Describe an average training session

[tom_0787]

Recently I have been wondering about the way that I train Harvey and how I can structure training sessions to be more effective.
I would be very interested to learn from those who are more experienced as to how they format training and what they include in sessions with a young dog.

 

Harvey is a 7 month old Lab and currently training sessions usually consist of:

 

- Driving to training ground

- Heel work for 5-10 minutes while we walk to a suitable area

- 5 minutes of stop whistle training
- 1 minute heel work

- Drop a dummy without him seeing, walk at heel for 100 yards and send him back for the dummy

- Sit whilst I walk away and make him stay for approx 1 minute before walking back to him

- Throw 3 tennis balls into cover with him sat then send him out for the retrieves in turn (to build his confidence in my commands)

- 1 minute heel work

- Have him sit then throw dummies around him then pick them up myself (steadiness)

- 3/4 long marked retrieves using dummy launcher

- 5 minutes heel work back to car

- Finish

 

Does anyone have any comments or pointers that might improve the effectiveness of my training?

 

His heel work both on and off lead is very good, his recall is pretty good, he is beginning to come to terms with the stop whistle but there is a long way to go yet & his steadiness is coming along well.

[robbietherimmer]

my advice lad would be let him be a pup and play; don't get into a daily set routine/plan at that age- every dogs different so you might have a quick learner or an immature halfwit and you`ll only get frustrated and the dog will pick up on this. Get him used to his name and associating you with fun and rewards be it a tickle or a dog treat. Join a dog class so he gets used to other dogs.

 

You`ll get loads of better advice on here from decent experienced handlers but the best bit of advice I could give is to make sure you and the dog enjoy it and he/she doesn't get bored.

[bigbird]

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Edited July 4, 2016 by bigbird

[bigbird]

Oh sorry it's a lab.

Ok it would be walking 5 mins to the paddock on the lead, 5 mins of working on sit whilst I stood and fiddled on my phone then some lobbed balls to keep the drive up and the dog excited.

Edited July 4, 2016 by bigbird

[bigbird]

'His recall is pretty good'

Pretty good is not good enough! As he gets older he will naturally test his boundaries and if that recall is not spot on you're making a rod for your own back. Find a good trainer in your area would be my advice to help you on the right track

[toontastic]

What bb said plus your comment about stop whistle concerns me, recall and stop should be 100% before attempting more advanced training.

My cocker bitch is 12 months and doesn't train anywhere near as hard as yours.

[bigbird]

If recall is shaky then learning the stop is going to be bleddy hard bearing in mind the first step is usually to do it on a recall. If your dog isn't bowling into you with enthusiasm then learning the stop is going to be confusing and confidence killing for the dog and may even affect the recall in future.

Please dont think we're having a go, we want to see you do well, just always remember the no 1 rule. Always set your dog up to succeed, not to fail and the lynchpin the of that is the recall

Edited July 4, 2016 by bigbird

[Smiler23]

My pup is 6 month, do odd retrieves with her, nothing to far, sits to the whistle and commands, comes back to the whistle and commands, her walks are all playing at the minute, be couple of months before any serious training starts

[fenboy]

I think you are stretching things out too long.

You seem very keen on heel work but it seems you should be perhaps be getting the recall sorted because I can tell you from experience that if you don't get that sorted at a early age then you are leaving yourself facing a world of pain at a later date.

[Old farrier]

Recently I have been wondering about the way that I train Harvey and how I can structure training sessions to be more effective.

I would be very interested to learn from those who are more experienced as to how they format training and what they include in sessions with a young dog.

 

Harvey is a 7 month old Lab and currently training sessions usually consist of:

 

- Driving to training ground

- Heel work for 5-10 minutes while we walk to a suitable area

- 5 minutes of stop whistle training

- 1 minute heel work

- Drop a dummy without him seeing, walk at heel for 100 yards and send him back for the dummy

- Sit whilst I walk away and make him stay for approx 1 minute before walking back to him

- Throw 3 tennis balls into cover with him sat then send him out for the retrieves in turn (to build his confidence in my commands)

- 1 minute heel work

- Have him sit then throw dummies around him then pick them up myself (steadiness)

- 3/4 long marked retrieves using dummy launcher

- 5 minutes heel work back to car

- Finish

 

Does anyone have any comments or pointers that might improve the effectiveness of my training?

 

His heel work both on and off lead is very good, his recall is pretty good, he is beginning to come to terms with the stop whistle but there is a long way to go yet & his steadiness is coming along well.

Have you joined the US Marine Corps?

