Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:11 pm Post subject: Rabbit skin
My 11 year old daughter Aimee, and her wee dog lexi, go to gundog training. Aimee, is having trouble getting the wee dog to retrieve the dummy.Last hight the trainer told her to get a rabbit skin and wrap it around the dummy. Any ideas where i can get this from.Or a soft yellow duck!!!!
Wee dog will run to the door when we come home and fly to find a teddy or anything she can to give us.She walks around all day with her teddy in her mouth.Just not the dummy.
I have been advised against the rabbit skin in case the lab accidently bites into it and gets a taste for it (if u no what I mean) and thats the last thing you want
I just need something to wrap around the dummy to get her to retrieve it.He also mentioned a soft yellow duck which i think the wee dog would like better.But again dont know where to get it from.
Maybe Di will be along or John w soon.
Thanks again
Couldn't you buy a small piece of synthetic fur fabric from a material shop, being as Laxi likes soft toys? Or what about buying a teddy from a charityshop, destuffing it, and slipping the dummy inside it? (poor teddy !!!)
Becs and the Gang
PS- I'm intregued as to why the soft duck has to be yellow!!
Turner Richards have them avaliable at their website I buy them all the time... James - its only a rabbit SKIN, no meat attached, just the fur so the won't get anything if he bites into it. We have to assume Labs will ahve soft mouths, they have to start on game at some point (but this point shouldn't really be below at LEAST a year of age) but this is not game, just something to make him keener to pick a dummy... and yes I totally agree with the advice, it can make a unwilling dog far more willing, it can also help with the hold.
Only a rabbit skin or hare skin will do for this - anything synthetic will not create the adrenaline punch the dog needs in thinking it is real game but without the awkwardness of carrying a real rabbit or hare.
Only a rabbit skin or hare skin will do for this - anything synthetic will not create the adrenaline punch the dog needs in thinking it is real game but without the awkwardness of carrying a real rabbit or hare.
Di
Still puzzled about the 'soft yellow duck!' Surely thats not a REAL soft yellow duck???? Or is a 'soft yellow duck' some sort of shooting-term???? This is going to be niggling me all day! HELP!!!
I have no idea, I would avoid cuddly toys at all costs with working gundogs. They really DO encourage them to treat them like toys and crunch down on them.
I'm thinking the reluctance to pick can sometimes be also overcome by just simply making the whole training thing a lot more exciting. Too much emphasis when a dog is reluctant is placed on steadiness, we need to get these dogs out in a field with a dummy and wind it up to screaming point, jumping to and fro, pretending to throw it, vocally encouraging their excitement until the dog gets one throw which it just runs for like a ball, no setadiness, nothing to put the brakes on. Too many slow dogs are treated like whizzy dogs and made to train in the same way and every dog is different, some need steadying to within and inch of their lives, walking away from thrown items to increase steadiness, being called off things, but others need jazzing up, running in, chasing and generally becoming hotter deliberately.
You can always take down a naturally lazy or steady dog again. Its getting them adoring it and going wild first whicb is important - adrenaline.
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
He could be thinking of the "Birddog dummies" also available from Turner Richards, but a bit big I would have thought. I use one of the tanned rabbit skins from time to time But the Birddog Dummy comes later in the training for me as an intermediate before cold game.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
!!!)
