Let It Be Known that young Brodick, Chaser of All Wildlife Things Furred and Feathered, stayed in a Wait today, Off his long line, while two crows flirted horribly with him, chase us, chase us....you know you want to....GOOD BOY! Now crows aren't quite rabbits or ducks on the Brodick Scale of Gleeful Chasing (he hasn't met deer yet but I imagine they would be off his scale, squirrels nearly are...) but they are pretty exciting and two months ago this wouldn't have happened. he's been off his long line now for a week and fingers crossed been excellent. He really pack walks now, waits for me, looks to see where I am, he even stopped and sat next to me while I tied my shoelace the other day, unheard of behavoiur! his 'nose down furiously wagging tail spaniel look' is still there sometimes but not nearly so much. We have a new routine where he spends the first half hour of his walk on flat parkland with him and Cuillin racing and retreiving their balls, I've stared to build a little bit of steadiness stuff into this for him, but mainly he just gets to race about retreiving to me and burning off a bit of his energy.... then we go up the hill into RABBIT COUNTRY. I take a deep breath and focus...I only recall him up to and including 7 out of ten on the distraction scale, and he has been brilliant. One wobble when he REALLY wanted to run off into the gorse and hunt. A wee while ago ago it would have been byeeeeee and off. This time he stopped when I called him, turned round and looked at me, wagging slowly, you could see the conflict in his wee head... I KNOW I should go to her but I REALLY want to go there....I suddenly pounced into the grass and yelled MOUSE!! and he shot up to me, so no failure! he will heel walk off lead past the Woo Hoo Ducks Lets Chase Them Pond now as long as I have ham stuffed by his nose, will wait a wee while before I try waits for him there! We are still at a fragile state and I have to watch his body language like a hawk but he has made such good progress, really pleased with the him!
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... What a good boy ;D ;D Its lovely when they behave so well , a proud moment, bless him
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... Debsie, looks like you are making great progress with Brodick. Wish we had rabbity ground down here. I went all the way up to Derbyshire at the weekend to train my spaniels on rabbits but hardly any about in all the places that were riddled with wabbits just a couple of years ago. :-\
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... Debsie, woo hoo, fantastic work, what a major step forward, I am truly jealous Good boy Brodick what a good boy Not so many rabbits around here this year either Heidrun. Helen x
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... Debsie just wanted to add that your post has really given me hope that this will be Charlie - SOON, as an avid chaser of anything that moves, he has been on his long line for months now and does really well not to reach the end when a furry creature or feathered one shows itself, David gives a stern LEAVE IT and Charlie has been then sitting/waiting until said creatures have run for cover ;D We were wondering if we should chance him off lead to test him, a little scary though as we have lots of deer around us and a bit worrying that he maybe tempted to chase and start self rewarding all over again if a verbal command didn't stop him. Maybe we should just keep going, anyone have any opinions on this one?? Thanks Helen x
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... [quote author=charlie link=topic=1454.msg10043#msg10043 date=1367319612] Debsie just wanted to add that your post has really given me hope that this will be Charlie - SOON, as an avid chaser of anything that moves, he has been on his long line for months now and does really well not to reach the end when a furry creature or feathered one shows itself, David gives a stern LEAVE IT and Charlie has been then sitting/waiting until said creatures have run for cover ;D We were wondering if we should chance him off lead to test him, a little scary though as we have lots of deer around us and a bit worrying that he maybe tempted to chase and start self rewarding all over again if a verbal command didn't stop him. Maybe we should just keep going, anyone have any opinions on this one?? Thanks Helen x [/quote] I personally would not let any of my dogs off the lead in an area where there is deer, game or live stock and the dog hasn't got a 110% stop whistle.
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... As soon as Pippa posts the Stop Whistle training I am going to get cracking with it, as I truly believe it could be invaluable to us in helping Charlie. Helen
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... Thanks all, I've given him a Lunchtime Pat in praise... Helen until a week ago Brodick had been on his long line in the 'hills' - ie rabbit central - since mid November, the fateful morning he first Chased out of control and lured Cuillin off with him and they both ended up teetering on the edge of a very steep and long cliff drop....so about five and a half months... he's only been on a line in areas where there is wildlife, in beaches and parks he is fine and off lead/line. Even as of last week he has only been taken off his long line in the 'hills' where we have been 'practising' for the past 5 months, an area where he can't come to any harm if he were to chase, and I know there are just rabbits that bolt into gorse and ducks that fly off quickly...the worst that could happen to him is he'd get stuck in gorse... When we visit my sister, who has deer in abundance round her, he is on his flexi the whole time. When we leave this area we walk in most days and go to the next hill for a change, where there are rabbit runs that snake down the side of the hillside and eventually emerge onto roads, he is fimly long lined still. My top priority is his safety and I'm not confident enough by far yet that he won't ever chase, and I know if he did chase I can't stop him. But I figure there are worse things in life than a 200ft bit of rope attached to you, he still gets to run happily and we can practice his training under higher levels of distraction. I'm with Heidrun and and as a Chaser I won't be happy letting him off anywhere where he could be in any danger (including getting completely lost) until I am totally confident I can stop him. Like you that's my next task, he is going back to his Gundog trainer next week to get started on that very thing! Hope thats helpful, I guess like everything his new freedom is coming in stages...
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... Thanks Debsie, we have a way to go yet, might increase the length of his long line from 10 mtrs to 15-20 to give him a little more freedom and just keep training one day, one day.... We are going back to Annie the gundog trainer we use on the 15th May to do hopefully retrieving and I will to talk to her about a stop whistle Helen x
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... we will get there helen! Brods' long line is hugely long, I'm now an expert at avoiding tanglage! But as you say it means he can run about, and he is getting used to scampering around at the 30m ish zone, so I don't think it was such a biggie for him when it was removed, he was used to being able to go that far and no further...as a little aside, I have been helped by Cuillin with his new freedom, if he runs with any purpose anywhere (a careless lope is ok) she races after him and quite forcefully stops him and chases him back! She is such a pack dog that one, likes everyone to be together. When friends run with me and the dogs if anyone lags behing she herds them in again (not as forcefully as she herds Brodick mind you, more encouragingly!)...Pack Prefect!
Re: Way to Go Brodick.... That's so funny, Hattie is the same, races after him and herds him in, when he listens ;D My only issue is when Hattie is off lead Charlie becomes very pingy on his line as he thinks something interesting is happening and wants desperately to be with her which is why we do them seperately to enable us to concentrate on his training and then at weekends they go together to proof Charlie which seems to work well. Helen x
