Anybody here training dogs?

[blgros1]

Well hell then give me some pointers. I have a 19 month BLM. I had a professional train him for 9-10 months. I could not be happier with the results. I have continued his training myself since I have gotten him back. He is steady, slam dunks(cold) pattern blinds, and does fairly well with regular cold blinds out to about 100 yards. He will take cast, back, left, and right, and stops on whistle. All this applies to both land and water. drills we do at the moment are: walking baseball, wagon wheel, and lots of single and double marks. I dont have access to much help, so training on my own. What direction do I go from here? This will be his first season and I'm thinking it will be a great learning season for the both of us. I haven't decided, nor do I have time right now, for HT. Im just looking to keep teaching him and advance his skills as much as possible. So let's have it..
Thanks,
Barry

[B3]

Bigros,

I think the point you are at is one where a lot of folks kind of bog down. I'm starting a separate thread on the subject.

[grnhed]

It's going to be a challenge for me; my girl Ruby is a 6.5 month old YLF out of very solid British field trial breeding, but her dad and granddad are both 500 pt HRCH/MH dogs. She's soft natured and has some spooky tendencies - she loves birds, guns and water; people - not so much. So I can't just do a "by the book" program with her. I do intend to follow a Carr-based program (I'm using Smartworks as the platform, with other influences) and will CC and FF her, but for her, pressure is a different thing than a lot of dogs.

I used to think the same thing about my "british dog." One UH HRCH (500) MH "british dog" later, with many thousands of ducks in the blind, I no longer believe that. Mine was butter soft, I thought. I was totally wrong. There is a big difference in "soft" and "sensitive." Be patient and fair, put him/her through a sequential Carr-based program, and I think that you will be very happy with the results.

I couldn't agree more with Mark on this topic. Too often people mistake a sensitive dog as soft and unable to handle pressure. I also can't thank Mark enough for all of his help in locating my pup, but also for putting me in touch with Steve. When I was looking for a pup, had a million question, and needed help, it was Mark who was patient enough to send me articles and answer my questions. I still owe you more than a drink or two! When it comes to Brit dogs Mark and EM were my example to follow.

I couldn't be more pleased with where she(Pearl) is and how far she has come(all the credit to Steve Vires!). I took her Steve at 6 months, and left her for 3-4 months. Your girl sounds a lot like mine was at that age. Listen to Steve, and if it is at all an option leave her with him. There is nothing soft about her at 50 pounds and all go. She is smart and can be stubborn as a mule because of it. At times she want to do it on her own because she is smart. This is where patience and teaching came in to play. She handles pressure and a collar excellent(she gets so excited when she sees the collar she runs up to me because she knows its time to go to work/play). She can be sensitive when yelled at, extremely shy/skittish around new people and new dogs. However, you get out anything retrieving related and she ignores everything going on around her and is all business. Its an odd mixture, and one that took me a solid year to understand. Patience is the biggest thing and was the hardest thing for me to have and learn.

She is now 20 months old, and if have any questions let me know and if I can help I gladly will!

Hal

[grnhed]

Barry,

Sounds like a lot of us are in a similar boat, and I would love to get the dog forum back up and really going. RTF is a wealth of info., and I get a lot from there. However, its almost to much information and often times hard to find the actual answers in all the other good and related information.

[mfalkner]

Hal, your Pearl sounds a LOT like Ruby. I'm sure I'll be pestering you as we dive off into this thing. Sent you a PM

[Duck Chaser]

Bill, I can relate to that first post. Those were good times. I guess we were fortunate to have a good group that was at a similar stage back then. Have my son's dog that I work with when time allows, which isn't much.

Good on ya for getting some discussion going around here. You and others have a lot to offer from experience. I'd like to check in ever so often and find some dog talk. Never know when I can check back or respond, so not much posting.. Another 10 years, and I may be burning it up around here.

[B3]

DC,
I hope it doesnt take 10 years to get you back in. I remember the trip we took to the Lardy seminar several years ago. You were a good sport sticking by us when we were without a doubt the WORST dog/handler team there. When Stinger ran the first set up and his head spun around 3 times like the exorcist you'd have thought he'd taken a dump in the middle of a white house state dinner

[B3]

mfalkner,

I have had some experience with British dogs. Recently I was asked to help with a young "spooky" one like you describe and I kept him at my place a couple of months. There was a zone that surrounded me that he didnt want to enter. I dealyt with this several ways. First I used treats to get him comfortable coming to me on recall and gave him the treat from between my legs. Later with retrieves it was same thing, I would take bumper from a front finish where he had to come right up to me. I did delivery from the side well after he was comfortable running right up between my legs.

One thing is to make sure you dont do anything to reinforce the spooky behavior. If the dog freaks out when you have it on lead walking up to another person and you reach down and pet the dog to comfort it and calm it down then you reinforce and encourage the response. I ignore the response. If the dog sees you as leader and you are nonchalant about meeting a new person then it reassures the dog.

These are just ideas, they may or may not apply to your dog. You are certainly in good hands with Steve and Travis

Bill

[Anatidae]

Jumping-in with both feet now. Anne and I both have new pups (13 weeks). Outside of some basic commands, they have been truck and kennel conditioned over 4680+ miles and counting - completing their first trip to Canada for the last 5 weeks.

Looking forward to getting into the real fun and getting more acquainted.

Anatidae
Topbrass Just Turn Me Loose 'Rip'

[mfalkner]

Bill,

Makes sense. When I was at Steve's and she kept trying to hide from him I just stood there and made her deal with him. I'm sure he could have her as a lap dog in a week or so.

Randy, look forward to watching those pups come on; they should be nice. Maybe we can work em together some.

[Duck Chaser]

DC,
I hope it doesnt take 10 years to get you back in. I remember the trip we took to the Lardy seminar several years ago. You were a good sport sticking by us when we were without a doubt the WORST dog/handler team there. When Stinger ran the first set up and his head spun around 3 times like the exorcist you'd have thought he'd taken a dump in the middle of a white house state dinner

Naw, I don't think the worst, but that is a very good analogy of reaction to the exorcist move.
If you had let me wear the shower cap from the motel, it would have taken some attention off of y'all!