Training Diary Day 25-29
4th October 2017
Training Diary Day 35-39
12th October 2017
Day 30
We spent some time training today with one other dog. Erik managed to wait quietly whilst I threw a dummy for the other dog and then whilst the other dog went to retrieve the dummy. I fed him quite frequently but he managed no squeaking during the 6 repetitions.
Erik also managed a good stop at a distance and redirect whilst we were retrieving and then we did some hunting practice where he did an automatic sit to a thrown dummy and a nice stop on the whistle.
We finished the day with some more consolidation with the crate games. His drive and speed to get to the crate has increased even at the maximum distance but no squeaking even with some verbal ‘wind up’ from me.
Day 31 + 32
No training
Day 33
We did some work on directions, he got them all correct.
Day 34
We worked on some It’s Yer Choice (IYC) whilst grinding Erik’s nails, I put out a pot of treats and Erik stands and looks at them but doesn’t take any whilst I grind one nail then I give him a treat out of the pot, etc.
Phase 3 of Crate Games – I removed the top from the soft crate so it is now just a raised bed. Went through the basic games again and had one small mistake when he went to the sofa instead of the raised bed and one tiny noise when I really wound him up before letting him go back to the bed.
Need to start some duration at home and take the bed games on the road to generalise it.
I have also been working on Erik’s squeaking in the car whilst on the way to somewhere that he knows will be exciting. This has also been an issue for a long time although for a while it did die away but started back up again in the summer. So whenever he starts to squeak I just pull over and stop the car and wait for the squeaking to stop and for Erik to lie down, then we carry on. We seem to be making (slow) progress. The squeaking is stopping quicker and Erik lies down sooner but it is still very much a work in progress. He is also not squeaking so soon in the journey. It used to be that he would squeak as soon as we set off down a particular road that leads to several good walks and where we go shooting but he now waits until we are mostly there before starting now!
