How do you teach the dumbell? - Page 2

Duke, I don't even want to tell you where you are going to have problems with your retrieves down the road because if I do, the majority of the armchair geniuses here are going to complain that I'm being too negative.  I do have one question though, are all of your dogs afraid of you?

duderino , thats always the problem with videos without nowing the rest\

first of all , no my dogs are not afraid of me , nor is this bitch

every dog has a thing you have to work on , this bitch is very good in many points , one big thing is/was the proble that she didnot want to give up anything she got in her mouth , resulting in not wanting to come to me and give me the (any) object

so I had to apply some pressure there to make her do it as I want , and that is what you are seeing in her bodylanguage

also you could have seen the difference of her coming towards me over the 1 meter without something in her mouth

right now she makes a fast apport over the ground and over the 1 meter , didnot do the A frame yet with a dumbell as I want her to take the A frame perfectly wiyhout a dumbell first , but my hunch is that she will do that also

but please do tell me what problems I am going to face , because im open to any (good) advice

duke1965 .. i like your forum name .!!. my first  GSD i got in 1965 and his name was Duke !! ok .. in regards to my last post .. How Important it is for puppy selection ..  the behavior you described in your last post ... would have been  nice for you to have seen on day 1. but then again ... not always something that can't be worked through .. i too had a dog like that !! domineeering , possesive , independent bugger .. turned out to be my best protection dog , got invite to Bundessiegerprufung .. in my heart know ,  this dog was passed by when picking a Sch candidate. !! force , non-force retrieve .. i don't know .. what i did know is this : how was i going to get into the head of this dog such that he becomes aware that it is his best interest to bring back an object to me .. that HE becomes Motivated to bring back that object when I communicate .. how is it that when we live our life day to day .. he chooses / decides to want to bring it back !! i forget about techniques .. do it  this way or that a way .. i threw them all out the window !! ALL the techniques ..  in short ./. my worry now .. is that he is so motivated to bring something back to me , will shove it in my face if i let him , that i have to be careful after havinghad  an operation that this dog did not bring something back and hurt me !! EVERYTHING is centered on the Relationship with your dog ... not about force or non-force retrieve .. it's about knowing yourself , your dog and how you choose tocommunicate and  live your lives in synergy together ..

alpha ,sometimes you dont have anything to  choose , I needit to keep a bitch from this combination , and there was only one in the litter , but than again , it will be hard to pick a puppy that shows ideal behaviour for all exercises in all three phases

so far Im very happy with this one , and she is already bringing back , not chewing etc etc , and in short time she wont show any pressure I put there anymore

my forum name is simle , Im born in 1965 , and my kennelname is duca vallei 

What I am commenting on is the posture of both your dogs.  The female's heeling and motion exercises show pressure from you and the male in your protection video hits the ground when you reach for him.  If I resort to too much handler dominance and correction and don't exercise some creativity, my dog's appearance will tell the truth.

yes duke .. from a litter sometimes .. life like a box of chocolates .. you just never know what you get... same with the dog i last posted about .. the dog was given to me - only male from the litter ...  .. i had no choice other than' can'  him .... so a dominant , independent, possesive bugger i got , i loved , i trained .am .. i am glad i did - BTW i have had many many offers to buy  him .. or send him to Germany !! . good luck and glad you are making progress  , your's may surprise you too .

duderino  , with ajax in the protectionclip is another point , this is a strongminded selfdeciding dog , and he can decide anything he wants , as long as I approve , and he knows whos boss

thats a totally different story than finetuning for points in IPO

I once had a  very good bouvier who was very strongminded himself , the point were I gained control over him was also the point were his tail and ears went down , but that doesnot mean he was afraid of me , he just knew his place at that moment

in teaching an exercise I use pressure to make a  dog perform correctly , after he/she does that , I add pleasure to reward

I just returned from a person Im training a young PPD  for in her home , and she said , sometimes he will do anything for a saucage , but at some points he totally ignores the sausage
I said to her , at that point you have to switch from pleasure to pressure
you have to stop asking him what to do , and start telling him what to do

and , yes , sometimes if you reach that point ,the dog shows it in his/her bodylanguage

Thankfully my GSD, Oliver, has infinite widom and patience so he hasn't given up on me yet! ;D Jennifer

I have really good success by using the clicker. The dog gets his ball if he does the retrieve correctly. Hold Dumbbell, praise, click, get ball. I fiind that if I can motivate the dog to choose the correct behavior, I then get fast correct behavior because the dog has figured it out for himself. Then his ears stay up, his attitude stays up and he's speedy. Holds up just fine in high level competition.

 "... holds up fine in high level competition."  I can attest to that.  Finished (well) behind you and Reiki more than once.

Looking forward to closing some of that gap next time.   :)

Warm regards,

Kevin Nance