Lurcher retrieve

[johnnyboy28 1]

The lurcher i have had for around 6 weeks is 3 years old and is up for all quarry.

The problem i have is when she catches she runs about 20 meters away from me and does not want me to have her prize.

Can i stop her / change her or is she too old in your experiences

[deerhound working 3]

there never to old it will take a lot of time if she will sit on order then start from there when she picks a rabbit order the sit and start from there you can also tie and let it out and pull it back to you when she has it and make a big fuss and give her a treat

[johnnyboy28 1]

there never to old it will take a lot of time if she will sit on order then start from there when she picks a rabbit order the sit and start from there you can also tie and let it out and pull it back to you when she has it and make a big fuss and give her a treat

 

 

Thanks

[MikeTheDog 153]

How does she do with a dummy in the park?

 

My Meg' fecks around due to excitment with her catch, the more she catches on any outing the better she gets. Had a great couple of hours on the Arundel Wetlands today, I lost count of the rabbits she caught and each retrieve got better and closer to hand. One of the last rabbits caught she promptly ran past me into the river ...She let the rabbit go while she cooled off then swam after it and retrieved it to hand. That was easy as I waited on the bank just where she came out.. I dispatched it and through it back in the river, promptly followed by Meg' who again retrieved back to hand.. ....Maybe this is the way to solve/improve bad retrieving!...Two minutes later she nailed another and did a pretty good retrieve, slung it in the river a few times for her...

[Kat 3]

You can stop it quite easily. You must stop (in her eyes) robbing her trophy. Go back to basic training and throw out a dummy about 10ft .. recall her back but totally ignore the retrieve part of it. Treat it only as a recall. If she leaves it where it landed fine, ignore it and insist she comes back to you then go and get it yourself. If however she returns to you or even partway still ignore the article and just insist she comes in close to you, fuss her body but not around her head, dont let her think its the bit where you rob her again. The idea is that you show her that its her returning that pleases you and you make nothing of the fact that there's another motive. Dont give her any command to pick it up or go back for it.. you have to forget about it for the time being. But what she Must do is return to you. So throw the dummy... send her.... then recall her... the second she turns back towards you praise her loads and walk backwards keeping her attention by either clapping your hands or mega good girl. Stop, stand still and bring her into you, big fuss and go get it yourself. Until she does this pretty keenly just ignore the dummy, that part comes later.

You must get a bit interested in the game yourself, some fellas feel a bit of a twit but you are so important in breaking this habit and your tone of voice and body language is critical.. If you wanna try doing this im happy to try and help you, mind im usually with the handler and dog myself when I train lol but you'll get the idea over the internet I hope! I wont waffle on about the next part unless you want to hear it and this part'll take you a few days to do..

[MikeTheDog 153]

I wont waffle on about the next part unless you want to hear it and this part'll take you a few days to do..

Go for it!.... Lets hear more Kat, lots of people are having problems in varying degrees and I'm sure we could all learn something..

[Guest BIG FRANK]

You can stop it quite easily. You must stop (in her eyes) robbing her trophy. Go back to basic training and throw out a dummy about 10ft .. recall her back but totally ignore the retrieve part of it. Treat it only as a recall. If she leaves it where it landed fine, ignore it and insist she comes back to you then go and get it yourself. If however she returns to you or even partway still ignore the article and just insist she comes in close to you, fuss her body but not around her head, dont let her think its the bit where you rob her again. The idea is that you show her that its her returning that pleases you and you make nothing of the fact that there's another motive. Dont give her any command to pick it up or go back for it.. you have to forget about it for the time being. But what she Must do is return to you. So throw the dummy... send her.... then recall her... the second she turns back towards you praise her loads and walk backwards keeping her attention by either clapping your hands or mega good girl. Stop, stand still and bring her into you, big fuss and go get it yourself. Until she does this pretty keenly just ignore the dummy, that part comes later.

