Bullpen Outdoors

Week 39 with Adeline (10 months old): this week we continued to advance along with hand signals. The two primary drills we incorporated were the pull push drill and combining all hand signals. Pull push started off as a lining memory and then as we returned to the place board I would sit her and continue walking. Once I got back I would give her a recall whistle and then a quick whistle stop once she came to a sit I would then send her back to the mark with a hand signal. Overall she did great on these throughout the week. Very minimal issues at all. One big focus we did incorporate though was mixing in lots of recalls without stopping her so she wouldn’t start checking up on an ordinary recall. I noticed by the end of the week she was returning highly alert without slowing but also ready for the whistle any moment. It was super neat to see her grow in this aspect compared to earlier in the week. The next main drill for the week was combing hand signals. The first couple sessions were a little rough. She was really sped up and not differentiating between back or over to the side I was giving. I would slow her down and correct her and then give a more deliberate signal while keeping her calm. As the week went by she progressed every single day. During the last session of the week she was perfect except for one slight mistake on opening the wrong direction on a back cast but other than that she was lights out. I was really impressed by how hard she battled even through the tough Oklahoma heat as you could see it becoming a distraction. Other drills we incorporated throughout the week were remote marks on both land and water, whistle stop retrieves, and 3 handed casting. I felt like this has been one of the biggest growth weeks I have seen of her yet. From how we started to how we finished was huge and I am beyond proud.

She even got her own crocs so she can be going out on the parents boat 🩴

Her first stop every time we go to workout