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Field January 2013

6K views 72 replies 12 participants last post by  Claudia M 
#1 ·
Cheers!

Should we all do an update of what we will be working on in the New Year???
 
#31 ·
Super!! Someone must be getting a Puzzle puppy :)
 
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#32 ·
A really good day at Dan's!
We went today instead of tomorrow, because it was 50 degrees, sunny, although windy. But 50 degrees in CHICAGO in JANUARY??? Unheard of!
Did some lining and casting drills, just to be sure he's still okay on them. We're still not running blinds with him, but both are convinced he's not forgotten the skills.
Then some really hard marks, his hunts were wonderful. Long, thorough, intelligent hunts. Again, quite pleased. He did have some trouble with over running the shorter marks angled in from the gun after running longer ones angled out. Something to work on next week.
The best part was the upland hunting. I can now officially say Tito is steady to flush. No whistle, no command. Bird goes, if he doesn't catch it on the takeoff (which he is pretty good at, btw) butt hits the ground. It was so exciting for me!
And now I have 4 nice cleaned chukkars to cook :)
 
#33 ·
It has finally gotten better here and half our yard is no longer icy. So we took Rose outside after working with her in the house with the paint roller - she did great - took it great, held it (getting great - she is not quite steady) and gave it on the "leave it" command.
Now, outside she stays good and waits for the marks, brings the bumper back to your left, around you (which drives DH crazy :p - I instilled in poor Rose that every time she comes to me she goes around and sits at my left) but then she drops it, she doesn't hold it to wait for the "leave it" command. grrrrrrr I have been munching all day on how to correct this.
 
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#34 ·
Claudia, just curious, if you use "leave it" for her to give something up, what do you use if she is to leave something alone, i.e., not pick it up at all?
I use "leave it" to mean "don't even think of touching that".
I use "out" to mean, "put it in my hand"
I use "drop it" to mean "drop it onto the ground"
 
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#35 ·
I was wondering if you all would mind sharing how often you train and how long a training session might be. I'm sure seasons have something to do with it too.

Normally we train outside once or twice a week in the winter. Those training sessions are short less than 1/2 hour each. My girl is only 6 months old. Then indoors we have one training session for hunt on Saturday for 2 hours. Then we start obedience class tonight for 1 hour. Just curious what everyone else does.
 
#38 ·
I was wondering if you all would mind sharing how often you train and how long a training session might be. I'm sure seasons have something to do with it too.
Once or twice per day, 3 days per week. About 15 minutes per dog on most drills and exercises.

Choose whatever word you like as a command or cue. Dogs do not speak English. Keep it simple; no sentences if you're going to require compliance. To convey that I don't want a dog to pick something up when he's reaching for it, it's "No". That's what 'no' means; don't do that.

To release a fetch object, it's "Drop"; whether in my hand, or for remote drop - same command. Keep it simple.

EvanG
 
#36 ·
Very seasonal....we try to train once a week, at Dan's for 1 hour. It's a private lesson, so it's pretty intense as he's kept moving the whole time. Other than that, we also do an agility private lesson (1/2 hour) once every-other-week.
It would be much better if we trained more. My bad.
 
#37 ·
Thanks Barb - I actually use "Leave it" with everything, Leave It when the cat is trying to get her attention, "leave it" when the squirrels are running in the back yard, "leave it" when we walk in the neighborhood and other dogs are around or people running, and "leave it" when she has something in her mouth including what she is not supposed to have or the paint roller, bumper etc.
But the problem is she drops it before I can even say "leave it". She just drops at my feet on my left.
I will try to figure out how to teach "out" to put it in my hand. Any input is sincerely appreciate it.
 
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#39 ·
I taught the distinction between "drop it" and "out" because of the obedience ring. I want him to understand he needs to put the glove, article, dumbbell, in my hand, not just open his mouth and release it. It's worked well carrying it over into field, too, as "out" means put the bird gently in my hand.
I did it by teaching the "hold" command first. Then I would gently grab whatever was in his mouth, and tell him "out". Generally he was quite ready to release it anyway, so it was natural for him to just release it when I said "out".
I taught "drop it" with the tennis ball in the yard. When he comes back with the ball, he has to drop it at my feet...or it won't get thrown again, which in his world would be a major disaster. So I would say "drop it", and he would, and the reinforcement would be another retrieve. It transferred over to other things easily.
 
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#40 ·
Rose would leave the paint roller quite quickly - she hates that thing in her mouth. I did the take it, hold it and Leave it.
She may actually know that I would not want dead birds in my hand and she is practicing in advance by just dropping it to the ground. :D

Will work also on Drop it and out.

