I've been having a bit of trouble with the drop. Ella is generally responsive and will drop on both hand and voice signal but she has a bad habit of standing or sitting up straight after she has dropped. When I'm at obedience training (and training at home) I want her to walk at heel then drop when I ask and remain dropped until we move onto the next cue. She will do this perfectly for stand and sit but not drop (she will sometimes but not often enough). I'm having a bit of a mental blank and can't think of steps to help improve this. Any ideas? Thanks ☺
We do this exercise too. What are you doing with your hands when and after you give the drop cue - is it possible that after you give the cue you're moving one or both hands in a way that even vaguely resembles your cue to continue heeling? Or moving your body in a way that indicates movement (eg leaning over to give the cue but then straightening up after?). The conventional way to extend the drop is to delay giving your marker, and/or to continue to give food rewards for maintaining the position (gradually decreasing the frequency) but I'm guessing you've tried those things. I'd also be doing a lot of drops round the house and rewarding them heavily - make the drop position the 'place to be'
Thanks Rachael. The hand signal I've been taught is using my right hand, palm flat facing towards the dog and motioning down from about my hip height infront of her nose, towards the ground (kind of like a slow motion karate chop I guess!). Obviously this means I do lean over and then stand up so they suggested that, to begin with, we remain down with the dog on the ground so that we don't indicate an upwards movement like you mention. The trouble is, even if I end up kneeling on the ground next to her, she still stands up straight away most times. Funnily enough, I can actually get her to stay in a drop when I step out in front for a stay and when I return to a heel position around the back of her. Hmmm... As I'm writing this I'm beginning to wonder if it has anything to do with her being able to watch me? When she is standing or sitting in a heel position and when she is in a drop but I'm out in front at the end of the lead she is watching me. I don't think that's as easy when she's in a drop position at heel. I guess, as usual there's no magical answer, it's just time and practice. I'll definitely do lots of drops around the house and keep working on it. Thanks ☺
I use exactly the same cue. Maybe instead of trying to increase the duration of the down, first try phasing out your upper body movement, so that she'll go down with the hand cue only, with no 'whole body' body cue. When you initiate a drop for the purposes of a stay, what are you doing that is different to what you do for the 'drop on the move'?
Ooh yes, I'd like to remove the 'whole body' cue as it is getting more and more tricky for me and my fat belly (seven weeks and counting haha)! I'll try to begin that process. The drop on the move and the drop and stay are essentially the same. However, the only thing I can think of that's different when I do the drop stay is that I do the "stay" voice and hand cue basically as soon as she hits the ground so perhaps that's a stronger, more understandable cue for her.
Trying to think back to when I was teaching this exercise to Obi.... Pretty sure I introduced a 'wait' right after I gave my 'drop' cue to give him the idea that he should not get up. Eventually I stopped doing this once he got the idea. So maybe try that for the 'drop on the move'. Sounds like she thinks she has to get up again if she doesn't hear the 'stay'. In our class we were also doing an exercise that involved getting your dog to drop/sit/stand on the move and stay in that position while you kept walking. Handler had to do an about turn then walk straight back past the dog again (remaining on the same side of the dog, so passing dog with dog on right), then do another U-turn and pick up the dog on the way back in the heel. I found it hard to co-ordinate myself with that kind of exercise. One thing I do is always step away with my right leg first if I do not want my dog to come with me (as in a stay or as in the exercise I just described), and I step away with my left leg if I do want my dog to come with me (as in continuing with a heel). If you don't already do this, just start doing this and be consistent about it and Ella will pick up on it. It will help her to work out when she's meant to come with you and when she's not meant to.
I have my positions and then "wait". And I trained my release cue to death on 'wait' (but nothing else apart from placeboards). So my 'wait' now applies to anything - sit, stand, down...and my ambition is he never moves after wait until another cue or 'release'. I just can't have sit, down, stand meaning 'and stay until I say' because the rest of the family ruin it. I ban them from using 'wait' and they use 'stay' which he takes to mean 'hang around for a bit unless the prospect of getting a biscuit seems higher if I move'.
Oberon, we already do the left foot to follow and right foot to stay so that's good. I agree, it seems like she thinks she's doing the right thing by standing back up unless told to stay. I do use wait for other things so will give it a go with the drop until I ask her to move again. Oh, and I totally get the coordination issues at training! I usually have to practice everything in the lounge room with a lead in my hand and no dog before I can attempt to show Ella! JulieT I have issues with the family ruining my cues as well! I sometimes think I should have come up with a secret language that only Ella and I understand but that could be a one way ticket to the loony bin
