The Master Walk-up

Both Lumi and Laddie had to run several series as walk-ups during the part of their careers while they were earning their Senior Hunter titles, and neither ever had a problem with them. In fact, we never even practiced them. The only time either dog, or I, ever practiced a walk-up was in tests. In each case, the dog would sit as soon as the action started, look to the second throw which was the go-bird, pick up that mark, and then pick up the throw that had come during the walk-up. In fact, I never needed to cue "sit", though that was permitted. The only problem we ever had on walk-ups in Senior was one time when I tripped over Lumi. :0)

I have now learned, both from experience and from correspondence with Alice Woodyard, that Master walk-ups are far riskier propositions. In fact, Laddie was DQed on two of his first three Master tests because of walk-ups:

• In Laddie's second Master test, the first series was a complex set of retrieves that included a walk-up to a diversion bird.  That is, after the walk-up and the throw at 60 yards accompanied by shotgun fire, the judge called the dog's number, but the dog was not to retrieve that bird.  Instead, the handler needed to send the dog to a water mark 60° to the right.  After that, the dog could pick up the diversion bird.  Apparently it wasn't that hard for most of the dogs in the test, but when I tried to swing Laddie around to run the blind after the judge had called his number, he thought I was sending him.  I learned later from Alice that I could have blows a sit whistle, and if he'd responded, handled him to the blind for a possible pass, but to me, it looked like a break and I tried calling "here" several times without success.  I guess we would have been knocked out even if he had come back, since we were really supposed to be running the blind.  My real error, in retrospect, was not in cueing "sit" as soon as the judge called his number, with however much emphasis and repetition was needed to get him unlocked from the diversion bird.  Of course, I didn't know that at the time.
• In Laddie's third Master test, the second series was a triple with a walk-up and a flyer go-bird, plus two blinds.  Hardly a gimme, but seemingly easy enough that Laddie could get thru it without much difficulty.  We hadn't handled in the first series, so I would have been comfortable handling on one of the marks if needed.  What I didn't allow for was the fact that a bitch in season had run some time before Laddie, and he became obsessed with following a scent to the start line as soon as we left the holding blind.  Following normal protocol, the judge called for the first mark as soon as Laddie reached the start line, but Laddie never saw it.  He got a good look at the other two marks and did well on them, but he was totally confused about the first one, and refused too many casts during handling for the judges to allow us to run the blinds.  OK, one mistake, I guess, was that I've never trained Laddie to deal with the scent of a bitch in heat, and another was that my cues to "heel" were inadequate for this situation.  But I think that the worst mistake was that we approached the start line so that when Laddie broke forward, he was facing the center of the field. The first throw was 90° to the left, and was thrown suddenly and without warning.  Laddie looked up, but not in time to see the fall.  If I had it to again, yes, I'd have tried to be more vigilant and emphatic in my "heel" cues, but I'd also have made certain that when that bird was thrown, Laddie was facing in that direction, even if his nose was down.

No doubt Laddie and I have other Master walk-up challenges ahead of us, but for now, we have those two experiences to learn from.  Here's a drill I came up with to work on those:

1. While setting up, place Laddie in the van so that he can't watch any placements.
2. At the start line, place the worst distractions you can come up with.  I placed a duck and a pheasant on plastic bags, which flapped noisily in the wind.  Then I added a dog food bowl with several bites of sliced ham.  A melting ice cube made from the pee of a bitch in heat would have been even better, if I'd had such a thing!
3. In a location not visible from the start line, but as close as 10 yards if possible and far to one side of the field, place a thrower or a Bumper Boy.
4. In a location in the center of the field, place a blind.  Since Laddie is also being trained for Field Trials, I tried to make the blind as long and difficult as possible in this set-up.
5. Get the dog from the van, take a position behind the start line where the dog cannot see the start line — a holding blind, a tree, a telephone pole, a shrub — and then simulate a test walk-up.
6. Unlike my mistake in our third Master, have the dog face toward the location of the thrower, but walk the dog past the distractions at the start line, cueing "heel" and/or "leave it" as necessary to keep the dog at heel and nose up.
7. Call for the throw without duck-call or other warning.
8. Cue "sit".
9. Swing the dog to your other side and run the blind.
10. Send the dog for the mark.
11. Gesture for the dog to enjoy the contents of the food bowl.

A practice situation is never full practice for a test, and this drill may not help the dog much at all.  We ran it in two locations as mirror images, and Laddie had no trouble with it.

But at least it does give you practice aiming the dog properly during the walk-up, maintaining awareness at the necessity of keeping the dog at heel in the presence of distractions during the walk-up, and saying "sit" before swinging the dog away from a diversion throw.