Sending her out!

[deeksofdoom]

Hey lads and Lassies,

 

I've been doing a little retrieving work with the GWP and what I want to try next is sending her out long distances on blind retrieves, up until this evening I've only been throwing dummies 30 to 40 yds. This evening I got her to sit and and walked off about 50 yards threw the dummy straight out in front of her and then walked back to her and sent her off.

 

The first time as the dummy had never been that distance from her before she was looking for it at the usual distance and I had to stop her walk up to her and send her on again she found the dummy and tore back to me where I made a big fuss of her as usual. By the third attempt she was tearing off the full distance on her own and bringing back the dummy much to my delight.

 

What I want to eventually achieve is to be able to send her off on a long range blind retrieves as I've seen some of my beating buddies do with their Springers much to the the disgust of the Pickers with their Labs.

 

How would I achieve this and bear in mind I don't have a dummy launcher as in this country you need a firearms licence for one and I don't know if I could be bothered going to the time and expense of doing that.

 

Any ideas welcome guys!

[tiercel]

Deeks,

There are two ways the dog can find a retrieve, visual and scent the most reliable of those two is scent. So it follows that the dog has to be downwind of the retrieve to find the scent. The dog can then use the scent trail to find the retrieve. All you have to do is get the dog in the scent trail and he will do the rest. Use the wind to your advantage practice the "Go back" down wind of short hidden retrieves, and lengthen the distance as the dog gets the idea of what it is you want him to do. But as with all basic training make sure that he is not going to wind live game as this will distract and confuse him, in the early stages of the training.

 

With mine I used two seperate commands "Get on" meant hunt live game. "Go back" meant retrieve. You will be surprised at how quick they can cotton on to the two different commands. They will eventually learn to ignore live game if sent on a retrieve, with a "Go back".

 

This picture explains it well. In the picture there is a pigeon in a gutter under the bent tree on the left hand side of the picture. The wind is coming from left to right. I have cast him out into the field giving the Go back command and every time he stopped going in the direction I wanted I would tell him to go back with the corresponding arm signal. Trying to keep him down wind of the retrieve. When the photo was taken he had just winded the pigeon and was moving up the scent trail.

 

 

This was the result live pigeon back to hand.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

TC

[gdunc]

Have you been training memory retrieves? I use these to train the dog the 'back' command which I use as Tiercel has described. I hup the dog then throw a dummy or tennis ball where the dog can see it then walk the dog away for a distance (starting short say 20yds) then gradually increase (i'm now up to about 200yds) - always ensuring that you are walking downwind of the scent.

 

I use 'out' to send the dog for a retrieve and while she's running back for the dummy shout 'back' or 'right back' to help the dog understand that it means go long to find the retrieve.

 

Once this is well established you can use it on blinds - again starting short and then working up the distance. It's all about building the dog's trust that you are telling it where to go. Once they get close the nose takes over - you just need to let them know that you'll get them close if they follow your directions.

 

If ever the dog seems lost or is off on a tangent always stop the dog and have them sitting facing you before giving any further commands or else you'll just be shouting words into thin air - a dog nose down hunting up will rarely listen to directional commands.

 

I made a vid a while back which gives an indication of what i'm talking about.

 

[deeksofdoom]

Tiercel and gdunc,

 

Thanks for your replies some very good suggestions there that I'll be using later on this evening. So basically what I'll be doing will be;

 

1. Checking the ground for any sign of game so that the dog doesn't get distracted

 

2. Start off with the memory retrieves going out with the dog dropping the dummy in front of her an walking back to a point where I will be casting her out.

 

3. Making sure that the dog is facing into the wind downwind of the dummy.

 

4. Casting her off with a hand signal and 'get on', then as she is heading off to find the dummy encouraging her on with 'get back' to retrieve the dummy.

 

At the moment I use either 'get on' or 'go fetch', but well see how we go later on. I was using the 'get back' in the garden, by getting the dog to sit facing me and then throwing the dummy over her head and saying 'get back' but she wasn't really getting it as she was confused. I think the memory retrieve will work a bit better for this.

 

Might even have a little clip of her doing it by the weekend

 

I think I'm going to enjoy trying this out!

[gdunc]

Memory retrieves are great fun and are good for your dog's fitness too once you get up to a good distance.

 

See how fast they come back after their fifth 200yd retrieve!

 

Let us know how you get on

Edited May 1, 2008 by gdunc

[deeksofdoom]

Well I've been practising and so far so good. first evening I thought that this should be **** easy so I tried her with a fairly long memory retrieve, absolute disaster went the wrong direction completely. so I then decided to start small and build up the distances gradually.

 

Heres a few clips I managed to get on the camera phone, I walked her out at heal sat her down and through the dummy a few yards ahead of her and then walked her back at heal.

 

First clip is a fairly short retrieve

 

Next one is a bit further

 

Last one is about 100m, couple of points to note; the wind is blowing from left to right, she takes off down to the right and then scents the dummy on the wind and returns from the left side where I had left it.

 

Now i tried her a bit further aswell and she totally forgot where the dummy was and went the wrong way, so i had to walk back towards the dummy with her, encouraging her with 'go back' command all the time. i think I'll start encouraging her back with the 'go back' command for all retrieves long and short just to get her used to it.

[ziplex]

Gents, can any of you offer some advice for me with my GSP. At home both indoors and in the garden Bree will happily retrieve both blind and when the dummy is thrown in view. Whether I allow her to see where it lands or even if I dissappear from her view to hide it she will happily sit indefinately until I tell her to 'find it', whereupon she returns it to hand...every time. I can throw the dummy as close as 1 ft in front or behind her and again she'll leave until told otherwise, (tends to drool though ). When i'm out with her though I find she shows very little interest in the dummy. I have tried various duck and pigeon wings wrapped onto it but it seems to make little difference?!

 

Ideas.............??

Edited May 4, 2008 by ziplex

[trollhunter]

another method i use is to walk the dog to heel and drop a dummy while walking after 10 yards stop sit the dog down and using back as a command cast the dog of for a retrieve , doing this about twice a night while on a walk till the dog or bitch gets a hang of it so then increasing the distance as training days go on , if you can use the same path way or training place (straight lines are better ie long straight pathway or hedgerow or along side a building if that is what is available so the dog does not deviate of its path) the dog cottons on a bit quicker from the previous training session as it remembers fom past attemps

this helps as using the word back so it knows to go back in a straight line for blind retrieves so when it gets to 100 yards or so then stops and looks you can shout back and hopefully the dog will do a uturn and start going back a gain

fetch i only use in a marked retreive but also use back if the dog has not gone far enough back and looking at you for help