Evening from tees - "whos trainng who here "

[o11y]

Evening all, hope everyone is well.

My name is Olly im new on here too, picked up a cocker about 10 weeks ago (age 20 weeks now) with the purpose of training him for a small rough shoot I am part of. He seems extremely bright and very very confident.

Training seems to be going ok, has his basics in terms of sit, stay and recall which he does do well.

Over the past couple of weeks however he has become a bit sluglish at his retrieves (tried swapping dummiesand tennis balls etc to get him keen again). But he seems to have gone from very enthusiastic out and back to now running out like the clappers but coming back he takes alot of coaxing or currently he will preffer to stay at the end of the corridor.

Iv read a few bits in training books and seen some videos on youtube but just wanted some advice from guys on here as well.

Any advice would be greatfully recieved.

Cheers

[Judy]

Hi Olly, Welcome to the forum. I've put your post in the Training section as its, well, about training and some the old codgers on here don't look at any of the other sections.

I'd stop throwing retrieves for a couple of weeks and just play with him, get him to find toys round the house and just have fun, he's only a baby. Also don't make the retrieve too formal nor too repetitive, Cockers are funny little beggars and if they don't see the point of something can quickly get bored.

[o11y]

thanks for the welcome, and thanks for reposting this for me. i wont lie im terrible with computers and forums.

really aprreciate the advice ill leave him to it and make sure we have plenty of fun for a bit and then revisit it.

thankyou

[CockerCanuck]

Hard to tell without seeing your dog in action but what you describe is a common problem. The pup has a keen natural retrieving desire which diminishes when formal training starts. I agree with Judy that too many retrieves can be a problem but also too much discipline around delivery too early. He maybe reluctant to come back thinking he is going to get in trouble around how he handles the dummy close to you. Try and make it fun for him. If you sit on the ground and praise and play with him BEFORE you take the dummy from him he should get more enthusiastic about the coming back part.

[Lynn]

He will be starting to teeth and his mouth will be sore. If he wants to carry soft toys - let him. If he doesn't don't worry - take the pressure off him and just have some fun time

[o11y]

thanks some great advice here really apreciate it..,. when doing the retrieves im normally sat on the floor with him and do try and make as fun as possible. i think like your all advising d with a mixture of his new teeh coming in and a bit of a rest ill retry later and try and make it a bit more play with him for his return and less formal.

thanks again