9/28/99 (14 Weeks 1 Day) 24.5 Lbs Things are moving fast. We upped the ante with our sit command today and experienced some exceptional results. Rosie was allowed some live birds as marks this evening. We again used live quail and were able to achieve near perfect compliance with our sit command. The birds were hand thrown with Rosie sitting at my side. We did this with the long lead attached to her collar. Perhaps its only benefit was in her knowing it was attached because we surely did not have to use it to prevent her from breaking on the bird. She was able to maintain the sit position with both whistle and voice command. She was also responsive to the come in whistle. As a simple "Lets see if this is really working test" we were able to get a relatively reliable sit at the half way point of the retrieve. We did this with a sit whistle. I was also amazed to find that she could be called back from the remote sit on the way to the bird. All of the above was working so well that we added in the release whistle command. No, it was not understood but was added in the normal transitional mode of using both voice and whistle. Talk about a neat thing to see. Imagine this little fluff ball of a pup chasing the big dogs in the field. Blow the sit whistle and all the behinds hit the ground. Rosie's mouth continues to be kind to the live birds. She is willing to release the birds with relatively little convincing. The give command is being given but I do not expect this command to become compulsory until we finish force fetch. Force fetch is not going to happen until Rosie has adult teeth and is capable handling the pressure. Speaking of pressure........ We still do not have a real good idea of what she can handle. I had hoped to get a good idea of this during the remote sit drill we were doing but was unsuccessful because of her generally good obedience and NO, I can't complain about that. Where we are: Commands Commands Voice Whistle Sit 90% Near 100% Come  80% 75% Kennel 50% NA Release 75% Just Starting Remote Sit 90% Near 100%   Marks Marks Singles Cover Land 50yds+ Light Land 30yds Moderate Water 25yds Swimming Water 50yds+ Running All marks are still thrown from the line Watch for Rosie's marking abilities to increase. We are finished with rolling marks and will transition to remote launched marks shortly. The remote marks become possible as the obedience control skills become solid. Yes, this has been an exceptionally good training period for Rosie. Hopefully more to follow. For the next diary entry, please visit Week 15 of Rosie's Journal.

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