I'm full of brags today!!!
Some of you may know about my anxiety around the hold command. Never taught it. Never even thought about teaching it until about a year ago when I decided to trial. I was told 97 ways to do it from force to clickers. I would start and stop, trying different methods, getting frustrated mostly because my dog acted like I was going to beat him. At one point my dog shut down. Then he would actually hide from the dumb bell or anything else I'd try to work with him on the hold with. He wasn't getting it and I felt awful. We took a long break from hold training.
Working with my new trainer starting in August, I reintroduced him to the dumb bell taking my sweet time with games and treats. After several months my trainer told me it was time to take the next step and when I balked, she kicked my ass a little and said "Get over it! You HAVE to do it". So we moved to the next step and it wasn't so bad. I also bought a Janice Gunn video and tried some of her games/exercises as well, which were similar and helpful. We got to the point where he could follow me holding it but could not be still with it in his mouth and we were stuck there for a while. Denise Fenzi came to town and showed a woman with a border collie how she does it, which was on par with what I was doing, so I went ahead and added that piece to our training for a few weeks. He started doing an auto sit without asking within about a week and tonight, it clicked! We have a hold!
Ta da! A happy Labrador gladly hanging onto a dumb bell.
Last edited by Labradorks; 05-30-2015 at 11:05 PM.
He looks appropriately pleased with himself, great job!
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Tammy
Maxx and Emma Jean
Ozzy - 10/2002 - 06/2011 - Rest well my sweet boy. You are forever remembered, forever missed, forever in my heart.
Labradorks (05-31-2015)
Glad you found a method that worked for you guys!
Annette
Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009
And remembering:
Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015
And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014
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Labradorks (05-31-2015)
Awesome job! Taking your time and working to find a solution that worked has sure lead to happy pup success.
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Kissing Bandit
Labradorks (05-31-2015)
Thanks! I'm super proud of him for getting back on the horse (he is not the most resilient dog). I figure I won't be close to showing on open for a few years (he's not even two), so my stress was completely unfounded. I think it was just so new to me and so many different methods were being shouted in my ear and then he shut down over it, so it was anxiety I brought on myself. Lesson learned!
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
― Winston S. Churchill
Labradorks (05-31-2015)
Way to hang in there and persevere!!
I like the quote the choppers dad posted.
aww, what a sweety great job
I've had a similar issue happen with Rocky, it feels great to finally get past it!
Ivy
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congratulations!
you've given me incentive to get back to this one. Scout doesnt like ANYTHING (not even the real birds) being put in his mouth, we haven't moved up to Novice Intermediate b/c of the whole Hold issue, and of course, now its cropped its head back up with retrieving.
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