DS560 Retrievolution - Level One - Field Dog Core

Other Dog Sports

Jennifer Henion (Faculty)

Introducing the "Retrievolution Challenge!" A whole new way to enjoy retriever sport and training.

Course Details

Introducing the "Retrievolution Challenge!" A whole new way to enjoy retriever sport and training.

All breeds and mixes are welcome.

It's an exciting new endeavor with many levels and layers to discover.

This class will take you through the first level: "Field Dog Core"

It mimics an entry level hunt test, but you can set it up at home. No birds or guns are required. All breeds are welcome. The goal is to achieve the entire performance of a Field Dog Core home test and meet the criteria of a judge. I will be your "judge" and teacher in this course. No retrieve? No Problem! - you may use food in bowls as your targets.

***We will have 2 Teaching Assistants helping in the Facebook group for Bronze students!!!

Here's how it works:

"Field Dog Core" is level one. Again, it mimics an entry level hunt test - but you can set it up at home, in a building or outdoors without guns or birds.

The performance/challenge has five parts:

Holding Blind Wait - with rewards
Heel to the Line - with rewards
Two short Single Retrieves
One Known "Blind" retrieve
One Practice Honor - on lead with rewards

When you're ready, you can present all of the parts together in a complete performance.

You only get points awarded during your final sport performance video - not for your weekly homework on the 5 individual parts.

The Teaching Part ? How is this a class?

In week one, I will present and demonstrate the entire performance so you see what it looks like and what you're working toward.

You will also get the rules and judging criteria for each of the 5 parts.

For each of the 5 performance parts, you will get a week of instruction and feedback. So a whole week on part 1, a whole week on part 2 and so on. You are welcome to submit questions and video for any of the 5 parts at any time. I want you to win at this - so I'm going to teach you how to win!

In week 6, we focus on putting it all together as a complete performance. If you get that done early, you may submit your video for feedback at any time during the 6 weeks.

An advanced version of Feild Dog Core will be available for anyone who wants a bigger challenge and get extra points.

See the Syllabus for a detailed breakdown of our 6 week course.

What you need for the final performance:

For the marks: At least one human helper to throw the marks or place the food bowls OR two remote launchers OR one helper and one launcher. It's ideal to have two human helpers.
A three-panel holding blind. You can make your own (I'll show you how) or use one that you purchased.
A retrieve object like a bumper, Dokken, bird OR you can use food in food bowls as a target to go to. No balls, due to bouncing.
An outdoor or Indoor space of at least 60' x 60' give or take.

More about the sport and it's future levels

It's a Class and A Sport to earn points!

You can think of this class as a kind of online sport, where you demonstrate each skill required in a full performance, to earn a title for this level.

Gold & Silver Students will get feedback throughout, to help you learn and perform the skills with your dog. Bronze students will have a Facebook page to post their videos and get some help from a Teaching Assistant.

We want you to win! Not just at this level, but the next ones, too. So each level will set you up for success for the next one.

The best part? This class, and all other Retrievolution Challenge levels will also prepare you for the traditional sports of Hunt Tests, field trials, working certificates and Fetch tests.

Retrievolution will have levels ranging from basic to very advanced, with marks, blinds, honoring and more.

The Levels & How this sport is different

First, our basic levels and medium levels can be done at a home field or dog sports facility. This will be like setting up your own entry level Hunt Test using our test criteria.

You can film your skill set performances and submit them through this class and future classes for assessment.

Differences from traditional retriever sports:

We will have an open breed policy; any breed or mixed breed can enter.
Instead of big leaps between levels - like the gap between Junior and Senior Hunt Tests - we help bridge the gap by breaking down the skills into more achievable testing levels, without sacrificing the challenge. The goal is maintain the challenge, while adding more layers as a bridge to higher skills.
At the advanced levels, Retrievolution Challenges will be performed in real fields and ponds. But the lower stakes have the option of performing in home fields or dog sport facilities like agility barns, fairgrounds, urban green areas or "sniff spots", to name a few.
In lower stakes, you can set up your test level alone with launchers or helpers to throw. You can even invite others to join you and run the same test as a group. The key is to use our test criteria and film your performance without editing.
Retrieve objects are also different! You have the option to use bumpers, Dokken like objects or real birds. Alternatively, In Field Dog Core, you can use food dishes with food as your target to simulate a retrieve behavior chain.
Lastly, Judging criteria is different.

