Nikki can I be completely honest with you (I know I usually am and that's what gets me into trouble ). For now just stick to canvas dummies, wait a while before moving onto all sorts of other things. You can sometimes give yourselves more problems than you need by moving on to quickly.
As an example some young dogs when put on fur or feather at a young age get bored with canvas dummies. Then you decide you want to do a Working Test which is all canvas dummies. Do you get my drift?
There is no rush to move on honestly.
Edited to add: All Spice is getting to retrieve at the moment is a tennis ball and I have no plans to move her onto anything else in the near future.
Thanks Jill for the advice and I hear where you are coming from. I've been thinking about this and realise its proabably not a good idea to move on from canvas dummies at the moment. This thread really relates more to Rusti, we've progressed in our training and he's very good at retrieving canvas dummies now and has really increased his speed, but I must say that I feel these dummies don't excite him enough! So far he's never been that excited over a canvas dummy (the dummies only come out for training and just for a few retrieves). Have been using a "Kong Fetch Stick" instead lately and he's much more excited about it and even faster.
Perhaps I should stick with that for a while and then introduce the dummies again, what do you think?
Nikki you need to think about the end game. What would you like to do with Rusti? If the answer is you might like to have a go at Working Tests I would stick with dummies. If you just want to have some fun then go ahead and lob whatever you like.
Don't take this the wrong way the problem isn't the canvas dummies not being exciting enough, it is the way that you are training.
I imagine you play with Rusti and all the other dogs with all sorts of balls and toys and they race around having a FUN time. Then you go off "all serious like" to do some "real training" and expect Rusti to be equally excited. Think about it a minute? Which would you prefer?
You need to find more innovative ways to train him and light his fire in the process. It is nothing to do with canvas dummies. New retrieve items will excite him for a while, but its a short term fix. Without seeing him I would guess given a choice Rusti would rather play with the other dogs than do "gundog training" with you. You need to turn that around. All of my dogs would rather do "gundog training" with me (I think) and the jostling to be "the one" taken for training is manic .
Does that make sense Nikki? I am not sure if you are still having lessons, but you probably need some 1 to 1's to look at what is happening and how you and Rusti can be more of a team when out gundog training.
Nikki you need to think about the end game. What would you like to do with Rusti? If the answer is you might like to have a go at Working Tests I would stick with dummies. If you just want to have some fun then go ahead and lob whatever you like.
Don't take this the wrong way the problem isn't the canvas dummies not being exciting enough, it is the way that you are training.
I imagine you play with Rusti and all the other dogs with all sorts of balls and toys and they race around having a FUN time. Then you go off "all serious like" to do some "real training" and expect Rusti to be equally excited. Think about it a minute? Which would you prefer?
You need to find more innovative ways to train him and light his fire in the process. It is nothing to do with canvas dummies. New retrieve items will excite him for a while, but its a short term fix. Without seeing him I would guess given a choice Rusti would rather play with the other dogs than do "gundog training" with you. You need to turn that around. All of my dogs would rather do "gundog training" with me (I think) and the jostling to be "the one" taken for training is manic .
Does that make sense Nikki? I am not sure if you are still having lessons, but you probably need some 1 to 1's to look at what is happening and how you and Rusti can be more of a team when out gundog training.
Thanks for the advice Jill. I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with this at the moment but for now want to do things properly so will stick to the canvas dummies.
Rusti and Sunni do get retrieves with other toys (normally a tennis ball) or the kong sticks but I wouldn't say its something I do too much of with them when all the dogs are around, as I prefer practicing retrieves with each of them on their own so that they get it right. Of course, there are times say when we all go to the river or something, and they will all play with some balls.
I don't think we have a problem really with Rusti not wanting to do gundog work with me. Yes, he loves playing with the other dogs but equally he loves it when I take him out on his own for some training. He certainly gets very excited about it and really does want to work and I think if he didn't enjoy working with me or wasn't happy about it, I really wouldn't want to carry on with it.
Perhaps I'm just expecting too much and getting ahead of myself with Rusti, after all he is only 8 months old and there is plenty of time. I'm probably comparing him with Sunni also which I shouldn't. For example, Sunni is potty about the dummies and has alot more enthusiasm with retrieves. I'm very pleased though with the way Rusti is progressing, he's increased his speed alot and now retrieves to hand.
I do think we work well as a team, just need some pointers on how to improve things from here. We've not had a lesson for a while but have some lined up after our hols.
Its really hard to guess without seeing him Nikki, but it sounds like you may have overdone the "control" element of his gundog training and inadvertantly taken away the "thrill" of the retrieve. Mine are very soft natured dogs and there is a very fine line to be walked to get the balance right. Knock there confidence and it is hard to get back.
My guess would be that Rusti is desparately trying to get things right for you and because of this he lacks confidence on his retrieving. You need to build that confidence back up again. To be honest with Spice I am keeping the obedience side of her training completely separate from the retrieves, BUT they are very young and I am not putting any pressure on her at all. There is no problem with you using other things to retrieve ie. the kong sticks etc. But you will not solve the problem by going out and buying all sorts of ducks, pheasants etc.. Does that make sense Nikki? The problem is in the training not in what he is retrieving.
Yes, I think you could be right Jill and maybe Rusti has lost some confidence. I will try and get some videos done to show you when I get back from hols. It may even be the case that you think he's doing fine and I am making more of it that I need to.
What you have said definitely makes sense and I can see that it is a training problem, not what he is retrieving. Its a shame you don't live round the corner from me, I could pop round with Rusti and see what you think!
Hopefully I can get some good advice when we go for our next lesson.
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). For now just stick to canvas dummies, wait a while before moving onto all sorts of other things. You can sometimes give yourselves more problems than you need by moving on to quickly.
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