You must get a bit interested in the game yourself, some fellas feel a bit of a twit but you are so important in breaking this habit and your tone of voice and body language is critical.. If you wanna try doing this im happy to try and help you, mind im usually with the handler and dog myself when I train lol but you'll get the idea over the internet I hope! I wont waffle on about the next part unless you want to hear it and this part'll take you a few days to do..

kat taken your advice today retreaved on the last go so i left it at that and called a end to the session THANKS GREAT ADVICE KEEP IT COMING

[Kat 3]

Glad you're having some success

Dont rush the retrieve though... Just get the dog thinking that coming back to you is the game. Dogs love to please and before long it'll be going through its repertoire of 'tricks/skills' trying to make you happy. I cant emphasise enough though that the 'article' thrown is really unimportant for quite a while.

If the dog returns and has left the article 'out' make sure the dog has returned right up to you before you go and get it yourself. On the walk to get it and returning to where you started say nothing to the dog, ignore it completely. Dont make it sit, stay... you mustn't ask it to do anything that you cannot enforce,just go get the article.The idea is to remove all ideas that you want that rabbit.Eventually you'll get to the stage where the dog brings the article back to you... continue to ignore the retrieve and praise only for the recall, so no touching the dog around its head just stroke its body.

Its similar to 'the dog wont return' to you when you want to go home... the patterns been set and the dog knows the game... you call it back put its lead on, put it in the car.. end of fun and walk So you break the pattern by calling it often for no reason other than to praise it or reward it with a titbit. I use a fave toy as a titbit orientated dog can be a pest when it starts demanding treats. You change the route home, you put the lead on earlier/later than the previous day... in other words you vary the training.

So in your cases you are breaking the unwanted pattern of bring the toy/rabbit back by not asking the dog to do it. You're enforcing the recall. Dogs who are good and keen retrivers are dead easy to bluff as they really want to pick up the article and very soon they cant resist bringing it back. Dont overdo retrieve practises though, one good one is better than 4 ok ones, know when to quit for the day. Whenever you call your dog in the future even if its to you when you're sitting in the armchair you must make sure it comes to you. No half measures, its you whos in charge not the dog.

[johnnyboy28 1]

Thanks for all your help Kat

i will be back intouch when i am at the next step

[Guest FOXDOG]

Kat I am also going to take your advice and try and sort out a dog I have here I cant fault the dog for catching it just wont retrieve

[skycat 6,173]

Very good advice there but what about the dog that retrieves the dummy but not the rabbit it has caught?

[Guest FOXDOG]

Very good advice there but what about the dog that retrieves the dummy but not the rabbit it has caught?

Like mine

[Kat 3]

This is so hard without watching you both lol

What exactly happens? I mean in detail... presumably the dog has the rabbit in its mouth, does it turn and begin to come back to you? does it come so far then drop the bunny? does it run in a different direction? etc try and be as detailed as possible and try and think what your behaviour is like whilst the dogs is doing whatever its doing.

[maty j 6]

same here, my bitch is fine with dummys just not the real thing. she usually just stands over it and then mouthes or licks it. she has even gone past me before to mouth and lick the rabbit allthough i have a few decent retreives in her short working career so far just wish she would be more consistant with them ive tried running away which used to work without fail, now it doesnt! ive tried walking away, open armed lots of encouragement, even rolling on the floor making stupid noises but all the wants to do is mouth that feckin rabbit, any ideas Kat?? :wacko:

 

 

cheers,

maty.

[Kat 3]

I seem to be answering 3 or 4 different people lol

The whole point of the exercise is to take the emphasis off the retrieve and gear it towards a recall. If there's any chinks in the recall link the retrieve wont work properly. This does work really well but you cant keep 'having a go' at retrieves to see if they're improving.. There's a method to the routine and a sequence that must be followed. Its not a physical problem its a mental one and it'd be great if we could sit the dog down and explain that its being a git and would it please stop lol but we cant so we have to break the habit by teaching it that the bunny isnt of any interest to you and even if you fetch it to me i'll still ignore it..... Just keep going guys it will work I promise you lol