# Review of 25 Essential Retriever Training Drills for Handling by Dennis Voigt



## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

I have just concluded my review of the dvds. It took me four sessions as I wanted to study the drills as I went along rather than just scan through them.
I think it is outstanding and would give it a five star rating. My head is swimming with the things that I want to get out and do with Rowdy.
I like the field guide because the sequence, sketch and distances are shown in a notebook that fits easily in my training bag or glove box in my mule. I won't have to make a copy of Lardy's sketches to take with me any longer.
As I was reviewing the problem solutions section, I was thinking who does this apply to: Rowdy, Hank, Shadow, Bear or Daisy? 
I really like the 3X3 blind concept for teaching and maintenance. The other most important things to me were: 
Breaking down the drills into increments that I could understand (no easy task)
Explanations of the variants that you might encounter.

I could go on but my hat is off to Dennis for putting together and excellent training video.
I highly recommend it.


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## Mary Lynn Metras (Jul 6, 2010)

Thanks Wayne for posting the other video. Very helpful and to have Dennis chime. Thank you both.


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## Dave Farrar (Mar 16, 2012)

My dog and I reviewed a drill on the DVD while waiting for the sun to come up so we could go out and train... Best money I have spent in a while.


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

Yep. We caught a break in the rain and went to the little park in our development. We did Drill 6, Reverse Lining 7 Bumper Drill.


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## Cooper (Jul 9, 2012)

What possible drills could there be on the DVD that haven't been used by trainers or covered in Retrievers Online?


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## DMA (Jan 9, 2008)

Cooper said:


> What possible drills could there be on the DVD that haven't been used by trainers or covered in Retrievers Online?


Guess you gotta get the DVD to find out.


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## Sharon Potter (Feb 29, 2004)

Cooper said:


> What possible drills could there be on the DVD that haven't been used by trainers or covered in Retrievers Online?


Not sure what that has to do with the DVD? I like it a lot, think it's very well done and does an excellent job of demonstrating and explaining. 

It's titled "25 Essential Retriever Training Drills for Handling", not "Secret Drills That Have Never Been Seen Before".  

Nicely done, Dennis.


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## MissSkeeter (May 17, 2013)

Cooper said:


> What possible drills could there be on the DVD that haven't been used by trainers or covered in Retrievers Online?


Dennis does an excellent job of showing what he has talked about for years in Retrievers Online.

For example, he shows a 3-peat blind where the first blind is a little rough and by the third blind his retriever really understands the concept and lines the blind. The DVD is not simply about drills, it clearly portrays Dennis's training philosophy and rationale. His 3X3 method (walkaround blinds, 3-peat cold blinds, and returning to old blinds) is excellent.

I especially appreciated his "donut" philosophy of where ideally a retriever should be trained at. 

Fourty+ years of retriever wisdom is clear on this DVD!


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## Chris Atkinson (Jan 3, 2003)

One of my favorite Dennis Voigt articles is the swimby tuneup drill. I believe that may be shown on this DVD.

I look forward to finding out myself!


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## Jamee Strange (Jul 24, 2010)

Chris Atkinson said:


> One of my favorite Dennis Voigt articles is the swimby tuneup drill. I believe that may be shown on this DVD.
> 
> I look forward to finding out myself!


Yes it does Chris. I haven't watched very much of it but what I have watched, I really liked. Thanks Dennis!


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## suepuff (Aug 25, 2008)

Wayne or Dennis, are theses drills covered in "Training Alone"? Or should this be an addition to that?

Thanks.

Sue


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

Been a while since I have watched Alone but I think there may be one or two of the 25 in both. But the rest are all new and the duplicate ones are covered in more depth in 25 Essential...Drills....


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

suepuff said:


> Wayne or Dennis, are theses drills covered in "Training Alone"? Or should this be an addition to that?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Sue


Sue

Several of the drills are described in the Training Retrievers Alone book but not illustrated. 25 Essential Drills shows the same split-casting drill footage as in TRA. The re-shoot video file with a different dog got corrupted at the last minute. TRA also has a bonus section on teamwork in a Wagon Wheel but the new DVD explains different Wagon Wheels and how to do them for different dog and handler skills. Otherwise, I consider the two DVDs complementary but not redundant whatsoever.

I also think the experience of watching the dogs do the drills and field exercises while I am talking about the how, why, when and where adds a lot to reading about them in Retrievers ONLINE. As Wayne said, the Field Guide will help you in the field but it is also good for reviewing and planning. 

Thanks for all the comments everyone!


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## Bruce MacPherson (Mar 7, 2005)

The thing I most appreciated about these DVDs is that Dennis uses a dog or dogs that have clearly not been run to these set ups 20 times before they filmed it. You can see the mistakes and corrections clearly. Well worth the investment in my opinion.


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

Bruce MacPherson said:


> The thing I most appreciated about these DVDs is that Dennis uses a dog or dogs that have clearly not been run to these set ups 20 times before they filmed it. You can see the mistakes and corrections clearly. Well worth the investment in my opinion.



Bruce

I am smiling because sometimes it seemed like there were 20 takes--but only of me messing up some narrative when not working dogs!!!!!!

