Copperwheat Labradors

Discussion in 'Labrador Breeding & Genetics' started by LoopyLuna, Jun 14, 2019.

  1. LoopyLuna

    LoopyLuna Registered Users

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    Just curious whether anyone in the UK on here has (or has had) a labrador from Copperwheat Labradors? Keen to see if any of Luna's relatives might be around....
     
  2. 5labs

    5labs Registered Users

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    These dogs are bred to work, but may be a handful (and/or anxious)if not mentally stimulated. She will be a pleasure to train. Are you doing gundog training?
    Some of the Cpeerwheat dogs are Drakeshaed lines. What is her KC name?
     
  3. LoopyLuna

    LoopyLuna Registered Users

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    Yes, you are absolutely right and you insightfully also touch on one of the reasons for my post.

    Much as we absolutely love Luna, and she is a beautiful and impressive dog, we naively took on a lot more than we should have given that we were seeking our first pet dog, and not a dog to work. The advice from the breeder was that most of his dogs went to pet homes, and he wasn't concerned by our inexperience. We thought that intelligence would directly equal an easily trainable dog if we put in the effort. What we hadn't accounted for was the level of skill we would need to be able to channel her intelligence in the best way, and how challenging her drive and interest in the environment would make it to get her focused. One of her siblings is being treated for anxiety at the RVC and one of my biggest worries is that she will develop this later in life, although she shows little signs of it at the moment. She is a confident girl but easily goes over threshold making training necessary in short bursts. The whole litter is proving to be quite a handful even to very experienced owners.

    Having said that, we are doing everything we can to use that big brain of hers every day, and when she's focused she really is a joy to train. She responds well to clicker training and shaping work. We have been gundog training for 8 months, train daily and do a lot of scent work with her. She's walked twice a day, once off lead, but we focus more on the mental stuff rather than the physical exercise. Her self control is a big challenge, as is her prey drive, and despite her diddy proportions she is incredibly strong.

    Her grandfather is Garronpoint Ross of Drakeshead, so you are quite right :)
     
  4. 5labs

    5labs Registered Users

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    Yes, that is a lot of dog to have as a pet, but rest assured, the more you train with her, the better she will be.
    Garronpoint Ross of Drakeshead is my foundation bitch's father and so the grandfather of my the rest of my labradors. Two of them have just hit a year old and are starting to do really well. The boy pup has been easy and recently won his first puppy test. The girl; I have only just started formal training as she is very different! Mine are all pets first and foremost though, so be comforted to know that they do indeed make good pets, as long as you are excercising them enough mentally.

    Out of interest, with your gundog training, have you had any problems with her dropping the dummy at your feet?
     
  5. Edp

    Edp Registered Users

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    Hi, Meg has lots of Drakeshead and Pocklea from her Dads side and sounds a similar character. We persevered with her training and at about a year she started to settle down. She has become the most perfect family pet despite being the brightest dog I have ever had and she is just a joy to live with. By the way @5labs we might be nearly neighbours...I am in North Yorkshire too :)
     
  6. 5labs

    5labs Registered Users

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    Lovely, where are you?
     
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  7. Edp

    Edp Registered Users

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    Up in the Dales...on the Wharfedale/ Nidderdale boarder ! Greenhow. How about you ?
     
  8. 5labs

    5labs Registered Users

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    Yes I know Greenhow! I used to spend quite a bit of time around Evestone, Darce, Burnsall etc and still go to Fewston/Norwood regularly in the winter. It is lovely round there and you are spoilt for choice with labrador training grounds!
    I now live up near Helmsley.
     
  9. Edp

    Edp Registered Users

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    Yes it’s a fabulous place for a dog to grow up. We have lots of land as well. I am just off to run round Fewston. Helmsley is lovely too. I know where to get my next lab from now :)
     
  10. 5labs

    5labs Registered Users

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    :) We should meet up for walkies sometime :)
     
  11. LoopyLuna

    LoopyLuna Registered Users

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    Hi @5labs thanks for the reassurances. Your dogs sound lovely and what a beautiful home they must have to run around in, in North Yorkshire! Luna is actually pretty good at her delivery of the dummy and will hold it in her mouth until I ask her to drop or until I say "yes" or I click. The turning point on that was @Jo Laurens online Clicker Retrieve course which really helped us to proof the hold.

