Right now I'm thinking we need a new Board just for me... 'Shameful Confessions of your Labradors Delinquent Behaviour' :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ I couldn't rally any company to come out and walk this morning to the Lakes at the Local Nature Reserve I use...so Dex and I set off alone.Its dark when I leave and Dawn is just breaking when I get there... I thought we'd go off track and explore further inland from the lakes so off we went.Dexter was really well behaved ,staying close ,checking in ,my whistle was in my mouth because we were just about to start some stop practice.....all good...He was about 20 feet in front of me when about a dozen deer bounded across the path.....oh yes,you can tell where this is going can't you :'( :-[ :-[ I blew and he stopped.....but I'm not taking any credit for that being a proper ' stop' it was pure coincidence timing to his own reaction.He was as taught as a bow,on hyper,stratospheric high alert.....I was only 2 pips into my recall whistle and still not within reach and he was off....like a racehorse.......all I could do was stand and watch him disappear .....literally,disappear which he has never done before.The light was so bad all I could see was the bouncing white under the deer tails and same of Dexter as he went into the distance ( why didn't we choose a black lab?)....... I stood still where he'd left me,I looked at my phone,6.23 am ......I blew my recall whistle and waited and he appeared running back to me in the distance ,never been so glad to see him.I put him back on the lead ,checked the time 6.24 ....so he was gone less than a minute ........and whilst I couldn't break him off from the chase,dear lord,he could have been gone out there for hours ,I could have lost him :'( :'( ......I was so lucky and I won't be going off in that direction again without a very long line attached to him ..... Still sweating about it and gutted that he's had the chance for a full on chase now ,still Just using that area,I've known I was putting us at risk of it :-[
Re: This Morning Oh Angela, what a fright you must have got. At least I know that if Lilly does that we are in a "safe" area and indeed a "safe" country. On the positive side, he did actually come back pretty quickly to your second recall which I know Lilly never would have. This is something you really can't proof against, that is the problem. Don't beat yourself up, you and Dex I think did pretty good under the circumstances. I think you deserve a stiff drink after that, Guess its a bit early though.....
Re: This Morning What a terrible fright. You must've felt quite shaky after that, you poor thing. I do agree with Jac - he came back pretty quickly. Much more quickly than the vast majority would have. The worst did not happen. Any dog, unless proofed against it, would've been off after those deer. And don't feel bad for 'taking a risk'. I take the risk of snake bite every time we go off lead in the warmer months.... Still, that doesn't lesson the sheer awfulness of how it must've felt at the time.
Re: This Morning Oh Angela scary moment I know, like Jac and Rachael have said there is absolutely no way you can ever have a walk without distractions of the deer, rabbit, pheasant, snake kind it happens and I would have been chuffed to bits if Charlie had returned after 1 minute with that many deer to chase so well done to you and Dexter Like you we are so vigilant and always check for deer and mostly we spot them but not always and we are working on Charlie being on lead sitting or walking by watching the deer with sausage in hand just like we do with the pheasants and all still very much a working progress If I were you I would walk there again with Dexter on lead and practise walking when deer are present with lots of treats, we do this where there are flocks of sheep, horses, pigs etc. it's a tough one but it will help. xx
Re: This Morning But he came back and very quickly too. But like most dog owners I have suffered that gut churning, palm sweating moment when your dog disappears.
Re: This Morning I think many of us know that hollow feeling when you don't know if they're going to come back or not but come back he did and that's a result of all your work so far......it's just never over is it. The proofing and vigilance good job we love them ! ;D
Re: This Morning You poor thing, what a fright! But he came back! That's great. How about getting a whipit stick - it is a great deal more challenging than you think getting a dog to stop mid chase after a soft toy (or maybe that's just Charlie ;D ;D ;D ) but it's a good step one if you want to stop Dex with something tempting moving very fast. You can "up" the temptation on the end of the stick...sure, it's not the same as a deer but it's a great place to start (and after all, live deer are not the place to start).
Re: This Morning I think he came back pretty quickly, he could have been gone for hours All dogs would chase given the opportunity; it was unexpected that they would be there. It is over and done with now and you can relax xx Now to train not to chase. It is difficult though as even here there aren't things to chase routinely, not even the odd rabbit, so I suppose it is 'sit to the whistle' whatever is happening.
