Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Long Time, No Blog

Where do I start? Hanks progress is going very well in all aspects of conditioning/training. He is successfully retrieving DFT's at longer and longer distances all the time. He now is really starting to understand the sequence of events and what needs to take place during a retrieve. I have slowly and methodically incorporated certain actions into this. A retrieve for Hank and I isnt just simply go get the dummy. It consists of sit at heel(even though he hasnt been introduced to "heel" this is a precursor to the intro to the command. As i was saying sit at heel, mark, fetch,deliver, sit,praise! He does this a good 85% of the time with the remaining 15% being him forgetting to sit in which case he gets no praise. I have been able to achieve this by incorporating sit into the equation, I am now wondering if i shouldnt start to do some baby pile work with him to introduce to him the fact that something doesnt have to be thrown by me in order for fetching to occur. Hank has also been getting introduced to the whistle and his obedience(puppy obedience) is coming along nicely!
Sit 99%, Kennel 95%, no 0%(stubborn little bastard) come 95%, four toots on the whistle used as come is at about 65-70% he does it 100% of the time if i sit him first and then walk away and then use the whistle but he is going to slowly be introduced to the fact that it means stop what u r doing right now and get ur little german ass to me pronto buddy. He understands "alright" as his release command from his kennel, sitting position, and also used for going through doors etc. It is also being used as a way of getting him out in the field away from me. I have started the intro to hand signals and he got his first up close encounter with a live pigeon a couple of days ago. I have been doing rabbit drags for him once a week or so and working on track. I did a couple of 100 yard plus drags for him last week and bingo. No problem whatsoever. Hank is doing very well and is growing just as fast as all the corn around here. He weighs about 35 lbs right now and is in good shape. I have made sure to keep all of the training fun for Hank and have actually realized what my expectations should be of him, there should be none! As long as he doesnt do his business in the house and doesnt bite, im cool!

Until next time,

David

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