The Spotted Devil

Agility training has been a bit light on lately, what with retrieving trials, inclement weather and life in general, but it appears that suits my dogs very well :laugh: I have worked on specific issues with both of them (keeping bars up for Em and decels for Zig) and that was all we needed for today. Ziggy had one good run after another although I robbed him of several quallies with an on course micro sleep Lovely JDO run for a 5th place (58 dogs entered) and his JDO2 title I think there is video somewhere....just waiting to see. Em blew me away. The. Best. Runs. Of. Her. Life. She was only entered in 2 Excellent Jumping runs and ran hard and clean in both of them. No hesitation, full of self confidence and joy yet took every shoulder turn with sublime style and ease. I said "through" for the tunnel, called her once whilst she was in the tunnel for a tight turn but otherwise kept my mouth shut - I have improved too :D I am so excited that something has 'clicked' for this crazy Springer and I'm beginning to see her agility potential. Sorry for the rave - just been looking for the missing link between training and trialing for a little while :) 2 x 2nd place for her JDX title. It will be lovely to have both dogs running Masters Jumping courses...no more clashes!!!

Thanks - she's heaps of fun! And just did a PERFECT Excellent Jumping run after zero training. Would love to see some skateboard work Once I get a moment I will catch up on some videos in this thread. Ready to be inspired!

Not a silly question :) It means that you teach the last behaviour first and is a powerful way to learn. For example, you teach the delivery aspect of the retrieve first. In agility we teach the 2 on/2 off contact behaviour first - that is the last behaviour performed on the dog walk, A-frame etc. Oh thanks TSD :) I hadn't heard of this method before. Gives me another option to research & try. BC Crazy, I just posted a video in the "What trick are you teaching?" thread where I'm using backchaining to teach Em to fetch me a tissue :)

Great timing sheena! I decided to teach Em to bring me a tissue as part of a more complex trick. I've done 2 short sessions... Part 1 Part 2

What a darling pup

I'm so very sorry Pers Sometimes it's the cantankerous ones that grab hold of our hearts and won't let go. Much love to you xxx

I am cautious with a gundog but my normal approach would be to start early but let pup dictate how hard the game is - pup does all the work. Whether I teach a "give" depends on how enthusiastic the pup is to tug. I would be tugging with pup in as many different environments as possible as it's common for pups to tug really well at home but be overwhelmed in other settings. Also incorporate rules when pup is happily tugging - you can work on "outs", a shaped sit, bringing the retrieve toy to you and tugging with the toy that YOU choose. Have fun and take lots of videos

Not a silly question :) It means that you teach the last behaviour first and is a powerful way to learn. For example, you teach the delivery aspect of the retrieve first. In agility we teach the 2 on/2 off contact behaviour first - that is the last behaviour performed on the dog walk, A-frame etc.

A couple of ideas.... Try some "free shaping" with a box and only reward new behaviours once or twice. Train with his dinner every night. When you return to the retrieve switch to something other than the ball - save you "poisoning" the retrieve with the item. Generalise quite quickly to a number of objects including wood, leather...even a pen. Only reward a repeated behaviour once or twice - then expect a new behaviour. Let him work through the frustration but don't make a big deal about it. Relax with a cuppa or a glass of wine whilst you train - sit in a chair. My Dally used to get awfully frustrated with shaping so I tried something different: one piece of kibble for every repeated behaviour and a handful if he tried something new. It really helped him push through the "giving up" stage. If you are desperate you can try putting some food on the retrieve item just to get him started. I shaped Em to bring me a tissue the other night - advanced it too quickly and she brought me the whole box! When that didn't work she tried to do perch work on it :laugh: Fortunately I videoed it.

