how steady is steady

[ips]

Out of curiosity does a dog (cocker specific if it makes a difference) considered to be steady to a thrown dummy NEVER run in again or is it a case of SOME have the occasional moment of forgetfulness. ??

Honest answers need only apply.

Only asking so I know what the "normal" behaviour is in reality rather than what we would obviously expect / desire.

[Tobias]

http://www.retrievertraining.net/forums ... ght=steady - you may find this interesting. It is regarding labs and American style of training/testing/trialing...

[Springfield Pointers]

"my dog never runs in on a retrieve" - said no man ever.

[ips]

"my dog never runs in on a retrieve" - said no man ever.

I love that SP

Thing is very occasionally eze forgets herself and runs in (maybe once in thirty throws poss even less frequently than that) she knows straight away that she messed up, I can tell. I don't bollock her I just say never mind we screwed up lets try that again, these days she never repeats the run in a second time as I say she knows she messed up. I know that we would all like to have a 100% reliable dog but is the reality that "most" dogs do occasionally mess it up and how concerned or rather unconcerned should we be about it. Is my way of handling it a good one or not ??
I will work on stop mid retrieve at some stage so i have a contingency plan but I don't want to take on too much in one go.

[ips]

http://www.retrievertraining.net/forums ... ght=steady - you may find this interesting. It is regarding labs and American style of training/testing/trialing...

Interesting thread, thank you.

[Judy]

In my experience unless they are rock steady on dummies they certainly wont be on game, unless they are tied down so for me steady is steady. Work in progress is running in now and again, there isn't much else to say. Apart from freely admitting my pup is work in progress, at least I think I have progressed, a tad, maybe.

[westcountry]

Agree with Judy,my young springer is steady to both dummies and game. He will sit out an entire drive on a large commercial shoot and not move until told to.
He was taught steadiness very early to dummies Also he attended training classes where 20 or so spaniels sat in a circle whilst dummies were thrown about. Training in a group is good as it gets your dog steady to watching other dogs retrieve as they sit still. If you can sit your dog and throw all your dummies out around it,without the dog moving,then you are on the right lines to steadiness.

[Rascal]

I call this steady ips...

Scall's last year on a big commercial shoot watching birds landing all around her...

http://youtu.be/W8AiiefWJXU

Only going on her name for a wounded bird which she'd marked down...

http://youtu.be/zJVF0iTgM0s

I'm not saying she's never run in but it's very rare and she'll stop on the whistle...

Rascal

[ips]

I am impressed rascal that IS steady. I can but aspire to it but if I even get half way I will be pleased, all things considered.

[Miesque]

200 birds down, sat right behind the gun line. They shouldn't move a muscle!