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When down means down.

1K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  JoanneF 
#1 ·
I videoed todays proofing session so thought that I'd share it here :)
 
#6 ·
I so wish I could get Teddy's impulse control as good as this.
You can! Well, maybe not as good as Thai's but (believe it or not!) my Tilly can do that because that's exactly the method i used to train impulse control - starting as a young pup in my kitchen and moving outdoors.

And it really paid off last week when i turned up to our weekly training class to find something a little bit different going on: the room was set up with about 6 tables containing bowls of dog food, rattly and squeaky toys etc and some mats for the dogs.

We had to settle our dogs on the mats and go and seat ourselves at a table, play with the toys, drop things, walk about etc. For close on an hour. During the hour we did move our mats and dogs nearer to tables but the dogs' job was just to hold on the mat.

All the dogs were pretty good, but tilly was the only one that never moved even in the presence of rolling and squeaky balls.

Unlike Thai, though, this has not generalised to good impulse control when it is actually needed! As a training exercise indoors and out, very good.

But she is still a flighty character and obvs nowhere near in the same league as Thai with training.

She can do this though. And if Tilly can do it, Teds definitely can do it:)
 
#12 · (Edited)
#13 ·
Build up the distractions slowly, and start off rewarding frequently. Drop a treat a few feet away, then return to the dog and reward. Repeat with different objects. You can try and lump the training together if you think they've got the general idea, but definitely start slow with things they don't find hugely exciting, then build to stuff they do really like.
 
#15 ·
Yes, agree with the others. For Tilly, she was started very young out in the field with the training dummies. In gundog work, the word 'stay' is redundant.

Because you tell the dog 'sit' and sit means stay sitting until i tell you to do something else. So, we got tilly to a good place where her retrieval drive for the dummies was good and strong, raring to go but out of maybe 10 thrown dummies, she would only be allowed to pick 2.

The rest i would retrieve myself and her job was to hold steady.

Whilst she had that work going on in the field, at home in my kitchen i would practise this by getting her to stay still whilst i rolled balls past. Slowly at first and far away, then closer and faster.

As i wanted her to hold steady but still maintain that drive to go when needed.

As the months went on, we started to get into other things and not do as much gundog stuff though we still do bits and bobs now and again.

In your situation, you probably do want your dog to switch off and not be driven to go after the thrown objects.

So, once you have trained a solid down stay (usually more stable than sit stay) you can start slowly by walking round your dog, return and praise in a way that does not cause whisp to bounce up. A small touch, a gentle 'good'

Then walk round again.

You can build to waving your arms, jumping, anything you like.

With the rolling balls, start very slowly and roll further away. You can use a hand signal to reinforce the stay.

Then it is practice, practice and more practice!

If you are having no luck at all, get someone to help you by holding whisp on a short lead.

At the basis of this is a really good stay. Then stay with distractions.

(I do a lot of cafe trips with tilly where she is expected to settle for up to 2 hrs at a time without disturbing anyone. There, i do expect her to switch off. She is very well practised at that, and it is very very handy)
 
#19 · (Edited)
Lol I did this at the cafe of my local country park last week. To be honest was so hard...he was in a sit, it was hot, we had big hoomans, kids, rude dogs, ball throwers, food and drink and we were beside a hedge...which is so hard for a hunter! He did brilliant! Was so proud as dont practice as much as we should.

Should have added that he was there for 12 mins...
 
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