How do I train her...

[Sarah.H]

...to pick up a selected dummy when retrieving? We've been practising with some canvas dummys and she will now retrieve up to three in a row very happily. She gets excited now when I get them out the bag and starts leaping around  . She will sit steady as a rock while I walk in to cover and either hide them or let her mark where they are and then return to release her  . The thing is she always goes straight to the last dummy thrown and I need some advice on how to train her to go to the one I indicate.  I'm thinking about taking her to the Cricklade show on bank holiday Monday and perhaps having a go at the scurry there if it's not too difficult  .

[Nicola]

Have you done direction commands with her? Like sending her off to the left and right or straight ahead and back? That's how I direct mine to a particular pick-up and I do it with hand signals - arm out to the left, right or straight ahead and for back I say 'go back'. If they find the 'wrong' one I tell them it's gone away and send them in the appropriate direction for the one I want them to pick up.

[DLK]

To train a dog to pick the dummy you want is not the easiest thing to do but there are several ways in doing it.

I will try to explain, please remember I can only advice you and this method may or may not work.  The best way for me to assess the requirements of your dog is to see it in action but here goes.

The 2 card trick, most people know this one but some don’t do it correctly.

Presuming your dog is steady to thrown dummies, sit your dog in front of you but the dog must have its back against a wall, hedge or fence.  Ensuring the dog is sat like this will help the dog to take a straight line from the sitting point.

Throw a dummy to the left then a dummy to the right.  The one most in the dogs mind is the one on the right.  Now what you will have to do when you throw the one to the right is give it a command like "leave that” eventually it will understand this command.

Ensure the dog is sat still at all times, I would give the command sit with and high flat hand and then walk over and pick the dummy on the right.  This is what I call training to win.  We have removed the dummy that is going to cause us an issue.  Walk back to the same spot in front of the dog.  Stand facing the dog, don’t forget to put the dummy you have just picked away.  Stand facing the dog and with and outstretched arm and flat palm step left and give the command get on.  The dog may still run to the right even though it has seen you pick up the dummy.  Don’t worry, call the dog back to where it set off and repeat thee command.

Continue this until the dog knows the only dummy to get is the one on the left.  Then swap it all around and throw one to the right then one to the left, you picking the left one up.

This will ensure the dog starts to know directions.  Once you have completed this please let me know and we can show you the 3 card trick and I will also let you into a train to win method that no one writes about but it happens to every dog.

I hope this helps.

[babushka]

Hi DLK
I found your post very informative, could you carry it on with 3 card trick and train to win info.
Thanks Pauline

[Sarah.H]

Yes very helpful thanks  . I started this yesterday. Have to take it slowly as she gets over excited if I do too much and starts clowning around  .

[DLK]

The next step for the dog once we have got it going to the dummy we want picking, ie taking left and right direction.  We should see if our hard work is complete and place a dummy to the left and a dummy to the right and send the dog for the first dummy down.

We should never move from one task to the next until the first task is complete.  Some people worry that their friend’s dog is doing a little better than their own and try to push to hard and this is where we make mistakes.  I often get asked where should my dog be in its training when its 6,7,8,9 month.  I always give the same answer.  The dog should be where it is happy.  Some dogs are very good at 7 month and some dogs are un-trainable until they are 10 month or more.  So if anyone has told you your dog should at this age be doing this that and the other.  Thank them for their advice but never request it again.

Back to training sorry ! Presuming your dog picks the required dummy, you should be very pleased with how far you and your dog have got.  This is one big step in its training. 

But watch out there is a  little training error being trained into your dog.  You may at this point say what is this nuter talking about, he says do it this way but we are training an error into it?

Yes that’s right we are but don’t worry I write about it and I have yet to see it wrote in any books and see it on any DVD. 

So what is it?  We get our dog to go for the dummy we want and all the books and DVD’s tell us how to do it.  But they fail to tell you that you are training your dog to anticipate what you want.  When your dog starts to get used to you always sending it for the first one thrown, it will start to ignore the last one thrown.  At first we do want this but.  If you always send it for the first one thrown as all the books and DVD’s tell us.  It will totally ignore the last one thrown. 

Even when you cast your dog to the last one (lest say its on the left) the dog will oddly run right even when you do the best hand signal in the world.  When it happens you will look funny but try not to laugh at your self.

To ensure this does not happen do this, throw a dummy to the left throw a dummy to the right, your dog knows you always send it to the dummy to the left because you have trained it to but if you watch carefully the dogs body language will show you the dog “thinks” it knows where its going and will lean or look to the one on the left.

Go back to the first part of the training “Training to Win” and remove the dummy that is going to cause the issue.  And send it for the last one thrown.

We are then removing the dog’s anticipation in thinking he knows best.  This is a key part of the training, the dog must believe in you and anything you say.