Thank you Evan - I only use short commands. The full sentence story telling is when she lays with me in bed - otherwise is boot camp command.
 
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#41 ·
I find the "drop it" command to be one of the most useful ones he knows. For example, putting away his own toys :D which is a combination of the commands "take it", "go", and "drop it".
Also good for when he has something, like my shoe, and I see him from across the room and don't want to get out of my chair to go get it from him, I just tell him "drop it" and then "leave it". Or if I want the shoe, "bring it". He has never chewed on a shoe, but he does tend to carry them around the house, making them hard to locate when I want them!
On the other hand, if I send him to get the remote, or my cell phone, for example, I do NOT NOT NOT want him to drop it on the floor. Hence the command "out" is pretty useful, too.
He's a good boy. :)
 
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#42 ·
You frame the context of commands during training. They certainly recognize when you reach for the fetch object that they do not release it until the command is given. That's one situation. Using the same command, aka "Drop", mine release and remote drop as commanded, and they understand that context because of the training situation. Honest; it's not the word, it's the training.

EvanG
 
#45 ·
Wheeeee I am so happy. I got to go to the trainers last week, and we are going tomorrow. It's supposed to be partly sunny and near 60 degrees!!!! This is mud Michigan folks in JANUARY!!!!

My trainer got very sick before Thanksgiving, I got there once after but he didn't look too good after a couple more weeks in the hospital he is on the mend. Started training again the week before Christmas. I'm so glad he seems better.

Last week there was a huge crowd for "snow camp". We just ran a series of simple doubles and singles. It's what Gabby needed, to run for bumpers. She was still relaxed on Sunday when we went for a walk. Hopefully the crowd won't be "too" big for our warm day tomorrow.

We are taking Quinn too but she can't work yet. She is doing well post op. she is 3 months post op today. We figure she can go hang out and work some more on patience. She is walking about a half hour a day, exercises twice a day, physical therapy 2 times a week. It's coming. She looks fantastic but we want to take it slow, we want her strong and hopefully hold off #2 knee as long as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App
 
#46 ·
Once they understand that "drop it" means let go of it and let it hit the ground, the remote drop is very easy. Just back off from them a little at a time, and over time they will be able to do it from quite far away.
 
#48 ·
We are in a training layoff right now as Breeze came in season last Sunday and will be bred later this week. Her daughter Bonnie also came in season now this week, so my girls are all a bit hormonal, and my boys don't know where their brains are! Once the craziness of running around to get progesterone run, and pick up shipments and getting the breeding done is over we will get back to refining Bonnie's handling. Miss Breeze certainly took her time and messed up my plans--pups will be due in March, which means no Alabama training trip for us this spring.
 
#49 ·
Shelly, sure wish you guys were closer. I'm looking for a teaser right now, want to do another freeze on the monster boy....
 
#52 ·
Barb - call your repro vet - all the girls are coming in around here - even Ms Towhee just came in... Last time Towhee was in there were I think 9 studlies called in that had been on a wait list so your vet probably keeps a list as well

Shelly, sure wish you guys were closer. I'm looking for a teaser right now, want to do another freeze on the monster boy....
 
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#50 ·
Thanks Barb - After "pulling teeth" with DH whom I still cannot get back into training mode, we decided to go with NO - for no touch at all, "Leave it" put in our hand and "Drop" to drop everything in the mouth to the ground.
That little brat after only two days of training has gotten it. Maybe she was just happy to get back in training after the vet scare we had over the weekend. ;)
 
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#51 ·
Good job!! It's amazing how smart our little beasties are, isn't it?
You will be surprised some day at how useful those commands will be, possiby even avoiding another vet scare!
 
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#53 ·
Yes, something must have turned in the air. In the week since Breeze came in season her daughter Bonnie and granddaughter Wings have now come in season as well. Breeze got to be a teaser at the vet last night when we went in for another progesterone test. i am wondering if they are slowing her down now. We are at day 12 and she still has not hit 5ng!!!
 
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#54 ·
We were at the repro vet yesterday for a semen evaluation for *something* that's coming up, and apparently no one in this area is in season!!
 
