Jacks training (advice please)

[darren m]

i took Jack , my black lab ( 23 months old now ) to the beta gun dog weekend at catton park.

i must say we , the whole family enjoyed it thoroughly , it was great to watch the various breeds work during the working tests .

There was a great demo from Rory major , using live pigeons which was very interesting .

i even enterd him into the five fun tests that where there and he completed them all in a fashion , his water retrieve was one of the fastest of the day ( 11 seconds ).

 

Any way i need some more advice re-garding his training , the one problem that he did have was getting him to get over at a distance command.

close up no probs at all he,ll jump climb anything.

But whats the best way to get him to do this at say distances of 50yards or more .

 

Also direction commands at distance.

got the hand signals ok-ish , but if he does not see me point , what verbal command should i use if i want him to go left or right and how do i teach it him please .

thanks again

Darren .

ps . did any one here attend the gundog weekend .

[Staffs-Shooter]

I attended. I assume you query was regarding the scurry with the bails at the end? What you need to do ibe forceful with your voice "OVER". It works fro me (did 21 sec on that one)

[darren m]

yes mate -- that one ( he did the bails ok , with encouragement from my daughter) and the other other , where he has to retrieve the 5 dummies only 2 are marked.

they throw one dummy in cover , thats got a 3 foot high circular fence around it.

dog as to get over , only prob is the distance your away from them ( about 50--60 yards ) .

[Staffs-Shooter]

I have to confess i was not keen on that one myself. The layout was good but the topography of the ground wasn't very forgiving.

[new to the flock]

Darren did you get this sorted?

[paul tony cassidy]

did u get any advice here mate ??

[darren m]

hi NTTF and Paul -- if you,ve got any adivce, then yes please feel free , i'm always looking for suggestions etc .

i,ve not done much with Jack over the last month or so , its just been too hot for me and the lad .

 

Darren .

[paul tony cassidy]

i found with getting my older dog to jump at distance it was very useful to take someone else training with me and let them stand at the other side of the fence/obstacle and throw the dummy, starting say from 10 yds and gradually build it up every time hes successful, your second question is a little tricky , unless maybe u go back and train the left and right command with the words left when u want left and right when u want right, thats really the only thing i can think of there mate..

[new to the flock]

"Also direction commands at distance.

got the hand signals ok-ish , but if he does not see me point , what verbal command should i use if i want him to go left or right and how do i teach it him please .

thanks again

Darren ."

 

 

Darren the handling is taught using an exercise known as Retriever Baseball. Be sure that when using hand sigles that they are full extensions of your arms and not delivered close to you body. If your hands are in tight to you , you can not see the signal. You look like a blob, try it have your wife or a mate go out 50 yards and do a signal close to the body then have them do a correct one, you will see the differance immediately.

 

1. Retriever Baseball.

If you are not familiar with this exercise, let me know and I will explain it in more detail. Basically; you are home plate, the dog is on the pitcher's mound, there are bumpers placed (not thrown) on first, second and third bases. From these positions, you can send your dog R, L, or back. You can also put a sit whistle in on the cast. If he ignores the whistle, walk out and take him back to the point he was at when the whistle was blown. Sit him with the whistle and praise him when he sits. Walk back to home plate and continue the cast or retrieve. I'm sure you get the picture.

Remember to Praise Praise Praise. You are building his self confidence. Once this exercise has been mastered, start him on short retrieves lengthening out as the exercises are completed.

[new to the flock]

"Any way i need some more advice re-garding his training , the one problem that he did have was getting him to get over at a distance command.

close up no probs at all he,ll jump climb anything.

But whats the best way to get him to do this at say distances of 50yards or more ."

 

Darren

 

This sounds like a lengthening out problem to me as you say that he will do it close up. Basically this means that you are going to trick Jack into thinking that you are farther away from the obsticle than you really are. To accomplish this set Jack up at your chosen obsticle at a distance that he is comfortable working at example 10 yards. Push a marker stake in, ( a dowl or driveway maker works well for this). Now before you send Jack over the obsticle PACE off another 10 yards back, and put another marker in. Return to Jack at the original 10 yard mark, send him for the retrieve over the obsticle. As he is going way from you jog back to your 20 yard marker, lengthening out how far he will return. Repeat this exercise for a week, with half a dozen retrieves per session 4 to 6 session a week. At the end of the week start at the 20 yard pin and move back to a 30 yard pin, continue in this fashion until you have lengthened him out to where you want him.

If at anytime you have a problem while lengthening shorten the distance back up to where he is working well.

 

Good Luck ....NTTF