Australian Ravens. There are no crows around Canberra, there are only Ravens. But there are the Choughs, that live in family groups and are black with white under their wings. They can get mistaken for crows too. Ravens and Crows - Corvids - are credited with being some of the most intelligent of all birds. doesn't surprise me. Have you ever seen a crow or raven hit by a car? I dont think I have. MMmmmm they are smart ! Another Government study provides outstanding results . . . CSIRO Officials admitted that they found about 200 dead crows on the highway between Noonamah and Palmerston, in Northern Territory, where there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. The Territory Government approved and the CSIRO contracted a bird pathologist to examine the remains of all the crows and he confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu, much to everyone’s relief. However, he determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, and only 2% were killed by car impact. (Didn't know there was a difference!) The Territory Government then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine the disproportionate percentages for truck versus car kills. After 18 months of research and $2.7 million spent, the Ornithological Behaviourist determined the cause in the deaths. When crows eat road kill, they always set-up a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger. His conclusion was that the lookout crow could say “Cah”, but he could not say “Truck”. I bet he could say "Faaaaaaaaarrrrrrrk"

Standard crate set up for puppies.... Double decker crate... Adult dogs have a slightly different set up...

Try shaping it sitting down in a chair with your legs apart - so much easier :) You can start by sitting on the ground (your legs bent and apart) and rewarding high up near your chest for snappy recalls. Builds lots of enthusiasm for getting close before you start working on the front.

Oh he's darling! Miss Em gets the odd lamb neck - absolutely demolishes them but they do take a bit longer. Not big on her lamb breath afterwards though!!!

I use it. "Front" is sitting straight and square, looking up (preferably adoringly :laugh:). The rest is proofing using angles, distance, distractions etc. The actual sit/wait is taught quite separately.

I feed whole frozen chicken frames or several wings frozen together. And always away from the other dog and cats. Latter are the worst at putting pressure on a hungry dog.

DC - interesting you say that. I have pulled Em out of agility as she doesn't like the whole "stopped" contacts idea either. I guess she doesn't have a thorough understanding of the behaviour but that is understandable as we do much more retrieving training. Also, stopping a dog in retrieving indicates to the dog that they are taking the wrong line so there could be some conflict. Anyway! She is SO much happier running flat out in Jumping at the moment so I will leave her be and problem solve this later. I would love to train RC for her as I think it would suit her.....but no equipment!

:laugh: Weeeell I might have bought a tug toy. Or two. Or three. Or......On your advice mind you A harness for walking the bat sh!t crazy hunting Springer and a (spare) leather slip leash for retrieving. A bit indulgent by my standards but pretty good considering my wish list :D

Informally, "come" means run as fast as possible back to me - no sit - but an interaction generally follows before release - could be one or a number of a collar grab, nose touch to hand, tug, treat, praise, training session etc. Em has a particular whistle that is normally preceded by an expletive as she's about to go hunting and I have to call her before she gets into THE ZONE :D

Glad you like them Oso! I got a package too

The Focussed Puppy is just lovely! Anything SG is worth trying I reckon!

