how to get her into dummys again??

[rickymac14 3]

Hi all,

 

i know this may sound simple to some of you guys but i rescued a 4 1/2 year old springer well i call it rescued because it was my mums and she brought the dog off working parents and as you could imagine the bitch just wanted to work and got bored at home so i decided i would take her on and try and do something with her as she has a brilliant work ethic.

 

The only problem is that she will brush until her feet bleed or you have to go home loves working woods and low shrubs etc..

 

when i take her out and try and get her to retieve dummys no no she wont even put them in her month or knowledge that i have throw 1 on the ground but if its a rabbit or bird she would get it and retieve,

 

having said that i cant walk around with rabbits in my pocket, i have tryed the rabbit skin around dummy but she is more intersting in flushing and going for walks.

 

Has she lost interest in retieve from an early age due to the fact that she knows how much fun flushing & brushing is?? any help would be grateful as i would like to start novice trailing this year ?

 

Thanks

 

ricky

 

Also ahe is good at jumping but puts her back feet on a lot of things like the cow gates or bared wire how can you teach a dog to clear them instead of them doing this??

[spec 45]

Hi all,

 

i know this may sound simple to some of you guys but i rescued a 4 1/2 year old springer well i call it rescued because it was my mums and she brought the dog off working parents and as you could imagine the bitch just wanted to work and got bored at home so i decided i would take her on and try and do something with her as she has a brilliant work ethic.

 

The only problem is that she will brush until her feet bleed or you have to go home loves working woods and low shrubs etc..

 

when i take her out and try and get her to retieve dummys no no she wont even put them in her month or knowledge that i have throw 1 on the ground but if its a rabbit or bird she would get it and retieve,

 

having said that i cant walk around with rabbits in my pocket, i have tryed the rabbit skin around dummy but she is more intersting in flushing and going for walks.

 

Has she lost interest in retieve from an early age due to the fact that she knows how much fun flushing & brushing is?? any help would be grateful as i would like to start novice trailing this year ?

 

Thanks

 

ricky

 

Also ahe is good at jumping but puts her back feet on a lot of things like the cow gates or bared wire how can you teach a dog to clear them instead of them doing this??

 

You may be fighting a losing battle trying to get a dog of this age and experience into dummies- as you say, she's learned the joy of hunting, and if she's also retrieivng game it's likely she doesn't see the point of picking up some boring canvas thing with no scent to it. (This happens pretty commonly once some spaniels have done a bit of picking-up, they tend to lose a bit of drive for dummies seeing them as inferior. My old Springer just wants to checw them up these days :icon_redface: )

 

If you're going to have any success, you need to start her dummy work somewhere with NO bushes or ground scent for her to get interested in, and with a layout that means she's most likely to go straight out and come straight back without getting tempted to start hunting. I'm lucky enough to have a longish 'corridor' of field with hedge either side for this, but even an indoor corridor will do to start with. Basically you want the surroundings to be SO bland she's got to get interested in the dummy as there's feck all else to catch her attention!

 

How have you been throwing dummies out for her so far? I find it can really help if the dog thinks you're very excited about it- so if I have a dog who's lacking enthusiasm retrieving I'll often sit them up, throw the dummy out and then run out to it my self and sort of play with it, lots of "what's this? what an exciting dummy I've just found!" etc, but not let them come up to me. Then when you do send them, curiosity tends to mean they're out like a rocket. The minute she's on it, sniffing it or whatever, start to recall her dead enthusiastically, praising her loads. HOPEFULLY the penny will drop that the praise and recall was because of the dummy, and she'll bring it with her.

 

Another thing you might try is leaving something she usually retrieves (a rabbit or whatever- presuming she'll retrieve them cold ok?) in a place and sending her for it. Keep doing this for a few days, then swap the thing she's expecting for a dummy. Keep everything the same, same commands, everything. It may happen that she retrives it out of habit.

 

Is she interested in tennis balls, or is it just a flat out ignoring anything that's not fur/feather? If you can work with balls and then build up to something like an air kong (basically a long dummy shaped tennis ball) you may have some luck?

 

Sounds stupid, but have you also tried just gently putting a small dummy into her mouth and closing her mouth around it? You need to be careful not to scare/hurt her, but a lot of people introduce the 'hold' commnand this way, just picking it up and putting it back in, repeating 'hold' if she lets go when you let go of her mouth. That might get the message across that it's something that goes in her mouth.

 

Hopefully some others should have some good advice too, but don't push too hard with it- keep your dummy throwing to one or two goes a session, or you'll both get p****ed off with it, and try not to get frustrated. Some spaniels just don't 'get it' when it comes to dummies. It may be a bit of a pain as far as training goes (totally get that you can't walk around with rabbits in your pocket!) but may not impair your trialling, as even if you start off with working tests you can pick the ones that use cold game rather than dummies, and the trials themselves will involve her retrieving warm game.

 

If all else fails, session with a pro trainer might do it where no other can?

[Mickey Finn 2,710]

Hi all,

 

i know this may sound simple to some of you guys but i rescued a 4 1/2 year old springer well i call it rescued because it was my mums and she brought the dog off working parents and as you could imagine the bitch just wanted to work and got bored at home so i decided i would take her on and try and do something with her as she has a brilliant work ethic.

