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Update on my Lab...positive this time!


Nik_B

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I've put a couple up before so if anyone read them they would know I was having a hell of a struggle with my Labrador Ollie. I'd been to several trainers and the last one had told me not to bother with him anymore. Recall was virtually none existent and he just wasn't interested in anything other than sniffing and doing his own thing. Clearly this was all my own doing and resulted from mistakes and bad advice when he was younger but anyway enough of dwelling on the past.

 

I found a new trainer near to me and after a couple of sessions we discussed using an e-collar. I spent several weeks working with him just on recall but he just wasn't that interested in the retrieving, I suppose he still just wanted to play his game where he could run around and do his own thing. Anyway the e-collar worked a treat and I had damn near perfect recall within 2 weeks, he was still very distracted by other dogs etc but it was a good start.

 

Next on my list was to try and figure out a way to get him interested in retrieving when we were out. I'd tried several methods but the more I thought about it the more I thought that he was getting punishment for not doing what I wanted but no reward for good behaviour.

 

I decided to try treats again but this time I would be able to correct the bad behaviour so at least he would know what is unacceptable. I know alot of people would disagree with treats but I just need to keep his focus on me otherwise after one or two he just gets bored and doesn't want to know. This actually worked quite well and soon he was retrieving the dummies (I've got canvas, Dokken and rabbit fur ones) and now he does so to hand although he doesn't 'present' them rather just runs towards me and I take it from him before he drops it.

 

I decided to have a go at the stop whistle after that and was surprised that within a short amount of time I could get him to stop half way out to his retrieve and he does it pretty well...he tends to be a bit slow sitting down and also if he is within grabbing distance of the dummy he will just go for it but I can let that slide for a short while.

 

All of this training has been done on a tennis court as if he gets in to any kind of long grass or cover I know he's be on to scents and start taking the mickey.

 

So for a 2 year old dog I appreciate this is still not great but at least we're moving in the right direction, I'm doubtful I'll ever be able to use him at a shoot due to my own inexperience in training but if I could even see him pick up a single shot bird one day I'd be over the moon.

 

Plenty of work still to do but it's been a fun couple of months

 

Cheers

 

Nick

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Your persistence will pay off. I had many of the same problems you experienced (all my own fault as well!) but we've just had our first season picking up. We had many mishaps but nothing that'll prevent us going again next season. If you put the time in the dog will come good. I really do think people who write of a dog are just lazy and for a trainer to advise getting rid is worse.

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Well done, sounds like he'll come good in the end. If i were you the next thing i would do would be to start working on steadyness. Make him sit, throw the dummey and go get yourself. Some professional trainers say to only let the dog retrieve 1 in 10 dummies thrown but i think this depends on each individual dogs willingness to retrieve. See how long you can keep doing it without the dog getting fed up and breaking, then give him a few less next time. Steadyness is the key to all retriever training. Theres no reason he wont make a good gundog, just keep working on him.ATB. Mark

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Cheers guys

 

Remi I might try that, I wonder if that is partly why he gets bored because every command ends in a retrieve.

 

Another trick I do to get him motivated is to recall him on his way out so he doesn't get the retreive. Usually when he comes in and I send him out the second time he goes like a rocket.

 

So far most of the retrieves are to the dummies which have been pointed out to him, I don't know what you call it but I drop the dummies and then walk him away from them, then I set him up and then send him for them using the 'back' command. Half the time I stop him mid way and then send him back for them.

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Keep at the training you will get there in the end i have been there got the t-shirt etc. We got the dog when he was 7 month and he was like a headless chicken taken the micky out of me i had no gundog training and this was all new to me so i joined a club.

The training is hard work when things don't go right and you think you are banging your head against a brick wall as others have said DON'T give up it will all come together.

We had our first season picking up i was i bit nervous as it is a very large estate we were picking up on and i got invited by my trainer so it was more pressure on me but we had good feed back from some of the guns when my dog was working and picking the birds up it makes it all the more worth while.

 

atb :thumbs:

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Cheers

 

One of my problems is that if there is another dog anywhere nearby he is totally distracted. I think it's more self preservation that anything because he wont take his eyes off them. Not entirely sure what I can do about this.

 

The other thing is moving on to retrieves on grass etc. I assume I should avoid deeper cover until he will retrieve on a field with fairly short grass otherwise he'll just be off on his merry little sniffing expedition. He is a real handful anywhere there are scents of other dogs.

 

I'm trying to find someone who has a paddock they aren't using for the second issue.

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Do you go to a group training class? The one I go to allows the dogs close enough to each other for a quick sniff but that's it, no playing. The dogs soon learn the boundaries.

 

Also a long training lead may help keep him under your control until he learns what is and what isn't acceptable behaviour.

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I did for a while recently but as I'm working shifts at the moment I can't get the time to do the classes. As we train in a tennis court I take the oportunity to walk him up the fense when people walk past with their shitty park dogs...it's good for Ollie but probably driven those people nuts as their dogs start pulling them and barking etc :laugh: .

 

I can walk him off the lead near dogs that are under control because of the e-collar conditioning but he is just so distracted. I think he just needs more exposure to them in a safe environment. This is part of my problem like a tw*t I let him 'play' with other dogs when he was young...obviously I now know that that wasn't actually play but games of dominance and submission and he's probably fairly cautious around other dogs.

 

I have to say that the e-collar has saved my ass...shame my own faults made it necessary but we live and learn :)

 

Soon as I get some time off it's back to the trainer. I do feel like we're making progress and when he's good it's a brilliant feeling. I know I used to get dirty looks of the park dog people who thought I was really hard on Ollie and cruel for not wanting him to play etc so it's very satisfying when he performs well and they can see it while their own basket cases run wild out of control :laugh:

 

I'll try and do a couple of short vids and anyone can give me their opinion

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OK here's a short vid of where we are up to. Sorry about the crap quality but you'll get the idea. He wasn't really on form today, no idea why but he just didn't seem too enthusiastic. We managed a few decent retrieves all with stop whistle in between and I got him redirected on to a dummy which I place half way up the court and on the left though I didn't get that on video and then he started acting up. Any comments welcome :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHmrqwfS_D0

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