HA! The problems associated with progressing from hand thrown to bird boy/winger thrown bumpers are many. We are finally steady on the hand-thrown. But, dernit... that winger noise has her jumping like a flea. I'm scratching my head and thinking, how on earth can you train your way around a reflex reaction, when it's clear to me she is trying to stay put. Her spirit is willing, but her flesh is weak.
So an acquaintance said the trick was to get her to focus on ME... but to keep it fun.
Question for all... what does a Lab like to focus on that is lots of joy for them? Answer... cheese!!!
Well, just two cheese sticks later (about two dozen bits) and she's not jumping with the sound of the winger. And now, when the winger goes off, she has to do something else at my direction... heeling, or running a little blind or sitting for and then picking up a hand thrown bumper. The main thing is she's not reflexively jumping on the sound.
I'll do this until it's a reflex to not behave reflexively.
I know this is falling-off-a-log-dumb for the Ob. folks on this site. I'm learning, I'm learning!!!!
See, that cheese comes in handy!
great job!
Ivy
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LOL .... Chloe gets a little insane for cheese. It’s a VERY high value reward for her and sometimes she gets SO crazy for the cheese she can’t even think. A bumper is probably the only thing she values more. I tend to reserve it for things when I need a lot of effort from her ... I use some rabbit and apple treats from Zukes for “regular” things where I want to reward her but not send her over the edge.
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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I spit cheese on the daily ;-)
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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I THINK I'm almost to the point of weening her off the cheese. It's odd though. If she has a bumper in her mouth, she'll sit like a rock. I think I could probably hit the quacker, and fire off a dead, defrosted duck, and she'd still sit statue still. 100% And if she does NOT have a bumper in her mouth and I tell her to sit, and the winger goes off, she still sits still... but she will sit still (not quite 100% so we're not there yet)
But if I toss a bumper (and she's sitting very still for that) she gets locked onto it... like she's in this zone in which nothing else exists. If I then hit the winger release, she jumps reflexively.
So, the trick will be to break into that trance like state so that she's ready for the sound of the winger. The Hillmann system works when the dog is dependent upon (aware and attending to) the handler. Whereas the laser like focus is great for a super marking dog, she has to learn that there is way more to her retrieve than that.
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