I have a 14 month old pup. He is learning to go around blind 5 to get to the hnb in blind 6.
He is moving pretty fast so his obedience is not as far along as his bitework. Not to mention we are trying something new so we started all over a few months ago.
Here is where I am uncomfortable. Do I tell him to foos around blind 5 when he is in no way foosing, its more like me pulling with all my might? Or should I use some other command until we get this under control? Reason being I dont want to ruin the wonderful heeling we are now doing by telling him to foos and him not even coming close to it. Basically I fear that he will equate foosing with I do whatever I want as opposed to focusing and heeling nice with me.
thanks,
tracey

tracey,

I always train with the command to go around the blind, not the heel command. Once she makes it around the blind, I call the dog directly back to me. Only when the dog comes back to me and looks at me, do I release the dog to the 6th blind.

I re-trained my older male and it really tightened up the loops around the blinds and helped with the OB. He does not blow off the blinds (of course, there is always a 1st time)
I am training a young female on this as well and she is a hard head.....

just to make sure in the earliest stages you do not walk the dog around the blind until he gets it?
thanks for the reply,
tracey

Sorry, jumped ahead.

Anyone jump in on this one, as I have only trained 1 dog, am re-training a 2nd (one that I got as an adult who loves to blow the blind search, but not consistently) and now young adult on this. So, I have been lucky so far.

This is when it is only me and the dog...

I would walk the dog around the blind, but not use the heel command. As I approached the blind, I would speed up a bit and say revier. Once I have done that a few times, I would then place the dog close to the blind, get in the blind with a tug or ball toy, call the dog revier. As the dog came in to the blind, I would step out and out and then reward with the toy. Repeat. By that time, the dog has gone to the blind, looked into the blind and come out of the blind and gets the reward.

I have not used the shell game approach with a helper. So input from anyone?

ok so you train it seperately from the actual bite work session. That may be a good idea.

Right now we are working the dog (bitework) and then I am expected (when he is in full drive) to walk him around the blind. Like I said its not exactly a walking around the blind as he is totally fixated on the decoy behind us in blind 6. He is jumping and pulling all over the place toward blind 6 as we are heading for blind 5.

Maybe mixing the two might work best???
thanks again for the idea,
tracey

ps he does know what to do the closer he gets. when we are right up on the blind he speeds up around it. its really just getting him there thats the problem lol.
t

I have worked the blind search separately 1st so the dog is coming back towards me and not so initially focused on the sleeve. I did Fina ( the adult that I got) without the helper because she was so focused on the bitework. I worked her on the field by my self, then added in the bitework for the final reward of doing it correctly.

Worked with the 1st 2, but Adie is the young one and she might prove me wrong..:-)

sounds like a plan, ill try it at very least lol.
thanks again for the idea.
tracey

This is trained by running with the dog on leash around blind 5 and then releasing the dog to search blind 6 where the helper is waiting. After he catches on you release the dog right at blind 5 and then gradually work your way back.

Tracey, you are correct that you should not be using your heel command; you're only tearing down what you've built in obedience. There's really two issues here and they need to be trained as two exercises. On the blind search, I always teach the dog to go around the blind for a ball first, usually at home. By lowering the stimulation level (no helper), the dog learns easier. So first he builds some association between the voran (or revier) command and the behavior that will produce the reward. And I never go around the blind WITH the dog. I use a cloth blind so that I can set it up smaller than normal (legs only 2' apart instead of 5-6'). Why? Make it easy for the dog to be successful. I set up very close to the blind, off center to the left so it is only 2 steps to the back of the blind. I send him "voran", and the instant he steps forward, I step to my right. Now he and I make eye contact for an instant AROUND the blind, I call him and throw the ball. In no time, he understands that going around this thing will earn the ball, so you enlarge the blind, stop stepping to your right, move further back, etc. until it is a normal blind search.
When you take this to the field with the higher stimulation of the helper, you go back to square one and make it easy for the dog to be successful again. Stand close to the blind, etc. You have a 15' on him in case he chooses not to go around, so that he cannot self-reward by going to blind 6. He quickly generalizes that the only way to get what he wants is to go around the blind.

Second issue: the heeling. Try this exercise. Have your helper stand in the middle of the field. Take up a basic position (heel) about 40' away. The helper is the hub of the circle and you are the outside of the circle. Face counterclockwise so the helper is to your left. This forces the dog to look AWAY from the helper in order to make eye contact with you. At first, all you want is for him to sit silently and make an instant's eye contact, then you immediately (your timing has to be right on the money when he glances up) send him for a back up bite. Slowly graduate that to making him hold the eye contact for several seconds before he is released to bite. Graduate that to heeling in a circle (helper always to your left) and releasing him when he makes eye contact. The dog learns the same rule as for the blind search: it is HIS behavior which produces the result he wants. When he gives you eye contact (no barking, BTW!), he gets to bite.