It really is! With plenty conflicting advice at every stage along the way. This is where the "train the dog in front of you" has to come into effect. Steadiness is going out the window for a while. I know she can do it, so I can bring that back again later. For the foreseeable future, I'm going to be working on enthusiasm. The good thing about Luna is, if you tell her she's amazing and throw her a party when she does something well, she tends to want to repeat it again. And again. And again
Well, at @heidrun's suggestion, I tried doing a longer marked retrieve with a helper this evening, to see if it made Squidge any more zippy. Ummm.... yes, it did! This is the first time she's done a retrieve from a helper, so she was a bit confused who to deliver to, and then fumbled and dropped it at the end, but my focus here was speed, and we certainly got that!
Hehe, this is one of those "know your dog" things. She responds amazingly to ridiculous praise like this, and it makes her hugely more likely to repeat the behaviour. If I did that with Willow, I'd get "the look"
She soooo reminds me of Benson! He would give deep grunts of delight when I praised him...love my chocolate goof! He did start of a bit of a plodder....but boy he is fast now! He runs such straight lines too. If only I could crack steadiness with him. Luna has certainly got what it takes, easy to forget how young she is looking at that video, not a year old
Just turned nine months yesterday - and we've done very little gundog stuff, really, as we focussed more on show stuff at the start, and then the weather got too hot. I think she's a little superstar
Dogs love a little bit of a challenge and I could see she loved that. I think the dummy just slipped out of her mouth, she soon picked it up again and did a lovely delivery.
Yes, it wasn't a spit, it was just a fumble from excitement. It will have been a learning experience to hold onto it a bit better in future I did a couple of longer ones this morning, although without my helper, so they were memories at about 50m. Same enthusiasm from the little lady.
Lovely to see! Definitely stay away from the short seen retrieves on short grass, they don't teach the dog very much and will turn most dogs into plodders.
Thank you so much for this tip. I did a 50yard retrieve with Molly today -much longer than she's ever done -and it was out of sight because the field sloped. To my surprise she raced to collect it, instead of her usual amble. (Sorry Fiona, to hijack your thread.)
We also have long retrieves with Bramble, and often throw the dummy into longish grass so it is out of sight. OH throws the dummy, and yells mark or making a "brrrrrrrr....." noise to grab her attention. She seems to find those sort of retrieves more exciting, plus it allows her long legs to get into a stride
Great to watch. All these comments are spurring me to take a dummy out into a field for a longer run, rather than in our very small garden.
When I was in the UK, I kept gushing about all the amazing training places there are around. I was probably a bit tiresome. When I went to visit the lovely Beanwood gang, we walked on one such place, Wapley Common. On my way back east after leaving them, I popped back there with Luna to do a couple of retrieves. I kept the first one short because of the unfamiliar ground, but then stretched it out to about 75m. I was using a dummy wrapped in a pheasant pelt in a stocking. You can see me making more holes in the stocking before the last go. She did so well, especially when another dog appeared on the path about 30m away - you'll see the camera "look" left, then I take a few paces forwards. She looked over to it, but kept on her path back. The next day, I had a session with a new trainer and got some good tips. I started off by saying how I've put steadiness on the back burner while I tried to build enthusiasm. After the first retrieve, where I held her collar, she told me to trust her. I did, and she didn't flicker. Good girl! Mum of little faith We did some work on hunting, on marking, and discussed how to use the sort of terrain I have to work on boundaries. I have to keep in mind that a boundary doesn't have to be a physical obstacle, like a jump or water, but can be a change in the ground, such as a pathway on grass, or moving from cover to clear ground. So, I have lots of things to work on. I did some with all three dogs this morning which I'll upload in time, but my internet is slooooooow today!
Bah! Can't see the video! Those squirrels need to peddle a bit harder! It was brilliant to spend time at Wapley with you and Luna. What I found really impressive, that despite her age, the very exciting NEW place and all the delicious smells, she was so orientated towards you. Just a pleasure to watch. She certainly had oodles of drive and speed, and she LOVES to retrieve, not just retrieving but the whole pattern.
Hehe, I love this too, but the trainer also saw the other side of the dog who is constantly looking to you for entertainment, and that is that she can be a bit pushy. It's usually no more than just intent staring at me if I stop to chat, but she sometimes barks, so I'm now embarking on lots of "doing nothing" training
