When my boys were young the mums used to debate the merits of Gucci and Prada at the school gates. I was much more knowledgeable about the merits of Rohan and Berghaus. I have still not fully recovered from the time my old girl Remy decided to roll in cow muck on the Town Moor in Newcastle when I took her for a quick walk before pickup time. She proceeded to leap at me in full zest for life and I had to stand at the school gates with the "ladies who lunch" both dog and I absolutely dripping in the stuff. That was about 12 years ago and I still cringe......
Oh Lochan school gate mums, I remember them well In our village the 'yummy mummies' walk their Dachshunds (very popular at the moment!!) in their gorgeous outfits. I feel like a tramp in my muddy wellies, waterproofs and pockets smelling of treats and not forgetting poo bags (full) etc. when I see them coming I think they must cringe at me but I couldn't care less You can keep Gucci and Prada I wouldn't part with my Airgles x
We played doggie zen today. I really need Obi to have self control if he's to stay under orders with a lot of game around so I'm planning on doing a lot of self control exercises. Doggie Zen uses Premack principles. I put some food in a bowl and put it on the ground. Obi has no instructions at this point. When he looked at me I clicked and told him to "take it". This was pretty straightforward for him as we do this at dinner time. Then I wanted him to move towards me and away from the bowl. All good too. After this I asked for a hand touch. Each time his reward is what's in the bowl, this is the Premack element - using a highly likely event (eating the food) to reinforce a less likely event (moving away from the food). I only used kibble so will up the ante of the food in the bowl over the next few days. This is very similar to doing memory retrieves so he didn't struggle but more work to do. I think this could be a useful tool for us
We did a few little training sessions today. Obi is being possessive with retrieves so I'm using a clicker retrieve to get round that. He'll bring me stuff in the house but outside he's giving me the run around we'll see how we get on. Trying not to do retrieves is making training out and about tricky and I worry our hunting is falling apart but I can take him shooting on Wednesday so I'm hoping a short drive with some game will get us both back in the swing of things. In the meantime on top of clicker retrieves we've been doing some more doggie zen which continues well. He actually walked away from ham in the zen bowl in the kitchen this evening!!! Riley had a go with the zen bowl too and did well JulieT has also kindly lent us a wobble cushion and Obi is stepping on it confidently with little luring. Occasionally he sits down as that's his default but he's getting the hang of it. Riley needed luring onto the cushion but was far happier to stand and I even got a stutter step of rotation from him - very excited!
I know I'm just a beginner, but having watched SWMBO a lot with dogs hanging onto retrieves, she divides them into those that are possessive, and those that are hanging on to the retrieve for other reasons. Charlie's reason is he is just so darned happy to have a retrieve he doesn't want it to end, so drags it out by a little victory lap. Or a very big victory lap, depending on how pleased he is. With Charlie, and with all the dogs like him, a version of the switch retrieve was the winner, every time. I'm going to have a helper at Christmas! So I'm going to work on my doggie zen then. I really struggle to move on any more without a helper. It results in Charlie losing interest in the bowl..... Video of the step rotation please!
Actual possessiveness over an object - like you would see over a bed, toy, bone, food in the house....
Sorry I'm confused, possessiveness like Charlie or possessiveness over an object are the two options?
Possessive over the dummy is a bit of a catch all term - it just means not handling it over. But some dogs are genuinely possessive as in they resource guard. And they show signs of that over the dummy. (And other toys, often). Saw SWMBO work with a dog like that. It was nothing like Charlie..... Then there are dogs that are neither over aroused or possessive but don't want to approach the handler for some reason - the handler looms over them, or has snatched things out of their mouth etc. So, no. Not just a form of resource guarding or over arousal, loads of reasons.
That makes sense but I'm still not clear how I decide to use a switch retrieve in preference to a clicker retrieve? Sorry it's probably just me being dense.
Ah, yes, well....'fraid I don't know! Just did what I was told.... That's no bloomin' help, is it? Charlie's problem was he was just too aroused - it was all too exciting. Plus, he was perfect with his clicker retrieve when he wasn't too aroused. So it was all about managing arousal (impulse control around retrieving and settles in between retrieves to get him to switch off - more impulse control) and finding a way to get him to bring the dratted thing back when he was aroused (switch retrieve). Proofing the clicker retrieve was going to be very slow without tackling over arousal head on.
Ok I hope I'm doing something about his arousal levels with the zen stuff and I'm going to do some whipit too. I'm also working on his settle.
And it is all helpful I think I should probably perfect a clicker retrieve and see where that gets us whilst trying not to pin my hopes on it being the total solution
Obi's first day shooting !!! I posted on Facebook for some advice as to whether or not to take him and what to do. The over-riding feedback was to err on the side of caution so that's what we did. I asked the keeper which drives had the most cover as cover will keep him close and hopefully stop him romping through the rest of the drive like a dose of salts!!! The second drive still had a maize cover strip in place so I decided to take him out first(leaving Riley in the car) for the first and second drives. He stayed on his lead for the first drive and although he was a bit all over the place he wasn't completely mental. He could still sit when asked which gave my arm a rest There was a chap there with two beautiful, impeccably behaved cocker spaniels which just cruised around mostly at heel, if they trundled off somewhere for a sniff they came back to find him and walked at heel for a bit longer. They hunted when asked and chilled out by dad otherwise. It was very impressive and I was most jealous!! I asked him how'd he'd achieved such wondrous behaviour and his response was "I just keep them on their leads until that's what they do" I thought there might be slightly more to it than that but he was a quietish chap so I didn't want to grill him(I was very tempted though!). I think he though Obi was a bit batty and teased me about how long my arms would end up but everyone knew he was just a baby really. Everyone loved him and we didn't cause any trouble so he'll be allowed back. Now on to the serious work of offlead heelwork(for both my dogs!), steadiness and sorting out this running around with the retrieve!!! Here he is waiting for the first drive to start
Yay! A photo. Jealous, Jealous, Jealous. I can't even achieve that on Wimbledon Common! Although to be fair to Charlie, I could probably achieve it easier in a field full of pheasants.
It was funny I thought, like many working spaniels, that his dogs were just focused on him and the work but when, at the end of the day, I went to say hello to them properly they gave me great big squirming lean in cuddles against my legs. Really, really lovely dogs in temperament and training. Much to be jealous of
He's beautiful Barbara, and looking very keen in that photo! Did you let him off lead for the second drive? How did that go?
He was only off his lead while we were deep in the maize cover crop. I probably kept him too close and on one occasion he made a bid for freedom. Slightly frenzied recall on my part brought him back, I did a little more with him so as not to put him straight on his lead and then made sure he was close and slow as we got to the flush point at the end of the crop. I'd been told to be wary of flushing points as they can be heavy with game on the ground so hang back and let the flush happen without help from a crazed Clumber!!
