Two amazing things!!

Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
Yesterday when Cassie and I were out in the woods 2 rather amazing things happened.
Firstly my friends dog appeared out of nowhere seemingly unaccompanied by his people. Cass has been rather dotty about him since they acquired him a year ago, but lately there have been signs of her not getting quite so excited by him. Yesterday she was running back towards me as he shot past in her direction. They stopped, looked at each other, then Cassie looked at me and carried on returning to me, and he just disappeared ! She never tried to follow him at all :happyfeet:

Secondly, I was preparing Cassie to do some retrieves in a bracken dense area, out of the corner of my eye I saw a roe deer get up and move to the edge of the trees and stand in the ride. I threw the dummy anyway, in fact did two retrieves -- and it just stood and watched! Quite extraordinary. Cass never picked up it's scent at all, I wasn't asking her to work that side of me and she wouldn't have seen it from her level. Clearly it was standing upwind on us and not bothered at all.
 
snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
That's wonderful!
I've noticed Squidge becoming less interested in other dogs recently, too. She'll always go and greet given the chance, but she'll also easily recall away and happily come with us. There was a time when anyone else (with or without dog!) could have become her new family, as she would follow anyone! :D

We had similar with the isard we saw the other day; it was on a high ridge above us. My friend and I wanted to get closer to see if we could get a closer look. We knew it would easily get away if the dogs scented it, but the wind was coming towards us. They didn't have a clue it was there, and it wasn't bothered by us at all as we got closer. It was so lovely :)
 
Lab_adore

Lab_adore

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Sydney, Australia
What a star Cassie!

Maxx recalls really well at the off-lead dog beach where there are dozens of dogs. He runs off to greet every single one but comes back when OH whistles. This is extraordinary because his recall everywhere else (except at home) is pretty terrible. Even in the empty rugby field without distractions he will 50% recall and 50% continue sniffing the grass and ignore us. He is worse at the dog park where even if there aren't any other dogs he is so excited he just runs around like an excited toddler and will only recall after he has had a good run and sniff and even then at best reluctantly!

Any thoughts on the different behavior at the beach? He will be 15 months in 3 days. Note that my OH walks him every day and lets him pull on the lead despite my repeated pleas for him not to.
 
VanillaBean

VanillaBean

@Selina27 Well done Cassy. It is always nice to get these days where you can see they are growing into a beatiful mature dog (OK even more beatiful than already) , but then at the same time retain some of their puppy characteristics.

@Lab_adore I would work with check ins a lot and also put his off leash on a cue. As what you dont want to happen is that the recall eventually becomes a moot point. Vanilla was good on leash walking, I rewarded everytime she was at heel. This may have been one step or 5 steps but we got there.
If you have space in the garden do it there first, then move to a car park that is quiet after the shops have shut or early mornings.
That is one thing for your husband.

We had this with Vanilla where she thought everybody was her friend. So I ended up taking her to the golf course when it was quiet ie: no one around but still plenty of smells.Vanilla was in a harnes with a long leash, Iand everytime she looked at me whilst walking I would 'C&T'. So the leash was only 3m at first. Once she got the hang of that, I changed to a 5m one and repeated. Then moved to a 10m one, but by that time she had is sorted. We then moved to a check in at distance and that would either be she would come back for a treat or carried on walking. Now she will walk off leash but every 30seconds or so will check in with me by either of those methods. If she is close she will be coming into my hand to pick up a treat and carry on walking. I dont always have a treat but she touches it. I have a different selection of treats that she gets and also just a stroke, toy what ever. From a distance she will look and if I am moving and point she will carry on, but if I stop she will stop to seee what I am about to do next and respond accordingly.

I also put her off leash on a cue, so everytime the leash is taken off she will remain seated until I say otherwise. It is also the same for play time. If we are walking and she is offleash and I say 'go play'she knows it is her time to say hello. I do add the name of the other dog infront, as she will the run past 10 other dogs and find the one.

All this started within the house then repeated in garden and repeated in carpark and so on. The repetition is the hardest as it is so easy to think 'yep got it sorted at home so easy when out as they do it there'

I got these pointers from the team on here and also a book called 'Totally Unleashed'by Leslie McDevitt.
 