To the runs that Em and I did - all marks very well sighted: Day 1, Run 1: Walk up mark and double mark all across running water (even for Em!) with some moderate to heavy cover to deal with. Pick up order was last bird down (left hand mark), second bird down (right hand mark) and then first bird down (walk up mark). Em and I were super excited but I wasn't too nervous and made a big effort to smile, relax and enjoy the ride as I took the gun and two spare shells from the steward. The judge did a great job of putting me at ease as well. About half way to the firing point the walk up mark went up straight in front of us and at a fairly moderate distance. We are not particularly experienced with walk ups but Em stopped to shot nicely and I left her sitting and staring at the mark whilst I re-loaded. Walked to firing point, leave walk up mark, line up for right hand mark (long), close gun, fire at mark, reload, leave, line up for left hand mark (moving across the line of the walk up mark), close gun, fire, send. Em took off like a bullet across the water (the judge expected her to have to swim but she didn't), pulled slightly right of the mark to end up in very heavy cover (like many dogs) and struggled to push through it. She was a little uncertain so I decided to play it safe, one whistle, one left hand back and she took off again, tackled the cover, quickly appeared with the game and came flying back. I think everyone saw me pump the air with delight at getting that first one out of the way :laugh: Delivery was absolutely beautiful and remained so all weekend so I think we've got that particular issue licked. She flipped into heel position, lined her up for the second bird down and sent her. She took the most perfect line to the mark, stopped right in the area of the fall (moderate cover) and was just a bit unlucky to be hunting on the wrong side of the wind. She ended up down wind (right of the mark) so I stopped her and cast back - that gave her the confidence boost she needed to get back in the area. She worked the wind beautifully, hunted up the retrieve very efficiently and came flying back. Lined her up for the walk up mark and I could tell by her body language that she knew exactly what she was doing. A number of dogs had trouble with this one but Em flew straight out, slightly to the right which meant she had to tackle heavy cover so she disappeared from view but she quickly appeared with the bird and came straight back. Never have I enjoyed those flapping ears so much - in fact, I told the judge I was going to kiss him :D Walked back to the pegs, handed over the 3 retrieves, the gun and the empty shells, put her lead on and whooped and danced with pure joy. I think the gallery enjoyed it, particularly when I laughingly told them that "I think we've won" Day 1, Run 2: Fire at the blind, 2 seconds before the long mark goes up (to the left of the blind and across water, landing in light cover), get the blind (tucked behind a bush on a little island), fire at the two bird as the dog is coming back with the blind retrieve (to the right of the blind and landing behind trees and in water), get the two bird, get the long memory mark. Again all across running water. Deep breath, big smile and double checked the run with the judge as the competitor before me picked up the marks in the reverse order and was thus DQ'd By this time I'd started thinking more about what we call "ringcraft" in obedience. Swapped Em's lead for the gun and two spare shells. Walked to the firing pegs, lined Em up for the mark so that once I'd fired at the blind straight in front of us, it didn't take long to get her focussing forward for the mark. She saw that really well and I let her sit there facing it whilst I reloaded both shells. Leave. Lined her up for the blind. Swim, blind, back! Whilst she didn't take the best line off my leg (lack of experience for both of us) she ran hard and straight but a bit far to the left of the blind. I probably could have stopped her a bit earlier but I really want to encourage that forward momentum so I let her run on a bit. Plus she wasn't veering towards the mark so I decided to cop the points hit. She stopped and I cast right. With all the running back hard that I've been trying to instil in her, the right and left overs have really weakened and she took off like a shot backwards. Stopped her again, called her in a bit, stopped her again, let her sit and think about life for a bit and then cast her right. That worked but she was a bit uncertain - I could tell by how her speed halved. Stopped her again and cast right back so she would run in the water straight past the little island. She turned on the left side but took THE BEST LINE back and at breakneck speed. I was about to stop her as she ran past the island but her nose must have been working hard - she put the brakes on, dived into the bushes, appeared with the retrieve and came flying back. Fortunately I remembered that the two bird was going up so closed the gun and fired as it did so. Em didn't stop but I was pretty sure she'd had a good look out of the corner of her eye. As soon as she delivered, she flipped herself into heel position and it just required an "ok" from me to send her. The set up meant that she disappeared from sight very quickly but I was very confident she knew what she was about. I think, being a young dog that hasn't been handled much on marks (as is common in AA), she really trusts herself and found this to be very easy. Delivered that one, lined her up for the long memory mark (quite a lot had happened since she saw it!) and, again, her body language told me that she was super confident. I took some time lining her up though and she trusted me enough to take that line which I was very pleased about - she ran hard through the water, very slight banana bend in her line meant she stopped very slightly to the right but at the exact distance (which means she is judging depth really well) and hunted it up without a command. I was just about in shock by this stage as Em just made it feel so easy! I was so pleased with that run. Day 1, Run 3: Fire at long mark (across water) from first set of firing pegs, leave dog in a stay, walk to second set of firing pegs to left, fire at blind (across water on edge of creek), reload, call dog, fire at the diversionary mark at a very tight angle to the right of the blind and in heavy cover (had to treat it as a 'proper' mark otherwise we were to be pinged badly), send for blind, take delivery at first set of firing pegs, send for long mark. Diversionary bird not to be picked up. It was getting late in the day, my head was absolutely pounding and the weather was turning miserable so not the best set of circumstances for clear thinking! Got to the second set of firing pegs without a hitch, called Em up but do you think I could get her to look at the diversionary mark? Little nightmare head was very distracted by something to the right (swallows perhaps?) - I was late firing at the diversionary mark. Leave. Lined her up for the blind - swim....and she was just so excited she leapt off before I sent her! Fortunately she pulled herself up very quickly and came back to heel but I was kind of chuffed at how keen she was. Sent her for the blind and she took a flying leap into the creek (unusual for her when entering novel water) and actually went under :laugh: She started to pull towards the mark (it turns out she knew damn well where it was!) so I stopped her and cast left over. Similar to before, she took that as a left back and took off into the heavy cover towards the mark. I stopped her again, called her in, stopped her and cast left over. Nup, back she went again. It was at this point I made a decision - I could try stopping again and again but I knew how weak the overs had become and didn't want to risk being called in by the judges as I needed her to feel as though she'd had success and finish on a high. As she disappeared into the heavy cover, I thought she was the right side of the wind to pick up the scent of the blind and I really didn't think she had seen the mark (nor did the gallery). Of course, the next second she appears SPRINGING through the cover with the diversionary bird and SO proud of herself :laugh: I had to smile as she threw herself into the water and delivered to hand beautifully. I told her she was perfect (SHE thought she had done the right thing) and walked back to the judges saying that they had to admit she was a good little marking dog :D The gallery was just lovely and I celebrated with Em as per usual - one or two people commented that they'd never seen anyone so happy after going out :laugh: I wish we'd had a chance at that long mark though - it was right up her alley in all that heavy cover!!! So! I retreated to my tent as soon as we got back to camp, dosed myself up with painkillers and there I stayed pretty much until Sunday. Pushing through the headache on Thursday and Friday did not do my body any favours but it was SO worth it. Back to Restricted we go but, at least now, I'm not worried about the step up into AA. There are some things she will excel at and others we need to do lots of work on but that's life. And dog training. Oh and I think Lablover has some video of our runs so will post that if we can work through the technology of getting it off her computer!!! And congratulations if you read this far!

