A blondes attempt at training a Cocker

[Aimeetess]

Thank you for all your comments. I do try and always make it fun, throw them around occasionally, let him hunt for it. He gets so excited but don't want him learning bad habits? If i don't stop him running around with his ball/dummy after a retrieve, before giving it back to me, won't he learn its a good thing and carry on when hes a adult and stop retrieving things/keep them for himself? Or will he grow out of it.
I'm concerned hes learning more and more to do it as if he does run around with it, the most I do is just tell him 'here' in a stern voice if he decides to run around with the dummy and not bring it back. Do I just keep a long line on him when retrieving and guide him towards me with lots of praise for now, or is that to serious?

We only started doing blind retrieves as he was so so so keen and loved to find his ball and wanted to try something new as he was doing so well. He was keen but no steadiness whatsoever which is why I worked on the steadiness and sit/stay and blinds but i'll go back to making him more keen for now.

Done 10 minutes at lunch in a field opposite our cottage but this time took a handful of treats. Made it all fun, got him marking and chasing the dummy, making it roll so he was crazy for it. Funny thing is he won't run in unless I say out. If i say anything, he won't move, until I say 'out' which I guess hes learnt himself. Every time he bought the dummy straight back and gave it to my hand, I gave him a treat. Within the 3rd go, he was bringing it straight back into my hand. He isn't to foody so not sure how long it will last.. hid it in some cover and got him hunting for it. Used both fur dummy and canvas to get him major keen, fur dummy he'll hold much longer (will sit and hold) than canvas he won't, suppose its more interesting but he done really well.

I do need to remember hes 6 months..

[munstyman]

If i don't stop him running around with his ball/dummy after a retrieve, before giving it back to me, won't he learn its a good thing and carry on when hes a adult and stop retrieving things/keep them for himself? Or will he grow out of it.
I'm concerned hes learning more and more to do it as if he does run around with it, the most I do is just tell him 'here' in a stern voice if he decides to run around with the dummy and not bring it back. Do I just keep a long line on him when retrieving and guide him towards me with lots of praise for now, or is that to serious?

The pup is telling you the game is not fun and so is trying to make it more interesting the only way it knows how. As others have noted your taking the game far too seriously and replacing the fun with perfection. If your other half bought you washing up gloves for Christmas, you'll feel what your pup is feeling now
If you don't want the bad habit of running around chase me/ come and get it, rather than chastise it when you see it. Make it more rewarding for the pup to bring it right in, reward it, don't take it straight away every time, let the pup hold it and fuss him before taking it. ( He's hunted for it and found it, reward that ) Mix it up, keep him guessing and interested in what's coming next. Get down and dirty ( you have the rubber gloves ) play occasionally don't train, give the dog a puppyhood, give him the experiences he will need later on without the discipline, let him learn and to enjoy the experience.
With gundog training you have a raft of things to teach, and most can be trained separately and therefore give variety to a pup. If you try to bring them together too soon, play becomes work, and you get resistance from the pup, as it wants to be a pup. Its far better to let the pup bring them together in its own time, and it often does it quicker and becomes better established as the dog has volunteered the connections of the various parts

[Dawnrazor]

I don't think being "blonde" will hold you back, I've never found blondes to be any more daft than your average brunette or redhead :whistling:

[Judy]

And they're all brighter than the average bloke...

[ips]

And they're all brighter than the average bloke...

Touche

[Aimeetess]

If i don't stop him running around with his ball/dummy after a retrieve, before giving it back to me, won't he learn its a good thing and carry on when hes a adult and stop retrieving things/keep them for himself? Or will he grow out of it.
I'm concerned hes learning more and more to do it as if he does run around with it, the most I do is just tell him 'here' in a stern voice if he decides to run around with the dummy and not bring it back. Do I just keep a long line on him when retrieving and guide him towards me with lots of praise for now, or is that to serious?

