Today I tried a slightly simplified version of the exercise that Frankie, with Murphy, has put on video, in the gun dog section. I left Molly in a sit, walked about 15 yards away, dropped a dummy, walked back to her and picked her up to heel (off lead), we walked about another 10 yards heading away from the dummy, she sat, I continued another 5 yards, turned and called her to me. Then I sent her back for the dummy. She did it perfectly and I was delighted! So I thought we'd do it again - second time also perfect. So why on earth did I decide to do it a third time ?? She did the stay till I got back to pick her up and then just wandered off! And who can blame her? We just played after that. :
Re: I need to learn when to stop! ;D ;D It's so easy so see when you should have stopped in retrospect, isn't it! Sounds like it went great up to that point though
Re: I need to learn when to stop! hah hah - sorry to giggle, but I used to do this all the time! "Keep doing it until it goes wrong". The thing is, it's quite easy to get a dog to do something once, but then you can't repeat it and it's unreliable. The thing is to be able to get each element "fluent and reliable" and proof it properly, then add it up to an exercise. It's more boring to do, and you don't get the satisfaction of seeing a complete behaviour quickly, but it's how you get the long term performance (I tell myself, anyway ;D ;D ;D ). Best of luck with it, even though, she sounds to be doing great.
Re: I need to learn when to stop! Oh well, we all live and learn Gotta keep 'em wanting more. You still did a great job with the first two
Re: I need to learn when to stop! If I had a pound for every time I did that I'd be really quite well of ;D
Re: I need to learn when to stop! Sounds great! I have a smiliar problem with maisie retrieving at the mo, she doesnt have quite the drive that murphy does but i forget this and do too many in one go so it always ends with her not retrieiving and entertaining herself! I know we are meant to leave them wanting more but its easy to forget! Lol
I have the same problem. Being a first time owner it's way to easy to keep going until it breaks. I'm trying my best to stop in time now, slowly getting better. But, as you all know, it's difficult to call it a day when the dog performs well and the sun shines. Then comes the clouds and the dog has erased it's memory completely Fun times. But, we all live and learn!
If that happens (and it happens too regularly with me, too), I just finish off on a very easy iteration of the same activity so we can end on a high. It's definitely a steep learning curve
Did much the same yesterday with Juno I the garden. Got her 2 new dummies out for a little practice with retrieve. worked well for the first 2, on the 3rd Juno ran to me, dummy in mouth, dropped the dummy, grabbed the other dummy off the ground (all in what appeared to be one move ) and went for mad run around the garden. I left her to have a run and after 2 laps she happily brought the dummy back and dropped it at my feet - delivery to hand is unreliable at the moment but then we haven't had much practice his year....So does that count as a successful retrieve or not. Well she brought back a dummy, if not the one she went to retrieve, and she did come back so I'm viewing it as a positive but that's because I love seeing my girl run at the moment
