I only ever used this when withholding rewards for my old girl Tess, never used on Sam until now after reading the posts about it . He has had a very annoying habit of delivering the dummy/ball most of the time but at others, he comes to me with the retrieve in his mouth , sits and stares but wont deliver , this happens about 2 times out of ten .Up until now , I have ignored this but then reading about positive punishment , yesterday I decided to get more firm with him so , when he refused to give the dummy , he had a small wrap on his nose with my hand, he immediately gave up the dummy , at which I told him he was a really good lad . This morning at the woods , I didnt have to do this once ,he did have one attempt to hang on , but then thought better of it . I honestly hate the thought of punishment but I do know my own dog and know that to him , its a big game and one he sometimes wants to win, which wont do at all . Was thinking , what if he picked up something dangerous and wouldnt give up when told so I guess the off wrap on the nose is a small price to pay , plus we had such lovely deliveries this morning, he was really happy to be pleasing so much .
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry Ok, I have got my gundog trainer's hat on this morning. When my dogs are carrying a retrieve I will not punish them in any shape or form. It could cause anxiety and I think it could put the dog off retrieving or even cause hard mouth. I know you are not intending to work your dog, Kate, so the hard mouth issue is probably of no concern to you. To me it is vital to preserve the tenderness of my dogs' mouths. I know you are not into clicker training but that would be one way to train a super delivery to hand and all without any positive punishment.
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry Oh dear , I really thought I had it sussed, it seems not . No Heidrun , Sam wont be worked as such but I am anxious to do the right thing and would absolutely hate to think I had done the wrong thing by him in any way . It truly was only a light tap, but if its the wrong approach , I shall go back to basics and have a rethink , thanks for the imput .
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry Hi Kate One of mine developed the annoying habit of sometimes refusing to give to hand, she would drop on command, present beautifully but wouldn't let me take it out of her mouth. My tactic for dealing with this was rather than get into a tug of war I simply turned my back on her, she walked round to look at me and gave me the dummy. I never worked out why sometimes she refused to deliver and other times was fine, for example it could be retrieve number three out of half a dozen. Anyway, the back turning seemed to work, although we never truly cured the problem but created an alternative I suppose. Might be worth a try with Sam. Kerryn
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry I`ve done that Kerryn,thanks anyway . If I turn my back , he still wont release but carries for a while but sometimes will nudge me, so I try again and still he wont release , its like its all a big game, which I suppose it is . On the whole he is a really good dog, so I guess as I wont ever work him , I should just ignore this and carry on .
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry Kate, if you have done this once and it works and your dog is happy and now gives you the ball/dummy, I would think you have used the right method for him. However, if you had to continue doing it and had to "tap him on the nose" harder and harder, then not. I really cannot see a problem with a wee bit of positive punishment if the dog then behaves and remains happy and confident. Stacia
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry Thanks Stacia , just come back from a lovely woodland walk , his deliveries were perfect every time , only had to do the one nose tap yesterday along with stern words , not saying he wont do it again though but for now, he is doing really well, very eager as always and no confidence knocked at all . I hate the thought of doing the wrong thing and wouldnt ever ever hurt him , love him too much for that x
Re: Positive Punishment, again sorry My dog does that most of the time, not giving the ball back to me. Seriously chasing her for it which i think not a good idea. Now I'm thinking of obedience training for her.
