Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:54 pm Post subject: Taking away the Novelty Factor
Some of you may remember before when I asked for advice on getting Theo to retrieve properly instead of getting the dummy and charging round like an idiot. Well at present we're still charging round like an idiot but for slightly less time but we've put retrieve aside a little bit and have been working on recall as recommended and steadiness exercises.
The main problem I have noticed when doing training is as soon as Theo sees the dummy he gets majorly overexcited as if the dummy is the most exciting thing in the world, for example he never jumps up at people but at training he always jumps up to the trainer cos he knows she has the dummy. So my main question is, is there a way we can reduce this novelty factor on the dummy without making him bored of it and reducing his desire to retrieve.
When you find the answer please let me know. Jet is 3 1/2 and his manky old green training dummy is still guarenteed to make him frolic like a young pup each and every time he sees it
Will follow this with interest as have the self same problem!
Huge BUMP!
I've worked on recall, worked on hold, worked on steadiness, abandoned steadiness, worked on reverse retrieving, worked on flippin' everything to no avail!!
Does your dog retrieve dummies ok when it's just you and the dog? Mine does this, but in a group training situation (or even just with one other friend and dog) it all goes to pot!
Does your dog retrieve dummies ok when it's just you and the dog? Mine does this, but in a group training situation (or even just with one other friend and dog) it all goes to pot!
That is exactly my problem, he just can't bear the thought of "someone" else getting "his" retrieve, so dashes out there first to make sure they don't
On our own 1:1 he's great, mind you, we only do gundog training for fun so in the grand scheme of things I do have other things I can worry about
I'll stop hijacking this thread now and wait for some sensible people to offer some good advice
It's not a dummy that does this for Luna but a soft filled medium sized football. I guess they associate the dummy with fun and reward. We've trained Luna with the football and used the football as reward for a variety of experiences eg hydrotherapy, fetch, wait, stop...
Could it possible to switch the excitement to a toy other than the dummy? Because of Luna's fixation on the high-status football toy a dummy is interesting and valuable but not highly exciting.
Gnome - Ah bugger that wasn't the answer I was hoping for
Moj - At the moment no he just generally charges round like an idiot with it, it's a pain in the arse cos he loves going to get the dummy and goes out like a rocket and is very good at marking - better than some of the others in our class he just won't give me the bloody dummy
Luna - He only sees the dummy when we are training out of the house and doesn't really get it as reward as such and I think even if we trained with something else for a while the dummy will still be exciting next time he sees it
Seriously.... Jet was a right pain to begin with as he would go out after the dummy like a rocket but would then prance around just out of reach shaking it like a mad thing.
We've managed to put a stop to this. Initially I spent sooo many training sessions only letting him retrieve 1 in 3 throws, with me trotting out to retrieve the other 2
So he's reasonably steady (on his own) but not on the dummy so then I started to throw the dummy out on a long line so I could still control it.
When he brought it back BIG reward, when he didn't I would haul it in and take it off him with no reward. He eventually got the idea
All this works fine until he's with other dogs, or worst still WATER!!!!! Then he goes even deafer than me
1:1 this routine worked really well, he's just not steady with other dogs around when there's the chance of getting his gob round a lovely dummy.
To be fair I haven't bothered to do any more work on it with him because as I said we only do it for fun. I'm sure you'll be more dedicated and have more success than me so don't get disheartened
yep the prancing sounds familiar but tieing something to the dummy so I can be in control of it seems a good idea to me... I've done it with Theo on a long line and hauled him in but he does it a lot better when he's on a lead it just all goes to pot when he's off his lead
I so empathise with you! Bracken's the same - great marker, never misses a mark, but would rather bog off with it than retrieve it to me.
What is your dog's breeding like? Mine isn't great. Mainly show and pet. I think she just doesn't have the same desire to actually retrieve and please, that the working dogs do.
One thing you could try if recall is good.... sit dog up, put dummy between you and dog, call dog up. Ideally, dog will run toward you, pick dummy, and keep running toward you.
Not sure if I casn agree with the breeding thing, Jet is "pure" working lines for at least 5 generations with many FTCH in there on both sides, I can honestly say that in my dog's case it's lousy handling from his owner
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