Today was a great day. I broke training up into three short segments, each with a clear goal and plan.

The first segment was straight creance training. Food was on the glove and rewards were variable. 15-20 flights with spot on whistle response.

Second segment was learning jump ups and weaning the fist / food association. I was amazed at how fast he took to this and how quickly he would come right back to the glove from the ground. He was back up almost before I blew the whistle. I don't think he particularly likes being on the ground. We learned jump ups today while working on this behavior.

The third stage was tying these behaviors together. I would call to the fist from the perch and give a click. I would then toss a tidbit 10 ft away and he would launch. As he landed and grabbed the food I clicked again. I would the call back to the fist with a whistle and give another click. It was awesome!

The only two hiccups were when he jumped the gun again, once on the first and once on the last session. On the first he flared back to the crepe myrtle and was reluctant to come down. On the last, he started to flare but he saw the glove coming up, corrected, and landed on the glove. That was a good sign to me. I was so tempted to reward that but I elected not to, so as not to reinforce the false start.

He was hooded for at least an hour between each session. Best day yet by far