Back to the Basics...

Took Boscoe out today for his first time on a prong collar. He did really well and it regained some of his focus on me. I decided to really simplify things and just took a tennis ball out to the yard. I know some people don't like retrieving with tennis balls...but that's another matter. Anyways, with the prong collar on I put Boscoe in heel and threw the ball about 5 feet. No noise, sit was good, he got released to retrieve. Second throw was about 10 feet. No noise. I continued throwing, keeping myself calm as well, and gradually increased the distance. He had a harder time sitting the farther the throw was. I really think that gave me some insight into what's going on in his head. I heard one barely audible split second whine on our longest throw, but I didn't even have to say quiet. I enforced sit and he got to retrieve. It was a good session.

I let him have a few minutes to walk around and relax. Then what I wanted to do was use a toy that I've been using for his water retrieves, it's dumbell shaped. I knew that it would give him more excitement than the tennis ball but not as much as a bumper or dokken. I only did two or three throws with this toy. The same routine, a short throw about 5 feet, then 10 feet, etc. He was quiet with this as well but I could tell he was getting tired so I put him up.

So what I learned was that this is how simple I need to keep it. We work up to more exciting objects to retrieve once he's learned and the repetition is drilled into him that this is the routine for a retrieve no matter what. I think he'll start to focus on me and trust me as well...at least I hope so. We'll add distance as well once he "gets it."

On another note, a friend recommended to me Modal Theory by Iain MacDonald and let me tell you, it's really interesting reading. It really lets you in on what's going on in the dog's head. At least it's the best educated guess I've seen to date. A lot about drives and the dogs frame of mind determining which mode it operates in. I can't really say as I understand it all just yet, but I'm trying. I'd suggest looking up the theory for anyone whose interested.

Second day at it....

Ok, so we had the second day of quiet retrieving. Vey simple, very short throws. No guns, no whistles, no calls, no nothing. I had a helper so we threw, enforced sit and quiet, mark got picked up by the thrower, and we tried again. Out of 6 - 8 throws, Boscoe got to retrieve one. It was noticable however after several throws he was whining more than barking and was quiet sooner. Also, he was sitting better so it was easier to work on getting him quiet. His deal is he lets out a big bark and a jump when the mark is thrown. For the second day at it I really don't think it went badly. I also did some heel/here work with the check cord and slip lead. This was out in the yard and while he started trying after a bit, his focus was on all the smells, etc...not on me. I think to help with the lunging issue I'm going to introduce him to the prong collar and use it when we are retrieving. I'm hoping this will allow me to focus more on the barking than the sitting. Don't worry, sit will be a regular on the OB sessions! He's going to be a handful, as Travis says, but we'll keep at it.

First Live Fliers

Boscoe got his first live fliers yesterday. He actually had to help me catch them first so we could use them lol. He did a great job, caught two, pinned them down until I came to take them. Anyways, we did this thing flying by the seat of our pants as neither of us really knew what we were doing. The first one sends off and Travis hits it. Boscoe's first flier is a cripple. I released him before it was down so there wasn't much to do but wait and see how he would handle it. The duck didn't have much fight but Boscoe wasn't sure how to pick it up. I should have realized this when he was only pinning the ducks down instead of picking them up the other day. But in any event I was already on my way out to help him when I realized the duck hadn't died. I tried to get him to fetch it up and help him out a little but he was still having some trouble. I had Travis finish the duck off so it wasn't suffering. Boscoe was a little nutcase in any event, wanted at the duck, barking, the whole nine yards.

Well, we set up to do it again with the second, and last, duck. Boscoe was barking like a fool and straining at the leash when the duck was in the air. It went down and off he went. It took a few more seconds but the second duck was dead. Boscoe was still having some trouble though, and seeing how he handled the first one I was already in route. He was just having mouthfuls of feathers so I took it from him and put him up.

We wanted to let Ranger have some fun so I took him out and got set up. Travis threw the duck and just shot into the woods. Ranger took off like a rocket after I released him. He got to the duck, mouthed it, picked it up, shook it around, and then...get this...starts chasing and biting bugs! The dog is nuts! No coaxing could get him in from either Travis or I so we go out and take it from him and put him up.

Took Boscoe back out and threw the dead ducks for him. Things went much smoother. He picked them up with a little difficulty still and headed back in for me. He got two or three throws then we tried Ranger again, with the same results. By then it was hot and buggy so we loaded up and came back home.

Now for the bad news. We haven't done a lot of steadying or a lot of gunshots, so it maybe that putting this all together is too much at once, too soon. When I hand throw singles, I hold him until the mark is just down and then let him go. Now, he's not always sitting pretty. He strains at the leash sometimes. But he doesn't bark. He always gets released before he has the chance to bark or whine I guess. Well, with the excitement of live birds and gunshot he was barking and whining and the whole bit. I definitely need to nip this in the bud so I took him out today to get some corrections in. I also wanted him to get some practice in holding larger objects so I used the dokken. Again, working on too many different concepts at once. In any event, he wouldn't sit and was barking like crazy.

