pet gundog question

[ips]

Does it work on wives ?

[Judy]

NO!

[ips]

Ruddy shame. Lol

[Cass]

So your saying train steady no run ins ?

Yep

I agree with this. Letting the dog run in is not any more fun for the dog than sitting and being sent. If the dog enjoys retrieving he will do it regardless. I would never intentionally train my dog to be unsteady in certain situations and steady in others. That's confusing and of no real benefit anyways even if the dog does understand.

[HeidiK]

When doing fun retrieves with my boy (and his predecessor) I let him stand a little distance away from me, facing me and I say something similar to Trekmoors, "Whee!" Usually, "Ready, steady, go/whee!" but if doing a "proper" retrieve, I have him beside me and say, "Wait," He stays put until told to "Fetch!"

[ips]

Heidik
That makes sense. So dog knows if its at heel its working and must be steady but not at heel its playing. I like that I shall incorporate that in my plan.
Update
Sun evening I went in my back field which I don't take her on as often did two 70yd ish memory retrieves I wrapped the lead round her and let one end go when I sent her on command "out" she was creeping with eagerness but not too bad. Trouble is she tends to run around a bit playing with dummies whereas balls she brings straight back, why is that ?

[5pringer]

Whenever I see people exercising their dogs by throwing balls ,some by using ball launchers or tennis rackets , or throwing sticks(aaah!) ,I always want to say to them why don't you hold your dog back so it has to hunt for the retrieve which will stimulate and exercise it much more instead of the dog following the object almost to where it lands?

[Naj]

Perhaps you're more anxious when she is retrieving a dummy, it could be any number of reasons but it is a learnt behaviour that has inadvertently crept in & nothing to do with whether the dog is steady or not.

The sending from heel v remote is OK but spaniels are usually working remotely when a retrieve crops up so the heel bit wouldn't really work there, unless you intend using it as a no-slip retriever, heaven forbid!

If the dog is 'creeping with eagerness' & you send her for a retrieve then you are rewarding the 'creeping with eagerness behaviour' & will never have a reliable steadiness. You should be looking to develop self-control by only rewarding quiet attentive behaviour with a retrieve. It will also take you weeks/months to develop these concepts so you shouldn't be switching & swapping between half learnt lessons/behaviours on a day to day basis. Stick to one facet & work on it until it is perfect & then introduce another.

And I'd have to disagree with Cass, I find that most dogs enjoy chasing after retrieves far more than sitting there waiting to be sent. If they preferred the latter then teaching steadiness would be a relatively easy thing. Many UK trainers let their young dogs run-in to retrieve for the first 6 months before thinking of steadying them. I'd agree that there is an argument that never letting them run-in may help in error-free learning but that's a different issue. ips asked if it would compromise training if a pet dog was allowed to chase balls at exercise & be steady on dummies. My dogs work & they do both without compromising their training so I'm sure ips could do this with his, a pet dog. I do it because I now find retrieving training a bit of a bore, as do my dogs, so I find it a good form of fun exercise, especially at this time of the year when I'm severely restricted on running them due to young game & cropping patterns. If ips had said he was interested in trialling then I might have suggested otherwise.

Naj

[trekmoor]

I forgot to mention one thing about visual commands when having a dog distinguish between fun run-in retrieves and "proper" retrieves. I throw underhand for fun retrieves and overhand for proper retrieves. My dogs are not allowed to run-in for overhand retrieves. In fact if they are running about and I swing my arm in an overhand throw manner, they stop running.

Wullie

[ips]

Naj
You understand my requirements and situation completely, as I have said before I shoot clays competitively but not game, I have no intention of "working" her so perfection is not required niether is doing everything correctly my aim is a fit healthy and happy dog one that is obedient and stays close off lead on walks and one that is mentally stimulated by doing something that is at least similar to "gundog work" . I don't want to have her steady all the time (this may be wrong but some incl naj think its possible) but I want to know she can if asked, the same as I know she will stop, sit, heel, recall etc if asked.
As a novice in the truest sense I have managed the above in six months but not necessarily gone about it in the right order or in the correct way. An analogy would be the Eric Morecambe sketch "I played all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" lol.

I have the following to nail then I will be happy with her and myself.

Steady when asked
A better delivery to hand
A totally reliable recall

Many thanks everytime I log on to this thread I learn something.