Just found out that the Friday sessions Red and I go to aren’t continuing - he said the other two dogs can’t do it so he’s putting it on hold for the time bring. I am so disappointed as I learnt such a lot and felt it was really good for Red. Aah well, I will look out for other training but for now will need to do my own thing .
The same day I heard our Friday training wasn’t continuing , I got an email from the lady that did the follow on puppy course. She was offering a variety of skills but reading through, I felt Red is further along at this point so I declined. It is also in the evening and Red is happy to snooze away evenings so whist I am anxious to keep having some tuition from a good trainer, I will be patient. My DH is unwell so today I took Red to the village shop. I wanted to get the Sunday paper so tied her lead up outside the shop. I felt uncomfortable doing this (always the fear of her being taken) but I left her and went in the shop. She waited beautifully so all our sitting and staying on the forecourt on our evening walks was put to the test. I need to get my act together regarding training although every tea time I am doing a variety of made up things. One really good one is asking her to go middle and sit, then saying stay - tossing out a hand full of kibble and getting her to wait for up to a minute before giving her a release. She is brill at waiting - bless her, she looks longingly at the food and is hungry but she waits patiently. She still gets excited seeing other dogs out and about but is better at ignoring them when on lead. If I stop to chat to someone, she automatically goes middle and sits. I do treat her for this as it’s exactly what I want her to do.
Now Red is having no external training I want to keep her log going with what is happening for her at home. Red gets 3 walks a day - she does a long one with DH and Sky first thing and part of this is off lead. Then after lunch DH takes just her out for about 45 minutes - sometimes Sky is up for it but generally not. Red is always ready for this second walk as she generally snoozes the morning away. More snoozing then she becomes alert at tea time - this is when I do my training session with all her kibble. I have done a plan this week and am repeating 5 activities which include recall, stop to the whistle, impulse control, ping pong recall and a trick. I have also bought her a Clam and tried that out for the first time today - she very quickly worked out how to get the treat. Early evening I take her for a 15/20 minute walk which also has a training element then it’s home, she snoozes the evening away and then off to bed. She has 3 kongs spaced throughout the day. She is now 13 months and seems very content. Most of the time she greets visitors calmly especially family who she knows well and she knows she has to sit to get attention so she does. However, a new person visited this week and I was mortified when Red kept jumping up her - fortunately the person was ok about it. I need to make sure this doesn't become a problem.
Update: Red has had her first season which seemed to last forever but it was business as usual but both of us hyper vigilant out on walks. On the training front, I have managed to draw up several games/activities for each week as I planned to do so she gets variety in her daily training session. I am now using the cones - 4 of them - she will go round them or weave as asked. She responds well to the whistle either to come or sit. She will wait until I release her to get kibble for as long as I choose to make her. She will circle on a small stool, put her front legs on. We play lots of ping pong, under. She will walk to heel, side, turn and face. This is just some of the things she does. Apart from 2 visitors (who tend to be loud) she is greeting people nicely. I have asked these 2 people to try and ignore her, turn their backs and then give her attention when she waits or sits. The problem is them really but they are slowly getting the idea and things are calmer. She is excellent with the grandchildren and the very elderly mums. She has her fun daily playtimes and I love to see her huge body wags. I feel as if I am in a bit of a rut with her training. I could take the easy option and continue what I’m doing. I could spend time watching more online training that I have but I can’t get my head round watching that (find it very repetitive and feel it wastes a lot of my time). Think when we can get in the garden - it’s been too cold and too wet - my enthusiasm to do new things will fire up - well at least I hope so . One thing I think I should be doing more of is using toys. She has many but she is just no interested. She won’t fetch so perhaps I need to focus on teaching her how to. She will play tug half heartedly occasionally so I have not bothered with toys for ages. Still no external training and I haven’t looked for any - perhaps I should. All in all, I am absolutely delighted with her but don’t want to rest on my laurels or not give her opportunities.
