The good news is both guys I trained with all summer scored Prize 1s on Saturday. The bad news is my pup had probably his worst day ever since we began training.
Field work was pretty solid, even in the 50-mph wind gusts and dealing with some crazy bird situations. All 4s. But then during duck search he lost his confidence. The wind was blowing straight across, which made it super hard for the dogs. He shot across great considering the conditions, but a coot hiding in the cattails was an unexpected wrench in the cogs. It crappie flopped into the water, and he chased it for a bit until it got into the cattails and flushed out of sight. He couldn't get that out of his head. Ranged well and at one point I thought he was actually going to find a duck...but he got hung up on where that coot got into the cattails. Next thing I know, he's crossing the water at the coot spot...coming back with no duck. Tried resending him three times, and each time he'd get about 50 yards out, get blasted by a wave, and turn back. No excuses. We just didn't get to train in high winds this year. The look in his eyes said it all.
Steadiness and heel by blind went well. But he totally blew the drag. I have no idea what happened. It's a task he's pretty good at. He just couldn't get down range enough. Kept heading to the right and working the previous two drags. It had warmed up by then and he was starting to stumble and loose his balance. I called him back and tried resending him, but he did the same thing. I finally asked the judge if I could just walk out there with the dog. I knew it was a zero, but I wanted him to be successful. So I led Blitz down the trail and about 50 yards from the trees he shot in, caught scent, grabbed the dog and brought it straight to me.
I fortunately found a spot at another regional test in two weeks, so we're going to try again. But I'm at a loss as to what my next steps should be. Next week I'm gone on business through Thursday, and then we'll be heading to the cities Friday evening before the test. My only chance is to get out this week and weekend.
What can I do at this point? I was pretty confident in a PI or PII dog going into the test, but now I think we're both struggling to look on the bright side. Any thoughts? I'm thinking we need to focus on the drag and duck search, simply because those are where he did the worst.