Well the last 2 times we've been to our local lake Bob has been sick on the way home... it's pretty stagnant round the edges I will say that... he's been getting in and out and lapping at the water. I"m guessing this is what is upsetting his tummy. Does that mean we have to avoid the lake altogether now? It'd be a shame, but we will if we have to. I guess he'll never learn that the association that it'll make him sick by drinking the water. But also it's not an on-lead walk really, he'd pull too much because of the ducks. What are your thoughts?
Re: Sick twice after going to the lake That's a difficult one really! Could you take some fresh water with you that you could give him before he goes into the lake? Might reduced his drinking of God lake water??
Re: Sick twice after going to the lake Sounds like an opportunity to proof your lead walking against ducks to me.
Re: Sick twice after going to the lake [quote author=JulieT link=topic=10568.msg156591#msg156591 date=1429041355] Sounds like an opportunity to proof your lead walking against ducks to me. [/quote] Always a silver lining
Re: Sick twice after going to the lake [quote author=JulieT link=topic=10568.msg156591#msg156591 date=1429041355] Sounds like an opportunity to proof your lead walking against ducks to me. [/quote] Julie! You may be able to help with this actually! Off lead heel work... Bob will walk to heel nicely if I'm holding a lure for him. As soon as I say YES and give it to him, he runs off! How would I go about increasing the time he spends at my side (on my terms!) I can start practising this with him and hopefully I will be able to keep him close by my side when we walk past the dodgy stagnant water area. Thank you so much! Lou x
Re: Sick twice after going to the lake Mine don't have amazing off-lead heelwork at the moment - something else to work on! - although Shadow is naturally more likely to stay by my side for the duration of the walk just because that's how he is. Willow is more work, however, being more inquisitive. So, with her, I was finding the same as you, that after a C&T, she'd head off, so I started giving another treat immediately after the first, and then another, and another. Not every time, but doing this "streaming" on occasion means that she hangs around for a while longer to see if it's worth her while. I also have a cued "go play" release which I use regularly to try to prevent her breaking the heel by herself. You said you're luring him, and that's not a good idea after this amount of time - a lure should only be used for a very short while. Otherwise, it gets to the point where if he can't see the lure, he won't do the behaviour - understandable! The idea is that he learns to perform a behaviour without knowing there is a treat there. The way I did this was start off with the lure in my hand, asking Willow to walk to heel. Then, within a few goes, I held my hand in the same position (by my side with a finger pointing down, which was an arbitrary cue that seemed natural to me) but without a treat in it. When she walked at heel, I clicked and then treated her from the other hand (so she knew that it wasn't a lure). An off-lead heel in an environment that is highly distracting is a difficult thing to achieve and needs a LOT of proofing.
