I’m still going through about the same things on the retrieving. Abby and Boss are getting better but we still have quite a way to go. But we have plenty of time. The season won’t open until at the earliest September first. My plans are to hunt quite a bit during the early season, weather permitting. I will need to find an area with temperatures staying under 70 for the daily high. That may be hard to find in the early season. But the dog boxes in my truck are metal and they can heat pretty quickly.
Abby with a plastic dummy.
Boss with a plastic dummy.
Boss with a dowel dummy.
Each day, as we go through the retrieving and then to running the field we go through a lot of the commands these dogs know. Almost every day they are worked on most of them. The commands are: Up, heel, whoa, fetch, hold, give, here, okay and kennel. When they jump onto their house or the retrieving bench I usually say, “up”. I put their e-collars and GPS collars on, tap their head and say, “heel”. For Abby and Boss they hear fetch, hold and give on the bench and right beside the bench for now. They are put on whoa when we get back near the 4-wheeler. When I get on, start the 4-wheeler and put it in gear I then say, “okay”. That’s their release command. Sometimes I use alright for a release command.
This morning I heeled Mann out first. I whoaed him near the 4-wheeler. The temperature was in the 60’s and it was cloudy. Nicer for the dogs than the mornings that were near 80 degrees and sunny. I threw the Dokken quail dummy 5 times just about as far as I could throw it for him. Mann is starting to enjoy retrieving, I think. At least he enjoys being petted. I pet him for a few seconds before reaching for the quail dummy, then pet him him for a few seconds after he drops the quail in my hand. He doesn’t like the treats.
After the retrieves I whoa him, on warm sunny mornings, I whoa him in a shady area about 25 yards from the 4-wheeler. This morning he was close to the 4-wheeler and after I started it and put it in gear I said, “okay”. Mann is fast to the back then he redoubles his speed to the front. I can’t keep up because I have to slow for the ditch/creek that crosses my side of the training grounds. By the time I get half way between the creek and my house he’s going back toward the back. I circle the house and hurry to the back. When we get close to the kennel I stop and sit on the old stump and pet him for a while before putting him in his kennel.
Several times this week I have whoaed all of the dogs in the shade about 25 yards from the 4-wheeler. When I got close to the 4-wheeler I would turn and call them to me. After they took a few steps I whoaed them again. This time I didn’t release them until I got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. That’s a good exercise for working on whoa. I don’t do it many times in a day but it really gets them to understand that on whoa they can’t move. I didn’t do this today for Sally and Mann but I did for Abby and Boss.
Abby with a dowel dummy.
I have been working Sally last, because she was in heat, but the last couple of mornings I have worked her second. Today she was second. Sally loves to retrieve or at least she has to retrieve to get a treat and she loves the treats. She is really fast to the Dokken quail and really fast back to me. I talk to her but don’t take the dummy for a few seconds. Then as soon as she drops it into my hand I give her a treat with the other hand.
After 5 retrieves I whoa her and go to the 4-wheeler. I start it and put it in gear before saying, “okay”. Sally doesn’t go very fast but she’s doing better. When I first started doing this she would cross the creek, stop and eat grass while I rode to the back. When I got close to her she would go back across the creek and eat grass. She wasn’t getting much exercise.
Abby was about the same way. I started stopping when they stopped. I would call them and if they didn’t pay any attention I would tone them on their e-collar. After just a few mornings they were better and now they are getting quite a bit of exercise. Sometimes they both fail to go to my front yard but they are usually busy behind the house. Now they are like, “okay, if you insist”.
The stump, near the kennel, that I’ve made into a loving spot.
Before I put Sally back in her kennel I sit on the stump and feed her some treats. This also gives me time to change their e-collars over to bark collars and to take the GPS collar off. After about 4 treats she’s ready to go back in her kennel.
