OK, perhaps the title is a little misleading A couple of weeks ago (when the kid was sick) I raced Ella up to the park and chucked the ball for her a few times. The next day she was a little sore on her back leg and it took a couple of days to be back to normal. We don't use the ball chucker much but she does get quite excited and has the occasional tumble so we've decided that we will restrict it to swimmy fetch only. I'd like to start playing some more controlled fetch games, a little more like gundog work, in the hope that we can avoid any other fetch injuries. Ella has zero steadiness (she likes to start running before you throw the ball) and doesn't even give the ball back, let alone deliver to hand (I use two balls and start throwing the second ball so that she'll drop the first). So today I decided to see if I could start the clicker retrieve from the totally gundogs website. I had no idea what to expect so started right at the very beginning and marked a glance at the chosen toy (a rubber stick thing that we've never played with before). Well!! Within 5-10 mins she was picking up the toy and placing it in my hand!! What a star!
Oh that's brilliant! I love gundog and retrieving games, there is so much to them, most of all though it's great fun, and has done wonders for engagement on walks
I'm amazed at how enthusiastic she was. I can't wait to try again in the morning and I've actually been feeling a little guilty that I've never tried anything 'gundoggy' with her before. Oh well, I guess it's never too late to try something new
We loved doing the clicker retrieve from the website. Coco is now very steady to a tossed dummy. Not so to his ball chucker, but I've never really expected this of him, and I'm not sure I want to change this game - he loves it - (it is strictly limited to 10 chucks). However, by coincidence, I was playing a game yesterday, tossing a Kong tennis ball in the garden. Initially he would fly straight after it, but I decided I DID want to steady him, and in a few tosses he was doing well. He's such a star, he gets the difference between all the fetch games we play.
Well done @Emily, a great post to read. I've done some of that with Cassie in the past, and agree that all these things are brilliant for general engagement. No need to feel guilty, you do loads with her, and it maybe beneficial for her to be starting now.
Well, you've given me inspiration, I might give it a go next time the weather's pants or I'm stuck at home with a sick kid.
That is great. A friend of mine gave me a book on clicker training a gundog. I have not had time to read it yet.
I use 2 balls on a walk. I throw one, then hide the other one. When she brings back the first ball I point her in the direction of the hidden ball and tell her to ‘go find’. This has really helped teach her to search with my direction. Might be worth trying?
I get them to sit and face me then throw the ball out then get them to search. It's interesting to see what their field of vision is and then watching them engage with their nose and scent out with the ball.
Awww......bless. With Charlie of course I'm super careful with his joints - and indeed with Betsy just because it's good practice - I have a cue for 'I'm going to throw a ball'. It's 'WOWSERS'. There are loads of advantages to this. First, the movement of the ball isn't the cue to run so that helps steadiness - movement should be the cue to sit and stay sitting. WOWSERS is the cue to run (I throw the ball after the cue). Second, it allows you to position the ball so the dog isn't crashing onto it. Charlie, bless him, runs down the field like a headless chicken, stopping, starting, swinging round like a manman, looking for the ball (which I've dropped at my feet while he's doing his headless chicken routine) and then I just say 'find it' and he hunts for it - madly, tail going helicopter. All the excitement of throwing a ball, and none of the downsides. You maybe have to have a bonkers dog for that level of enthusiasm for not throwing a ball though. Still, it works reasonably well with sensible Betsy too.
We've made some progress I can now start with Ella sitting at heel, in the lounge room. I walk to the other end of the lounge room and put the live game (aka fake rubber stick) down and return to Ella. Then I send her to get it, she comes back and delivers to hand and gets some treats. We do it a few times on on a few different angles and then finished the session with a game of tuggy-catch Her enthusiasm is amazing! She's soooooooooo excited to go and get this silly rubber stick! I think we might try again in the backyard later
