Yuku free message boards

Personally I would begin right now to train your dog to deliver the dummy into your hand. Dropping it at your feet isn't a good idea, what if it was a lightly pricked pheasant or duck - the bird could run or swim off again and perhaps never be recovered.
Other than that you seem to be doing fine. How about beginning to introduce simple memory retrieves to your training sessions?

Bill T.

We were all novices once and I like to think that in some ways I still am as it implies a willingness to learn.
The memory retrieve is basically a sighted or marked retrieve that the dog is not sent for at once. Usually the pup is sat and encouraged or allowed to see a dummy fall a short distance away. I start my pups doing this from as early as 10 weeks old when they hardly even know how to sit. The pup or dog can be kept on the lead during the throw of the dummy and right up to the point where it is sent to retrieve it.

The dummy is thrown accompanied by the words, "Watch-watch!" in an excited tone, you can say anything you want as long as you are consistent the dog will come to understand the type of retrieve and the behaviour you will expect from it. I train this initially always on short grass where the dog can see the dummmy, the local football pitch or the park are my usual training places for this retrieve.

After the dummy is down I repeat my "clue in" words then with the pup on the lead probably straining to get to the dummy, I walk about 20 feet away from it. I then turn to face it and crouch down to "line the dog up." I use the whole of the palm of my hand and the fingers to point towards the dummy, I do not just point my index finger.

The pup will still be wanting to go for the dummy which it saw fall just seconds ago and with the grass being so short, from its new position only 25 or so feet from the dummy, can still see it. These distances are not critical but for a very young puppy keep the distances very short and the time elapsed between the throw and the send short too.

I again tell the pup from my crouch position with clear hand signal towards the dummy to "Watch- watch!" and then I send it with its' retrieve command. There is a very good chance the pup will go straight to it and make the retrieve.

Keep things at this level for a couple of days then assuming the pup is responding well start to walk it away from the
dummy to ever increasing distances. Make this process gradual, do not be tempted to jump from a 30 foot send onto a 60 foot one.

Your dog being older will be able to do longer distances almost from the very start but still keep the distances relatively short until your dog shows it really understands this variation in its' retrieve routine.
By the time you are doing this retrieve at perhaps 50 yards, there is a good chance the dog will not be able to easily see the dummy from its height, even short grass can obscure a dummy at this range. The dog knows by now though that [A] There is definetely a dummy out there. (B) It is going to be sent for it for all of your actions are telling it so. [C] You are lining it up and giving it the cue words and accompanying hand signal.--- The dog is learning to trust you in that there is always something there if it goes out in the direction you point.

Although the dog cannot now see the dummy from where it is, it will remember it, (a memory retrieve) once you have sent the dog it will not have to run the full distance before it can see the dummy on the grass, it will spot it lying long before it reaches it and this will boost the dogs confidence that this is an easy and fun thing to do.

From there it is just a case of making a gradual progression of extra distance and extra time elapse between the dog seeing the dummy down and the dog being sent for it.
Many variations of this are possible. Longer rougher grass, undulating landscape, distraction features such as nearby woodlands etc., other dogs present. You can also walk the dog away from the dummy , sit it, walk away again yourself but keeping the same line, then turning at a distance to send your dog with a "Back!" command. All of these things and several more are possible but dont try to do them too soon and go back to shorter distances before trying them.

How far can you send a dog in this way? Well over 400 yards is possible. My present pup,(a German Shorthair Pointer) will do 200 yards, he is 8 months old. This is his favourite training exercise because he gets to run like stink AND retrieve!

The exercise leads on eventually to the "seek-back" retrieve and then to doing a proper blind retrieve. The purpose of doing all this is to train the dog to believe you when you put your body into the lining up position and use the pointing hand signal along with the cue-in words, that there definetely is a retrieve out there for it if it just goes in a fairly straight line in the direction you are pointing even if it cannot see the retrieve.

If you choose to do this take it slowly, try very hard never to let the dog fail. If a bird falls unseen by the dog 200 yards away it is a good thing and a real leg - saver to have a dog trained to do all the travelling for you!

Bill T.

P.S. I hope this posts O.K. something went wrong part way through, I am very much a novice on computers!!!