The pup is telling you the game is not fun and so is trying to make it more interesting the only way it knows how. As others have noted your taking the game far too seriously and replacing the fun with perfection. If your other half bought you washing up gloves for Christmas, you'll feel what your pup is feeling now
If you don't want the bad habit of running around chase me/ come and get it, rather than chastise it when you see it. Make it more rewarding for the pup to bring it right in, reward it, don't take it straight away every time, let the pup hold it and fuss him before taking it. ( He's hunted for it and found it, reward that ) Mix it up, keep him guessing and interested in what's coming next. Get down and dirty ( you have the rubber gloves ) play occasionally don't train, give the dog a puppyhood, give him the experiences he will need later on without the discipline, let him learn and to enjoy the experience.
With gundog training you have a raft of things to teach, and most can be trained separately and therefore give variety to a pup. If you try to bring them together too soon, play becomes work, and you get resistance from the pup, as it wants to be a pup. Its far better to let the pup bring them together in its own time, and it often does it quicker and becomes better established as the dog has volunteered the connections of the various parts

Thank you.. that made me laugh I some a bit of training/play with him yesterday with some fur dummys and canvas (as above) he was much better and focused, everytime he bought it back I rewarded him and had a few liver treats on me so he was well happy and done really really well.

[chrokeva]

My new cocker pup is also going on 6 months old and I have to say I am amazed at how much you are doing with your young pup. I did not even think of doing blinds with my adult cocker until she was about 2 1/2 years old.
With my pup I throw a few balls for him a few times a week, maybe throw in a small bumper to vary it. He will walk on a lease without pulling haha. Not really asking anything of him other than I do insist he comes when he is called.
I will not start any real training until at least 7 months and with his maturity level maybe closer to a year. Not sure if I should be holding back especially after seeing where you are with your pup.

[Miesque]

I've an eight month old here, retrieves ball/dummy/cold game (only had one small hen pheasant and a bunny) - shortish marked retrieves and longer memories probably only three to four retrieves in a session. Just started doing blinds but only on natural lanes/tracks. Hunts well and is getting going on gamey ground. Happy with gunshot. Just started handling although I teach left/right/back with dinner bowl from the day they get home.

BUT
He gets trained once, maybe twice a week. I'll start to do a little more after Christmas, there's no rush and he's left wanting more each time. Let them be a puppy!

[Aimeetess]

My new cocker pup is also going on 6 months old and I have to say I am amazed at how much you are doing with your young pup. I did not even think of doing blinds with my adult cocker until she was about 2 1/2 years old.

Our lab was to be frank, shite at blind retrieves as we only done marked until she was 2. I spoke to a few trainers and don't rush but start them on basics at a young age which is what I have done. It amazes me some people on Facebook have 7 month old cockers beating a full day and one chap who believes young pups should never be allowed outside the garden unless its being trained, his dogs are fully trained at 6 months I suppose its each to their own. I only started doing bits as he was very clever and training he'll tire more in 10 minutes than playing for 30 minutes. Hes a pet, lives indoors, on the sofa, lives the dream really He gets to free fun twice a day (and goes on family walks on the weekends, to farm shops with us, around the farm etc) and I do 10 minutes training (if that, usually 3/4 retrieves) at lunch every couple of days. The last day we done any kind of training was Friday. He has a puppy hood apart from those 10 minutes every couple of days .. and when he sees the dummy he loves it, so don't think its doing any harm.

I don't want to do nothing with him, or over do it. Last week he started favoring the ball over the dummy so stopped using the ball. We got a new dummy (1/2 pound orange, very chunky) on Friday so done 10 minutes at lunch today, he was hunting for it, stopped him on the whistle so he could mark dummies etc and fun bits mainly, he gets so excited and keen. Done a memory retrieve and a blind retrieve against the fence line and then took it a step further. Put down the dummy in a open cut field while he wasn't looking. Walked away from it and when he was in line with the dummy, blew stop whistle. He was about 6ft in front of me. Gave him the back command. Perfectly back he went, like a rocket, and got the dummy which was about half the field away. Always use hedge lines, paths and fences for the straight lines and will carry on for now but one off in the field I was more than chuffed!

[munstyman]

Its not a case of doing nothing to give the dog a puppyhood, you can train and stretch them just don't get on their case when things don't go by the book your writing. The dog will tell you when you need to adjust back to `play' more often than not, its usually the trainer that doesn't pay attention to the dog and goes to far towards `serious' that causes the `teenage rebellion'.
Some dogs thrive on the challenge of blinds just be careful as it doesn't take many fails to knock a pups confidence, and don't think that it has it sussed because they have succeeded the first few times. ( Many of the early attempts are based on luck rather than a true understanding )
On the other fora we had a favourite saying of `make haste slowly' when training a pup, it was for hpr's after all . Help on here is often based on what information you give us, and as soon as you mentioned the problem of `keep away' the signals were there that you were pushing a little to fast for this pup. Everything you wrote above is fine, but don't judge your own dog based on other peoples, real life , faceblurb or past dogs, train the dog in front of you and you will be fine