just had a breakthrough session with henry this afternoon .

i have had some limited previous success with a puppy retrieve , that is , he has on a couple of occasions brought his fluffy tug back to me , or at least moved in my direction .

so for the last couple of days , we have literally been rolling around on the floor , just letting him chase and grab the article . i have been keeping the tug alive alternating with some pets , pushes , and long body strokes while i let him hold the object . he really gets involved in the game .

today i thought i would test things out , so i went to the location where i first saw him move towards me with an object . i started the chase the article on a string game , then into some close tugs and then let him go with it .

as expected he took off and was prancing about with the article in his mouth . i moved away from him , facing him . he showed some movement towards me , but veered off as he got closer . i remembered a lesson that i learned in cali from forrest micke . i turned my body so that i was quartering away from the dog with my back turned . by jogging lightly back and forth away from the dog i got him to pace along about 5 meters away with the object . after several laps he started to move towards me , and then finally came right in beside me as i continued to move .

i did not go for the object , but rather gave his body some long strokes . when he seemed comfortable beside me , i then carefully reached for the object and gave it some life , before engaging some light tug .

i then let him run off with it before repeating the sequence about 4 times .

pretty stoked about that session , thanks forrest !

Ran a short track with four articles. Sadie missed articles again. I've been reading Gary Patterson's book, and it suggests that rustiness could be due to infrequent training. We have had several extended layoffs recently, due mostly to ants, so I'm hoping that's where the problem lies.
Tonight, I go back to working articles inside, and I simply must find a venue where ants aren't as big a problem. Going to make a concerted effort to track as much as before, and get her solid on articles again.

Speckled trout.

 Quote: Duane Hull

Speckled trout.

Aren't they really hard to train?

 Quote: ian bunbury

just had a breakthrough session with henry this afternoon .

i have had some limited previous success with a puppy retrieve , that is , he has on a couple of occasions brought his fluffy tug back to me , or at least moved in my direction .

so for the last couple of days , we have literally been rolling around on the floor , just letting him chase and grab the article . i have been keeping the tug alive alternating with some pets , pushes , and long body strokes while i let him hold the object . he really gets involved in the game .

today i thought i would test things out , so i went to the location where i first saw him move towards me with an object . i started the chase the article on a string game , then into some close tugs and then let him go with it .

as expected he took off and was prancing about with the article in his mouth . i moved away from him , facing him . he showed some movement towards me , but veered off as he got closer . i remembered a lesson that i learned in cali from forrest micke . i turned my body so that i was quartering away from the dog with my back turned . by jogging lightly back and forth away from the dog i got him to pace along about 5 meters away with the object . after several laps he started to move towards me , and then finally came right in beside me as i continued to move .

i did not go for the object , but rather gave his body some long strokes . when he seemed comfortable beside me , i then carefully reached for the object and gave it some life , before engaging some light tug .

i then let him run off with it before repeating the sequence about 4 times .

pretty stoked about that session , thanks forrest !

" ... pretty stoked about that session , thanks forrest !"


I'm pretty stoked, and all I did was READ it!

Last night we went for long walk/play and training outing in a park.

I had no clue that the youth hang out was open at night. The adult supervisor call us to show the kids what we were doing with our dogs as it is so cool as he said.

I show the basic of marker taining and did a demo of Harley's skill. I even got to use the kids to practice the send around. I used them as my pilons

Them they were allowed to pet the dogs. Dexter was all over the love fest.

Last night we went for long walk/play and training outing in a park.

I had no clue that the youth hang out was open at night. The adult supervisor call us to show the kids what we were doing with our dogs as it is so cool as he said.

I show the basic of marker taining and did a demo of Harley's skill. I even got to use the kids to practice the send around. I used them as my pilons

Them they were allowed to pet the dogs. Dexter was all over the love fest.

Excellent tracking this morning! Backed up to a more basic pattern. Tracking was calm, sure and methodical. Indicated all six articles, with great position.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Duane Hull

Speckled trout.

Aren't they really hard to train?

They were a little tentative at first, but before long, we had 'em swimming to the boat and jumping in!

We worked hard on not overheating in 120 degrees heat index.

Lots of "such!" inside with Falcon's favorite stuffed fish. I know, I know, not very exciting but the boy is tired and neither of us is experiencing heat exhaustion, so all in all, a successful day.