The weather has been too warm to work dogs even early of the morning but I have been working Sally most mornings on force fetch. The dogs would still rather point the pigeons than do the force fetch but I need some dogs that will retrieve and I will have some cool mornings through out the summer to work dogs on birds, I hope.
Sally honoring.
Luke at Black Kettle National Grasslands.
20 gauge AYA No 2 and 4 quail.
I went back to pictures from the hunting season for this post because I haven’t been taking pictures of Sally when we are doing our force fetch.
I usually take her out of the kennel early of the morning. I heel her all the way to the retrieving bench so she won’t be panting. Most of the time this works or is at least better than letting her run and getting hot.
When she jumps on the bench I walk her back and forth, petting her. I use the retrieving bench for a loving bench, too. When the dogs are young I put them on the bench and just pet them. All of my dogs except Dolly will jump onto the bench to be petted. Dolly would jump onto the bench too except she’s too old. She can’t jump much of anywhere now but when I put her on it she is happy.
Now when I work Sally on the bench, after petting her I put her on whoa and place some bumpers on the other end of the bench. I pet her then as I say, “fetch” i wave my arm down the bench. She runs down the bench and scoops one up and runs back. I pet her for a few seconds before taking the bumper from her. Right now I have her working on 5 different bumpers. I will add some more as we go along.
After she retrieves them a couple of times I put her on the ground. Her favorite bumpers are the dowel rod bumpers. They are lighter and are off the ground. I set two of these bumpers beside the bench and try to get her to retrieve. It’s almost, like she has no idea about retrieving, the first few times.
A few weeks ago I changed her from the string around the toes to the e-collar around the neck. To change her, I wrapped the string around the transmitter on the e-collar and when I said, “fetch” I would pull the string and push the button on the transmitter. As soon as she took the bumper I let off the button and stopped pulling on the string. Because of her being collar conditioned on other commands she understood this, quickly.
It rained a little this morning so I was later in taking Sally to the retrieving bench than normal. I heeled her all the way to keep her from panting. I petted her from both sides of the bench then put her on whoa. I put 6 different bumpers on the other end of the bench. When I came back to her I petted her for a few seconds then said, “fetch” and waved my arm down the bench. She ran down the bench, grabbed one and ran back with it. She grabs them and whirls around so fast that occasionally she throws one off the bench. This morning I hit the button on the e-collar transmitter when she threw one off the bench and she turned and grabbed another bumper. That’s what I wanted. She has figured out that she needs to retrieve something when I say fetch, on the bench.
It’s a whole different game on the ground. After she retrieved all 6 bumpers twice I placed her on the ground. I had a 6 foot leash leash on her. I threw 3 bumpers on the ground right beside the retrieving bench. I held the leash, waved my arm toward the bumper and said, “fetch”. The first time she ran to the bumper, picked it up and returned to me holding the bumper. When I said, “give” she dropped it in my hand. I was elated thinking, “she has got this figured out”.
Dolly on point.
I petted her for a few seconds and sent her after another. She acted like she had never retrieved before. I held the button on the transmitter down on 1 medium. She walked around me tangling the leash around my legs. I bent over and held one end of the bumper off the ground and she grabbed it. I had her carry it for a little way then had her drop it in my hand.
I sent her to retrieve the third bumper and she scooped it up and came to me with it. She dropped it in my hand on the give command. I petted her for a few seconds.
I took the 2 bumpers that she had retrieved with no problem and threw them out again. But this time I moved away from the bench a few yards. She went to the first one when I said, “fetch”, picked it up and ran back. I petted her for a few seconds them said, “give”. She dropped it in my hand. I sent her for the second and she retrieved it just fine. I worked her on these two bumpers again then had her jump on the bench.
After petting her I put all 6 bumpers on the other end of the bench and had her retrieve them. She runs down the bench, grabs a bumper and runs back. She retrieved all 6 with no problems. I petted her and put her on the ground. I let her run for a while before taking her back to the kennel.
I’m hoping that by putting her back on the bench she will remember having done everything right instead of remembering the work on the ground. I like to put them up after they have done something right. Her work on the bench is progressing nicely and soon her work on the ground will be good too, I hope. It’s all about repetition.
Sally backing Tur Bo at Black Kettle Grasslands.
Sally near and Luke. Divided find.
Sally on point.