The Spotted Devil

Thanks Ptolomy - I got fed up with the video quality so shall watch this one later. Em has a waggy tail too

And then you add orange ones, which the dog can't see against the grass ;)

That's great caffy! I would keep at that drill for a bit longer just to make him feel confident. I think the movement helps and not fetching straight away. Very cool indeed :D

Hey Kavik, try living with an adolescent Dalmatian Although I've fixed his work/tug ethic well and truly I still bear the emotional scars :D

..and to not always do the same turn to the same glove..that is do a complete about turn and keep turning and pick a glove to stop at. Is the Wagon Wheel drill as it sounds? Pretty much - with the dog at heel, toss a bumper, turn 45 degrees to the right, toss a bumper, turn 45 degrees to the right, toss a bumper, turn 45 degrees to the right, toss a bumper. Then turn 45 degrees to the right so you are back where you started. Send the dog. Turn 45 degrees to the right, send the dog etc until you've picked up all 4 dummies. Then do the drill to the left. Once that is really smooth, you add 4 more bumpers, one in between the usual ones but you throw them a little further out. You then send the dog in a particular order to teach them to take the correct line. You can also add orange dummies and another 8 dummies (16 in total) so the lines are very tight. Thanks for the kind comments about Em. We both have an awfully long way to go, although time is at least on her side ETA: What ness said about the locking on is really important. You can see Miss E. do it in the videos. Try not to send until they are really in "the zone". Better off keeping it REALLY easy. One other thing is that I reckon drills are to retrieving as heelwork is to obedience Unless you've got one of LL's working labs who thinks it's a hoot! So I use Sue H. style rewarding principles with drills including RUNNING with Em to the training bag for a food jackpot as well as tossing the odd happy bumper. It keeps her motivation for (repetitive) drills really high.

I started with bait plates and stayed on those for awhile with no turns. I then used 1 glove at close distance...he is not gifted with locking on like my toller ;) Sue had me very close to the 3 gloves which were very close together with feet pointed at No2 and using my hand only as directional on each glove(does that make sense??)...he struggled with that so I would pick up one glove, say no3 with feet pointed at No2, throw 3 into it's position..that helped him lock on and then send. We are now full distance...one glove out straight in front, throw a toy close to the side and then ask him to lock on the glove with a hand signal....this is hard but he's trying hard now. Sue was describing birds being thrown and sending your dogs out while another bird is thrown as they are retrieving the 1st bird...amazing stuff That's an easy one Retrieving IS hard and so much of it is at a distance so your training has to progress carefully. Plus the dogs really, really, really want the bird so their self control has to be excellent. What you're doing makes sense because I went to a SH seminar a few weeks back :D I'm struggling to describe how I taught Em - videos are so much better!!! How I taught a 'blind' (which in the beginning is a 'sighted blind' which is similar to a directed retrieve) is to walk out with the dog, drop the article, say 'blind'. walk back to the start point, line the dog up, say 'blind', send the dog. Make it really easy to build lots of confidence. I did plenty of these, extending distance and then one day left Em in the car whilst i placed the dummy out at a short distance. Lined her up, said 'blind', sent and she did it. There is a basic video of her at 7 months here, which I'm not sure is helpful??? Probably more the start if anything...you can see I have the 2 dummies a LONG way apart to make it very, very easy for her to distinguish which one to get. Also our dogs learn to look forward when they mark the fall of a dummy/bird - we teach this by having someone else get the dog's attention by calling "hey, hey, hey!" and tossing the "mark" when the dog looks straight ahead.

Agree with the Wagon Wheel drill. I'm up to 8 bumpers now which can get tricky on occasion but I've put it on the back burner to really tighten up our handling skills. Chatting with Sue H about the lining the dog up in UD vs retrieving - she said that's why she teaches a separate send next to the dog's face so if the dog lines up incorrectly the history of throwing food in that direction tends to overcome the line up.

Plastic milk bottles Cardboard boxes Anything that squeaks (Cuz are fabulous) Anything soft and fluffy (but doesn't last long) Deer antlers Cat toys Tea towels A Dalmatian A kitty

Hi caffy I plan to but Em's only 10 months :D I have been meaning to post a video of a few drills that I do with Em that may help the UD folk. What I've noticed is how much time I spend training blind retrieves with Em but how small a part of UD and UDX they are - thus I guess some obedience people don't realise how complex they are. I recall Sue Hogben saying that directed retrieves are hard for dogs because they don't 'point' like we do ;) She started by throwing food in a direction and pointing with her hand next to the dog. Assuming your boy happily picks up one glove when sent, are you starting with 2 gloves at 180 angle?

With my Dally I was lucky enough to stay with the breeder in Canberra for several days when the pups were 5 weeks old - I watched them interact, played with them and handled them. Zig was the standout for me in terms of being the first of the litter (of 9!) to explore novel objects and try new things (such as climbing stairs). When the breeder held a 'puppy party' everyone agreed that he was the stand out for dog sports. Perfectly adequate conformation but he wouldn't have been the show pick - good structure but more lightly built than the other boys. Em comes from such strong working lines with very even litters that I was pretty content to have any pup that had four legs and one head In the end I had 2 bitch puppies to choose from and Em immediately stood out in terms of response to loud noises and interest in retrieving plus I just clicked with her. I still can't believe how easy it was to choose between them.

