the $10 for our last chance. Then there were just 2 cards left in the basket!! Our card and the card belonging to Elroy (Elroy owns Earl, who is Coopers pappy!)... I had been upset earlier from our test fail so I was sitting there thinking WOW, I went from a 1% chance and now I'm at a 50% chance of winning that gun and making my day!! But I also knew that Elroy was a VERY lucky person and he has won EIGHT guns via this game... And sure enough, our card was the next one pulled; therefore leaving Elroys card in the basket as the last card drawn.. What a damn bummer that was....
As we drove home that evening, I cried most of the way home, not really sure why.. I think I didnt have clarity in my head on why we failed and it was tough.. I havent really done anything in my life as far as a competition where I have set myself up to be in a position to fail, so I was just overcome with emotion at the thought of not doing good and looking like a damn fool! ;)
Sunday I woke up with sore eyes but it was a fresh start, a new day! I tried not to have expectations and decided that no matter what happens, I was going to be successful in getting Cooper to pick up those damn birds and I was going to add "NO" to my vocabulary while in the midst of our test.. typically not a word you want to use at all! But he needs to hear it and I was ready to say it.
Land was first, and he sucked once again!! I was able to keep him from venturing off and exploring by using the NO word, but he did NOT want to pick up the birds.. And when he did, he was shaking them, plucking them and throwing them around a bit. The judge at one point even asked me in the middle of the test "Is he mangling the bird?" I said "No, he's just deplucking it".. Not a good thing. I used my whistle A LOT per Dereks expectations, but that didnt do a damn bit of good, tried the stern voice with NO and tried the baby talk.. The dog was flat out embarassing me once again!
After Cooper finally brought back both birds to me, the only thing the judge said was "You need to work on that!" Well DUH!!
I was not told that I was failed at this point, so I knew once again, we were on the bubble and the judges would need to discuss Cooper. But I also knew that water was coming up and he would end his day on a positive note with a good taste in the judges mouth when they saw him handle the water retrieves. And as I expected, he did about as perfect as possible in the water (for Coopers ability right now). The judge said as we finished "You survived!" So I took that as a sign that they were going to Pass us for the day.. WHEW!
The weekend was not a total loss.. We did learn that there is a handlers/judges seminar booklet that can be downloaded off the internet that would provide MUCH BETTER GUIDANCE on what the judges expect to see and what you can and cant do as a handler. Amazing, had someone told us about the book sooner, I probably wouldnt have been so upset the day before. After reading the book, I feel pretty darn lucky they passed Cooper at all this weekend! I overused the whistle and my voice which is a mark down and could cause you to fail. But we now finally have clear guidelines.
I am upset with Cooper about the bird issue, but every time I see him do this, it stirs up anger at his training and that it has been a year since he's been home and we still struggle to get him to pick up a F*ing bird!!! NOT AT ALL what you would expect after spending $2000 on training... release the anger.. release the anger....
We do have some fresh new ideas to try with Cooper in hopes of getting his anxiety over the birds behind him.. We have realized too that his water retrieves are AWESOME and his land retrieves SUCK! The trainer NEVER got him in the water.. Derek and I trained him to swim and taught him how to retrieve in water. So maybe he picks up birds in water because he NEVER had a negative association with the birds in water; whereas on land he HATED the birds and still doesnt want to pick them up.
I did practice all week with him on real "stanky" ducks and he retrieved them pretty good actually, so not sure where we go wrong in hunt tests.. maybe the stress and anxiety brings flashbacks to Cooper.
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