I cannot speak highly enough about you as a Friend and a Coach and the standard you set at Quinebaug Kennels!

Hi Jen,

I just wanted to let you know how much Brandy & I benefited from the Pat Burns Clinic. Coming into the Clinic, Brandy had developed a poor attitude towards her Blinds. There is no doubt that I had done something along the way to upset her while training alone. Pat quickly identified the problem and Saturday morning we were fortunate enough to get some one on one attention addressing the issue.

Brandy’s over all attitude & performance continued to improve through out the Clinic. One of the most important things that I learned was for me to improve as a handler and trainer, I need to become a better listener. I am starting to understand & realy appreciate the entire learning experience. The bond, respect and trust that we are building for each other is growing daily, Brandy and I are becoming a real Team. You Jennifer and with Pat’s help, reshaped our attitude. That positive change and reinforcement carried over for the both of us this weekend. We earned our first Senior Pass at the Shoreline Retriever Club Hunt Test at West Thompson.

The first series was a Walk Up on land, the memory bird was well hidden but very close to the line. The Go To bird was an 80 yd. Live Flyer, very visible gun station with moderate cover in the fall area. (Just below the Pavilion) Brandy sat to the whistle on the first bird, marked the second bird and then got in her “Cat Like” stance and I blew my second sit whistle. I was given my Number & released Brandy, she picked up both birds quickly, we did a good job on a relatively straight forward, short blind, 60 yards outside the test across a dirt road. No sweat. Laura Wiennman, the Judge approached us as we where Honoring and said my second sit whistle was my queue to the Judges that as the handler, I thought my dog was going to break. Even though she didn’t, it was scored as a controlled break & was warned not to let it happen again.

The water series was a double, very short memory bird, 30 yds. at most, everyone was talking about the high water, most area’s are flooded from the recent heavy rains so I think they purposely shortened one of the marks. The go bird, depending on the wind was between 65 and 100 + yds, we got lucky, almost no wind with a big, fat, belly up Drake in plain view. She did great job on those marks, nice angle entry and return. The water blind was across the channel, 50 yds and back another 25 yds up hill and up wind. She tock a fair initial line and started to scallop when I handled her on the land. I think over all she did just OK, it certainly wasn’t the best blind she has ever ran, actually sloppy, but she got the job done pretty quickly.

Jennifer, I can not speak highly enough about you as a Friend and a Coach, as well as the standard you set at Quinebaug Kennels. I strongly encourage anyone interested in improving their retriever training skills, work with you and attend the next Pat Burns Seminar.

Sincerely and with gratitude,
Larry