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Steadiness Training


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This exercise is used to teach your dog to sit beside you and not drive into the retrieve until released to do so. It is very simple to teach and is started with bumpers or tennis balls and then progressed to shot guns and birds.

 

Place your dog on a flat collar. You will also need a pice of rope 1/2 inch thick and 6 feet long. Tie a loop in one end so that the rope can go on your belt.

 

 

 

 

The other end runs under the flat collar.

 

 

 

With the dog sitting beside you in the heel position on the left toss a bumper or ball. If the dog breaks you are able to stop them with a sharp pop on the lead and re-sit them in position. The dog must sit quietly, focused on a loose rope/lead before being allowed to retrieve the mark.

 

Once the dog is sitting and watching the mark with no pressure on the lead it is a simple matter of dropping the free end of the rope while sending her out. The rope will pull through the collar allowing her to proceed forward.

 

To tranfer this over to birds coming in and dropping at the shot such as in a pigeon blind you use the following steps after setting the rope /lead up in the same manner.

 

Setup in a hedge row with your dog sitting beside you on the left, use the first few pigeons to see what will happen. Using an empty gun get up to shoot the bird as you would normally. The exception is that you will be holding the rope in your left hand.

 

 

If she breaks you now have a means of correcting her. A sharp pop on the rope coupled with a voice correction should do it. When she is sitting properly shoot a bird with the rope still in place. If she breaks correct her as before, before sending her for the bird. If she sits properly through the shot and fall just drop your end of the rope and it will pull through the collar as she goes out on command.

 

 

Ian I hope this explains the exercise for you.

 

Keep it fun........

NTTF

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  • 1 year later...

If the the basic training is done thoroughly and correctly ther should never be a need to have to watch a dog in the hide to see if it 'breaks'

If my dog rushed out of a hide I would consider it not very well trained.

Do the basics -- Sit (means sit and not to move until you get another order-- no other words are or should be needed)

 

Come to call (first time everytime, straight to me, do not pass go do not collect 200 pound)

 

Heel (walk at heel not in front, not behind, keeping pace do not wander until I give another order)

 

Once you have these basics rock solid THEN take your dog shooting. Not half trained.

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  • 5 months later...

Bigthug,

 

Dont rush your pup. Follow the obediance traing course and get his basic obediance in place and do some play retreving in the hall to teach him to come back to you in a straight line.....it is outlined in here in one of the pinned topics I believe..........just enjoy him and keep things simple with 15 minute sessions 2x a day.

 

I would suggest you start a thread where you can ask your training questions and give updates on his training, this will keep all of your information in one place so you dont have to look through all of the treads you have read. Just tile it approperately and I am sure you will get lots of help to see you through.

 

NTTF

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  • 7 months later...
How old should the dog be ? I imagine it would be hard to teach an 8 week old pup to hold on a retrieve. Dont want to put the pup off retrieving :oops:

 

I think it's the easiest thing in the world to teach a young puppy - in the house - if your puppy likes to pick things up. I always use titbits ( :good: ) and every time the puppy has something in its mouth, call it to you. Don't snatch the item but if you get it in your hand give a treat. If the puppy drops the item on the floor DO NOT give the treat. Wait until it picks it up again or toss it out and see if it brings it. Very, very quickly they realise what is going on. All mine have been retrieving to hand before they can go out into the big wide world, and none of them ever drop a retrieve. This little video

was Ekko at 10 weeks old. I don't tell them to sit at that age (that waits usually until 6 monthsish) but she came and did it on her own that morning and then did it every time thereafter. The reason she did that was because every time I had called her to me I had put her into a sit with the titbit before she was given it but it is the first puppy I've had who has done that of her own accord. Edited by Pidge
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