A book, silly.
No... this is not a friend of mine, but the author of a book I am reading. Unlike conformation, there is not a class I can sign up for to learn how to train Camden to retrieve. I am not a hunter and I do not know the first thing about hunting. I wouldn't even know where to start to train her to do what these amazing dogs do. Just seeing some videos of them working is intimidating enough. Am I really going to be able to get Cam to do THAT?! (Click the link below... You must be joking. ME?!)
The answer is yes.... ME, with the help of Seastar Kennels and numerous other wonderful people. Maybe even a professional or two along the way. With that in mind, I did what I always do. Ask for advice. I went directly to the person who introduced me to the idea, Laurie (one of the fabulous Seastar ladies). She said a great place to start was with a good book about retrievers and hunting. Not just any book though... a book. 'Training Retrievers for Marshes and Meadows' by James B. Spencer to be exact. She said it would give me a good introduction to hunting trials and the world of a working retriever. I ended up finding the book through a local book/music store and am happy to say it came in the mail yesterday.
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| It came! It finally came! |
I instantly opened it and was rewarded with the lovely smell of brand new pages and the almost silent crack of a new binding. Ahhhh... the joys of books! Ok, ok... back on track. I could tell after a few pages that Laurie was right. This book is going to be wonderful for me. He provides a wealth of knowledge and doesn't give a ridged timeline like most training books I've read. Those never seem to work. Oh and he mentions "Nova Scotia dock tolling retriever" AND "tollers". I was very impressed! The other books only mentioned labradors and goldens.
After finishing the first chapter (in which he talks about the following chapters), I can say I am excited to start. It seems like a good program for the amateur handler, aka me. I am going to take his advice and read the entire book before going back and starting to train Cam.
I'm already seeing how some of her conformation training is going to pay off with hunting trials. She has already started to learn how to read me and look to me for what to do next. She seems like a pro at stay (I may be a bit bias). She has drive and focus that will also go along way in training and trials. She is toy crazy. When I have a toy (or a treat) I am the only person in the world. This will come in handy for those longer training sessions that I'm sure we have ahead of us.
I also am taking his advice and stopping after chapter one and playing with my pup, saving chapter one for after work tomorrow. Good advice already (no really... that was his advice)! So I am off to do just that... cuddle with Cam-cam and the Quinnster and dream about the future ahead of us. :-)
-Ashley
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