Yuku free message boards

Thanks for the support Dave,
I believe a total of 5 puppies from a litter of 11 will end up in Europe.1 to France,Sweden and Denmark.Mike as kept a dog,4 have gone to trialers in the south of england and I am the only one in the north to manage to get a pup from such an exiting litter.I have had twig for less than a week and I am chuffed with her.She as adapted to a new diet,her routine,and as made good friends with my old pet bitch.She is great around my 2 young children as well.She is very good looking,with very good confirmation.I hope she turns out as well as her parents.They won 15 open stakes between them.The pressure is on!
She is showing lots of natural ability,carrying items in the garden,jumping up and down on the rockery,exploring cover etc.She is also a proper lab,she loves her food,so I am using this to reinforce positive behaviour from an early age.I gave her a retieve with a pair of socks yesterday and see came staight back will it.I recall her to her kennel at meal times.She is also biddable following me every where I go.I fed her outside this morning while I cleaned her kennel and she sat for her dinner.It,s nice when there born half trained.Not so many sleepless nights!

Steve

Haguehall Labradors

Hi Jeff, Which of your friends took a puppy? was it a dog or %*##$? Do you know its KC name?

Regards

Steve

P.S Happy New Year .Lol

Twig as had her first venture outside today,I took her with my older lab, for a bit of reassurance on her first outing.She travelled very well in the car which was very pleasing.she was initially a little bit wary when she came out of the car but soon enjoyed her romp around exploring all the exiting new smells.I recalled her on a couple of occasions and she returned with zest which was also very pleasing.I took a tennis ball with me as well, just to see how she reacted to it in a strange environment.She was not too keen initially,but when my older dog began to show interest,she too came to life.She did not have a retrieve but i did allow her to carry the ball for short periods.We had 2 very short sessions on the lead,she walked very nicely so I am pleased with her initial reaction to the big wide world.I will continue to take her out and about and wait for a warm day before a trip to the local stream and her introduction to water.I will also use my older dog,as i find puppies will naturally follow an older outgoing dog.I also intend to introduce her to some other dogs,preferably my farther in law's 3 labs.so far so good.

During GOD Training!!! Don't worry I'm that good.Just a spelling mistake. LOL

I've just had another short session with twig.I have begun to make sessions a little bit more regimented.I have introduced a dummy bag,with all sorts of wonderful items.This hopefully will build up a good association with retrieving and training in general.I have started to put the lead on in the kennel.Teaching good manners is important in early training.We also sit before we exit the exercise pen,and I, being the pack leader, exit first. This is now becoming an automatic response.I have also introduced a release command after the sit which is "go play".I also use my left leg to lead off walking at heel immediately after the sit on the lead,twig is now getting the idea to move with me.The air Kong as brought about a little bit more interest in retrieving.The bright colour and striped rope look more appealing,It is also ideal for building up excitement as you can move it around quickly on the ground before you throw it.We have just had our first attempt at Sit/Stay which went rather well.Twig remained on the lead, so it is easy to put her back on the sit/stay spot,should she move.This is much easier to start with than grabbing a dog by the scruff and avoids unnecessary pressure, as she is still very young.I intend to have 2 five minute sessions a day and play it by ear.
The weather is good at the moment so another trip to the pit ponds is on the cards later today.

29/04/09-Twig is now 17 weeks old and I have spent the last 9 weeks or so trying to assess her value as a working gun dog and whether it is worth spending all the effort it takes to get a dog ready for the shooting field.the answer is a resounding yes!!!.
Twig is a very likable dog and it is important to have a good bond if we are going to reach the dizzy heights of competition.After considerable investment I am more than happy with the dog I have to work with.I also believe twig as the confidence that I have the aptitude to help us both achieve our goals.
My early assessment of twig shows me she is quite a well balanced dog,happy in her surroundings.She appears very sharp at this stage and takes lessons in very easily.She is not the keenest of retrievers at the moment,but my gut feeling is that this will improve once further restrictions are added to her retrieving,Steadiness.She also appears a little sensitive on occasions.It as manifested itself in the way she licks her lips on the sit/stay exercises,stays at arms length if verbally scolded or does not understand what is required from me.She also appears a little submissive in the way she returns on the recall,ears back,low approach.I don't believe any of these early traits will be an issue in time,but it is very important to manage them correctly.I believe this is part of her character that will allow me to impose my discipline at great distance which is a major requirement for competition dogs.Twig as definitely got some different gears,but only shows them in glimpses.Once she matures and gains a little confidence I imagine she will be quite impressive at work.I also have the benefit of talking to her breeder a great length regarding the nature of the breeding line which stands me in good stead.Brindlebay dogs tend to be slow maturing,but sharp and very responsive to basic obedience and whistle work.

I have slowly started to apply a little mental pressure on twig and she appears to come out well at the other end.Nothing major at this stage but it is important to apply a bit of pressure to understand what I have to work with.Mental pressure is an inevitable part of teaching a dog a required response,unless you are a possitive only trainer and have plenty of time.We won't get into that though.
In my opinion positive only methods are difficult in a gundog environment.I do however base my training on positive reinforcement,the occasional correction,which is low key and hopefully infrequent.nothing more than a verbal scolding,if possible!!!

I don't think twig needs a lot of training,and she would become bored easily.My approach to her training as definatly changed.Quality,rather than quantity.
We have had our first session sincesunday today,my goal to improve on what as been achieved in previous sessions.I don't particularly have a set plan what I am going to do during a session,but I do have a rough idea.I belive you have to face any issue head on,as and when theyarise to stop situations becoming unwanted bad habbits.I use my intuition rather than a strict method.
By rationing twigs retrieves I have managed to make her keener,but have noticed an issue with the deliver.This is also becoming inconsistent so I feel it is time to sort this out ASAP.Most of the usaul early retrieving problems have started to manifest themselves.some down to inexperience,others caused by handler error & mental pressure.Playing with the dummy,running around,keeping at arms length,holding on to the dummy,spitting the dummy and jumping up at me.I've seem them all.
After a little heel, sit/stay I let Twig have a a couple of retrieves.She was a lot keener,its amasing what a few days in the kennel can do for desire.I was not happy with her attitude to the delivery so I decided to have a go to sort it out during this session,that had become my focus.I have not attempted this before because my instinct told me it was not the right time due to her keenest to retrieve.It can cause all sorts of problems if you tackle issues too early.Equally I could end up with issues if I continue to ingnore this undesirable behaviour.
I spent a few minutes workini g on the recall,followed by sit.until now twig just came flying into my body ,which was great,but I decided a little refinement was required.So I began to teach the recall followed by the sit.This caused a little confussion and uncertantity but after a few repetions twig grasped what I was asking of her.
To ease the mental pressure I went back to heel and sit work,this is progressing nicely and the sit as become an automatic response.The only time she did not sit was when my son appeared at the patio door,an unexpected distraction.She failed to sit,so I just lent on her with my left knee which achieved the required response.I continued with this exercise with my son still at the door but this time she sat,CLEVER GIRL.

Once I managed to get my son out of the way we commenced with our training,Twig was in a nice calm state of mind so I tried the retrieve followed by the sit.This took 4 further attempts with mixed results before we got it right,including circling and dropping the dummy.I used my voice to encourage her and gently replaced the dummy in her mouth,before the penny finally dropped.Once I got the desired results I put twig back in the kennel to absorb what she had just learned.Once again I was chuffed with the result