Charlie and I have been working on down and sit at a distance and the boy has got it! He can repeat these exercises in the garden at about a 20 meter distance, he can now do down and then straight into a sit without moving from his position all with just hand signals. I am hopeful that this will assist when I come to teach a down at a distance whistle. Also training inside within our heel work is a WAIT, so what I do is, I move Charlie follows, I stop, he stops sits by my side, I command WAIT and move on a few steps and command heel where upon Charlie reaches my side bum very quickly hits the floor and looks straight at me and he can do this several times in one session. Teaching non verbal heel work too and he is really good at that watching me and he knows what I expect him to do. I knew that brain was in there some where he has just been hiding it so well : Good boy Charlie Not gloating at all I promise just hope this is correct : Helen x
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance That all sounds really good to me, Helen. I also do the exercise you describe where I leave the dog in a sit and walk away. After a few steps I tap the side of my leg without breaking my stride or looking back and the dog will come and join me and walk to heel again. I teaches the dog to keep his eyes on me when I walk away and hold his focus. If your dog doesn't understand the hand signal yet simply tap the side of your leg first followed by the verbal command heel. In no time he will respond to the hand signal alone.
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance Heidrun thank you, I do the leg tapping whilst walking away also which he does understand and combine everything and mix it up in all our heel work exercises to keep him on his toes , I am going to try these in the garden off lead next week as I am confident he is ready. He can do these when out on a training line for our Total Recall exercises with some distractions too, so I feel he should be OK. Famous last words : Thanks for the advice as always. Helen x
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance Great work on the sit and stay at a distance!!! Now, can you come here and teach that to Obi ;D
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance Oh Rachael I think the commute may prove to be a little difficult ;D Perhaps I should start posting my own little training videos to help you ;D Thanks Helen x
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance big pat on the back to both of you,......very well done, you are working very hard with the training and it is starting to pay off
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance I'm struggling my way through the first few bits, Helen, can't get the distance in at all yet! So fab, well done!
Re: Down & Sit at quite a distance Julie, lets not forget that my Charlie is 2 1/2 years old : so I wouldn't start worrying about your Charlie just yet ;D Helen x
