lurchers

[terriermad 4]

can someone please give me some advice, my young lurcher(saluki/wipp x collie/grey) was retreving perfect at the end of last season, iv started to lamp again arter the summer break and he will not retrieve at all, he just makes a kill and stands over it. what have i done wrong? he still retreves those long eared rabbits during the day. any advice would be much appreciated. terriermad

[allgame 0]

not sure mate try going over his original trianing agian or when he catchs it walk away from him and his catch calling him and he should follow with it also i found my dogs less reluctant to retrieve rabbits once they'v been on a few foxes

[lurcher lad 0]

had the same problem with my lurcher just went back to throwing the dummy that sorted the problem out

[skycat 6,174]

Training, in many cases is something you can never do once then assume the dog will be perfect for ever. I know as I've got complacent about superb retrievers, especially the 'natural' ones who seem to need no training at all. They may start off bringing you every rabbit to hand and of course you're over the moon. 6 months down the line and the dog may chuck it all in and refuse: just like yours.

 

I often do little refresher courses for dogs, even older ones, during the summer, and they all love that individual attention. Half the thing about retrieving, IMO, is the bond between you and the dog: keeping that bond fresh and good is something you need to work at, just like a human to human relationship.

 

Playing with dog when it's not out hunting is a way of reenforcing that bond, and the retrieving should be part and parcel of it.

 

Having said that, a lot of young dogs, especially those with Saluki in, do seem to go off the boil where training is concerned once they've been out hunting. I always think that they go through a stage where they reckon they 'know it all' and get very cocky and arrogant. They are not like Collie types which just love doing stuff for their owner no matter how boring and repetitive it is, and IMO again, the Saluki types are among the most jealous of hunters: take the dog out just once when there's another dog trying to get its catch from it and you've f*cked the retrieving for ever.

 

I've got a dog that has always retrieved hares (before the ban), but never rabbits, and her grand father was the same. The longer the course, the better the retrieve, almost as though they were so chuffed to get the hare that they were determined to show me what they'd caught: I know that's fanciful thinking, and I'm more inclined to believe that because they were running on ground that was out of their home patch they simply didn't want to leave the hare on unfamiliar territory> PLUS, and this is a big factor: they were only out on their own and never with my other dogs.

 

Tying a rabbit skin dummy to a very long piece of string which you keep hold of when you throw the dummy can work: you reel the dog in praising it all the way when it picks it up: that works if the dog wants to keep hold of the dummy.

 

If the dog just runs to the dummy and doesn't even want to pick it up, then jerking it (the dummy, not the dog) around on the end of the string can stimulate the dog to pick it up.

 

If the dog runs to the dummy then b*ggers off with it, attach the long string to the dog, and gently reel the dog is again praising it all the time. DONT take the dummy off the dog immediately it gets to you: just let it hold the dummy, praising it, patting it etc. Then put the lead on the dog: never try and force the dog to give up the dummy, let it walk alongside you for a bit carrying it: (some won't do this, but some will) After a bit, tell the dog to sit, then say Give and if necessary offer a titbit with the other hand: the dog has to open its mouth to take the titbit and that's where you grab the dummy.

 

I know all this training is boring for some owners, but there really is only one way to train, and that is to do it often and keep on doing it: AS LONG AS THE DOG IS HAVING FUN. If the dog has no interest then that's a different ball game altogether and I haven't got time at the moment.

 

The key thing is to do no more than 2 retrieves a day, or at a time. The other key thing is to read your dog all the time, and that is something that is far easier to demonstrate in real life than explain in writing.

 

The idea is to 'brainwash' the dog into believing that every time it has something in its mouth then it comes to you carrying it, which is why it must always be pleasurable for the dog to come to you.

 

Hope this helps: though a whole book could be written on retrieving problems alone!

[Guest Frank]

Thanks for that Sky cat, that was a good wright up.

[terriermad 4]

Training, in many cases is something you can never do once then assume the dog will be perfect for ever. I know as I've got complacent about superb retrievers, especially the 'natural' ones who seem to need no training at all. They may start off bringing you every rabbit to hand and of course you're over the moon. 6 months down the line and the dog may chuck it all in and refuse: just like yours.

 

I often do little refresher courses for dogs, even older ones, during the summer, and they all love that individual attention. Half the thing about retrieving, IMO, is the bond between you and the dog: keeping that bond fresh and good is something you need to work at, just like a human to human relationship.

 

Playing with dog when it's not out hunting is a way of reenforcing that bond, and the retrieving should be part and parcel of it.

 

Having said that, a lot of young dogs, especially those with Saluki in, do seem to go off the boil where training is concerned once they've been out hunting. I always think that they go through a stage where they reckon they 'know it all' and get very cocky and arrogant. They are not like Collie types which just love doing stuff for their owner no matter how boring and repetitive it is, and IMO again, the Saluki types are among the most jealous of hunters: take the dog out just once when there's another dog trying to get its catch from it and you've f*cked the retrieving for ever.

 

I've got a dog that has always retrieved hares (before the ban), but never rabbits, and her grand father was the same. The longer the course, the better the retrieve, almost as though they were so chuffed to get the hare that they were determined to show me what they'd caught: I know that's fanciful thinking, and I'm more inclined to believe that because they were running on ground that was out of their home patch they simply didn't want to leave the hare on unfamiliar territory> PLUS, and this is a big factor: they were only out on their own and never with my other dogs.

 

Tying a rabbit skin dummy to a very long piece of string which you keep hold of when you throw the dummy can work: you reel the dog in praising it all the way when it picks it up: that works if the dog wants to keep hold of the dummy.

 

If the dog just runs to the dummy and doesn't even want to pick it up, then jerking it (the dummy, not the dog) around on the end of the string can stimulate the dog to pick it up.

 

If the dog runs to the dummy then b*ggers off with it, attach the long string to the dog, and gently reel the dog is again praising it all the time. DONT take the dummy off the dog immediately it gets to you: just let it hold the dummy, praising it, patting it etc. Then put the lead on the dog: never try and force the dog to give up the dummy, let it walk alongside you for a bit carrying it: (some won't do this, but some will) After a bit, tell the dog to sit, then say Give and if necessary offer a titbit with the other hand: the dog has to open its mouth to take the titbit and that's where you grab the dummy.

 

I know all this training is boring for some owners, but there really is only one way to train, and that is to do it often and keep on doing it: AS LONG AS THE DOG IS HAVING FUN. If the dog has no interest then that's a different ball game altogether and I haven't got time at the moment.

 

The key thing is to do no more than 2 retrieves a day, or at a time. The other key thing is to read your dog all the time, and that is something that is far easier to demonstrate in real life than explain in writing.

 

The idea is to 'brainwash' the dog into believing that every time it has something in its mouth then it comes to you carrying it, which is why it must always be pleasurable for the dog to come to you.

 

Hope this helps: though a whole book could be written on retrieving problems alone!

thanks to every one who replyed, a lot of it makes sense, i will let you all know how i get on. terriermad

ps. thanks skycat for the advice...

[terriermad 4]

not sure mate try going over his original trianing agian or when he catchs it walk away from him and his catch calling him and he should follow with it also i found my dogs less reluctant to retrieve rabbits once they'v been on a few foxes

come to think of it, it started around the time he started on the reds. back to basics i think.