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."