Foundation Work

As previously said, Luther has a rock solid foundation on which Charles is building. I love to watch Charles work Luther. Charles is totally absorbed and his movements combined with Luther's is like watching a beautiful dance. Here are a series of photos in sequence with the casting. See what I mean?

Yard Work

Today was a great day...We got to visit Luther! We arrived in NC before 8 A.M. in time to watch Charles work Luther with his daily "yard work". This is about a 20 minute session of obedience, drills and casting. Charles has a special way with the dogs and pays close attention to every detail of the dog's focus and performance. It's been fantastic that Lauren Hall Koch and Charles and Jim Elam use the same Mike Lardy Total Retriever method of training. Everything Luther had been taught prior to coming to Lake Country Retrievers has given him a solid foundation for his work now.

This Dog Will Hunt

This past Wednesday, we drove to Warrenton, NC, to visit and train with Jim Elam. Jim had come highly recommended from a number of Tidewater Retriever Club members. In fact, we never heard a negative word about him. When we arrived at 8:20, Jim was loading up to do some field work. Prentice and Patrick (brothers) assist him in all aspects of training and were most kind and helpful to us. It was good to see Jim work all of the dogs. It became immediately apparent that the line manners of ALL the dogs were impeccable! We ran Luther and he marked and retrieve all four birds. Although Luther can do doubles, he cannot handle to a blind. That's where Luther is in training and Jimmy and I needed help. Afterwards, we drove to a huge farm field. Jim ran Luther and liked the way he handled the hill. I was impressed by Jim's encouraging attitude with all the dogs, the cleanliness and organization of the dog facilities and how everyone works together as a team. We left Luther at Lake Country Retrievers for training and look forward to seeing Luther flourish. Hopefully, this fall Luther can handle for Jimmy in the duck blind. I'd like to see him get his Senior and Master Hunter titles in the future and Jim Elam is just the person who can help Luther achieve these goals.

Guard Dog

Last night I fell asleep on the sofa while watching TV. I woke up about 1 AM and went to bed. As I lay there, I heard something...Something on the floor behind my head. I know there's a mouse in the basement and I was too tired to do anything about it. I woke up this morning to Luther's barking! Luther was focused on something on the bedroom floor. The mouse! NO. It was a frog! This has been a banner year for frogs in the pond and tree frogs all around. I called Jimmy and he quickly came, snatched up the tree frog and put him out the bathroom window (where the critter probably made his entrance). It's been a quiet day now that froggy left. :-)

Refrigerator Humor

Here's a dog cartoon that I cut out years ago and it's had a special spot on the side of my refrigerator. It goes along with my strange sense of humor. I read in a book recently that a dogs sense of smell is 700x that of man!

How's the family?

We heard from Lauren in Montana today. Luther's full sister, Grace, just passed her first Junior Hunt test. Congrats, Grace! Three more to go for your Junior Hunter title. Lauren and Grace will be not only attending but they were selected to be one of the handler/dog teams for Mike Lardy's Seminar in Montana the end of June. That's fantastic. Wish we could be there. In case you don't know, Mike Lardy is THE big name in retriever training. This is quite a privilege.

The photo above was taken a couple weeks ago. Luther is entering the water for a water retrieve. This is the way to cool off on a hot day.

UPDATE June 20th - Lauren emailed and said Grace breezed through all the Junior Hunt Tests and has her title. Why doesn't that surprise me!!! Way to go, Grace.

Those Eyes

Yesterday I snapped this photo of Luther's Eyes. They've always reminded me of a rich melting Kraft Caramel.