Really enjoying reading all the thoughtful posts. I ease my foot off the training accelerator sometimes for various reasons, then get back in the saddle, again, for various reasons. I'm starting a course of gundog workshops on Saturday and they will really motivate me to up my game ('scuse the pun)! Thanks @JulieT for the reassuring advice about taking something one helpful step further doesn't have to mean huge amounts of effort.
Harley has been such an incredible teacher for me with regards to the demon of perfectionism. I am the type of person that considers myself easy going and laid back. And then all my friends laugh. And laugh. I know that I can be intense and detail orientated (thats what I like to call perfectionism) but apparently I am more so than I think. My perception is skewed. Harley, however, couldn't give two hoots about my need to do things 'just so'. Before we got Harley I read and researched, everything I could get my hands on. I watched documentaries and Youtube clips. This is my normal M.O. because knowledge is power. And then Harley arrived and knowing that stuff helped but it wasn't a super power to will her into doing it until she was ready. So I have learned to 'roll with the puppy punches' and embrace the fact that I have a goofy, overcited yellow dog that wants to leap on everyone and lick children like they are lollipops. I know it is different for those of you who are training for a purpose other than to have both arms the same length after a walk.
We went to a session with a gun dog trainer. He took his dog with us. Walking along the path to the field the dog's nose was stuck like glue to the man's heal. Then the dog waited in a sit for over 30 minutes while he trained Homer. The dog had no spark it was almost robotic. On the way home hubby and I decided that wasn't what we wanted for Homer.
Sorry about above.......meant to highlight and it got away from me. I just thought it was hysterical what you said about ARMS......sometimes I feel as though I am dragging my knuckles on the pavement!!!! But you put it wonderfully!!!
For me it was the other way round. The first time I saw really well trained spaniels working I was totally amazed. They were hunting at 100 mph but in unison with their handlers and then the next second they would automatically sit to a flushed bird and show total self control. That's what I wanted and that's what I have been training for ever since then.
Ripple loves his gundog training lessons. He tends to spend the first part being a total loon and then knuckles down and does some lovely retrieves so we forget what an idiot he was to start with . So far he has only had 121 lessons but we start group sessions this week, still with the same trainer. He is really good with Ripple and finds ways to adjust the lessons to keep Ripple's interest .
I would never get this with my dogs and I wouldn't want it either. I am always amazed at how well gundogs are trained and how much work must go into it but instructing a dog to sit for 30 minutes seems excessive to me. x
Why does it Helen? A drive on shoot day can easily last 30 minutes if not longer. Picking up dogs are expected to sit and wait patiently until send for a retrieve and sometimes that can be until right at the end of the drive.
30 minutes for a dog just seems a long time, but I have never been on a shoot as much as I would love to just beating. Blimey I can't sit still for 30 minutes So do they sometimes have to sit for longer?
It's amazing how they keep their little butts still for so long but getting that bird is their reward for such patience I really would love to see what a shoot is all about, all sewn up where I live. Every year I try but nothing x
I'm with @heidrun. We only do obedience work, not gundog work but one of my trainers will bring his two Vizsla's to class and ask them to settle (off lead) while he takes the class. Periodically he'll call one over so that he can demonstrate something then send them back to settle again. I want to ask him to do it again just so I can watch! To see a dog with that level of trust for their owner is something I would love to have with Ella. Eager, no hesitation, no stress just watching for the next cue.
I always thought a long sit is not good/comfortable for a dog? And a prefrence for just a long period would be a drop ie: ready for a pounce kind of thing so still alert. I know this way they might not fully see the shoot and mark? Just curious being new to this
On a shoot day things are far more fluid and not as rigid as some of you seem to think. The dogs don't sit there like statues. They might sit or stand, even though I prefer a sit as a standing dog is one step closer to running in. But they move position depending on where they get the best mark on falling birds just like I would do. That's just it, they are not robots that are motionless until needed, but they are hunting partners. But to get to that level of steadiness, patience and self control you will have to practice long sit/stays in all sorts of situations with distractions. That's why some trainers bring their own dogs and park them in a corner while they are training others and theirs dogs.
@heidrun thanks that makes perfect sense. I could not imagine the dogs to be like robots. Thinking about it when we took Vanilla to the come and try a while back she was sitting and watching things, but then re-positioned her self to watch the next bit. A bit like me Just never clicked until reading this...I can be slow at times....
