Balls....

[keg]

Evening everyone, help please!.

 

My black lab bitch is now 2 and considering how often I am away from home, is coming on well. She come back on the whistle or when called 99% of the time.

 

If she has her nose on a scent she may come back a little slower than asked but we are working on that. Is it ok to let her do that. How do I get her to come to me first time

 

My biggest issue is when she sees a ball, especially with a thrower she just goes potty and ignores the whistle or any calls to the point where she just follows the ball owner.

 

 

I know that I have obviously gone wrong in the past and tried to bring her on too quickly/possibly not reinforced certain lessons but what steps do I need to take to resolve this.

 

Is it just a matter of going back to the basics.

 

Thanks

 

Keg

Edited December 17, 2013 by keg

[kent]

Firstly recall can always be improved. Step one; avoid calling it if you think it might not come - go and get it allowing choice trains disobedience. Step two reward recall every now and again with a great treat (lump of smelly cheese etc) could also be a ball!!!!. The stop whistle prior to recall seems to work good for me if the dog is on scent (but does your dog associate this with great things like being sent on a blind?).

 

Ball obsessed? I assume its also very unsteady as if you had steadied it you are most likely to get the dog pleading to be sent not running off in pursuit! Again stop the dog on the whistle and recall it (its easy to build this into training, often when the dog is waiting on the drop instead of sending it I call it in then once its sat infront I send it) this can be used to solve your issue, just make sure you don't constantly trick it so add some reward don't just pop the lead on.

 

regardless of what you might be lead to believe even good working dogs wont always recall its just their owners don't show that by knowing the "when" bit To back this up a little read "its all about Treo" by Dave Heyhoe. Treo won the Dicken medal in Afgan as a bomb dog- now if ever you needed perfect recall that's the time! Sat digging franticaly in front of a massive IED or under incomming fire! But good dogs are driven by their goal

[keg]

Pretty good summary Kent. I will follow your advice.

[rimfire4969]

Firstly recall can always be improved. Step one; avoid calling it if you think it might not come - go and get it allowing choice trains disobedience. Step two reward recall every now and again with a great treat (lump of smelly cheese etc) could also be a ball!!!!. The stop whistle prior to recall seems to work good for me if the dog is on scent (but does your dog associate this with great things like being sent on a blind?).

 

Ball obsessed? I assume its also very unsteady as if you had steadied it you are most likely to get the dog pleading to be sent not running off in pursuit! Again stop the dog on the whistle and recall it (its easy to build this into training, often when the dog is waiting on the drop instead of sending it I call it in then once its sat infront I send it) this can be used to solve your issue, just make sure you don't constantly trick it so add some reward don't just pop the lead on.

 

regardless of what you might be lead to believe even good working dogs wont always recall its just their owners don't show that by knowing the "when" bit To back this up a little read "its all about Treo" by Dave Heyhoe. Treo won the Dicken medal in Afgan as a bomb dog- now if ever you needed perfect recall that's the time! Sat digging franticaly in front of a massive IED or under incomming fire! But good dogs are driven by their goal

Put very well Kent.

[fenboy]

My Lab pup is just the same when he is on a scent , so rather give him the chance to ignore me I just wait until he has his head up again and then recall .

 

Funnily enough mine is also very keen on a ball so I have started to use it to my advantage , at first I used it to get him to sit to the whistle when he was a distance away , a pip on the whistle and as soon as his backside hit the ground he got the ball thrown , this really sharpened him up and had his attention fully on me but a side effect was it was also encouraging him to run in , so to prevent this instead of throwing the ball when he sat I started walking to him and just gave him it which worked just as well .

The ball has also become his treat for a recall .

[keg]

Thanks Everyone, will try as suggested.