Re: This Morning I know a lot of you have been there so I appreciate your sympathy.... I'm going to make a whipit and give it a go with him Julie.... [quote author=Stacia link=topic=8174.msg115534#msg115534 date=1412760827] Now to train not to chase. [/quote] I know that I can't,but I want to give up before I even start :'(.....I can't see a way of ever being myself or being able to provide something more interesting than that all out gallop he had this morning ..... I musnt get disheartened through.I can carry on being vigilant and getting him back before he realises ( that has worked so far......)upping the games I can play ie whipit and get back to my Stop! Book which is about training an alternative thing to chase...and of course ,his stop whistle .....I've got a block with that though too,as he isn't rewarded sufficiently by a retreive....so the stop whistle always feels boring :-\ He'll stop close by to me for food but no more than a couple of meters away from me......need to make a plan .....and then come back and ask you all for help!!! ;D
Re: This Morning We have the same problem with Charlie, not a retriever so the stop whistle is not going great and we only get a close response to it too Whipits, steak or a roast dinner doesn't do it for Charlie Recalling him before he spots it is what we are working on too. I look forward to your plan so I can work from it too ;D xx
Re: This Morning [quote author=Dexter link=topic=8174.msg115540#msg115540 date=1412762515] I know a lot of you have been there so I appreciate your sympathy.... I'm going to make a whipit and give it a go with him Julie.... [quote author=Stacia link=topic=8174.msg115534#msg115534 date=1412760827] Now to train not to chase. [/quote] I know that I can't,but I want to give up before I even start :'(.....I can't see a way of ever being myself or being able to provide something more interesting than that all out gallop he had this morning ..... [/quote] Yes you can train it. It might be a tough road, but you can train it. It doesn't work like an arms race of rewards - roast chicken vs deer - it works through the process of training and conditioning a response. You know that, I know. Come on, break it down into steps - work out your strategy, and your first baby step...
Re: This Morning [quote author=JulieT link=topic=8174.msg115542#msg115542 date=1412764221] You know that, I know. Come on, break it down into steps - work out your strategy, and your first baby step... [/quote] [quote author=bbrown link=topic=8174.msg115549#msg115549 date=1412766981] You most definitely can do this Angela xxx [/quote] Thanks Girls...I'm just feeling sorry for myself ;D aren't I? I'll get a grip and get cracking ;D ;D ;D Come on Helen,we'll keep our spirits up,our stop whistle is my big push....I've had it round my neck constantly since Heidrun told me to get my brakes sorted ;D..... I need to sit down and make a plan x
Re: This Morning God forbid, but if you should ever find yourself in that situation again, Angela, there are a couple of things you could do to maybe stop him chasing. Initially he sat, either because of your stop whistle or because he was so surprised by the deer, doesn't matter which he stopped that's all that matters. You read his body language correctly and knew that he was on max alert and zooming in on those deer, in that moment I would have carried on blowing that stop whistle with everything I had whilst running over to him as fast as I could. It might not be the best of training strategies but you approaching at high speed combined with a relentless stop whistle would have stopped him in his tracks of that I'm sure. But like I said, just something to use in an emergency situation to prevent a full blown chase.
Re: This Morning [quote author=Dexter link=topic=8174.msg115567#msg115567 date=1412772117] Come on Helen,we'll keep our spirits up,our stop whistle is my big push....I've had it round my neck constantly since Heidrun told me to get my brakes sorted ;D..... I need to sit down and make a plan x [/quote] I'm with you honestly, we haven't given up cacking this one as Heidrun told us we need Charlie's brakes in tip top operation xx Heidrun, that's really interesting to read that in an emergency you can continue to blow the stop whistle until you reach your dog. I don't know if you remember when we went to HH training and Charlie got stuck in the mud flats, the trainer was blowing that whistle like crazy and he got himself out and back to us, it was not a stop whistle more of a frantic whistle but whatever it worked x
Re: This Morning [quote author=charlie link=topic=8174.msg115586#msg115586 date=1412778932] [quote author=Dexter link=topic=8174.msg115567#msg115567 date=1412772117] Come on Helen,we'll keep our spirits up,our stop whistle is my big push....I've had it round my neck constantly since Heidrun told me to get my brakes sorted ;D..... I need to sit down and make a plan x [/quote] I'm with you honestly, we haven't given up cacking this one as Heidrun told us we need Charlie's brakes in tip top operation xx Heidrun, that's really interesting to read that in an emergency you can continue to blow the stop whistle until you reach your dog. I don't know if you remember when we went to HH training and Charlie got stuck in the mud flats, the trainer was blowing that whistle like crazy and he got himself out and back to us, it was not a stop whistle that's for sure more of a frantic whistle but whatever it worked x [/quote]
Re: This Morning Oh, Angela, I'm with you! Last time we lost Simba a couple weeks ago he just disappeared, not even chasing something, just found an interesting scent, I guess. Wasn't close enough to grab the long line, the whistle was useless. But in our case it was a long half hour before he reappeared, it was getting dark and we were just about to give up....I was composing posts in my head trying to explain how I lost my dog.... So, yes. I need to work on this too. More total recall, and start the stop whistle training. I have a feeling that I will have the same problems with the stop as well, though, rewarding him with a retrieve for a stop is not that rewarding to Simba. So I'm with you and Helen on that....
Re: This Morning In an emergency I don't care what it takes and, yes, I will repeat a whistle command to get a dog back. In Angela's situation I would have just blown that stop whistle without drawing breath until I reached the dog. And then praise and shower him with treats or whatever to reward him. But I would do anything to prevent an imminent chase.
Re: This Morning I reward Charlie's stop with a tennis ball, and so it's my strongest cue (anything that I can reward with a ball is both fast to train and strong). But I don't think it's normal to do this - it's a fantastic short cut if you can do it, but it's not necessary. At training on Sunday, every other dog in my part of the class was starting stop whistle - with a clicker, and food, and in tiny steps. I don't think anyone needs to despair because they can't use a tennis ball or a retrieve.
