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hooligan
Southern California and Vancouver Island

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01/14/2006 1:09 PM	Alert
Would love some tips, please! I have a 1 y.o. BLM (Wyatt), and we train alone 99% of the time-once in a while I can get someone to throw bumpers for me. A little background-we did basic OB as a pup, and not much else-a few retrieves, but he liked to play "keep away" when he wasn't on the check cord, and I didn't know how to fix that. He went for the Tiger Mountain "started upland" 8 week course when he was 8 months old. I picked him up just before Thanksgiving. He is marking well (I think), and sits until released to retrieve the majority of the time, both land and water. I have started making him sit and walking out in front of him and throwing the bumper to get him to do longer marks. I do have a retrieve-r-trainer bumper launcher thing, with a shoulder stock, but I haven't used it yet. Can I use it and run the dog, or is it a two person operation? I taught him to "fetch" when he was little, so he will pick up what you tell him to, but we are starting to work on "hold". Maybe a silly question-but how long do you make a dog hold at a sit before you start the heeling part? 2 minutes? 5? 30? Is there a number? And, can I use a bumper, or do I have to start with a hard thing, like a dowel? He releases instantly when I say "give", but I know I have to teach him to hold it until I tell him to let go. Does this have to be done before the "heel" part, too? We are taking a "retrieve break" this week, and brushing up on OB and working on hold. I think I might be causing him some confusion with "pilot error". For example: We were retrieving in our big pond. He was on the bank 20 feet from me. I had him sit there, and threw the bumper into the water. He went and got it-but then he swam directly back to where he entered the water, and ran on the shore to me. I didn't know if that was "right" in his brain, or if I should make him swim to me, so I just left it until I could get advice. Another day he was really jazzed up, and broke twice in a row for water retrieves. I nicked him and made him come back, and re-sent him. He was good for a few after that, and we did a few on land. Then, I threw one in the water from the same place, and he dove in-and turned around where he did when he broke the first two times. I re-sent him, and then threw it in again and he was fine. Did I do something wrong with all of that? Thanks for any advice! Marlana

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Jay
Topeka, KS Go GORILLAS!!

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01/16/2006 5:56 AM	Alert
It sounds to me like you need to get a good book/program. Following that type of structure will really help out. I would first complete FF from start to finish just to get you back on track. When did you nick him exactly? On a "no", "come", "sit"? 98% of my training is alone, as well as many others. It can be done. Jay

There is a fine line between a hobby and a mental illness. GMPR APR HR Tornado Allie of Blk Forest

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01/16/2006 6:06 AM	Alert
We were retrieving in our big pond. He was on the bank 20 feet from me. I had him sit there, and threw the bumper into the water. He went and got it-but then he swam directly back to where he entered the water, and ran on the shore to me. I didn't know if that was "right" in his brain, or if I should make him swim to me, so I just left it until I could get advice. Another day he was really jazzed up, and broke twice in a row for water retrieves. I nicked him and made him come back, and re-sent him. He was good for a few after that, and we did a few on land. Then, I threw one in the water from the same place, and he dove in-and turned around where he did when he broke the first two times. I re-sent him, and then threw it in again and he was fine. Did I do something wrong with all of that? Thanks for any advice! Marlana If Wyatt went out a certain way that was good to his thinking, then of course he would return the same 'good' way. He doesn't think like you do. You need to throw out Marlana-thoughts and learn Wyatt-thoughts, particularly at this stage of the game. I'd throw the transmitter out during the retrieves in your shoes. Think about what Wyatt got there: you threw a bumper into the water, which presumably he loves. He goes because he loves it and then he gets called back and nicked. So what in his mind did he get corrected for? You are thinking that he broke before being sent so he has to learn he gets in trouble anytime he does that. He probably was thinking you were upset about something, but he was doing what he's always done, and then got in trouble. If you keep him in place and don't allow him to break, and put any pressure you use on 'sit' then he understands the pressure and you are preventing problems, not correcting them. Can't you see why he turned around? He probably thought for some strange reason that is what you wanted.. it was what made the pressure stop the first time. Be more simple, and think like a Wyatt. If you want him to remain seated, make him sit and use any correction or teaching on that. You will get yourself into a no-go nightmare if you keep calling him back and burning him. How long should Wyatt hold the bumper before you begin moving with it? When you know he understands holding and is working to comply with you. Then move to the next step. Julie

hooligan
Southern California and Vancouver Island

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01/16/2006 10:54 AM	Alert
Be more simple, and think like a Wyatt. As usual, Julie, you clarified it for me. Thanks. He had been doing great, and I assumed he would make a transition that made sense to me. Absolute pilot error. Since this is my first time with any of this, and since he is such an eager and willing dog, I guess I forget that the times we are completely in sync are the times that my brain is at his level. I need to have your statement tattooed on the inside of my eyelids so I am reminded every time I blink. Jay, you are absolutely right that I need more structure. I have read lots, and I just haven't found ONE "program" that seems to fit me like a glove. So, I am doing what I probably shouldn't and trying to use what seems central to most of what I read. I am going to sit down and try to write up an "outline", and see where we need to focus, and try to make a training schedule and be more methodical-and work on being sure I am absolutely consistent in the way I do things. And, because you asked-he broke from sit (he was too close to the edge of the water for me to catch him for breaking before he got wet-my first mistake), I called him back, he kept swimming, and then I nicked him.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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