Training Molly

F

FayRose

Location
Close to Devon/Somerset border
I’m sure that @Beanwood can provide you with a wonderful video but I can give you some of my notes as I’m working through it at the moment with Pickle.
These are the behaviours that you need to have before you can start getting your dog to ‘take a line’.

Can you your dog stand or sit parallel to you in heel position?

Can your dog remain stationery while you hold your hand in the direction you want and wait for your verbal release cue?
The last one is very important as you need to wait until the dog ‘locks on’ to you arm. That means that the dog is committed to going in the direction you point and is focused in the direction you indicate. This can be that they stop flicking their eyes around, stop panting or just tense their muscles - it varies from dog to dog.

Can your dog remain at heel and parallel while you pivot on the spot?

Can you stop your dog within a few strides with an interrupter?

All these behaviours and getting them really solid will make blind retrieves so much easier for the dog to learn. If the dog learns that it can ignore your direction and still get the reward of a retrieve them you are making it far to difficult and need to make it much clearer to the dog which way it needs to go. Standing between the posts and turning 180 each time is where I would start given your problems.
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I've copied this from @Beanwood 's thread about Otter. I hope that is OK @Peartree - well both of you in fact. I can't find any other way to reply and I didn't want to continue with the invasion of that thread.

To reply -

Yes, she does sit parallel in heel position.
Yes, she will sit still when I raise my hand in direction providing I don't speak, yes she waits for the cue which in our case is 'go back'
I haven't tried to pivot on the spot when she's at heel and parallel, so I don't know about that.
Unfortunately stopping within a few strides with an interrupter is random.

Where I have a problem is actually getting her to look at my arm/hand. Its similar to what she does when I try to take a photo, she turns her head away, so there's no way she is taking notice of the direction signal.
I'm beginning to think she's head shy and it's getting worse :pensive:
 
P

Peartree

If Molly is looking away from you then she is telling you that she feels uncomfortable. Can you check your position? Are you leaning into or over her when you are lining her up? Are your feet and hips and shoulders facing in the direction you want her to go? I see so many people in classes that lean over and I can see the discomfort that it produces. You might want to change how you set both of you up. You could also look at the way you put your hand by her.
You could bring it over her head and down slowly. You could bring it up from below or even bring it to her face level with her eyes from the side. All these small things can make a difference.

Do you use a clicker? If so, it’s worth thinking about making a hand near her face a positive association. Hold your hand in the lining out position and put a treat in between your fingers. She will look at the treat and focus and then you can click and release her to eat it. If you build this up then she should become much happier to look at your hand and therefore ultimately in the direction you point. You need to find the right level of treat in terms of desirability so that she can stand or sit and look at it but it’s good enough to eat. If you don't use a clicker you can have your release word but your timing will need to be good.

I have struggled with all this before as Bing had a huge space bubble around him and I had to work really hard to make him happy to be close to me. Pickle is much easier and doesn’t have the same issues although the other day I bonked her hard on the nose with my backswing when throwing a dummy and she was quite unhappy about it.:facepalm:

The one thing I have learnt is that is best to stop when things are going wrong. The more you practise with errors that harder it is to correct them. Especially using positive reinforcement methods I have learnt this the hard way with Diesel!!
 
F

FayRose

Location
Close to Devon/Somerset border
Thank you VERY much for this @Peartree . I'm pretty sure you've hid the proverbial nail in exactly the right place.

Thinking about it, because she's looking away I've been getting closer, trying to encourage her to look at me but now you point it out, I've been almost forcing her, getting slightly impatient too if I'm honest. How can I not have seen what I was doing? Am I really that stoopid? :facepalm: errr, yep.

It's back to the drawing board for me then. I've no doubt my trainer will say exactly the same as you have when I see her on Saturday. Poor little Molls.
 
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