Thanks FHRP. I'm even more inspired now :) whitka - yes, only one each of the Flat Coated Retriever, Chessie and Toller running. And of course one little Springer! I think the rest were Labs (of various lines - US, UK, Ireland, Australian) with a smattering of GSPs and a few Goldens. Yes, that Golden belonging to the judge is a real sweetie pie as well as being a successful retrieving dog!

I am a great believer in this !! :D saves problems of mouthing/chewing/playing before they even start :) I've never had a problem with my dogs in this regard but have certainly recommended it for chewy pups

For the OP, try using 2 or even 3 bells on your dog's collar. Cats get very savvy and are able to stop one bell from tinkling by stalking more carefully but it becomes difficult when you add a few more bells :D My Springer will retrieve anything that moves, including birds, rabbits and lizards but fortunately her gundog (soft mouth) tendencies and training means that everything is delivered to me without a mark on it. I keep her on lead unless she is training or is in a very low risk environment away from wildlife i.e. sports oval. At home she is mostly indoors but she does a lot of training/exercise. She is amazingly sweet with the cats though even during full on games.

The vast majority of training I do with no collars. At the most a flat collar and long line for a pup that is pushing the recall boundaries. As they get older I find the most appropriate piece of equipment for walking - Ziggy has a soft martingale as he was very clever at slipping out of collars as a teen. I am going to try a harness on Em for walking as she struggles to walk calmly without hunting and throws herself whenever a bird, rabbit or similar crosses our path....difficult when they appear every few seconds!