#55 ·
A great day at Dan's today. I guess we have to have one like this every so often to keep me going.
Started with a few casting drills, and then ran just 2 blinds. We haven't run any blinds in ages because of the issues we're trying to work through (think popping...). Anyway, he lined both of them. The first one was pretty easy, the second was a rather tricky 125 yard blind thru some fairly heavy and changing cover, down a small incline and back up, across a little ditch. Dan said that that's the stuff that gives a trainer happy goosebumps....when you don't do it for ages, set up a hard one, and the dog just goes out ("trusts the line" he said) like he's been doing it daily. So happy dance there.
On to some marks, we worked on angle in singles off multiple gun stations, to both sides of each gun. Last week he was having some trouble checking up and hunting back in for the angled in marks, which is why we did this, but this week he had no trouble. I suspect the big difference is that we were using ducks, whereas last week we used chukars which are pretty hard to find when they hunker down in the cover.
Finished off with upland steadiness stuff using homing pigeons and chukars, he was completely steady with no collar nicks.
A very good day! Too bad it was cold and windy....Tito's kind of weather for sure, but not mine!
 
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#56 ·
Hunt class went well this morning. Only 3 puppies could make it, so it was nice and small. The pups turned 7 months this week. Today was all about doubles. We are working inside due to the weather (we had a complainer). So we set up 2 bowls in the far ends of the arena - probably 20 feet away from the person in the center. The 2 bowls are at 90 degrees from the handler. We put a cookie on each upturned bowl. We had each dog mark each bowl, then sent them to pick up the cookie on one bowl and come back. Then sit before we sent them again to the second bowl. We had to be very careful make sure the puppy did go to both bowls for cookies before coming back to the platform. We also tried to speak as little as possible and use body language to direct the pups. Lucy did super well and didn't make any mistakes. Then we moved onto bumpers. We just set the bumpers on the floor where the bowls had been. We did not do any hey, hey. This was a little harder since food wasn't involved. Until today we have not used food in any of our retrieving. So my girl ran to the bumper but looked all over the ground for the treat. She eventually picked up the bumper and came back. When I sent her for the second bumper she did fine. We ran the drill several times and she was great every time. I think we are ready to increase the distance and go outdoors.

Next weekend our group will be at the dog show watching our breeder show our puppies mom and older sister. Then the weekend after that we are in a Connie Cleveland seminar. She will be here in Anchorage Feb. 2 & 3. She is good friends with our trainer. So we will all be working together for a couple of days. I did take Lucy to a fun match last Sunday. She just flows when she moves across the arena. So if she doesn't make it as a field trial dog, maybe she'll be a show puppy!
 
#57 ·
We have been doing "marks" like that in the house. :)

Said mark and threw a cracker to the right and said mark and threw one to the left or vice versa. She waited next to me until released with her name to the last one thrown, come back and then released to the second. Also made her whoa and took a bumper put it in the opposite side of the house, switched rooms, put it on the floor, on the bed (trying to make her look above ground as well as on the ground) for her to retrieve.
 
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#58 ·
Claudia,
Sometimes I take them out to my shop and make them retrieve bumpers that are thrown over boxes and under things. It's not the field, but it does make them look around and find things. It's so much fun to see thei faces when they are marking. I wish I had started our puppy younger than 4 months. I keep hearing that was too late.
Sterregold,
You've done both hunt/field test and conformation on the same weekend, how do you manage to be ready for all that at virtually the same time?
 
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#61 ·
Claudia,
Sometimes I take them out to my shop and make them retrieve bumpers that are thrown over boxes and under things. It's not the field, but it does make them look around and find things. It's so much fun to see thei faces when they are marking. I wish I had started our puppy younger than 4 months. I keep hearing that was too late.
As a pro I started one at 3 years of age that had no previous training. In about 7 months he had won a Qualifying. I started another totally untrained 18 month old that is now an AFC, and needs a win to get his FC. Sound too late now?

EvanG
 
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#59 ·
Don't know about being too late Alaska. Some training books (the oldies) recommend not to really start until they are one year old. Retrieving is their natural instinct - in one book I was reading about a field champion dog who would not even chase a ball until he was nine months old - it was all a matter of when those instincts kick in. :)
 
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#60 ·
I totally disagree that 4 months old is too late. The instinct is there, or it isn't. We started at 3 years old, and he's done just fine.
 
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#62 ·
It's been so bitter cold and snowy here. I hate it. It better at least kill the ticks and mosquitoes down this year. Haven't trained much because of it. Roads have been like a giant slip n' slide. But we finally got out and had a nice training day. Scout nailed her marks and lined her first blind (second one was choppy once she hit cover--I blame a large part of this on handler. When I couldn't see her I should have called her back).

(In other news got engaged a couple weeks ago. Not a dog trainer, but a dog lover who I can sweet talk into throwing the occasion dead duck and being bumper boy for a day.)
 
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