I heeled Boss to the retrieving bench. After he jumped onto the bench I walked both sides petting him every few feet. Boss is slow. On the ground running he’s really fast but on this bench he like molasses on a cold morning. But I always reward the effort. I put 6 dummies, 4 dowel dummies and 2 plastic dummies on the other end of the bench. When I say fetch he moves at the speed of a slow turtle. For Abby I ran down the bench and she got where she would hurry too. When I tried that with Boss it just made me get there a long time before him.
Now I’m not even going down with him. I just say fetch and then I wait. He slowly turns and saunters down the bench. When he gets to the first dummy he slowly lowers his head and takes the dummy in his mouth. He raises it maybe half and inch. He slowly turns around and walks back to me. He doesn’t really like the plastic bumpers. He sometimes will step over one of them to get to one of the dowel dummies. After he’s through with the dowels he still has to do the plastic. After he brings me all 6 I pet him for a few seconds then set them all out again.
Abby with a plastic bumper.
He’s no faster on the second set than the first. But that’s okay. This morning on one of the plastic dummies he tried to refuse it and I held the button on the transmitter down on level 2. He can hardly feel this but he went ahead and retrieved the plastic one. The second plastic he took just fine and on the second set he did all 6 with no problem. Not real fast but he did them.
I petted him for a little while then set him on the ground. I dropped one of the dowel dummies in front of him and said, “fetch”. He looked at me and then at the dummy but didn’t reach for it. I took the e-collar transmitter from my pocket and he reached for the dowel. I held my hand up like a traffic cop and walked 10 or 15 feet away. I squatted down and said, “here”. He came to me pretty fast. Just before he got to me I told him to hold. I petted him for a few seconds.
Mann with Boss honoring.
Then I dropped the dummy in front of him and said, “fetch”. He picked it up while I backed away from him. I called him to me and he was way faster than what he is on the bench. I did this 3 times on the ground close to the retrieving bench with lots of petting. I heeled him away.
When we got about 25 yards from the 4-wheeler I whoaed him. Before I got to the 4-wheeler I turned and called him to me. He knew this was a trick this morning. I had to call him twice before he would move. After a few steps from him I held my hand up and said, “whoa”. He stopped. I got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. I watched him for a few seconds then said, “okay”. He ran to the back.
After he made two laps around the yard I sat on the stump and petted him. He still thinks he’s a little puppy. He crawls into my lap to be petted. That’s okay. It makes me feel good too. After a minute or so I put him in his kennel.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
Abby was last this morning. I heeled her to the retrieving bench and fed her a few treats as I walked both sides of the bench petting her. I put the set of 6 dummies on the other end of the bench. Abby is quicker, by a lot, than Boss is on the bench. She goes right down the bench grabs a dummy and hurries back. I pet a lot before I let them drop the dummy. Abby doesn’t skip any, normally. When the plastic is next she doesn’t step over them to get to a dowel, like Boss sometimes does.
After 2 sets of 6 bumpers I set her on the ground and whoaed her. I dropped a dowel dummy in front of her and said, “fetch”. She picked it up as I backed away from her. When I was about 15 feet from her I squatted down and said, “here”. She came right to me. I petted her a few seconds then said, “give”. She dropped it in my hand. After she retrieved it 3 times I heeled her close to the 4-wheeler.
I put her on whoa and walked near the 4-wheeler. I called her and she started toward me. I whoaed her while holding my hand up. She stopped. I got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. She was really watching for me to say, “okay”. When I did she was off to the back. She still stops occasionally but not near as much as she used to. She’s starting to think she should be in front of the 4-wheeler. After a couple laps around the yard I sat on the stump and fed her treats.
Boss
Most of this is the same from day to day but that’s the way dogs learn. With enough repetitions you can train about anything. This also gives me an opportunity to pet them and to talk to them. When they jump on their house or on the bench I talk right into their nose. They like to smell your breath when you’re happy. By the same token they don’t like to smell your breath when you’re angry. But during training sessions, there is no reason to get angry. If the dog isn’t doing what you want you haven’t presented the right thing in the right manner.