The River Log

Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
River was fab at puppy class, although took her a while to settle, as the poor thing was dreadfully car sick... both there and back. Actually this happened last time, so we are going to hold the car journeys until she is a little older.

We worked on"drop" and I love the way it was taught. You say "drop" and literally just drop treats! Puppy gets used to this cue, and then you add "leave". Not sure I will add a leave in at this point, but I do like the concept of "drop", you don't need to get close to your puppy to train.

*Edited to add* credit to Ruffhounds
1. At this stage, I'd recommend you simply say your "drop" (or "out") cue and dropping a treat on the floor - creating a great emotional response to hearing this 'magic' word! All your dog needs to do is eat the treat when they hear the "drop" cue. Repeat this daily a number of times over a week.
2. Next, we say the new cue "drop" and then we wait a few seconds before dropping the treat - hopefully, you'll see your puppy start look to the floor as soon as you say your new "drop" word.
3. Now when we say "drop" we move to another room to pick up a treat to pop on the floor.
4. Finally, we say "drop" and drop multiple treats onto the floor, moving your hands down towards those treats - dropping more as you do - and moving the treats around (never remove any).

Repeat stages 2-4 daily a number of times over a week.
Then, we can start to add the "drop" in around real items - check out how we do that with play!


Working on recall! Rivers' puppy recall is good, but it is good to start early on developing a sooper dooper response to the whistle.

Love the ping pong recall game with Bramble, so time to start training with wee River... :dug:

 
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Charlie

Charlie

Location
Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Confused. I don't do ping pong recall like that. Bramble goes past Marcus for the treat. We set ourselves up apart, blow the whistle Charlie comes to me = a treat after a couple of seconds then David blows his whistle = same. Also I don't understand the clicking with River as she's not taking the treat from Marcus but going past him? Is that reinforcing a recall? Sorry for the questions I'm just interested.

Bramble looks beautiful. xx
 
Emily

Emily

Location
Melbourne, Australia
Beanwood said:
We worked on"drop" and I love the way it was taught. You say "drop" and literally just drop treats! Puppy gets used to this cue, and then you add "leave". Not sure I will add a leave in at this point, but I do like the concept of "drop", you don't need to get close to your puppy to train.


1. At this stage, I'd recommend you simply say your "drop" (or "out") cue and dropping a treat on the floor - creating a great emotional response to hearing this 'magic' word! All your dog needs to do is eat the treat when they hear the "drop" cue. Repeat this daily a number of times over a week.
2. Next, we say the new cue "drop" and then we wait a few seconds before dropping the treat - hopefully, you'll see your puppy start look to the floor as soon as you say your new "drop" word.
3. Now when we say "drop" we move to another room to pick up a treat to pop on the floor.
4. Finally, we say "drop" and drop multiple treats onto the floor, moving your hands down towards those treats - dropping more as you do - and moving the treats around (never remove any).

Repeat stages 2-4 daily a number of times over a week.
Then, we can start to add the "drop" in around real items - check out how we do that with play!
Click to expand...
Oh dear, it took me two attempts of reading this to realise you didn't mean "drop" as in "lie down" 🤦‍♀️😂

I kept thinking "but when does the puppy lie down and how will the puppy associate the reward with the 'drop'??" 😂😂
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
Selina27 said:
I think Charlie that the click is marking when River turns back to Marcus. I'm sure @Beanwood will explain more to us.
Click to expand...
".

@Selina27 yes spot on. @Charlie with River, Marcus is marking the moment that she looks up from eating the treat, so in effect capturing that moment of attention. Another treat is thrown the other way. This gives River motivation and momentum... we want this. It's a game! River starts to anticipate the next treat, and runs towards Marcus, when this happens we remove the marker ( clicker or verbal word) and add the whistle. We are looking for a quick, almost reflexive response. The ping pong game sets the pup up for success as we are controlling the environment, not other way round. Bramble demonstrates the game when we replace the clicker for the whistle. She is anticipating the whistle... which is now paired with a fun game. She loves dynamic games, and this is one of her favourites!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Beanwood said:
".

@Selina27 yes spot on. @Charlie with River, Marcus is marking the moment that she looks up from eating the treat, so in effect capturing that moment of attention. Another treat is thrown the other way. This gives River motivation and momentum... we want this. It's a game! River starts to anticipate the next treat, and runs towards Marcus, when this happens we remove the marker ( clicker or verbal word) and add the whistle. We are looking for a quick, almost reflexive response. The ping pong game sets the pup up for success as we are controlling the environment, not other way round. Bramble demonstrates the game when we replace the clicker for the whistle. She is anticipating the whistle... which is now paired with a fun game. She loves dynamic games, and this is one of her favourites!
Click to expand...
I was wondering the same thing as @Charlie - thank you for the explanation! 👍
 
M

M.F.

Emily_Babbelhund said:
I was wondering the same thing as @Charlie - thank you for the explanation! 👍
Click to expand...
Me, too!

Now that I understand, I wish our puppy classes had been like this. For recall, we had to hand our pup over to the trainer and then hide behind a tree and then appear suddenly and call “Come!”, at which the trainer would let go of the pup. Of course Snowie ran straight passed me to play with other dogs!! Or just kept running off into the distance with me hopelessly in pursuit.
 
Stacia

Stacia

Location
Malvern Worcestershire
I was taught the same game, throwing the treat one way and then the other, years ago, must remember and try it again with Rourke, he needs a little fun in his life.

I was quite confused by the drop, are you teaching the dog to drop an article. Would you rather train 'put it in my hand', or am I up the creek :$
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
M.F. said:
Me, too!

Now that I understand, I wish our puppy classes had been like this. For recall, we had to hand our pup over to the trainer and then hide behind a tree and then appear suddenly and call “Come!”, at which the trainer would let go of the pup. Of course Snowie ran straight passed me to play with other dogs!! Or just kept running off into the distance with me hopelessly in pursuit.
Click to expand...
Ping pong recall is a game I have taken from our gundog classes.

Here is the thread that @snowbunny has written...

Ping Pong Recall

River was a bit too good at recall in our puppy classes, so the trainer had to change it up a bit... she was giving River treats and attention... and still recalled away like a whippet!
 
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