Your observation above is spot on! I don't recall a single incident of filming a dog re-running any drill or exercise. The Swim-by Tune-up had been run by the dog two months before as I described and also the Land Tune-up a couple of months earlier. The Simple Tune-up was truly day one! We tried to give you the original praise, reinforcement or correction in the original run in an original place. 

All the dogs are mine except Ace in Pile Work and BB Blinds.


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## suepuff (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks Dennis. That was what I needed. Nice job on all your past stuff. It has been very useful for me. Both written and DVD. 

Sue Puff


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## 2labs (Dec 10, 2003)

Wayne did you experience some static noise during some of the dvd?

Thanks
Dave


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

2 Labs, Yes a bit. While very minor, some of the pages (41-45) are out of order. I'm going to call YBS tomorrow after they settle in from returning from national.


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## Dave Farrar (Mar 16, 2012)

Wayne Nutt said:


> 2 Labs, Yes a bit. While very minor, some of the pages (41-45) are out of order. I'm going to call YBS tomorrow after they settle in from returning from national.


Mine is fine.


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## Dustin D (Jan 12, 2012)

I tried to order through YBS earlier....couldn't pull up the Order Process ... :/

Trying to pick up the Lardy Articles with 1 Free too.

Will keep trying.


Oh and to Cooper....What if we don't subscribe to RO?


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## Bartona500 (May 23, 2011)

Where can I order this?


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## wojo (Jun 29, 2008)

Dustin D said:


> I tried to order through YBS earlier....couldn't pull up the Order Process ... :/
> 
> Trying to pick up the Lardy Articles with 1 Free too.
> 
> ...


 As a retired CIO the web site is primitive. Hard to use and order ,,,,,should be an embarrassment but in today's world there are no standards.


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

You can always call the toll free number


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## Dustin D (Jan 12, 2012)

Wayne Nutt said:


> You can always call the toll free number


I know Wayne....that's the issue. In a day when everything is CLICK CLICK $$$
we still have to call to get service. 

So I'll call in the morning.


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

Ybs is good to work with. I had an issue once before with some item and they sent me a replacement right away.


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## RJW (Jan 8, 2012)

Wayne Nutt said:


> Ybs is good to work with. I had an issue once before with some item and they sent me a replacement right away.



Similar happened to me. A DVD showed up damaged, I let them know and without question sent me a new one and told me that I could anything I wanted with the damaged one.


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## Sabireley (Feb 2, 2005)

Bartona500 said:


> Where can I order this?


www.ybsmedia.com

I just ordered one and online ordering worked perfectly.

There is a small icon in the lower left corner that is a shopping cart. Click it and it takes you to another page where you click on the Dennis Voigt link, then click on the item to add it to your cart. Once in your cart just checkout. It would nice to have an Add to Cart button in the main description page, but it is probably a restriction of the shopping cart service they use. 

Steve


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## Wayne Nutt (Jan 10, 2010)

Spoke with ybs this afternoon and a new replacement book will go out tomorrow. As I said, good people to deal with.


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## DoubleHaul (Jul 22, 2008)

Good video. Worth a purchase. Video quality was very good, although the audio was annoying from time to time with static. Regardless, you can hear what Dennis is saying throughout as opposed to some of the early training videos where the wind in the mic made it almost unintelligible at times.

The drills will not be surprises to anyone, especially if you get Online, have Carol Cassity's book or have been around for a while, but some of them are really nice to see run as well as just diagrammed. There are a couple of 'secret' drills mentioned but not shown (I would love to see the Long Contrary Blind, for example). Even for folks who are pretty well versed on the various drills, it is worth a purchase, IMO. Even drills that you have seen time and again, like wagon wheel, I feel there is always something to learn from watching it done by someone else with a slightly different perspective.


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## MissSkeeter (May 17, 2013)

DoubleHaul said:


> Good video. Worth a purchase. Video quality was very good, although the audio was annoying from time to time with static. Regardless, you can hear what Dennis is saying throughout as opposed to some of the early training videos where the wind in the mic made it almost unintelligible at times.
> 
> The drills will not be surprises to anyone, especially if you get Online, have Carol Cassity's book or have been around for a while, but some of them are really nice to see run as well as just diagrammed. There are a couple of 'secret' drills mentioned but not shown (I would love to see the Long Contrary Blind, for example). Even for folks who are pretty well versed on the various drills, it is worth a purchase, IMO. Even drills that you have seen time and again, like wagon wheel, I feel there is always something to learn from watching it done by someone else with a slightly different perspective.


Yes another example of a different perspective is his use of white bumpers in the first simple water tuneup. (most programs use orange). 

Or his swim-by water tuneup which will make cheating singles easier for a young dog to understand. 

Dennis is clearly a master at teaching new concepts to both young and advanced retrievers!


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## Bridget Bodine (Mar 4, 2008)

Going to be watching it today!!


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## Jamee Strange (Jul 24, 2010)

2labs said:


> Wayne did you experience some static noise during some of the dvd?
> 
> Thanks
> Dave


I noticed some. I think it was wind noise maybe? Perhaps Dennis can elaborate for us.