 

The only problem is that she will brush until her feet bleed or you have to go home loves working woods and low shrubs etc..

 

when i take her out and try and get her to retieve dummys no no she wont even put them in her month or knowledge that i have throw 1 on the ground but if its a rabbit or bird she would get it and retieve,

 

having said that i cant walk around with rabbits in my pocket, i have tryed the rabbit skin around dummy but she is more intersting in flushing and going for walks.

 

Has she lost interest in retieve from an early age due to the fact that she knows how much fun flushing & brushing is?? any help would be grateful as i would like to start novice trailing this year ?

 

Thanks

 

ricky

 

Also ahe is good at jumping but puts her back feet on a lot of things like the cow gates or bared wire how can you teach a dog to clear them instead of them doing this??

 

You may be fighting a losing battle trying to get a dog of this age and experience into dummies- as you say, she's learned the joy of hunting, and if she's also retrieivng game it's likely she doesn't see the point of picking up some boring canvas thing with no scent to it. (This happens pretty commonly once some spaniels have done a bit of picking-up, they tend to lose a bit of drive for dummies seeing them as inferior. My old Springer just wants to checw them up these days :icon_redface: )

 

If you're going to have any success, you need to start her dummy work somewhere with NO bushes or ground scent for her to get interested in, and with a layout that means she's most likely to go straight out and come straight back without getting tempted to start hunting. I'm lucky enough to have a longish 'corridor' of field with hedge either side for this, but even an indoor corridor will do to start with. Basically you want the surroundings to be SO bland she's got to get interested in the dummy as there's feck all else to catch her attention!

 

How have you been throwing dummies out for her so far? I find it can really help if the dog thinks you're very excited about it- so if I have a dog who's lacking enthusiasm retrieving I'll often sit them up, throw the dummy out and then run out to it my self and sort of play with it, lots of "what's this? what an exciting dummy I've just found!" etc, but not let them come up to me. Then when you do send them, curiosity tends to mean they're out like a rocket. The minute she's on it, sniffing it or whatever, start to recall her dead enthusiastically, praising her loads. HOPEFULLY the penny will drop that the praise and recall was because of the dummy, and she'll bring it with her.

 

Another thing you might try is leaving something she usually retrieves (a rabbit or whatever- presuming she'll retrieve them cold ok?) in a place and sending her for it. Keep doing this for a few days, then swap the thing she's expecting for a dummy. Keep everything the same, same commands, everything. It may happen that she retrives it out of habit.

 

Is she interested in tennis balls, or is it just a flat out ignoring anything that's not fur/feather? If you can work with balls and then build up to something like an air kong (basically a long dummy shaped tennis ball) you may have some luck?

 

Sounds stupid, but have you also tried just gently putting a small dummy into her mouth and closing her mouth around it? You need to be careful not to scare/hurt her, but a lot of people introduce the 'hold' commnand this way, just picking it up and putting it back in, repeating 'hold' if she lets go when you let go of her mouth. That might get the message across that it's something that goes in her mouth.

 

Hopefully some others should have some good advice too, but don't push too hard with it- keep your dummy throwing to one or two goes a session, or you'll both get p****ed off with it, and try not to get frustrated. Some spaniels just don't 'get it' when it comes to dummies. It may be a bit of a pain as far as training goes (totally get that you can't walk around with rabbits in your pocket!) but may not impair your trialling, as even if you start off with working tests you can pick the ones that use cold game rather than dummies, and the trials themselves will involve her retrieving warm game.

 

If all else fails, session with a pro trainer might do it where no other can?

 

Force fetch.

[rickymac14 3]

Thanks for the effort and time to write what you think i could do much apericated

 

ATB

ricky

[Mickey Finn 2,710]

No trouble at all. It was just two words. .

 

ATB

[potshot 0]

No trouble at all. It was just two words. .

 

ATB

 

I can double up on that - howabout

 

"Try googling force fetch"

[Find it Catch it Kill it 0]

Fancy ago at field trails then i suggest you get a new puppy and get training because you could get this dog to retrieve with alot of time and effort put in but it still won't be consistent, but could probably make a cracking rough shooting dog, and as for forced fetching i wouldn't even go there.

[p.i.g 44]

Hi all,

 

i know this may sound simple to some of you guys but i rescued a 4 1/2 year old springer well i call it rescued because it was my mums and she brought the dog off working parents and as you could imagine the bitch just wanted to work and got bored at home so i decided i would take her on and try and do something with her as she has a brilliant work ethic.

 

The only problem is that she will brush until her feet bleed or you have to go home loves working woods and low shrubs etc..

 

when i take her out and try and get her to retieve dummys no no she wont even put them in her month or knowledge that i have throw 1 on the ground but if its a rabbit or bird she would get it and retieve,

 

having said that i cant walk around with rabbits in my pocket, i have tryed the rabbit skin around dummy but she is more intersting in flushing and going for walks.

 

Has she lost interest in retieve from an early age due to the fact that she knows how much fun flushing & brushing is?? any help would be grateful as i would like to start novice trailing this year ?

 

Thanks

 

ricky

 

Also ahe is good at jumping but puts her back feet on a lot of things like the cow gates or bared wire how can you teach a dog to clear them instead of them doing this??

i rest my case

[Ideation 8,216]

Unless she is very steady you might have other major problems for trailing.