My 10+ week old loves to chase the tennis ball in our back yard. At first he'd chase it then go on to something else. This past week he's learned that if he brings it back to me I'll throw it again. It working about 3 out of 5 times. I have him start at my left side in the sit position, then use the stay command combined with a hand motion. I throw the ball, say go and he's off. I need a command word to teach him to get into the ready position next to my feet sitting and waiting for the go command. What's word I should use? "Set" seems to close to sit and "ready" seems odd to me. Is there a command hunters use? This is a nice 5-7 minute exercise he seems to getting on to very nicely.
I'm certainly not a training expert but I can't see why you would need another word between putting him in the stay and then releasing him with the go. Stay should mean stay there until released and could be in a sit, a stand or in a down position and the go could mean to run free, go play etc.When playing I use 'fetch' as the release to go for a ball and save 'go' for other activities.
I don't want to have to "put" him in the stay position that I desire. He brings me the ball, most often drops it in front of me then waits, facing me. I want him to move around to my left side, sit, and wait for the next toss. Just trying to find a command word that I can teach him to get in that position for the next throw and "fetch". In time I expect him to drop the ball and automatically move to the waiting position.
It would be normal to use 'heel' to get him to swing round to sit on your left hand side, straight, ready for a retrieve. I don't use the cue 'heel' but use 'close'. Close means be on my left hand side, walking if I'm walking, or sitting if I'm stood still. If you are going to use this to line your dog up for a retrieve, when you train 'close' as a sit on your left hand side, take care to train it so the dog is straight with his chest pointing in the direction you are facing (so he runs straight). If your dog is only bringing the tennis ball back 3 out of 5 times, and has only been bringing it back for a week, and is only 10 weeks old, it is probably too soon to ask him to be steady (wait before chasing the ball). 5 - 7 minutes is probably a bit too long for such a young dog. Just three or four gentle throws, not asking him to wait, and concentrating on him bringing it back, right into your body, 100% of the time, would be the way to go for now. You might find it useful to get the book "The Right Start" from the gundog trust by Pippa if you are interested in doing fetch properly. It's really helpful.
I used placeboards to train positions around me - by using placeboards, you can get the dog to adopt positions that are very straight in relation to you. Here is Charlie learning Left (which I later changed to Close - most people use heel), and front: [click pic for vid] left front by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
I thought "heel" was the command to began walking with him by your side. I'm already using that term when on-leash during our daily walks. He's good with the wait command. That was the first command we worked with him on given the nature of our household. With treats he's 90% of the time got it. I can go out of sight for 15 seconds and come back and he's not budged. 5-7 minutes too long? No way. Not for this pup. Thx for the info on Pippa's book. I'll check it out when I finish the other 2 I'm reading on raising a puppy.
Far too long. For any 10 week old pup, even if he is destined to be a field trial champion and is from a long line of field train champions (actually, especially so). Too long playing fetch for growing joints, and the fastest way to squish retrieving drive (and if he is only bringing it back 3 out of 5 times, you've a way to go before you've got even a full retrieve). You sound keen on the gundog stuff. Get the book, you'll love it.
You can use whatever word you like. You asked what people hunting would use. Everyone that works their dog that I know uses 'heel'. It means 'by my leg on my left'. Regardless if you are walking or standing still. You can use 'rhubarb' if you want though, your dog won't care.
Funny, I was wondering this myself just the other day! I've decided that I want Simba to sit by my left side after I give him the "leave it" command when we are out on a walk, before I give him a treat. Reason being he was always walking in front of me to get the treat, and I was afraid that I would trip over him one day. So now, I say "leave it", he either veers away from or drops the offending article (mostly It's not 100% yet but pretty close) and he barges in front of me, waiting for the treat. What I want him to do is to go to my left side and sit, as I stop walking. My "heel" command is for when we are walking, too, so I didn't want to confuse him. I've been wondering what to call this new maneuver....I suppose I should have thought of "close" or "left". I would like to have a hand signal too...a bit trickier right now as mitts are required for walks. Oh well. One step at a time! He's starting to get the hang of what I want him to do now, after only a couple days he is moving (almost) into position without me luring with a treat or using the leash. The fact that we do this at least 5-8 times on a 20 minute walk helps, I'm sure
It is funny, I think, how most people train heel while they are walking forwards. It's more logical to train it while you are standing still, and then take one step and encourage the dog to come with you (then sit back down again when you stop). It is much, much, clearer for the dog, I think. Heel (or close or left) means 'by my leg on my left' whatever I happen to be doing. I trained 'close' as a walking heel cue, and 'left' as a sitting heel cue. Then realised that was a bit daft, so changed 'left' to close - so ended up with the same cue for both. Next time, I'll just train 'heel' standing still at first...
My first 'give' cue was "is that for meeeeee?" said in a very high pitched excited voice. It worked fine - just fine. I changed it after 3 gundog instructors refused to work with me in public...
Could care less about gundoging, field training, etc. I just thought it remarkable that after so little work the pup is chasing down the ball and bringing it back to me for another run, even if not every time. Will not debate the exercise issue. We will not agree.
The usual approach to teaching 'heel' in obedience training is to start with 'heel means sit by my left leg, facing forwards'. So, you teach the 'heel' as a cue to move into the position and wait there (initially luring the dog into position with food in your left hand, and quickly moving on to a hand signal instead of a lure, rewarding with food from your right hand instead). Once the dog has got that down pat you can add a step forward, to teach that 'heel means stay by my left leg when I move forward' still using the heel cue (initially luring with food). When you want to move you use the 'heel' cue and some kind of hand signal adapted from the luring movement. Then you move on to 'heel also means stay by my left leg when I move anywhere' - that means teaching the dog to stay by your left leg for turns, starting with right turn, right about turn and left turn. Left about turn is harder and is usually left till later. The cue 'heel' is used for all of the above. It's a good idea to move off with your left left leg taking the first step (even for a right turn) as it's close to your dog and acts as a big cue. If you don't want your dog to come with you (as in a stay or wait) walk off with your right leg first. Most obedience exercise start with the 'heel' no matter what is going to happen next....actual heeling, a stay, a retrieve, whatever.
It's not really remarkable, no. There is a reason why they are called retrievers. Up to you about the exercise, of course. It's not the total amount of exercise, it's the particular forces that fetch puts on joints - that are no even formed in a 10 week old pup. But yes, your pup, your choice...
I use "heel" as Rachael describes. If the dog isn't by my left, it means move around to get in position and sit. When I'm walking, it means, walk with me, by my left leg. When I'm walking and come to a stop, I expect the dog to stop and sit. I don't think it's confusing in the slightest, trained correctly. I also have visual cues - with the dog sat or stood in front, or walking on my right side, a flick with the index finger of my right hand means go round behind me to heel. If the dog is mooching around me, and I point my finger out with my arm straight by my side, they fall in beside me. Lisa that also works when I'm wearing mittens, so they're obviously taking the cue from the straight arm rather than the finger
We've just started this very cue in our training class this week and are using "heel". Everyone in the class brings their dog to the left - except OH, who does most of the handling in class, insists on it being to his right hand side (as he is left handed, he walks the dog on his right!). This will surely slow Coco's grasp of the task, but we're managing. OH does none of the training out of class
