progress so far

[countrycommando89 7]

hey there, a while ago i posted asking for advice on how to train my whippet staff to retrieve game. so far i have progressed to getting her to retrieve a single dummy (t shirt stuffed in a sock). she can now retrieve from rough ground. pretty efficiently. i have recently been teaching her direction. she seemed to get the grasp of ithat from the first lesson. my next step will to be add some pigeons wings onto the dummy. once i get my gun back i will get this done. basically i am just giving an update on where i am upto for those who helped me out and a big thank you to those people. hopefully they will see this post.

 

 

is there any stage i have missed out and does it sound as if i am goin the right way about this.

 

 

 

 

if i may i would also like to ask something quick. does anybody have any good techniques to prevent dogs from chasing sheep or to call her off if she bolts. i would prefer to avoid shock collars if poss. i heard a method from a farmer once. that is you place your dog in a horse box or any other confined space for that matter with a ram. let the ram batter the dog a little then pull it out. this is so the dog recognizes sheep as a formidable opponent and dangerous. would this work.

[Guest davieboy]

not sure if that would work with an adult dog especially a staff as it may give as good as it gets!!

 

as for the running off, introduce the stop whistle when you are walking on the lead, at meal times, progressing onto long waits, then throw the dummy and give the stop whistle, as long as you introduce this progressively and dont start using it in a panic before the dog is ready, you will be able to use it when she bolts after time

 

i am sure that plenty of people on here will have a better way of explaining the introduction of the stop whistle,

 

hope that is of some use

[poacherjim 0]

I would have thought that if you make a dog scared of sheep it may not go into a field with them, then your well F****D

[LDR 29]

i wouldn't be so sure with the staffy blood it'd work!!! i reckon a shock collar would be better than that method!!!! for a stop whistle you first need to get a rock solid verbal sit command, then introduce the whistle as the sit command too, and build up distance from there, be prepared for lots and lots of repitition!!!

[alimac 882]

would go along with the above, but remember the stop / sit up whistle means sit / stop now , not in 2 seconds time, if it dont, scruff it and put it back to the EXACT spot it was when you gave the command, little inperfections like it stopping ten feet from where its told too will soon turn into a dog that just says feck you to the stop command ...

 

and feck the idea of a shock collar, a sure sign of a trainer with lack of knowledge or experience of dog training, yes they sometimes have there place, but only as a last resort, and not for a basic command like stop.... the ammount of people who iv seen use them and aint even prepared to try it out on them selve before the dog....

[countrycommando89 7]

would go along with the above, but remember the stop / sit up whistle means sit / stop now , not in 2 seconds time, if it dont, scruff it and put it back to the EXACT spot it was when you gave the command, little inperfections like it stopping ten feet from where its told too will soon turn into a dog that just says feck you to the stop command ...

 

and feck the idea of a shock collar, a sure sign of a trainer with lack of knowledge or experience of dog training, yes they sometimes have there place, but only as a last resort, and not for a basic command like stop.... the ammount of people who iv seen use them and aint even prepared to try it out on them selve before the dog....

 

thanks alot. i have her trained to stay and sit on command. saying that she does sometimes go an extra couple of feet. so i should pull her back to where she was when i gave the command. ok. think iv got it shall give it my best shot.