The guys were more than a little energized from the snow we received this morning but in spite of their excess energy, we had a very productive training session. In fact I didn’t want to train on the stop whistle, since I wanted them to carry the momentum of the training with them. For rewards today, I used cheese puffs that we buy in bulk. I don’t use them very often, but the dogs – other than Elvis – love them and it gives them some variety in the type of rewards they receive.
Mia
I had to move our training away from the garden due to Pheasants. When Mia went charging out to the pasture, she flushed a Pheasant and I had to let her hunt the pasture and ditch banks for a few minutes to get the bird out of her system. It still didn’t work, since the ground was covered with Pheasant tracks and retrieving bumpers was the last thing on her mind.
I settled her down with a couple of minutes of obedience training, but she was still too distracted to retrieve so I worked with her on my version of force fetching. If they won’t take the bumper, I gently force their mouth open and insert the bumper, hold my hand under their chin so it’s more difficult to spit out, and then have them bring it to me and drop it. I put Mia on a check cord to assist.
It doesn’t take much for them to get the idea – I also began using my Dokken’s dummy which I found that she likes much more than canvas bumpers, so I’ll probably stay with that and my Real Bird Bumper.
Sophie
Sophie did well with her retrieves, however I didn’t get much video due to the battery issue I’m having with it. I used my Real Bird Bumper by Scott Linden, which she prefers to the canvas bumpers – I think that all of my dogs would rather retrieve something with substance. We ended the session with her retrieving a pile of three bumpers.
Dakota
Today showed me more than anything, that Dakota is unable to make a decision. I’ve noticed this in the past that she’s unable to retrieve doubles, and goes back and forth from one bumper to another. That’s just how her brain is wired and I’m not sure if any amount of training will correct it, so I work within her limits and appreciate her enthusiasm. In any case, my level of training isn’t up to changing that type of behavior.
Elvis
Elvis required some pasture time as well, before he could settle down to actual training. While hunting the pasture, he crossed the private driveway and went on point. He held it for about 4 or 5 seconds until, from the other side of a containment wall, two Pheasants became nervous and flushed.
He did a nice job of retrieving – whether it was from force fetching him last week or using the Real Bird Bumper, I’m not sure, but he did a good job today.
Tags: bird dog training, blind entry water training, chocolate labs, dokkens deadfowl, real bird bumper, retriever training, spinone, spinoni
February 11, 2012 at 5:37 am |
With four dogs to train, you must be out there for a while.
As far as training doubles for Dakota, I am no trainer, but I would say that if you threw them farther apart, that might help her. It was hard to tell from the video, but it looked like the marks were quite close together. Marks thrown in-line is a difficult concept for a dog. We threw our doubles at 90 degree angles for a long time until the dogs were solid on them. If there is a good amount of space between the marks, then the dog is less likely to switch (or go back and forth between them). Once solid at 90 degrees, then you can draw them closer together. I would say that it is not that Dakota can’t make a decision, just that she doesn’t understand which mark you want her to get. I like her enthusiasm a lot!
We are at the point in our training of pulling our doubles closer in line (the way you are throwing them) and it is a difficult concept for our dogs who can easily do doubles and triples spaced apart. If our dogs try to switch, we handle them back to one mark so as to not let it happen, or you can throw those as singles and once solid do it as a double.
February 11, 2012 at 6:14 am |
It takes awhile even at 10-15 minutes per dog. Add some free time running the pasture and hunting the ditch banks, and it’s a fair block of time. Thanks for the advice on doubles, I’ll give it a try. Dakota’s going to be 7 next month and still has all the energy of a pup, but I’m finding that her endurance is fading.