Can’t believe it’s so long since I last ‘wrote’ in Red’s log. Interesting reading my last comments: We have started going out in the garden. Red has had more freedom this last week in the garden. We have had all our doors open into the garden whilst the weather’s been good. What a difference to last year when I had to follow her everywhere and she was into everything. She is a bit obsessed with bees/wasps. I have done a few training sessions out there. Also used all 5 cones and when I say ‘go round’ she trots round until I ask her to sit. I have played a couple of ‘whip it’ games with her. Also we attempted retrieving and on day she actually bought the object back to me and dropped on command into my hand several times but that was a fluke as I’ve tried it since and she won’t retrieve. Inside the house, I have started training a clicker retrieve - we are at the very early stages but so far so good. I have checked all this out and there’s nothing locally. Everyone seems to be doing puppy training and one to ones. We still haven’t conquered the jumping up - it’s only two friends she does it to. It is improving with one but the other is proving more difficult. In all other respects Red is excellent in the house and an absolute delight. She is growing into a really beautiful dog. Red has finally discovered her toys after showing no interest and will amuse herself nicely a few times a day. This is good - was thinking I’d wasted a lot of money but lovely to see her playing with more things. All the ‘tricks’ I trained last year, she remembers. This post isn’t very focussed so apologies to anyone who is reading it. She is being spayed next week so we will need to take it gently. Then I need to have a bit more of an action plan if I can’t find a trainer. Would love to let her do more agility and scentwork - I suppose I can set up a course in the garden and do a few scentwork exercises.
Have you thought anymore about the course in the garden?im hoping to do same but unsure how to go about it. My dog knows to how to basics already but I want to perfect it.
No I haven’t thought anymore. I have got some cones so can do various things - going round, weaving, sending her to one and asking her to sit or down. Scentwork - I can do a few trails. I would like some agility equipment but feel that might be a bit extravagant. I could do a small Rally course. Really there is plenty I can do - just need a plan. I am certainly glad we did the training we did last year or I wouldn’t have a clue .
Red is approaching 18 months. This past month she has had her spay and has recovered from that. The patch on her leg that she licked badly has healed and the hair is growing back but you can still see the patch. We had to put a cone on her which she eventually got used to and this past week she has just had it on at night. It’s now gone away. Being on restricted exercise was not easy but we tried to follow the vet’s advice to give her the best chance of recovery. We played lots of games which she loves but walking her on lead all the time was tough. She’s 21kg now and although I know that isn’t heavy for a Lab, she is very very strong. She’s done a lot of pulling especially when seeing other dogs - she wants to go and say hello to them all! We are working on this. In all other respects she is a very good dog except one thing..... Biggest training issue is ‘leave it’. If she gets something she wants, it’s impossible to get her to leave it. The other day she ate sugar beet that is lying by the edge of a field (it’s a crop around here so lots gets left to rot) and was very sick. She ate it again yesterday on her walk/run but wasn’t sick. In the garden it’s large stones and lumps of soil. She knows immediately it will bother us and will do everything not to give it up. We have tried to show we are not bothered but she just knows they are things she shouldn’t have. I feel we need a training plan but not sure what. Would appreciate any help if you have gone through this.
A very high value treat as a ‘swap’ worked for us. We started with stinky tripe sticks, manchego cheese is another good one. Now Keir will drop anything with the word ‘give’ - but it took months to train. Best to start the training with something you are not bothered about her having, but not a usual toy. @snowbunny has described a good method - but I haven’t used it as the ‘swap’ method has worked well for all of our pups. .
This is how I have gone about training it: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/teaching-drop-give-and-leave-it.21345/#post-326288
Thank you @Boogie - I am going to try the high value treat in the garden when she has lumps of soil. I think that could work. DH took freeze dried white fish treats out yesterday with him but he couldn’t get near her when she had the sugar beet in her mouth - she starts running rings around him and he doesn’t want that to escalate. He is generally very pleased with her on their walks, being off lead the majority of the time. I will start with ‘scatter’ at home @snowbunny. Unfortunately Red is not the least bit interested in tug or retrieving (but I am playing lots of games in the garden to nurture this).