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

Jamee Strange said:


> I noticed some. I think it was wind noise maybe? Perhaps Dennis can elaborate for us.


Thanks Jamee

Yes, I can explain some. Remarkably I couldn't before tonight because I only got my copy of the production version last night. I had approved the original but couldn't comment on anything until I saw the production version. 

Yes it was always environmental with all attempts to remove ambient sounds. As you know we tried to film it first time for real and not do re-runs. So of course, we had wind, other dogs, trucks, airplanes, and so much more. Our criteria was that if you could hear me the other sounds were less important than a re-take. I wanted you to see it as it happened!! Thus you get assorted other noises and the best attempts to muffle them. 

My sit down session talking about "Better Blinds in the Field" was a one off "heart-to-heart" with you. It is very important and No way it was going to be a re-take! I never even noticed until tonight that there was so much background noise. 

I feel there is no place where the sounds of nature interfere with my message and who I am to argue with Mother Nature anyway. 

Cheers

PS. Another thing I noticed is that some of my commands came across very loud because I was miked to pick up the quiet commands. So sometimes I said "heel" quietly and then when I said "heel" normal it sounded like I was yelling!! Focus on the lessons and the dogs!!!


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## Jamee Strange (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks Dennis! It is an awesome DVD and I have already done some of the drills with my dogs. I had never seen/heard of the 7 bumper reverse lining drill before, but I will definitely be doing that one again  Thanks for putting together such a great DVD, just like the training alone one.


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

Jamee Strange said:


> Thanks Dennis! It is an awesome DVD and I have already done some of the drills with my dogs. I had never seen/heard of the 7 bumper reverse lining drill before, but I will definitely be doing that one again  Thanks for putting together such a great DVD, just like the training alone one.


Thanks

And Thanks to Bill Hillmann for that drill!!


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## terrax (Sep 1, 2011)

Dennis

I do not have my copy yet and look forward to receiving it.

Could you please explain the "I would love to see the Long Contrary Blind" that DoubleHaul referred to. I have asked my training group and no one has heard of a "contrary blind".

Thanks


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

terrax said:


> Dennis
> 
> I do not have my copy yet and look forward to receiving it.
> 
> ...


It is called a Permanent Contrary Blind (PCB). I explain it in the "Better Blinds in the Field" discussion. it is not shown as one of the 25 Essential. It is a lining -not handling- drill, originally used by Rex Carr. In brief, it is monster blind with many factors such as terrain, cover changes, and obstacles. they can be loooong!-like 600 yards! They are taught precisely in parts and put together over time. Then they are reviewed once in awhile. It gives the dog the experience of navigating many diverting elements over a very great distance. It is rarely used and is certainly not a must-do! If you had the right terrain, the right dog and the time, it can be considered. I only have one two on my property and they are only about 400-500 yards.

There is an article and example and photos of PCBs in the Summer issue 2012 of Retrievers ONLINE


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## kennel maiden (Jun 11, 2012)

I'd love to see a copy of this 25 Essential Drills DVD. Is there anywhere where it can be ordered in PAL format (for the UK) rather than NTSC? and delivered to UK? thx

Or just a copy of the accompanying workbook would be a start I guess?!.....


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## DoubleHaul (Jul 22, 2008)

RetrieversONLINE said:


> I feel there is no place where the sounds of nature interfere with my message and who I am to argue with Mother Nature anyway.


I agree with this. I mentioned it but it did not interfere with the DVD. It wasn't as if the sound quality was bad--it was very good, especially considering the wind noise in various older videos and DVDs. It was just there from time to time as if they were cleaning up the audio and there was some ghost noise left over. Noticeable but in no way does it ever interfere with being able to hear what Dennis is saying.


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## jjm4659 (Aug 27, 2014)

This sounds like great information, does anyone know if this can be downloaded or streamed from anywhere online vs buying DVD's?


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## Dan Wegner (Jul 7, 2006)

Overall, a great video. It really helps to be able to visualize some of the drills we've read about and see a few new ones in action. Yes, there are a few spots where the audio is less than ideal, but not bad enough to distract from the message. I was a bit disappointed with some of the videography though. It seems the camera is directly behind Dennis on several scenes and we can't see the dog. I realize he moves laterally, at times, but it would have been nice to see the shot from a bit of an offset position behind the handler so the viewer sees both handler and dog. Again, doesn't change the value of the lesson, but does take a bit away from the viewing experience.


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## RetrieversONLINE (Nov 24, 2005)

Thanks Dan

You identified two of the big challenges. When outside in the wind and when miked for quiet talk also, it was inevitable that a lot of sound scrubbing had to occur-so sometimes you get that audio static left over.

As you know we really wanted to show first takes and not re-run a dog on a drill. Day One is only Day One only one time!!! So something like the Simple Tune-Up was tough to film so that you could see the line plus me casting plus the dog! And then of course I moved into the camera because I was re-acting to the dog! We decided to live with that in this case and if you watch closely you can tell where the dog is. It's like when you are running a land blind with a tree directly on the way. The dog is lining behind the tree, goes out of side so you can't see him. Both you and the judges knows he's on line because you can't see him-you just hoped he hasn't popped!!


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