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Location: B'ham (nr the airport)
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,963
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Hi,
Helena - I agree that he doesn't need to go back as far as the early puppy class and he's nowhere near ready for the advacned class anymore. i won;'t put him into Neil's class. I know Neil won't throw Zane ont he floor and pin him down because I wouldn't allow it but I can't guarantee that I wouldn't open my big mouth and say something. After all, I thought he'd been made to leave. So I'll find another club (there has to be a decent one reasonably nearby) and work harder at it at home with Zane.
I used to do most of Zane's training off lead unless we were in the training class itself. I didn't do it quite the same as you trained Zena but if Zane saw a dog, whether close by or in the distance, I used to use the command "watch" and he'd focus on me rather than the other dog; knowing full well there was liver cake in my hand.
This is what I'm doing now with him more intensely and on a lead/long line when out and about or in the park. Obviously on the street he's on a reasonably short lead anyway but in the park or on the field he's on a 10m lead.
It's not that he won't ever come when he's called back or sees another dog. Most of the time he will, which is why I'm wondering if it's just a lapse in training. Clearly if he comes back most of the time then he hasn't forgotten what to do, which is why I was questioning whether I was doing anything wrong or different.
Actually you post has made me realise that I haven't always given the OK command and he's gone off to play with dogs he's known and I haven't stopped him. Maybe because he knows them or maybe out of habit because he always plays with the same dogs. But I think you've just hit the nail on the head. So hopefully it shouldn't take me too long to resolve his recall then. Thank you - I appreciate your help.
Shona - When Zane first started send-aways it was with my cousin, not me. She took him to training when he stopped with her when I went on holiday. When I returened from holiday, I had to do very little other than give the right commands and the right times.
The cones were placed in a square and owners were told to put something the dog liked (treats, toys, blanket etc) int he middle of the square of cones. Then whilst on lead, the command was given (box, away, etc or whatever they wanted to use) for the dog to go nto the box. the owners walked their dog into the box and turned them around to face the direction they'd come from. Then they told them to go down. Then the exercise finished and the owner could walk away with their dogs.
Then the second time it was done, the trainer would hold the dog's lead and the owner would go into the box to call the dog. The dogwould go to the owner, turn around and todl to go down. Then the trainer would call the dog back to them.
The third and fourth time it was done, the trainer and owner swapped places - I suppose so that the owner stays where they would be if they did the exercise for real.
The fifth time it was done, the trainer stepped away from the dosg and owners and it was just a case of the owner sending the dog away. the dog turning around and going down on command. Then the dog returned to the owner and finished when called to do so.
Personally I think this is a long winded and very confusing way to teach something so simple. Having said that , my Cousin did enough work with Zane over the course of that month for him to know what to do before I came back. So I never had to do much at all. I didn't train him from scratch for this exercise. One thing I would do differently to this though, is that I would stick to one way of doing it. I wouldn't involve other people. It would just be Zane and myself, initially in the back garden where it's quiet and we would't get disturbed by anyone.
Laura xx