Comments on: Soft, Young, and Yellow http://outsidek9.com/2009/10/soft-young-and-yellow/ {the dog blog of Outside magazine} Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:31:14 -0700 hourly 1 By: Mike Jeroue http://outsidek9.com/2009/10/soft-young-and-yellow/comment-page-1/#comment-346 Mike Jeroue Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:30:50 +0000 http://outsidek9.com/?p=991#comment-346 18 months old now, VERY aggressive with retrieves anywhere. Delivers to hand on land and water, takes to water like a champ, very birdy with frozen birds, takes hand signals and whistle stops up to 50 yards pretty consistently. Taking her on the first hunt, goose opener next week, duck opener 3 weeks after that. Obedience is overall very good, recall good, heels around neighborhood excellent and in field pretty good. Compared to my last update in January, this is REAL progress. One concern is around water. Taking her from the truck to the lake, she is a "wild animal"! I get her under control by the water, and she is pretty steady to retrieves. Heels "back to the truck" ok, but a problem getting to the water. Outstanding family pet. Any suggestions??? Thanks. 18 months old now, VERY aggressive with retrieves anywhere. Delivers to hand on land and water, takes to water like a champ, very birdy with frozen birds, takes hand signals and whistle stops up to 50 yards pretty consistently. Taking her on the first hunt, goose opener next week, duck opener 3 weeks after that. Obedience is overall very good, recall good, heels around neighborhood excellent and in field pretty good. Compared to my last update in January, this is REAL progress. One concern is around water. Taking her from the truck to the lake, she is a “wild animal”! I get her under control by the water, and she is pretty steady to retrieves. Heels “back to the truck” ok, but a problem getting to the water. Outstanding family pet. Any suggestions??? Thanks.

]]> By: Grayson Schaffer http://outsidek9.com/2009/10/soft-young-and-yellow/comment-page-1/#comment-171 Grayson Schaffer Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:50:16 +0000 http://outsidek9.com/?p=991#comment-171 Sometimes you can lower a dog's retrieving drive by doing too many repetitive retrieves on dummies. Try a half-frozen duck or pigeon and see if that doesn't rev her up a bit. At ten months, the dog's retrieving drive should be developed enough so that she's consistently going after whatever you're throwing, even if you're not always getting a good delivery. If the dog doesn't show interest in real game, you should talk to your breeder. If she does, chances are you can make a hunter of her. Main thing is not to burn out the dog or yourself by training too aggressively. Put the hours in this spring and summer. Ten months is fine for gun training. Use a starter's pistol and keep it in your training bag, twenty or thirty yards from your pup. If you get no adverse reaction (not so much as an ear twitch) move in a few steps and fire into your bag again. After you reach your pup with the gun in the bag, go back out to 50 yards and fire with the gun behind your back. If at any point you notice an adverse reaction, you've got to lower the criteria. This dog sounds like she might be at risk for gun shyness. You might even go so far as to have a friend do the reps with the pistol while you give the dog treats and encouragement after each shot. If you haven't already, get on the Wildrose Facebook page. There are a bunch of self-trainers trying to do it without an e-collar who post regularly. —Grayson Sometimes you can lower a dog’s retrieving drive by doing too many repetitive retrieves on dummies. Try a half-frozen duck or pigeon and see if that doesn’t rev her up a bit. At ten months, the dog’s retrieving drive should be developed enough so that she’s consistently going after whatever you’re throwing, even if you’re not always getting a good delivery. If the dog doesn’t show interest in real game, you should talk to your breeder. If she does, chances are you can make a hunter of her. Main thing is not to burn out the dog or yourself by training too aggressively. Put the hours in this spring and summer.

Ten months is fine for gun training. Use a starter’s pistol and keep it in your training bag, twenty or thirty yards from your pup. If you get no adverse reaction (not so much as an ear twitch) move in a few steps and fire into your bag again. After you reach your pup with the gun in the bag, go back out to 50 yards and fire with the gun behind your back. If at any point you notice an adverse reaction, you’ve got to lower the criteria. This dog sounds like she might be at risk for gun shyness. You might even go so far as to have a friend do the reps with the pistol while you give the dog treats and encouragement after each shot. If you haven’t already, get on the Wildrose Facebook page. There are a bunch of self-trainers trying to do it without an e-collar who post regularly. —Grayson

]]> By: Mike Jeroue http://outsidek9.com/2009/10/soft-young-and-yellow/comment-page-1/#comment-169 Mike Jeroue Sat, 02 Jan 2010 22:23:22 +0000 http://outsidek9.com/?p=991#comment-169 Soft, young and yellow: Part 2- pup is now 10 months old. Obedience, retrieving and hand signals in yard is going very well. Obedience, including remote sit, is also going very well in local school yard. She is very comfortable with our walks thru yard. Retrieving in school yard is hit or miss- sometimes she will take a back cast or retrieve as a reward for remote sit, usually 3-4 times. I have learned not to have her retrieve more than this amount, and work on the successes. Obedience in field is very good, but she rarely retrieves anything. I am taking everything very slowly, but am frustrated with lack of retrieving. She is obviously not ready for hunting just yet, how about gun training? Any suggetions are much appreciated. Thanks. Soft, young and yellow: Part 2- pup is now 10 months old. Obedience, retrieving and hand signals in yard is going very well. Obedience, including remote sit, is also going very well in local school yard. She is very comfortable with our walks thru yard. Retrieving in school yard is hit or miss- sometimes she will take a back cast or retrieve as a reward for remote sit, usually 3-4 times. I have learned not to have her retrieve more than this amount, and work on the successes. Obedience in field is very good, but she rarely retrieves anything. I am taking everything very slowly, but am frustrated with lack of retrieving. She is obviously not ready for hunting just yet, how about gun training? Any suggetions are much appreciated. Thanks.

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