 

Just get the basics in solidly especially the recall

 

Best of luck

Of

[Ashd13ntt]

Everyone is different and we all have different training methods but my advice is your dog is very young to be doing more than ten minutes training in a single session. At the age he is, I would concentrate on sit, stay, recall and walking back to your dog. 10 minutes a day, twice a day is ideal. A 100 yard retrieve at seven months is a great achievement but remember the dog is growing and his bones will not have fully formed properly, I would be concerned of damage to his joints (my opinion).

 

Good luck and remember he is a pup with at least 10 years of service to you, don't rush the early days.

[subsonicnat]

Do not forget play time,and do not overdo the traing,they get bored then its harder for yourself.

He (She) Will know the difference then, give big dogs time to Grow up..

[hedge]

Wow - you have the potential to be an excellent dog trainer - BUT - I agree with the comments above, you are probably doing too much for such a young dog and it might be a bit too regimented (or you've been reading a lot of books).

 

Nothing wrong with structured training sessions, it's more to do with the content.

 

It is absolutely essential that you get the BASICS dialled in.

 

• Sit
• Stay/Steadiness
• Stop whistle
• Recall
• Heel work

 

You said "his recall is pretty good, he is beginning to come to terms with the stop whistle but there is a long way to go yet & his steadiness is coming along well."

 

As BB said, "pretty good" isn't good enough (see list above). "Coming to terms with the stop whistle" - What does that mean?? Doesn't inspire me that Harvey is actually stopping when he should? "Steadiness is coming along well" - OK - in what way?

 

There is nothing nicer than seeing your young dog starting to retrieve and you certainly seem to have him at quite an advanced level. I'm assuming that he's fairly mature for his age. The danger is that you do too much too soon and don't have the BASICS sorted, which will in turn cause you problems later.

 

Personally (and we all have different opinions):

 

• I'd give him one seen retrieve, 2 at most (keep him fresh and spend more time on the BASICS)
• Work on recall and stop whistle until it's spot on - but again only a few times each session - a bored student becomes a disruptive (or disobedient) one.
• I'd avoid using tennis balls - they are play items, not work items (tennis balls at home, dummies in the field). My dogs gets to play at home but knows that when the dummy bag comes out it's time to get serious.
• Limit blind retrieves for now. Use the seen retrieves to work on hand signals/direction (also combines the stop whistle and recall skills). Add blinds in later.
• Dummy launcher/long retrieves are great but again maybe not necessary at this stage.
• Arrange your session so it focuses on a couple of the basics with the retrieve being the reward? (try not to cover everything is every session).

I fully understand what you are trying to achieve (and he sounds like a great dog) but don't run before you can walk. Minor indiscretions now can become harder to fix in the longer term.

 

We all want to have the dog progressing and doing a bit of everything but you can afford to back off a little. Plenty of time to cover everything else off.

 

Couple of questions:

• What do you want to use Harvey for? Pet, shooting, trialling?
• When he does retrieve, what is his presentation of the dummy like? Straight to hand, sits and presents or circles a bit etc?
• You use a dummy launcher. Assume Harvey is not gun shy then?
• When you send him for blind retrieves, does he just work and find it or look to you for instruction? Do you give instruction?

If you could quantify the "his recall is pretty good, he is beginning to come to terms with the stop whistle but there is a long way to go yet & his steadiness is coming along well" that would be helpful.

 

A picture would be nice!

 

Happy training.

[Geo]

I have read this topic with a lot of interest . I have only ever had pet dogs , currently have a couple of terriers that have good recall but I have never really trained them to do anything other than come back and sit so that I can put them on the lead because that's all I really need from them when out on walks.

 

As my shooting and beating opportunities have increased over the past couple of years I have been thinking that I would really like to own and train a gundog, but always assumed that I don't have enough time ,I currently give my dogs a short walk in the morning and an hour in the evening and there is usually some at home in the daytime so they are outside in the garden quite a bit.

 

Having read some of the comments here it appears that too much training can be a bad thing certainly at first. How much time do people think would be required especially in the Winter when daylight hours are reduced ?

 

If I was going to do it I would want to do a proper job , as when beating I have witnessed lots of half trained dogs running around with exhausted owners shouting themselves hoarse and it doesn't look like much fun.

[iamspuddy]

terry hall got it right in 1979

[E.w.]

You are doing a sterling job there chap, the only thing is a would dispense with the 100 yard retrieve theres need with a young lab, keep things simple at all times and you will reap the rewards of your hard work in the future, well done you.