pain in the **** pup

[darren m]

i,ve got 2 springer bitches one is 22 months now and is coming on ok , a few problems but getting there

 

the other is 7.5 month old pup and try as hard as i might i can not get her interested in any thing

ok i know shes young but most dogs give you feed back and something to work with , this one just wants to eat grass

 

shes not too bad at healing , recall , stop whistle BUT will not have anything to do with retrieving and hunting, just finding it really hard to progress with her

 

because shes not keen on retrieving its impossible to start to teach her anything else related such as , hunting for dummies etc , directions , get backs , memories etc , nothing intense of course shes only a pup , but just the general beginings of basic stuff .

 

she will 50% of the time run out for the dummy and start to bring it back , but then either drops it and does her own thing or holds it and trys her hardest to get past me / round me . i,ve tried the back to the wall and jogging backwards but shes not falling for it

 

if i can get her to retrieve the dummy back to me i may have something to work on , so please give me some tips , my other bitch is retrieve mad so there was no probs with her.

 

thanks

[magman]

Back to a confined space with her with treats , get her interested in treats but only give her a treat after a retrieve

[kent]

I trust and hope you havent got both dogs out at same time? If not then do so. retrieves in a coridoor keep them short use something the pup realy wants to pick up socks you have worn small rabbit dummies etc but it must interest it recall the pup when it picks up and make a big fuss as long as it has it in it's mouth at your feet as soon as it drops or leaves it ignoor the dog. I once had a dog that would only pick up something if it was wrapped in a pelt or feathers even in her final years she wouldn't so much as look at tennis balls and plasic / canvass

 

If you have both out at same time and are using the older one as example - it ain't working! and if something don't work do something else.

 

All dogs come on at different ages, some are keen from the get go others take time. It's the same with sheepdogs, same with foxhounds one of the best hounds our hunt owned was three before it took interest in charlie and had become a pet until one crossed it's path when out walkies on a lead and something just clicked

 

Don't loose heart most important bit is don't give up

[crocodileandy]

Had a similar problem with my cocker spaniel about the same age. He wasn't interested one bit in any dummies etc so started to use a small ball with a bell in it that he used to run around the house with. At first he did the same thing, grabbed the ball and ran around with it and no matter what I did (including treats) he ignored me. Then yesterday through the ball out to stop him getting at my ferrets and the b****** comes running back with it and drops it at my feet, sat down and looked up at me like butter wouldn't melt.

 

Only advice I can give is if she has a toy that she carries around etc on her own, give it a go with that and keep at it.

[darren m]

this morning , had her retrieve in the narrow ally way agin using tennis ball , dummy then a cold rabbit ( just 3 retrieves of each ).

suprisingly she retrieved all 3 and came back towards me , but would not give up any she is very very possesive and tried constanly to get around me .

 

i,ve never snatched from her , dont know why shes so reluctant to give them up.

 

i tried treats at one stage , but that just made her either drop the dummy or not even bother at all and just stood there looking at me waiting for a reward for doing absoloutly nothing

[MadSpringer]

Remember she's only 7 1/2 months old Darren, you seem to be trying to do a lot with her!

 

Work on the basics to make sure you have basic control over her, skip over these at this age and you will struggle later on!

 

I would not give her cold game as you may find that is all she will want to retrieve and it will make it more difficult for yourself to use it all the time.

Put a skin on a dummy and use that or find something she likes to pick up and only use that for retrieves, don't give her too many options.

 

If you use treats to reward her for the retrieve, don't worry too much about her dropping it at this stage, you can correct it later on. Sit on the floor and let her jump on you with the retrieve and don't rush to take it off her, you need to get her confident in coming to you with the retrieve.

 

Remember she's a pup and there is no need to rush her!

 

 

Cheers

[kent]

this morning , had her retrieve in the narrow ally way agin using tennis ball , dummy then a cold rabbit ( just 3 retrieves of each ).

suprisingly she retrieved all 3 and came back towards me , but would not give up any she is very very possesive and tried constanly to get around me .

 

i,ve never snatched from her , dont know why shes so reluctant to give them up.

 

i tried treats at one stage , but that just made her either drop the dummy or not even bother at all and just stood there looking at me waiting for a reward for doing absoloutly nothing

Only issue is the dog knows no better yet, but it will. Let it come into you with the retrieve praise it but don't take the retrieve off the pup, heck if its comming back now you have got passed stage 1 get that bit spot on before you get onto 2,3,4. Don't give treats for retrieves only happy silly voice and perhaps a chest rub or similar. Cold game would be a very last resort at this stage, i should even use a marrow bone or similar first on a dog that won't pick up.

