Training Diary Day 56-60
29th October 2017
Training Diary Day 68-74
13th November 2017
Day 61
Today was a rest day after Erik had his back treated.
Day 62
We worked on Erik’s stop whistle and the permanent blind today and both went well.
Day 63
Today we worked on trying something new to help with a better release of a tug toy when Erik is excited. I tried just bringing the toy in close to my legs and locking off my hands against my legs and this seemed to work. Tugging like this isn’t very good from Erik’s point of view so he lets go and doesn’t try to re-grip. So need to get this really strong before introducing a word to release again.
Day 64
No training
Day 65
Today we were back at our usual shoot beating in the morning. A bit of a mixed bag again as far as whistle response went but he was less aroused and more controllable today. He also found and retrieved a bird whilst beating and he released it after not too long.
In the afternoon Erik was demo dog for the crate games training class again and managed the whole lesson while he wasn’t working with the crate door open and he managed to lie down for most of it. He only had a few small squeaks when the other dogs started to play with toys but settled very quickly again. Slow but steady progress in the right direction 🙂
Day 66
Today we worked on Stop whistle for a while whilst out for a walk.
Day 67
Today we looked at tug and release and also I started to work on some cold game retrieves. The good news is that Erik released the bird well when I used the same technique that I was using for the tug release the bad news is my jeans are now very wet from the dew that was on the bird!!!
Also it is a challenge to find an area at the park away from people so that I don’t get funny looks for playing with a dead bird!
I found that I also need to work on Erik wanting to tug with the toy and not the bird once he has let go. When he is given his ‘get it’ cue sometimes he wants to go back to the bird and not go to the toy. I think this might be confusion as he usually gets to go back onto the same toy after he has release from a tug game. Probably need to practice switching tug toys after the release possibly teach a swap cue? Will have more of a think about this and experiment later.
