Dog is senior hunter training for master hunter. Has enter santioned field trial and licensed -qualifying. Has held his own. However, a problem has developed which I find very serious. In two training sessions he has bolted into the woods and not come out for at least an hour. The common denominator- long mark began to handle to mark refusal - ears go down tail under and bolts to woods. Has been burned for refusal.

My best guess: You have a scared dog that has the need to run and hide when he makes a mistake because he knows what's coming.

My best theory on how it started: too much electricity, too often, during a state of confusion.

My best suggestions: 1)don't handle on marks have the bird boy help the dog,(2)if & when do handle and get a cast refusal stop the dog(no burning)have the bird boy throw another and then cast. Essentially "depressurize" your dog.

Tim

Thanks for your advice Very helpful. Do you think I can bring him back or did I screw up and end his career?

I think you and your dog can recover. Going from SH to MH requires that you teach and show your dog how to get out of trouble. It is a not a transition that you force your dog through. Just because you may have gotten his SH this spring doesn't mean you have to run a master this fall.
There are reason you are getting those cast refusal your job to figure them out.
There is no exact formula.
Some of the best comments on training a CBR are in an article by John and Amy Dahl. You can find it on there website:www.oakhillkennel.com
go to library article on the 3 major breeds.
Good luck,
Tim

Tim's advice is right on. I went thru a bolting period with Belle where she did exactly the same thing. She became a MH and QAA, so you haven't ruined your dog. Take the pressure off, don't handle on your marks, and you may want to look at reducing the setting on your ecollar. I use a very low setting (1). Anything much higher than that and I start to get very unstable responses, like bolting. Lardy advocates some debolting techniques in his videos that I'm not comfortable with given my experience level. You may want to look at those but I personally wouldn't recommend them. Sometimes its better to leave the transmitter in the truck. Good luck.

Moscowitz

I am a novice so you are probably miles ahead of me. I've read the article mentioned by Tim (and Amy's other articles) and they helped clarify a lot for me. Another source you might look at is a training video just out by Butch Goodwin ( www.northernflight.com) who deals with a lot of issues relating to the collar. Also he has been a Chessie breeder, exclusively , for 30 years

Good luck

He is confused and afraid to make a mistake and dissapoint you. I have the same problem. When I ask him to do something he does not understand or wants to do, he runs back to the house, I have not figured this one out yet but I think I will problably have to trick him into doing it and then doing it over and over again until it cements in his brain. Remember you train a Golden,negotiate with a Lab and trick a Chessie.