Oh I'm so very, very sorry You should be incredibly proud of the wonderful life you had together and your achievements as a team in the obedience ring. I'm so glad I had the pleasure of meeting the very sweet and gentle Cindy. Thinking of you Sue xxx

This :D

Yay Polo What a wonderful finish to the season for you FHRP - congratulations!!! You should be absolutely delighted! You also had a mention in this month's Vic Dog as coming all the way to Vic for your first trial. Definitely committed :D Love the pic too - he looks in brilliant condition. I'd like to try Springer trials one day but we've got plenty to work on just for the moment. I don't do obedience classes at my club so had to have Em assessed before she can start agility basics. Head instructor thought she was just too cute for words but really loved her focus so Em passed that with flying colours. Meanwhile I'm still working on overs and backs. On their own, overs are now 100% but introducing backs confuses things a bit so I have returned to training backs separately. Still super enthusiastic (both of us ;) ) so that's the main thing.

And I bet your kittehs are using them too? What makes you say that? For the OP - I only crate my dogs together at trials (soft crate) as the Dally likes his space at night. Youngster locked in a solid crate at night (to prevent shoe chewing and being a general pain in the @r$e ) and Dally has free access to a soft crate, which he loves. Young dog in a wire crate by day if I go out but not for particularly long periods.

Looking around my house.....at least 4

Phew! That's fantastic news mollipop :D

We usually camp (thus dogs inside is mandatory ) so I'm quite used to dogs being on lead at all times. Both dogs have no problem toileting on lead and are also excellent at sleeping in, which is essential :D As someone else said, I always plan to take them out for an off lead gallop.

I never play fetch games with my dogs - even my Springer who is training for retrieving trials does controlled retrieves 99% of the time with just an occasional 'happy bumper' (informal retrieve) thrown as a reward. The twisting and turning is bad and it doesn't do much to mentally tire the dog - I'd much rather do 5 mins of training instead

RS - a couple of things for you to think over. Firstly, retrieving is HARD. Much harder than it looks and sounds so go easy on yourself and your dogs Secondly, your girls seem to have a natural retrieving ability but they aren't selectively bred over generations to retrieve like a working line dog is so it does make it more difficult. Not impossible mind you! Even Em is not going to be as highly driven as a working line Lab to retrieve (she'd probably quarter game all day given the choice ) so I have to be a bit creative too. Then again I do have a Dalmatian doing obedience and agility so anything feels easy after that!!!!! Just enjoy the journey - the rest will come

2 food game is great for getting dogs to perform something FAST! I like to use easy to see treats like cheese cubes as mentioned. So - very simple - throw food to your left, dog chases, eats food, looks up (call name if necessary) and throw food to your right. Repeat a few times so they are really revved up and running hard back and forth. Then you can ask for a sit or a drop as they run towards you - the second they get the position toss food in the direction they are headed and tell them to "get it". Once they understand the game you can start getting fussy about how long it takes them to drop or sit. If they take too long just an 'ah well, try again!' - don't berate them - this is a game Half the fun is chasing the reward so it gets them really excited BUT they learn that the faster they get into position the more quickly they get to chase the food again. It's not about duration training so don't wait to throw the reward. You'll stuff up your timing a bit because it's a fast game but don't worry too much as you'll both get better! If you play the game on the flat she might adapt to it better on the dog walk - use a plank so you're just working on the speed to get into position. Have fun!

*looks over shoulder where Mr TSD is on the couch with 2 cats on his lap and Em behind him* Nah, he's just not into them :p

From what you've said it's not a fear issue so.....I would release her to a bait plate (I run with my dog, whooping in excitement ) OR throw food (e.g. easy to see cheese cube) as soon as she hits the criteria. You can also do some prep work for this like the 2 food game or releasing to a bait plate as soon she pulls on the collar (so she is driving towards the plate). My Dally has gone quite nuts with this technique and I had him pulling on the collar towards the see-saw which he has some issues with just so he could get in 2o/2o and be released to the bait plate. Then I added jumps either side and extended the sequence.

My dogs don't do zoomies but when I watch those that do, quite often the handler either isn't fast/smooth/clear enough and/or disengages momentarily with the dog. Dog becomes frustrated/excited and deals with it by zoomies. The first thing I would do is video training sessions and see if you can find the trigger - could be the smallest thing. Or I could be completely wrong

I've booked in to take my firearms test so I can get my license and start shooting over Little Em RS - yes, from what I understand too much pressure and munching often go hand in hand. I can see where Livertreats is coming from (great name by the way ) but I'm personally holding back until we tighten up a few things (water and shooting). I remember Lablover saying.....a double amount of wanted but you might get a triple amount of unwanted. At 10 months there is no rush.

Poor darling - hugs for both of you xxx Had another session working on overs and backs to piles. Nearly there!!!! Sometimes she over thinks it but my method of reinforcement is keeping her motivation really high.