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.