the party's crashing us
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Gatorcountry
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Gosh OK last night I just did a quick session of 2 bumper walking fetch, and fetch off the ground where I set the bumper about 5 feet away, make a triangle with me, the dog and the bumper, and say take it. He did GREAT and pounces on the bumper each time!! Yay In our walking fetch I am looking for him to turn around and visually find and hone in on the next one before I say take it, I want him to seek the bumpers.
Today was a frustrating session for both of us. I think it was an important one though. Bally does not have the best hold. He holds the bumper too loose for my taste. Today I was just hand-throwing bumpers, working on "here" and "heel" and walking with the bumper. If Bally was holding the bumper too loosely I would swat it and knock it out of his mouth, and then ear pinch him to it. This looked a lot like wrestling an alligator since when I try to hold him to get ahold of his ear he scrambles around trying the get to the bumper first and it's just a trainwreck! And to be honest, I really wasn't seeing any improvement in his hold by doing this.
During today's session I decided that purposefully knocking the bumper out of his mouth isn't fair, and to just let him drop it and suffer the consequences if it hits the ground. Twice while we were heeling or he was going into heel position the bumper dropped, he instantly tries to pick it up again but I pull him away from it then ear pinch him to it. Well guess what, I think that technique actually worked. By the end of the session he would toss the bumper a little and re-position it in his mouth if it was starting to slide -- rather than letting it fall!!!
I know his older half-siblings that I have trained with, also had a looser hold than I like, and tend to "stumble" and drop birds/bumpers while returning from marks....so he comes by it honestly. We'll see how it plays out.
Last night I watched almost all of Rick Stawski's Fowl Dawgs #1 video which covers all basics through the end of FF. I REALLY like his videos. I think I am officially ready to move onto walking fetch.
Dogs training is not easy. They are all different, you have to find what you hope works for each one, and not everything is the right answer!
--Anney
"Fisher" CH Deauxquest Hard Day's Knight UDT VER RAE MH WCX CCA VCX OS DDHF, Can. CD WC
"Slater" HRCH Morninglo Wing-T Your Bird Can Sing UD MH NA WCX CCA VCX, Can. CD WC
"Bally" BISS GCH Can. CH Richwood Wing-T Workin' Like A Dog CD MH WCX** DDHF, Can. WCI
"Brix" BISS GCH Can. CH Malagold Wing-T We Can Work It Out JH WC, Can. WC