Hand holding, general support and best of all a place to brag about the successes. Share with words. Share with photos. Share with video. This is your home place for the next 14 weeks. Let the retrieve journey begin.
We are having to improvise while we are fixing our training table. Doing Retreive work is very mentally taxing for Kratos. We upped the stakes today and added some food distractions while doing our work.
Any advice on my form is much appreciated. I have noticed that Kratos does much better with our Retrieve training when we break it up and do other training in between. Our routine this week has been 10 retrieves, heeling work, e-collar work, then 10 more retrieves. The only time he truly seems wiped out is after doing the retrieves. =============================================== Roxanne Lee January 14, 2022 at 5:51 AM
The Retrieve work, even for a retriever breed, IS mentally taxing. Why? Because it is a required exercise that is done with the dog in a required, stationary position. Think of it like you or I trying to hold a Sit up, in a crunch position, and not being able to do anything else😬. That is physically tiring and mental stress for us trying to hold that Sit up crunch position-the pressure of maintaining THAT exact position is work.
For a dog learning the Retrieve, it is the same type of mental pressure as there is nowhere to go, nothing to do EXCEPT accept this 'thing' into their mouth, have their jaw caged over it for a few seconds, and try to relax. Not easy. It is mental work and it is taxing.
Kratos clearly shows his stress as he is continually dropping or turning his head AWAY from you. This is normal, even for retrievers, as THIS IS NOT a play Retrieve (where the excitement is the Prey Drive is able to be used in enthusiastic and exciting action!), instead this is constrained, restrained, deliberate control of every part of the dog to achieve this week's goal of Lesson 1-accept this 'thing' in your mouth and relax.
Mechanics are fine, but you are working Kratos your body facing his right side. Nope. Instead turn your body facing the same direction as Kratos head, that is he is beside you and you are facing as if you were going to heel him. He is a large dog and this will take some work on your part but align him straight on the Place Board. Don't allow his turning his head and body AWAY from you to determine the position of your body. The point is the dog is going to learn to launch, on command, from Heel position, to go fetch an item so we train the dog to understand our body direction is the direction they will go to Retrieve. Work him on a straight line .
Thanks for the pointers! I was worried I was turning into him. Working him on the table will help and I will practice keeping my body in the right position.
Rebekah January 13, 2022 at 10:21 PM
ReplyDeleteAny advice on my form is much appreciated. I have noticed that Kratos does much better with our Retrieve training when we break it up and do other training in between. Our routine this week has been 10 retrieves, heeling work, e-collar work, then 10 more retrieves. The only time he truly seems wiped out is after doing the retrieves.
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Roxanne Lee January 14, 2022 at 5:51 AM
The Retrieve work, even for a retriever breed, IS mentally taxing. Why? Because it is a required exercise that is done with the dog in a required, stationary position. Think of it like you or I trying to hold a Sit up, in a crunch position, and not being able to do anything else😬. That is physically tiring and mental stress for us trying to hold that Sit up crunch position-the pressure of maintaining THAT exact position is work.
For a dog learning the Retrieve, it is the same type of mental pressure as there is nowhere to go, nothing to do EXCEPT accept this 'thing' into their mouth, have their jaw caged over it for a few seconds, and try to relax. Not easy. It is mental work and it is taxing.
Kratos clearly shows his stress as he is continually dropping or turning his head AWAY from you. This is normal, even for retrievers, as THIS IS NOT a play Retrieve (where the excitement is the Prey Drive is able to be used in enthusiastic and exciting action!), instead this is constrained, restrained, deliberate control of every part of the dog to achieve this week's goal of Lesson 1-accept this 'thing' in your mouth and relax.
Mechanics are fine, but you are working Kratos your body facing his right side. Nope. Instead turn your body facing the same direction as Kratos head, that is he is beside you and you are facing as if you were going to heel him. He is a large dog and this will take some work on your part but align him straight on the Place Board. Don't allow his turning his head and body AWAY from you to determine the position of your body. The point is the dog is going to learn to launch, on command, from Heel position, to go fetch an item so we train the dog to understand our body direction is the direction they will go to Retrieve. Work him on a straight line .
Does that make sense?
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Rebekah January 14, 2022 at 6:45 AM
Thanks for the pointers! I was worried I was turning into him. Working him on the table will help and I will practice keeping my body in the right position.
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Roxanne January 14, 2022 at 2:26 PM
Rebekah,
Do you want this video to be your Lesson 1 EXAM?
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Rebekah January 14, 2022 at 7:23 PM
Umm I guess we can use it? I was going to make another one tonight
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Roxanne Lee January 15, 2022 at 5:59 AM
It is a pass but make another one if you want my feedback.