Syllabus

Here's a detailed look at each week of class

Week One:

Entire Performance Demo: I will present and demonstrate the entire performance so you see what it looks like and what you're working toward.
Rules and Judging: You will get the rules and judging criteria for each of the 5 parts.
Holding Blind Wait - Instruction on how to build this and do the 5 criteria
Point System - I'll discuss the point system - from squeaking by with the minimum, or getting full points for polish

Week Two:

Heel To Line - from the holding blind to the performance line using a minimum of 5 strides. I will demo and teach this skill, using the one step, stop, reward method.
You may work on any of the skills or the full performance, if you wish. I can add more advanced challenges for those who want it.

Week Three:

Running 2 Single Marks of 15 yds or longer, using food in dishes or retrieve objects - I'll give instruction on this skill set.
You may work on any of the skills or the full performance, if you wish. I can add more advanced challenges for those who want it.

Week Four:

1 Known "Blind" retrieve or food in bowl at 15yds or longer. You will get instruction on this and learn the point system.
You may work on any of the skills or the full performance, if you wish. I can add more advanced challenges for those who want it.

Week Five:

1 Practice Honor with leash, mat, reward sequence. Only honoring a mark, not another dog. You will get instruction on how this works.
You may work on any of the skills or the full performance, if you wish. I can add more advanced challenges for those who want it.

Week Six:

Putting it all together into our Field Dog Core performance. Instruction on stringing it all together into a chain.
You may continue working on any or all of the all parts and get feedback.
Your final performance - whatever level it is, does not need to be perfect or polished! The whole point is for you to perform it with whatever skills you currently have. This gives you the experience and lets you see how each of the 5 parts fits into the whole!
Earn your "Field Dog Core" title by earning enough points and have the foundation you need for the next level!

Again, your homemade "event performance" can be inside a building or outdoors. You will need a space of about 60' x 60' or larger.

You can use food instead of retrieve items and still earn a title!

Sample Lecture

Welcome to The Retrievolution Challenge!

This is Level One - Field Dog Core!

You can use this as a online sport to test your skills and win a title.

Or you can use it to learn all 5 skill sets common to most every retrieving sport.

The Holding Blind, Heeling to the Line, Marks, Blind, and the Honor

Introduction Video - special surprise in store for Bronze level

Final Performance Walk Through - Know what you're working toward.

Rules - Points - Judging Criteria

Each week, I'll zoom in on the rules, points and judging criteria for that week's skill set.

You will also get an ADVANCED version of that skill set, to give you an extra challenge option.

To prevent overwhelm, we will focus on one of the 5 skill sets in each week. And we will go in order.

That way you can be building your full performance along the way - and get feedback to help you win!

Week 1 = Holding Blind Waiting

Week 2 = Heel to Line

Week 3 = 2 Single Marks with steadiness

Week 4 = Blind Retrieve

Week 5 = Honoring

Week 6 = Complete Performance

Three Key Things...

You don't need a trained Retrieve. You can use food in a bowl instead of a bumper.
You can use a leash, flat collar, and a platform
You are encouraged to reward your dog during the performance for making correct choices.

General Rules

Location: You may set up the test inside a building or barn. Or outdoors.

Distance: Tossing stations must be minimum of 15 yards or 45 feet or longer. The blind retrieve must also be minimum of 15 yds or longer.

Station Markers: Set identical tossing station markers where each mark will be tossed. Can use plastic fence stakes with bags on top, large boxes, camp chairs or similar items.

Marks: The left station will throw to the left, and the right station will throw to the right. Tosses must be at least 3 yds or 9 feet. Use bumpers or similar, or food in bowls. Please don't use balls. Use any combination of human tossers or remote controlled launchers. Using one person to toss both single marks is permissible.

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General Judging Criteria

In general, judges will assign 1-5 points for the following:

Handler Accuracy for test set up
Handler Accuracy for cueing & rewarding
Dog's Accuracy for meeting criteria
Dog's Accuracy for responding to cues
Connection - Engagement -Joy of Handler and of Dog

We will give you more specifics for each skill set as we cover them each week.

Now let's dive in! It's Week One, so let's take a look at the Holding Blind Wait...

~~~~~END OF SAMPLE LECTURE ~~~~~~~

Instructors

Jennifer Henion

Jennifer Henion (she/her), KPA CTP has been playing and studying the US retriever sports for 13 years with 6 different dogs. All of whom have achieved Hunt Test titles...

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