water retrieves

[darren m]

hi lads -- trying to get Jack to retrieve to hand from water , no probs with the retrieve its self , just that every time he does he drops it for a shake .

i,ve tried stepping backwards as he approaches , but he still drops it short.

Any ideas :thumbs:.

 

Darren .

ps . his land retrieves are ok .

[Browning]

Darren,

 

There's an article in this months Sporting Gun that covers exactly your problem.

 

Unfortunately the writer didn't come up with a definitive answer. What he did

find though was that his lab stopped dropping for a shake when he retreived cold pigeon & pheasant rather than a dummy.

 

Might be worth a try.

[darren m]

cheers Browning -- i'll try and get a copy of the magazine , is it in may or june's edition .

cheers

Darren .

ps . in the meantime , if any ones got any good ideas .

[Browning]

It's in the June edition.

 

Good Luck :thumbs:

[Hubertus]

did you solved the problem?

 

We do it this way:

 

First start on a lake or river where the bank is very flat. Stand near as possible to the water. When the dog comes out let him sit and hold the dummy while he have it in his mouth. You must prevent that the dog let fall down the dummy and also the shaking. If it works you can make the distance from time to time longer. If it happens that he throws the dummy out give him a strikt command that he feel that you dont want and accept that. Very important is that you make the distance longer very slow. Its better make it 10 times working then 2 misses. If he throw it out 3 or 4 times then he has begun to form a habit of that. Its much more difficult to correct a wrong habit.

 

I know that you must very carefull with advices for dog training from far away because you dont know the real problems.

 

Hubertus

[Jonnyni]

Very important is that you make the distance longer very slow. Its better make it 10 times working then 2 misses. If he throw it out 3 or 4 times then he has begun to form a habit of that. Its much more difficult to correct a wrong habit.

Very wise words, I wish I had known what I know now, my next pup stands a far better chance of being trained better.

[new to the flock]

Darren sorted?

[darren m]

hi Dan -- no not sorted yet mate , i've not done any training this last month or so , but i'm going to get back on it .

any ideas .

 

cheers

Darren .

[new to the flock]

Darren

 

There are several ways to reach your end goal of not dropping the dummy. The one that I like the best and personnaly use is to teach the dog to shake on command instead of letting it pick the time to shake off. This is easily taught in the back yard, at the lake, or best of all in the shower.

 

There are two parts, (commands) to this exersice "No shake", and "shake", and by the way you are going to get wet teaching this so dont try to avoid it get right in close and work with Jack. To teach the No shake get him good and wet using the hose or a nice warm shower.... , be sure you are right beside him when he goes to shake. Place your hands on his sides holding him from shaking and command NO Shake. He will get a small wiggle in but not be able to shake because you are holding him.

 

To teach him to shake, get him wet, but not to the point that he wants to shake off.....bend down and blow directly into his face, you may have to blow 2 or 3 times.....use a full inhale and slowly exhale blowing into Jacks nose and eyes. As soon as Jack begins to start his shake, command Shake. Water sprayed directly over the eyes will also cause him to shake, however I perfer the breath method. Remember to Praise him for doing what you have asked in both commands.

 

This is going to take several sessions to teach, so dont rush it and be sure you have it sorted before going back to water retrieves.

 

Any questions on this let me know......NTTF