"Say It With Pictures"

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Swim-by ponds - comparisons & analysis.  

 

Quotes From a Forum (about the second photo) 

"Looks like a great swim by pond! I agree with the weighing of 'time on the road' with 'benefit of the training' - it is hard to justify! but if you have the time to spare, why not?"
and​
"If the photos (shown below) are accurately titled, it looks like the photos are taken of the dog going to the left over pile and taken from the vantage point of the right side where the back pile is. It appears Jim is working on Gigi taking a long left over, thus the back pile is the short swim, but further toward the right end of the pond ."     note: these quotes are in reference to the Aug . 16 journal photos
and 
​Unless the perspective on your photos is deceptive, it sure looks to me like I'd run the back pile across the middle to the closer shore and the overs would be where you have the go pile and the opposite end? The exception would be if I was doing a swim-by tune-up but that is a whole different lay-out.
and 
​by convention you address the channel for the back pile by positioning yourself about the middle of the channel so the swim to the back pile is straight across the channel and relatively short. The over piles are at the ends of the channel. There are several reasons for this, the first being reducing the fatigue factor. You should be doing the back pile 2-4 times per each over so the amount of swimming is significantly reduced. Once the dog is proficient at doing the overs and the swim by you move to the end of the channel and you have your first channel blind. This introduction to water force, overs, and swim by in the water generally goes pretty fast if you have done a thorough job of the double T on land

These were several accurate assessments and useful advice was offered. However, there are reasons behind the first few days of using this new, improved pond.....in the manner described. Perspectives are interesting and not necessarily excuses...but they do force one to question perspectives.

For the last several pups, I have used a pond for swim-by that is five minutes from my house. It is not a perfect pond in that it is 90 X 25 yards which means having to use the east end of the pond for swim-by training (refer to photo above). (see initial photo) This worked with all my other pups. Until this year. The semi-blocked culverts that govern the level of the pond and steady doses of rainfall have kept the pond about 2-3 feet higher than normal. The end result (no pun intended) was that now the east end became a one-corner swim-by pond. At one time, I could drive my van along the north shore, but now there is six inches of water and chest high swamp weeds the full length of the pond.

After a few weeks of "out to sea backs" plus overs that were not really complete overs, I tried another pond. This has a horseshoe shape with small bays that are kind of round and has high banks with a shoreline cannot be "manicured". After a few weeks, it was obvious that Gigi’s swim-by work was not progressing very well. This was complicated by the fact that everything she does is at warp speed and remembered (good and not so good).  Of course, that made water work kind of a pain in the donkey.

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                                  The following photos describe the three phase transition
                                   from the end of the pond intro began on Aug 18th. Gigi
                                     is a quick study which makes teaching much easier.                         

However, there were reasons behind the first few days of using this new, improved pond.....in the manner described. For the last several pups, I have used a pond for swim-by (1st photo) that is five minutes from my house. It is not the perfect in that it is 90X25 yards which meant using the east end of the pond for swim-by training. This worked well with all my other pups...until this year.

The semi-blocked culverts that govern the level of the pond plus a more than normal steady doses of rainfall have kept the pond about 2-3 feet higher than usual. At one time, I could drive my van along the north shore, but now there is six inches of water not only flooding the shore, but slowly killing a huge number of old pine trees. The end result (no pun intended) was that now the square end became a one-corner swim-by pond. 

After a few weeks of doing "out to sea backs" plus overs that were not really overs, I tried another pond. This had a horseshoe shape with small bays that are kind of round. It has high banks and the shoreline cannot be "manicured". After a few weeks, it was obvious that Gigi’s swim-by work was not progressing very well. This was complicated by the fact that everything she does is at warp speed (good and not so good).  Of course, that made water work with angle entry/exits kind of disorganized. The concept of precise practice did not exist.

Just recently I discovered the perfect pond to clarify the process. The initial adjustment was to decide how to begin using a real swim-by pond in contrast to the "out to sea" long look and the shorter overs on the end of the pond. My thoughts were to begin with a similar picture (not the norm) instead of the middle of the longer side. In addition, the short line on the west end of the pond made the distance between us rather close and this enhanced my influence of keeping her on the line across the short end. The similarity had a very good effect on her responsiveness.

Gigi is very quick at remembering what is presented which means that mistakes must be avoided (if that makes any sense). In the few days we have spent working on this actual swim-by pond she has quickly put things together.

The first two photos in the intro are of the old “end of the pond” vs. an “ideal swim-by pond".   

This following photo Is a quick snapshot of the “try this out pond” that left a lot to be desired.