VanillaBean

VanillaBean

your welcome, I am sure others will add things later.
Forgot to suggest do you have a 'Look at me' cue? ie: eye contact. It works so that he will look at you for focus. this may help to reduce his excitement levels. Also something that may also be worth, keep him on leash and throw treats on the ground, High value. put that on cue like 'go sniff'. What you should then get eventually is that he will look to you to allow him to sniff, hence the eye contact.
Both those can be taught separately then strung together, especially with the release cue. So you will find that the 'eye contact' cue will come naturally for him without you having to say anything apart from 'Sit' and then 'go sniff' as example, as when he sits he will look at you for next steps. Hope this makes sense.
 
Lab_adore

Lab_adore

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Sydney, Australia
With the go sniff do you throw the treats so he can't reach them until I let go or lengthen the lead? So I throw, wait for him to look at me, say 'go sniff' then let him go? Otherwise if I just chuck treats on the ground he will gobble them before he hears the cue...sorry if I'm being dim....

I do 'look at that' and it helps to calm him from lunging to another dog but I'll try ' look at me'

Really appreciate the time you're taking as I know you are madly preparing for your little bundle of puppyness
 
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VanillaBean

VanillaBean

That is OK, and you are not being dim

The 'look at me' or as I call it 'watch' I introduced it as following

Everytime Vanilla made eye contact I would 'C&T', this took us about a day. Then I moved on to
1 Sit/drop facing me
2 treat (or what ever is of highest value) showing that you have it and taking it towards your eyes whilst. At first they will follow the treat.
3 once treat is at your eyes and he looks at you 'C&T'. Repeat 5 to 10 times. Will take a couple of minutes.
4 after a few sessions you should hopefully find that when you ask him to sit he will look at you straight away. Then add cue
5 once cue is working dont need Sit, but I prefer it. That way i have Vanillas full attention which is what I want.
6 then proof it against distraction, just remember distance and low level distraction are your friend at first
This is really good if you have a dog that see a door opening as a reward rather than you opening the door

The 'go sniff' I did after I had Vanilla focused on me and added a release cue.

Release cue as I did it

Start of with a Sit/drop facing you. Take one step back (if you think he will move take a miniscule step). Then go back to him and 'C&T'. Increase this gradually until you can take a couple of steps at least and he remains. Always go back to him and C&T'. Once you have this then add duration in your steps ie: one step back and count to 1 then go back, reward then repeat. Then start increasing time.
Once you are confident he will remain take one step back and call him with a release cue. As he gets up and is heading towards you 'C&T'. Repeat, repeat and repeat. You will eventually get him to stay and do a merry dance around 20m away and then release him.

The 'Go sniff' I had Vanilla next to me scattered some treats and as she went to sniff I said 'go sniff'.
After while I added the 'go sniff' cue to my sit as one of my release cue.

Vanilla will sit, I will scatter treats and the release her with a 'go sniff'.

Hope this helps, and I know everybody will do it differently. It is just want works for you.
 
Cath

Cath

MLF Sales Coordinator
What a good girl Cassie. All your training and hard work has pay off Selina27. Well done both of you :clap:
 
Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
VanillaBean said:
It is always nice to get these days where you can see they are growing into a beatiful mature dog (OK even more beatiful than already) , but then at the same time retain some of their puppy characteristics.
Click to expand...
Yep, that exactly.

@Lab_adore , I have been thinking of you lately, and anyone else who has a young and bouncy Labrador who wants to party with the world, if you have to exercise in such a high volume of dogs/people. I think I would have required medication and/or straightjacket at some point had I not had access to very quiet surroundings where I know everyone I meet. I've only gradually taken her to new areas to walk and she's so much better now, Forum walks helped a lot.

Agree with @VanillaBean about release cue -- I do some orientation games with Cass when I unclip the lead, it's helped a lot with that "pelting Off" in the beginning.
I thought yesterday she could have done with a little jacket saying "I'm just young, loving life, I don't mean any harm, please be patient while my Mum catches up with me"!!
 
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