Jackson is notoriously slow (walks in) on recalls. I have tried a number of things to speed him up, but haven't found anything that works yet. I thought of something new to try today - and it worked - at least in practice! I took his sister, Jolee, to the club with me today. I've started working with her some on obedience, and her recalls are to die for. She jumps and RUNS in on the recalls. So.... I had my husband set her up in the adjacent ring, and I set up Jackson, who was looking over at her to see what she was doing. My husband called her and she did her usual 'shot out of the cannon' recall. Then I called Jackson, and he actually galloped in! We did that a couple times and then I did a recall with him on his own, with similar results. I was surprised that her presence/behavior actually had that much affect on him. Hmmm... now I just need to figure out how to make this his 'default' recall speed. Maybe if I incorporate Jolee in our practice sessions routinely, there will be some carry over.
The glove exercise went particularly well today. He gets stressed and his pivots sometimes fall apart when he sees the gloves, so he ends up not facing the correct glove. He seemed less stressed today so the exercise went better. Maybe he's getting more confident.
We worked some more on 'look up' fronts, which are getting pretty good when he's not carrying anything in his mouth. Overall, he seemed pretty 'up' and energetic today - maybe it was the Jolee factor?
3 comments:
I just found your blog, and I've been reading - I'm working a large dobe (who is almost the size of a dane bitch!) - and his fronts fall apart when he has something in his mouth, too :)
Hey, if you figure out how to get look up fronts with something in his mouth, let me know :-) I've been working the fronts with an article in his mouth separate from the rest of the exercise and sometimes get a look-up front. Maybe if I do it enough, it will become his default front - I hope!
my guy stares at me nonstop because i keep food in my mouth, but he has no idea where his back end is -- and the minute he retrieves (which he loves) he goes crazy and cant even function....
ahhh to have a tiny dog :) i videotaped our current training sessions today, i might upload them. currently im trying to use a front platform to give him a "target" and i have him focus on my face to get him to come in close.
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