On the advice of others on Luna's training thread, we took a dummy into the field with us this morning. I hid my Chuckit by the gate - that would have distracted Coco. The grass is short & the dummy can be seen at 50 yards. First one - Coco in a sit, I walked 40 yards and tossed the dummy another 10 yards - Coco broke his sit and ran past me for the dummy. Try again. We did 2 more, Coco was good and steady this time, and sat, waiting for my return. I could see him trying to see past me as I walked back, to where the dummy had landed. Both times, Coco ran out with enthusiasm and retrieved it with the same enthusiasm! It was amazing to see. I was so giddy with the first one that I failed to take his delivery - he won't hold it for more than half a second - I'm not bothered. Second one, I maintained my composure - perfect. I put the dummy back in my pocket, he looked disappointed. We did 10 Chuckits next. We're just messing about with this, but it's such fun and Coco clearly enjoys it. Adding distance definitely ups the enthusiasm.
Good to read at @edzbird, by the way your recent video taken in your garden inspired me to have another go with Cassie, I'd put the dummy away as it wasn't going well a while back. I'm very happy to say that she seemed happy and enthusiastic so I'm hoping to build on it now. So thank you !
That's brilliant! I'd never thought of doing long retrieves till Luna's thread -I assumed we had to perfect close ones first.
Hmm maybe yesterday was a one off. I went into the small field next door to yesterdays field - it's just been cut & there are bales to prop the camera on. First off - it was full of exciting rooks. I unclipped Coco & he bolted to the end of the field after a giant rabbit. I called him back, set the camera up on a bale and off we went. I fluffed the first toss & Coco broke sit. We tried a second one from the other end, a bit better. Then the third one, he spotted the Chuckit on top of the bale and ignored the dummy, preferring instead to try & knock the Chuckit (and the camera) off. We did 5 Chuckits. Then a successful off-camera retrieve from the grass at the edge of about 20 yards. Then he gave up an went on a sniff of the hedges. So we packed in. On reviewing the video, I found the camera had focused on a wisp of hay so the whole scene was too blurred to see! Oh, and it was raining. I give you a serene picture of the small field instead..meanwhile, I have ordered an octopus tripod for future efforts.
Ah, just sounds like there were too many distractions for young Coco. When it's like that, I tend to try to get one retrieve that I think is achievable, make the reward the best thing ever and then, either call it a day, or see if that has got my dog's attention, in which case I might try for another one or two before releasing to mooch.
yeah, you're right - way too many distractions. He did 2 average ones. I only went in this field as an attempt to capture on video! Probably give the whole thing a miss tomorrow and have some games in the wood instead.
Yep, have a couple of days away from it - that's good practice anyway, rather than doing the same thing every day. The fact he did two, even average, shows that he has the patterns in place, just needs to learn to deal with distractions a bit better. Lowering your criteria in the face of bigger distractions isn't a bad thing You're doing great!
haha, but your post made me chuckle @edzbird Maybe I should video a "normal" session with Benson..he usually races around like a demented zebedee overcome with the fact that he is going to WORK! You are doing really well and it sounds like you are both enjoying it too
I managed a little video this morning. There were 2 out takes where Coco got distracted by poo (there hasn't been any stock in the field - no idea what the poo is!) - returning to me with a brown tongue This is the third video, it's not so good, but I love the way Coco looks so happy alongside me. He breaks his sit on the second fetch, but I carried on with it anyway, since the prime goal is HAVING FUN