[darren m]

Remember she's only 7 1/2 months old Darren, you seem to be trying to do a lot with her!

 

Work on the basics to make sure you have basic control over her, skip over these at this age and you will struggle later on!

 

I would not give her cold game as you may find that is all she will want to retrieve and it will make it more difficult for yourself to use it all the time.

Put a skin on a dummy and use that or find something she likes to pick up and only use that for retrieves, don't give her too many options.

 

If you use treats to reward her for the retrieve, don't worry too much about her dropping it at this stage, you can correct it later on. Sit on the floor and let her jump on you with the retrieve and don't rush to take it off her, you need to get her confident in coming to you with the retrieve.

 

Remember she's a pup and there is no need to rush her!

 

 

Cheers

 

Andrew - i know shes young mate i,m not trying to rush honestly , shes just not got that keen-ness of my other springer . i had hoped by now she would of shown me something to work with like using her basic instinct etc .

Anyway -- i,ve skinned a rabbit today and going to wrap a couple of tennis balls with the skin when its dried out a bit , shes interested in certain dummies but wants to keep them for herself and would rather run off and chew them up than give them to me .

i think this may of stemed from her 1st experiences of playing with her syblins before i got her . the owner/ breeders wife thought playing tug with them was great fun

 

i took her to the s.notts hunt kennel open day this afternoon and walked through the woods at the back of the kennels , for the 1st time she actually looked like she was hunting up a scent a couple of times while romping in the undergrowth

thanks mate

 

lads keep the ideas coming always open to critisisum

 

one more question :- because shes not too keen --- do you think shes too young to be shown or associate scent with what it actually comes from , ie. if she accidently flushes say

 

cheers a rabbit would it be better to let her give chase after the scent at this stage or get out there and stop her.

[Cranfield]

One is 22 months, one is 7.5 months, why are you comparing them ?

Most working dog breeds mature very quickly and the period from 12 months to 18 months is when things usually progress rapidly.

 

Although you say you are not rushing the pup, your comments sound as though you are expecting too much, too soon.

If you exhibit your frustration to the pup you could spoil her.

Take your time.

 

Please don't think I am having a go at you, I am not, most of us who have had working dogs from pups have been where you are now.

Some of us have pushed our dogs early, especially with the gun and nearly ruined them.

The hardest thing to be is patient, but thats also the most most important thing.

[WGD]

Is she food motivated?

[Maidment78]

Totally agree with the above, my pointer is 6 months, she is doing brilliantly for a 6 month old. She will walk to heel for a bit, collect for a bit and flush for a bit,,,

 

I praise her well for this, but when she gets bored we move on. 4 weeks ago the idea of walking to heel meant legging it, now she will do this for 20 meters and sit when we stop, my friend has an adult springer and she was the same at this age so just enjoy the fact that your pup is a pup as they do grow fast.

 

Just got to stop mine from chasing things and she will be perfect,,,

 

Good luck with it all,

[darren m]

Is she food motivated?

 

yep very

[darren m]

lads -- just re-read my own post and your right she is young and i have been trying to train the 2 dogs along side of each other ( seperately of course ) being short on time maybe i,ve jumped the gun . this morning she retrieved a rubber water dummy to hand 3 times in a row , very strange , like a fool i throughs it out again and she just ignores it , i should of stopped while the going was good

 

one more question :- because shes not too keen --- do you think shes too young to be shown or associate scent with what it actually comes from , ie. if she accidently flushes say

 

a rabbit would it be better to let her give chase after the scent at this stage ( to try and build up enthusiasium ) or get out there and stop her.

[MadSpringer]

Darren as she is not a keen retriever concentrate on that!

 

Her hunting will kick in soon enough, she's a spaniel and they all develop at different stages, trust me the penny will drop!

 

If you encourage her hunting now she may well switch off to retrieving as she will find hunting and flushing more rewarding.

 

Concentrate on the basics and keeping her close, work on her recall (use treats as a reward if you think it helps)

 

When her recall is 100% work on the retrieving, it's basically a recall carrying a dummy. If she's recalling for a treat you may find she will drop the dummy waiting for a treat, don't worry as you can correct it later just get her coming back to you with the dummy giving lots of praise and encouragement!

 

Keep working at bonding with her and getting her to focus on you, you say in previous posts that she's not giving you anything or she'd rather eat grass and from that I think you need to bond a little more.

 

 

Don't let her chase anything!!! I can see the new thread now "How Can I Stop The ******* Pup"

 

 

As I've said before relax and don't rush, put the time in and it will all come together.

 

 

Cheers

[WGD]

Agree with the above, I asked if she was food motivated as you could use scattered food to get her hunting kicked in but didn't post that because I would also get the retrieving sorted first!