Training mishaps to make us smile...

[hanandhen]

...and also to make me feel better

Because today I accidentally belted Henry on the nose with a dummy

I was trying to throw it low so it wouldn't get caught in a tree, and as I did he moved for it and it kind of ricocheted off him

Bless him, he kind of squeaked then approached the dummy with great caution as though it was about to bite him again, I ended up going with him so he could pass it to me, then he did one more proper one and we came home!

I am a baaaaad owner

[supergirl]

Same here.........

I've lost count of the amount of times that I've caught Misha on the bonce with the chuckit on the downward after throwing the ball.  She never seems to hold it against me as long as i chuck the ball again   And yet she still stands behind me when I throw the ball.

[Nicola]

When Ro was about 8 or 9 months old I was working on his steadiness so I had him in a sit and was walking around him throwing dummies over him. Well I misjudged one of them and it came down and smacked him on his head Now if I did that to Caoimhe she'd just shake her head and forget about it but Ro is a bit of a sensitive flower, he is now 3 years old and to this day if I ask him to sit and then throw dummies over his head he immediately lies down, he has never forgotten

[Helen]

When Ro was about 8 or 9 months old I was working on his steadiness so I had him in a sit and was walking around him throwing dummies over him. Well I misjudged one of them and it came down and smacked him on his head Now if I did that to Caoimhe she'd just shake her head and forget about it but Ro is a bit of a sensitive flower, he is now 3 years old and to this day if I ask him to sit and then throw dummies over his head he immediately lies down, he has never forgotten

awww Ro   I have a similar wee sensitive flower, and when he was accidentally whacked by a dummy it took a loooooong time for him to forgive the dummy that threw it and to forgive the actual dummy that hit him.  Took a lot of gentle persuasion to get him happily retrieving again  

[wrenside]

When Moss was a pup I was working on his retrieving and we were happily doing some tennis ball retrieves down next to the river Wear. I had him sitting beside me, I then chucked the tennis ball which annoyingly rolled down out of sight over the river bank (typical girls throw!   ) Anyway because Moss had been so good at his seen retrieves and had done a bit of water retrieving too I decided to send him to fetch this ball to see if he could put all of his training together and make this tricky blind retrieve.
So off he goes, over the river bank......and then comes racing back to me with a rotting salmon he's found on the river bank!!!   He was ever so pleased with himself that he came wiggling up to me, flailing this rotten fish around - covering both himself and me in rotting fish slime   Anyway, I couldn't tell him off because he had actually made a very good retrieve of the fish    (picked it up by its middle and everything!) so I thanked him for it and then sent him out again to go and fetch the ball, luckily the ball was floating in a pool in the river so Moss got a good swim to get all that fish gunk off of him. I stank of rancid fish all the way home  

Thankfully Moss has never retrieved a dead fish since, or anything rotting for that matter, so I've put that particular retrieving episode down as an example of puppy exuberance and rubbish throwing on my part 

Mary xxx

[hanandhen]

 :lol2:I feel so much better now Keep 'em coming!

[spanielcrazy]

When I was working Crackers, who was extremely birdy, the group I was working with had some live pigeons left and asked if anyone wanted any. Of course I eagerly raised my hand, thinking "great! I can work her at home on birds"

Now I have 4 pigeons in a dog crate and no plan whatsoever  Crackers sobbed and trilled and coo'd  all the way home wanting at those birds. As I was driving I formulated a plan to keep them in the shed  .....which was aborted when she repeatedly climbed the fence to go to the shed 

Can't have that, the shed is outside the fence (not that she's have gone anywhere as long as the birds were around  ) so I have the brilliant idea to put them in the bathroom until I can come up with a better plan.

After a sleepless night and one very scratched up door I decide blurry heck, I'm getting rid of the birds. So I take them outside, with Crackers hot on my heels and take them on the other side of the fence but within sight of her. I open the crate and announce "All gone birdie".....nothing.....no one comes out of the crate. I shake the crate upside down and the pigeons come out and promptly fly up to the roof where they take up residence, much to Crackers delight. Every day for a very long time after that the first thing she would do when let out is run to the spot where the birds landed on the roof and walk on her hind legs looking for them 

It's always good to have a plan       

[Nicola]

Michelle that's so funny, a crate of pigeons in your bathroom :rofl:

I've been storing various game out in one of the outbuildings for the last month or so as I've been going through a lot of it for Caoimhe's training, I heard OH shouting me from outside a few weeks ago so I looked out the window to see him gesticulating at the front wall just in time to see one of our neighbour's HUGE Maine Coon/Norwegian Forest type cats legging it with one of my stored rabbits That was about 3 weeks ago and I now have to shoo those cats out of the garden on an almost daily basis, they've taken to sitting on top of one of the sheds looking hopeful

[wrenside]

just in time to see one of our neighbour's HUGE Maine Coon/Norwegian Forest type cats legging it with one of my stored rabbits

Ha ha!  The first thing that my maine coon cat brought back to the house was a french partridge!
We also had a few duck and phezzies hanging up in the larder waiting to be plucked. I went in there to find that one of the ducks had been stolen!  So I went to see if Mr Moss had helped himself, but he was happily sitting watching TV curled up on the sofa (with not a duck feather in sight). Only then did I start to suspect the cats - who I could find nowhere!  After a thorough house search I eventually found the pair happily plucking the duck under the bed in the spare room    These cats like their game! 

Mary xxx

[hanandhen]

ROFL at these

We have had another mishap this evening

Henry has been doing so well with his retrieving I thought we would try something a bit advanced this evening  Oops!

Basically after doing some plain retrieves in the house I decided to bring in a toy and try getting him to bring back the toy and the dummy in the order that I directed him. I knew this was going to be tricky, but wow was it ever confusing!

So rather ambitiously tried it off lead first time and yippee it worked However it soon became apparent this was a total fluke as the next time Henry went for the dummy first again despite being asked to get the toy. Ho hum... time for Plan B.

Plan B was to create a makeshift long line with two leads attached together (the actual long line is in the car and it's cold out there!). The idea of course was to guide Henry to the desired object. Yeah, right

Henry was still only after one thing - his dummy! Even if I got him to pick up the toy first he kept spitting it out and lunging back at the dummy Bless him, he quite clearly had not the faintest idea what I wanted him to do The neighbours must have thought the house was on fire as I kept encouraging him, and he was getting all flustered about not being able to get his dummy and yodelling at me about it - it was like gundog training by the Keystone Cops

Have to admit we gave up and I just got him to do a couple of nice calm 'holds' and left it in the end

I really must get a class sorted, but I can't help but think that any trainer will just tell me I've done it all wrong and to go away!