    Main issue we have in gun dog training is that she's so easily distracted, she'll get half way to the dummy and then get a whiff of some rabbit poo and she's off to investigate. She disengages very easily irrespective of the value of the treats we're using. It's getting better but is an ongoing challenge.
     
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  12. LoopyLuna

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    I love this! Glad my post has created a potential lab meet up. I only wish I was in Yorkshire too and I could join you and get the benefit of your combined experience!
     
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  13. LoopyLuna

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    If you don't mind my asking, in what way was she different? Might there be some parallels that I could learn from with my 1 year old girl?
     
  14. Edp

    Edp Registered Users

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    Ooh that would be lovely. Meg would have a blast. I should be pretty free come the Autumn..kids go to high school. We could venture North :)
     
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  15. 5labs

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    She's quite aloof so I found it hard to bond with her, and she didn't pick up new concepts very easily. She's a bit of a worrier too so I didn't want to risk confusing her and putting her off the game. The last month or so, she's finally clicked :)

    If Luna is easily distracted, it may just be that she's not motivated enough by the dummies. This can sometimes happen if we take the fun out of it by trying to tidy up the delivery before they are mad about the retrieve. As she is only a year old, I would (personally!) suggest dropping any steadiness work,letting her run in on retrieves again and don't worry too much about the delivery. It's easy to tidy dogs up again, but can be vey difficult to motivate them. This is a quote I remind myself with a lot when training young dogs:

    "If you train a young dog for momentum, precision will arrive. If you train for precision, demanding perfection, momentum will depart." - Rex Carr
     
  16. LoopyLuna

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    Thanks @5labs and I agree, that's a great quote. I will definitely apply that thinking to our dummy work - in fact, I came home from work and got the dummies out, just letting her chase them and get excited by them. Given it took me about 10 minutes to get her to bring one of them back to me, I would say she found them quite enticing!

    Her tendency to get distracted occurs with most things - she'll just wander off and sniff or eat grass. Whether that's LLW, steadiness, recall. She's just far more interested in everything other than us even though we work hard on focus games and injecting fun into training. She's a real handful so it's tricky to always be the "fun" parents when you're trying to ignore silliness. It's improving a bit but a lot slower than the other dogs at training who are really focused on their trainer (I know I shouldn't compare).
     
  17. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    @LoopyLuna - so, you can work on this. Find a suitably distracting place (you will know the sort of place, where rabbits congregate so it smells of rabbit etc) - put the dummy at your feet, put the dog on leash and click the dog just for looking at the dummy - and build up the clicker retrieve from scratch, in the presence of these distractions. When you have a secure pick-up from your feet, you can move to retrieves across the area - leaving the dummy there, moving away a little distance and sending for it.

    It is just another form of generalisation/proofing - teach the dog that everything is still the same, even in the presence of scent. If the dog is very distracted by scent, then after the delivery and treat, you can release with a 'Go Sniff' and move into the Go Sniff game - let the dog sniff within length of the long-line and watch closely to mark with a click and a jackpot when they next check-in with you - then do another retrieve, with another Go Sniff afterwards.

    This way you are building the reinforcer of the environment into the behavioural loop of the retrieve, so it is working for you and not against you as a distraction.

    Don't avoid distracting places at this point - actively seek them out and work on this, in those locations.
     
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  18. Chocmum

    Chocmum Registered Users

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    Well, this was interesting. My rocket is the grandchild of FTCH Drakeshead Vodka on his mum's side.
     
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  19. George2107

    George2107 Registered Users

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    I have a Copperwheat dog he is 9 now and is the most fantastic pet. Im really interested to hear that anxiety can be an issue sometimes because he can be very nervous about things. That being said he is brilliant in every other way. His father is Glenbriar Ralph. He has the biggest personality imaginable and is totally spoilt.:)
     
  20. LoopyLuna

    LoopyLuna Registered Users

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    Oh amazing, lovely to hear from you. What is his name? Glad to hear that he's a fantastic pet. What did you find to be his biggest training challenges as he was growing up? Wondering if there's a light at the end of the tunnel for us and our boisterous beauty :) Actually a lot of things are improving. She's 16 months old so still young.
     

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