We were off to a new location in the pouring rain (woohoo!) yesterday. The idea was to try again to introduce Poppy to a small group and see how she got on with other dogs to watch and interact with. The location was a lovely house and grounds in the depths of Sussex. One of those places where the lanes are getting narrower and narrower, the hedges start to brush the sides of the car and confidence in the satnav is waning fast. All was well because our trainer, Judy, had put up a sign at the entrance to the drive up to the house.
Two other dogs were there. A lovely flat coat retriever 9 years old and retired, and a young yellow Lab. Judy had brought the Lab on loan for the session and the flat coat belonged to the property owner, Liz. Judy had already explained about Poppy's history to Liz. Liz asked if I knew anything about Poppy's breeding because this wasn't usually available for, for example, rescue dogs. I was actually able to say that Pops has a really good working pedigree with most of her ancestors listed as FTCs. (She is KC registered and I'd bought a copy of her 5 generations pedigree.)
It was a really interesting session. We walked the dogs at heel part way down a large field with cover at the bottom. The idea was for Poppy to observe, so Liz walked down and put out a dummy and Judy sent the Lab. Poppy was on the case all the way with her ears right forward and her little body quivering as the Lab did her stuff - sort of but to be honest not much better then Poppy. We tried again with the flat coat. She used to compete but is retired now because of back problems. Poor girl. She was a joy to watch. She walked to the dummy. Picked it up and walked back and delivered beautifully.
We repeated with Poppy. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say it did not go well.
We discussed .........
The bottom line seems to be me! Poppy just thinks it's all a complete game - this could be really depressing. The issue is we know Poppy can do it because of success on previous training sessions with even some really long retrieves. We went back to basics and I walked her to heel up and down the field. Made her sit and wait and so on. Then we tried again. This time with the flat coat doing a blind retrieve from the cover. She was lovely if sedate. Poppy watched with intense interest. We tried with Poppy. The retrieve was completely unsighted behind bushes. Just Judy making a "pheasant trill" noise and slapping the dummy. Poppy went like a train. Found the dummy in no time at all and continued not to bring it back.
New strategy.......
I took the dummy and walked Poppy at heel right down the field and placed the dummy in the cover with Poppy sitting by my side. A "leave it!" and walk at heel back up the field. A "sit" followed by some really high value cheese treats seen but not given, then a "Go back" and a "Find it". Pops like a train again. We could see her pick the dummy, pause for a wee while still holding it and the return also like a train. A good delivery followed by round behind unbidden and a sit. Much praise and cheese delivered.
We had a long discussion. Judy and Liz, both very experienced, agreed that the main issue is almost certainly that Poppy has been trained as a fully working dog and is expecting to work so it's vital I put structure into her day and her training. Once we put a structure into things (helped by cheese) Poppy switched into working. Liz said she actually tells her dogs "Working" and the know it's time to stop messing and get down to business.
I'm at a bit of a loss how to introduce this "structure" to be honest, but I gave it a go this morning. Poppy actually already reacts to "Working" but probably the wrong type of working. Anyway I got her attention in the field this morning and we just walked doing a whole series of different little exercises as we went with the exception of the stop whistle. We did a few "Go backs", walking to heel, staying, walking to heel, me just stopping and Poppy sitting beside me and so on for most of the walk. I said earlier no stop whistle. The problem was I couldn't get Pops to walk on away from me. Darn dog just kept to heel all the time.
So I don't really know if I've got the "structure" bit right, but this morning went better than usual. It only stopped when we met Enzo - a young dog of indeterminate breed variety. They played, they got fed up with each other and got noisy, we walked on. Poppy was then out of work mode and a puppy again.
Two other dogs were there. A lovely flat coat retriever 9 years old and retired, and a young yellow Lab. Judy had brought the Lab on loan for the session and the flat coat belonged to the property owner, Liz. Judy had already explained about Poppy's history to Liz. Liz asked if I knew anything about Poppy's breeding because this wasn't usually available for, for example, rescue dogs. I was actually able to say that Pops has a really good working pedigree with most of her ancestors listed as FTCs. (She is KC registered and I'd bought a copy of her 5 generations pedigree.)
It was a really interesting session. We walked the dogs at heel part way down a large field with cover at the bottom. The idea was for Poppy to observe, so Liz walked down and put out a dummy and Judy sent the Lab. Poppy was on the case all the way with her ears right forward and her little body quivering as the Lab did her stuff - sort of but to be honest not much better then Poppy. We tried again with the flat coat. She used to compete but is retired now because of back problems. Poor girl. She was a joy to watch. She walked to the dummy. Picked it up and walked back and delivered beautifully.
We repeated with Poppy. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say it did not go well.
We discussed .........
The bottom line seems to be me! Poppy just thinks it's all a complete game - this could be really depressing. The issue is we know Poppy can do it because of success on previous training sessions with even some really long retrieves. We went back to basics and I walked her to heel up and down the field. Made her sit and wait and so on. Then we tried again. This time with the flat coat doing a blind retrieve from the cover. She was lovely if sedate. Poppy watched with intense interest. We tried with Poppy. The retrieve was completely unsighted behind bushes. Just Judy making a "pheasant trill" noise and slapping the dummy. Poppy went like a train. Found the dummy in no time at all and continued not to bring it back.
New strategy.......
I took the dummy and walked Poppy at heel right down the field and placed the dummy in the cover with Poppy sitting by my side. A "leave it!" and walk at heel back up the field. A "sit" followed by some really high value cheese treats seen but not given, then a "Go back" and a "Find it". Pops like a train again. We could see her pick the dummy, pause for a wee while still holding it and the return also like a train. A good delivery followed by round behind unbidden and a sit. Much praise and cheese delivered.
We had a long discussion. Judy and Liz, both very experienced, agreed that the main issue is almost certainly that Poppy has been trained as a fully working dog and is expecting to work so it's vital I put structure into her day and her training. Once we put a structure into things (helped by cheese) Poppy switched into working. Liz said she actually tells her dogs "Working" and the know it's time to stop messing and get down to business.
I'm at a bit of a loss how to introduce this "structure" to be honest, but I gave it a go this morning. Poppy actually already reacts to "Working" but probably the wrong type of working. Anyway I got her attention in the field this morning and we just walked doing a whole series of different little exercises as we went with the exception of the stop whistle. We did a few "Go backs", walking to heel, staying, walking to heel, me just stopping and Poppy sitting beside me and so on for most of the walk. I said earlier no stop whistle. The problem was I couldn't get Pops to walk on away from me. Darn dog just kept to heel all the time.
So I don't really know if I've got the "structure" bit right, but this morning went better than usual. It only stopped when we met Enzo - a young dog of indeterminate breed variety. They played, they got fed up with each other and got noisy, we walked on. Poppy was then out of work mode and a puppy again.
