Hello, all!

I am having problems teaching my dog that the come-fore position is a good place to be. I have tried everything on the tape; ball, lead between the legs to correct the dog into position, even food, even sitting down, even lying down. My dog's comfort level is 3 feet away when in normal drive, about 1 foot in high drive. I can get her a little closer, but only when she is in extreme high drive, and only for a second, then her posture leans away, or she breaks. I cannot correct this dog, or even gently guide her into positon with the leash, as she is VERY soft, and balks, or her drive goes down (with correction).

My question is this: should I continue to work her, arms exercises, doing the come-fore position multiple places, multiple times a day, in an attempt to condition her comfort level closer to me? Or do I just accept 1 foot as good enough, and move on.

FYI, this is a dog with great prey drive, but is soft, submissive, envionmentally sensitive, and shy. Hehehe... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> So I am aware that this may not be a training/handler issue, but a genetic issue. Just want to make sure I have exahusted all of my avenues before I decide if it is time to move on to the motivational retreive.
Thanks!

i would say stick to one location and keep doing it many times a day. lure her in with food or a ball (or whatever she gets the most excited about) - take a small step backward as she comes in, then step back into her as she sits. if it's food, try the old "spit the hot dog in the mouth" trick - she only gets the food if she's close enough and straight and you feed continually, gradually increasing the time. If it's the ball, cup it in your hands and lure her forward til she's correct and then drop and praise like crazy (drop in right down along your chest, letting her jump up on you to catch it will encourage her to come closer too).

be patient - it can take a while.

pulling in with the leash was a bust for me, too - opposition reflex, big time.

and as for the "1 foot" thing, i also had some trouble getting my dog in really tight. part of the problem was that i'm tall, so he really had to crank his head up and rock back to look up at me - it wasn't physically comfortable.

i finally accepted a little extra distance, mostly because someone with experience rationalized that in competition, a bump on the recall costs a point, a foot away doesn't. so it's all about your preference.

good luck.