Chunk & I had a good session this morning in our journey toward steadiness. We walked along one of our normal routes until we got to a small field. I removed his leash and cast him off. He took right off and started patterning left and right just as if the season never ended.
I let him get out a ways, gave a whistle to hup and he sat right down. I had him hold it for a minute before casting him off again. We repeated this a few more times and then I called him in and we continued our walk. He never messed up once. Naturally, I praised the heck out of him.
On our way back to the house we ran into a neighbor and her new five month old puppy. We let the dogs do the sniff get acquainted thing and let them play a bit. The other dog is a little Pappillon who has been having a hard time with walking on leash; The owner moves and the dog doesn't. We decided to try walking them together.
Chunk and I went ahead and they followed. The little dog took right off after us like she had been on a leash all along. We would stop to hup, then they did the same thing and then we'd repeat it. We did this all the way back to the house. Our neighbor was so proud of her little dog it was really nice to see. I was proud of her little dog too.
Enjoy Your Dogs,
Ken
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Music Lessons and Dog Training: Repetitions and Repeat Again
While Chunk and I were out on our walk this morning I was reminded of a music lesson I had when I was first learning to play the banjo. My assignment for the week had been to work on a few exercises in the lesson book and practice them over and over, which I thought I had done.
When I showed up for my next lesson, thinking I was prepared, it turned out I was not. I played the exercises for my instructor who stopped me, shook his head and commented on how I hadn't practiced enough. He pointed to the end of the bar where there was a "repeat" symbol with the number 1000 after it. He asked me what I thought it meant. I replied it meant to play the exercise several times. He said no, it means to play it one thousand times. If it says one thousand, you play it one thousand times. That is how you will learn to play these well and without effort when called upon to do it. He was right.
Several years later when we were first training the "whoa" command to our two setter pups, what Laurie and I had done was to attach a check cord to the dog's collar and half hitch it around the flank. Then we would walk around the yard with the dog close to our side, say "whoa" and give a gentle tug on the hitch to stop the dog.
We would try to get in 100 times a day, gradually lengthening out the check cord until the dogs could do this out at full length. Then we could let them off leash, start them in close and extend them out until they would do it no matter how far they were from us. (We didn't invent this, it was shown to us).
Once the command was done well in the yard, we moved to a couple of local ball parks to teach them there. Then eventually we moved out to the field. The reason for these repetitions was, just like with my music lessons, the dogs needed to have these commands well ingrained so as to prepare them for the steadying work that lied ahead.
Which brings us to Chunk. My homework assignments for this past fall and winter were two in number. The first was to get Chunk into as many birds as I could during the hunting season; birds, birds, birds, which I think we did well with. The second was to really work on "Hup", make him do it as many times as I can; do it before he goes out, before he comes in, out in the yard and on our walks. As trainer Steve Church explained to me, the first year was all about building the fire in Chunk, get him patterning, get lots of birds shot over him, lot of retrieves, etc. This year we'll begin the steadying process and to do that Chunk will have to have Hup well ingrained.
I'll be finding out soon how well I did with my homework...
Enjoy your dogs!
Ken
When I showed up for my next lesson, thinking I was prepared, it turned out I was not. I played the exercises for my instructor who stopped me, shook his head and commented on how I hadn't practiced enough. He pointed to the end of the bar where there was a "repeat" symbol with the number 1000 after it. He asked me what I thought it meant. I replied it meant to play the exercise several times. He said no, it means to play it one thousand times. If it says one thousand, you play it one thousand times. That is how you will learn to play these well and without effort when called upon to do it. He was right.
Several years later when we were first training the "whoa" command to our two setter pups, what Laurie and I had done was to attach a check cord to the dog's collar and half hitch it around the flank. Then we would walk around the yard with the dog close to our side, say "whoa" and give a gentle tug on the hitch to stop the dog.
We would try to get in 100 times a day, gradually lengthening out the check cord until the dogs could do this out at full length. Then we could let them off leash, start them in close and extend them out until they would do it no matter how far they were from us. (We didn't invent this, it was shown to us).
Once the command was done well in the yard, we moved to a couple of local ball parks to teach them there. Then eventually we moved out to the field. The reason for these repetitions was, just like with my music lessons, the dogs needed to have these commands well ingrained so as to prepare them for the steadying work that lied ahead.
Which brings us to Chunk. My homework assignments for this past fall and winter were two in number. The first was to get Chunk into as many birds as I could during the hunting season; birds, birds, birds, which I think we did well with. The second was to really work on "Hup", make him do it as many times as I can; do it before he goes out, before he comes in, out in the yard and on our walks. As trainer Steve Church explained to me, the first year was all about building the fire in Chunk, get him patterning, get lots of birds shot over him, lot of retrieves, etc. This year we'll begin the steadying process and to do that Chunk will have to have Hup well ingrained.
I'll be finding out soon how well I did with my homework...
Enjoy your dogs!
Ken
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
What My Cocker Pup Taught Me Today
Another funny Chunk story:
Usually on our walks whenever a car goes by Chunk knows he has to Hup (spaniel speak for sit). Today I brought along a whistle so that I could work in several repetitions of Hup to whistle, as I continue to get that ingrained into that magnificent head of his, prior to our upcoming steadiness training. Heel, Hup, Heel Hup, repeatedly for the duration of the two mile walk.
At one point during our walk, as a car was coming up from behind us I noticed Chunk's attention turn away from me to behind me, in the direction of the car, then back to me then back behind. He was clearly getting agitated, because, I believe, he knew he should be Hupped by now. When the car finally appeared over a rise in the road, he sat but before I blew the whistle. I then did give a pip on the whistle, so as to avoid any confusion for him, to let him know he did the right thing.
That was my thought process...
The car went by, I released him and he came to me reached up and started licking my hands giving kisses, wagging his tail while wiggling all over and acting like he was so very proud of me for pipping the whistle, proving that I had learned HIS command...
That was his thought process. :)
Dogs are just amazing creatures. I realize it's not just Chunk. Every dog owner out there has similar stories regardless of breed or purpose; things they can do, tricks they know, etc.or other behaviors in and around the home, even some that might be taken for granted. Let's hear about them. Tell us about your dogs.
Usually on our walks whenever a car goes by Chunk knows he has to Hup (spaniel speak for sit). Today I brought along a whistle so that I could work in several repetitions of Hup to whistle, as I continue to get that ingrained into that magnificent head of his, prior to our upcoming steadiness training. Heel, Hup, Heel Hup, repeatedly for the duration of the two mile walk.
At one point during our walk, as a car was coming up from behind us I noticed Chunk's attention turn away from me to behind me, in the direction of the car, then back to me then back behind. He was clearly getting agitated, because, I believe, he knew he should be Hupped by now. When the car finally appeared over a rise in the road, he sat but before I blew the whistle. I then did give a pip on the whistle, so as to avoid any confusion for him, to let him know he did the right thing.
That was my thought process...
The car went by, I released him and he came to me reached up and started licking my hands giving kisses, wagging his tail while wiggling all over and acting like he was so very proud of me for pipping the whistle, proving that I had learned HIS command...
That was his thought process. :)
Dogs are just amazing creatures. I realize it's not just Chunk. Every dog owner out there has similar stories regardless of breed or purpose; things they can do, tricks they know, etc.or other behaviors in and around the home, even some that might be taken for granted. Let's hear about them. Tell us about your dogs.
Enjoy Your Dogs,
Ken
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