Now, he knows the quiet command. The only times he barks or whines is when playing. So I went a couple of routes today. I gave him the sit command and enforced it (despite his complete and total lack of attention on me...all focus was on the dokken). Then I gave him the quiet command and held his muzzle. I didn't have a helper to pick up the bird at the moment so I waited him out until he was quiet. As soon as he was quiet I told him good in a calm, soft voice and released him (he was also sitting at this point as he was a little calmer). We did this about 3 or 4 times and then I had a helper (yay Travis!). So I had Travis move out to be my thrower. I told him this time around if Boscoe barked I wanted him to pick up the dummy and move back to his throwing spot. We did that twice and Boscoe was just a nutcase. I still did the sit and quiet routine. After the second throw I tried to walk him away from the imaginary line. Still no focus on me (slip lead on). I took a bit of a break and put (or tried to put) him into a down. It almost became a power struggle. I was doing it thinking that it wasn't a working position and he would get a little calmer. It took a couple of minutes but...finally...a minor success!! He actually looked up at me!!! Focus!! So I put him into a sit and told Travis to throw and that he could have this one. I let him go before the dummy was down to avoid the noise issue. Being only my third dog to train, even Ranger isn't as high as this pup! I've gotta get some new tricks up my sleeve to get him focused on me during working.

My ways to do this? OB!! Pup is only 5 months, but mentally mature enough and grasping commands enough to start moving on and recieving more pressure. To this point though, it was all positive training, short sessions, etc. So here's my plan, stretch out the OB sessions and look at methods of motivation to gain focus on the handler. He's compliant on all commands he knows now so this is more getting even more reliability, focus, and consistency. What I want to establish is a better working relationship where he relies on me for direction. Then we can move up to adding distractions. As for the retrieving aspect, keeping it simple from here on out. Lots of single marks, I may move away from the dokken for now, not sure yet. I will probably back off on the steadiness issue and will let him go as the mark is almost down. The other idea I've read is to teach the dog to speak so that in turn, you teach the dog to be quiet. This will help reinforce the quiet command and what exactly it is for.

Now for the rest of the bad news. Boscoe was growling at the dokken and trying to shake it some. To correct this, I took up the check cord and reeled him in. He didn't have the option of chewing and playing because he was being forced to come in. It worked well and by the last two to three retrieves he did make tonight he was bringing them in a lot better with little to no chewing, growling, etc.

So, the plan is in place, the zero tolerance policy in effect, we'll see how it goes. This pup is worth the effort so I'm dedicated to solving this while he's still young. It's not out of control, it's harder I think for me to adjust and learn how to effectively deal with and solve these issues as they've never presented before in my VERY short "experience."

Introduction to Gunfire

Boscoe did great on Thursday, August 10, 2006. It was only his 2nd real introduction to gunfire. The first time out we shot my Marlin 17HMR without any retrieving. He's not a shy pup, he loves noise and loves to investigate the source. He did ok but we realized we really needed to put the gunfire together with the retrieving and use his desire to outweigh the potential scariness of the noise. So we took him out with a 22 and dead pigeon. The first couple of times he would look at the gun as he started to run (no steadying really going on during this) but then continue on his way. After several throws he was ignoring the 22. We kept at it and moved the gunshot in as he felt more comfortable. After a bit he was fine with the 22 right next to him.

So we put him up in the truck and brought out his big brother, Ranger (2 year old yellow male). We decided to use the 20ga. with Ranger as he has no gunshyness. The very first time he heard gunfire it was about 4 or 5 shotguns all going off while we were shooting trap. Well, someone (me) forgot to roll the window all the way up. The very first throw for Ranger (working on steadying him as well - we're getting back into working on his training) I was still holding him and I see this little black furball shoot past us and pick up the pigeon. It was a great reaction to Boscoe's first hearing the 20ga. Needless to say though, I made sure he couldn't jump out next time.

Ranger did great, he needs work on his recall (read e-collar!!) but he's a great dog. Just needs polishing. We basically did the same process working the gun closer slowly with Ranger. Then we put him up and brought Boscoe back to work on the 20ga. He did awesome!! He wasn't even looking at the gun like he first did with the 22. Loves the pigeons. We worked the 20ga. in closer slowly and he was fine with it right next to him by the end of the session.

He was getting tired so we let him rest...or so we thought. Travis wanted to shoot again and when he did, Boscoe shot out like a rocket from under the truck looking for something to retrieve. It was cute, and a good reaction. He was looking around for awhile so I finally just threw the pigeon again so he wouldn't come up empty handed. He did this every time Travis shot. I'd rather have the drive there and have to tone it down than have to try to put it in him though. Overall, I was very impressed and proud of him. Travis was even getting into it and was proud of Boscoe...I'll get him into this game yet lol.

Look for more pictures soon. We'll be doing a live flyer sometime this weekend probably. It will be good for both dogs I think. Boscoe weighed in at 25 lbs. a few weeks ago and on this past Saturday he weighed in at only 28 lbs. We'll be talking to the vet about when to switch to high energy food...he's growing steadily so I'm not concerned about hips but I also don't want to push him into an unbalanced growth spurt. I trust the vet so we'll see what he recommends. Never had a picky eater, I've determined this little guy just likes to eat off the floor instead of out of the bowl. But usually he only eats one meal a day, or half of each meal, etc. Oh well, he'll reach his full potential in due time. I love that I can still pick him up if I need to. He's getting long, leggy, and lanky.

Thanks for sharing!