Blinking

[M Cairns]

Any suggestions to remedy this?

Seems to only happen on the occasional mark. One suggestion is not train on short grass but to use deep cover where he will be more inclined to have his nose down.

But lost 5 marks in test at weekend

[trekmoor]

How do you know for certain that the dog is blinking the dummy ? Are you certain your dog found it among thick grass ?

If you are doing a lot of training on very short grass it could be the case that your dog is simply bored. The retrieves don't present enough of a challenge. You could try getting the dog out into the fall area and then when the dog is just about on top of the dummy and has it's scent ,turning and running away whistling recall as you go.

Wullie

[M Cairns]

Hi Trekmoor, yes it was under his nose, he had spun round to face me and ready to return but just stood over it looking at me.

[trekmoor]

I've amended my first post to include a suggestion.

Wullie

[Polmaise]

If its a 'mark', you could just send the dog and let the bugger get on with it.

[M Cairns]

But if I want to prevent this becoming a habit, I have on occasion put the recall whistle on him and he has picked it and returned promptly, but would that just be like running away in the opposite direction. Perhaps he is anticipating a recall whistle?


Or if I leave him to it and he blinks do I give no response even if there is a stand off, then how long do I wait?

He is quite a hot little dog and only had 3 retrieves before hand that day. And I hadn't trained him for 3 days

[PERCE]

Have you been stopping him & redirecting him onto other dummys? Doing directional work?

Are you at B&B this Saturday?

[M Cairns]

No I haven't been stopping him when he is near the dummy well certainly not intentionally .

I can't make the B&B training this weekend but I think Jimmy and poss Shamy may be there. Disappointed to miss it as it was really good last time.

[Naj]

But if I want to prevent this becoming a habit, I have on occasion put the recall whistle on him and he has picked it and returned promptly, but would that just be like running away in the opposite direction. Perhaps he is anticipating a recall whistle?


Or if I leave him to it and he blinks do I give no response even if there is a stand off, then how long do I wait?

Have you not tried this to see what he does?

I wouldn't call this 'blinking', this is a problem with the pick-up - boredom, lack of confidence or something. Have you tried game? Is the dog an experienced game retriever & dummies no longer ring its bell?

Naj

[Hepe]

I'm curious about in what situatuations he's 'blinking'? What are you trying to teach him? In what situations does this happen?
Some dogs are very business like and detest simple unchallenging things while others need it to keep the spirit up. Find out what type of dog you got, if you got one of them serious types, make sure to plan challenginge non repetative retrieves. If you got the kind thriving on feeling secure and loving silly fun stuff, throw more of those fun simple retrieves where you let your dog run in.

Helene