Hope I have not waffled on so to remove your own interest.

I will continue with this if people want.

Soon I’m putting together a DVD so you can see it in real life and how my methods work.

[Sarah.H]

Well Millie will now go the first dummy with the second still on the floor  . She did go the wrong way once but as soon as I said 'leave' she veered off  . Will now start alternating between first and second thrown. Thanks DLK  .

[Sarah.H]

Well Millie will now pick up from which ever way I direct, no matter which was thrown first or last. Swapped the order round lots and she was still going as directed  . So whats the next step? 

And thank you for all the help  .

[DLK]

You are doing great, this is like your own forum training session, sorry I have been a while but I have been busy.

We should now be able to throw dummies around the dog without issue.  If we are not 100% at this we should not move on.  Sit your dog in front of you but this time without the hedge, wall or fence.  We then throw one dummy to the left one to the right and then one right over the dogs head.  Be sure to tell the dog to sit when you throw this one as it is not the easiest for the dog to ignore .

This time I want you to let the dog go for the last one thrown, the reason for this is its a new command the get on command.  The reason it is a get on is because the dog has seen it.  A go back is a blind retrieve where the dog has not seen the dummy down.  I will explain blinds on another post later.

We also have to have a clear hand signal, this hand signal has to be right.  I see so many people giving this command wrong.  Hold you hand and arm high with your finger pointing to the floor.  Then flick your fingers up ensuring fingers are together.  Then as you flick your hand up say the command get on.

Just for information, the people who do this hand signal wrong have their arm up but not high enough so from a long distance the dog can only see a silhouette and they already have their finger pointing up to the sky,  The reason is is wrong this is the same command as a sit

So we remove the left and right dummy and leave the one over the dogs head.  Ensuring the dog is sat still whilst we are picking them up.
Walk back to the start point in front of the dog and give the command get on.  It should shoot out and get the last one easy.

Once it has done this a few times you will then be able to leave the other dummies down.

[Sarah.H]

Ah throwing something over her head may be the one that catches us out  . Just to clarify the hand signal, do I have my hand at shoulder height or higher? Hope other people are finding this usefull as well, I certainly have  .

[babushka]

Me too

[Jan/Billy]

Well done Sarah!    You sound like you're doing great! 

[DLK]

Your hand should be above your head, and if you have problems throwing over the dogs head, then TRAIN TO WIN and walk to the place where you want the dummy and place it down.  Don't forget to get the dogs attention when you drop the dummy down.

I'm currently training one of my Labradors the same methods, if your calm in all your commands and don't rush them it will all come right with time.

Good luck, I will keep checking in every day to see if further advice is needed

Keep looking and i will move on to blinds when you are ready.

Hope im clear in what i write and explain in a way you can click on to.  Sorry I missed the hieght of the arm.

[DLK]

This is one method I use to train blinds and if you get it right, it’s great to see.

People often struggle getting their dog to work and retrieve a blind; this is mainly because they try blinds before they get the seen dummies right. We should slowly move on to blinds from a seen retrieve. So at first we should ensure our dog sees the dummy and slowly change the way we lay the dummy down.

Pick a place to do this exercise and stick to it this will make your training a lot easier. First thing to do is whilst walking along a path place a dummy down so that your dog can see it. Make sure your dog sees it. Walk away from the dummy with your dog. I pay a lot of attention to the dog at this point. The dog will be looking back and sometimes pulling on the lead. This is good because you can judge how far you can walk away from the dummy because the dog is showing signs it has not forgotten. When you’re in a position the dog will retrieve from, sit the dog down and stand in front of it and give the command “GET BACK” with you hand and arm high with your finger pointing to the floor. Then flick your fingers up ensuring fingers are together. The dog will then shoot back up the path and retrieve the dummy.

If your dog does not do this easy it’s because you have walked too far away from the dummy. Continue this for at least one week. Even when your dog does it 100% in a couple of days you must continue training this for one week. The reason for this is the dog will believe in you more and more.

Moving on to a blind.

Walk to the same place you have trained this and when the dog is not looking place a dummy down. Walk a very short distance away from the dummy and sit the dog down with its back to the dummy. Give the same command “GET BACK”. The dog should turn around and pick the dummy. The reason it does this easy is because every time you have sent it back in that area before, it has always had a retrieve.

The next step is to increase the distance from the dummy. Your dog will believe in you so much it will “GET BACK” soon from anywhere. When you do decide to change the place you try a blind it would be a good idea to place a few dummies down so the dog does not fail.

Soon you will be able to place dummies down all around your training area and get your dog to find them.

[Sarah.H]

Very clear instructions, thank you  . Haven't done any training the last couple of days as I'm a bit preoccupied and know I wouldn't have the patience for it  . Millie has enjoyed the long rambles while I try to clear my head though  .