What a great training weekend! Field work & Denise Fenzi clinic...
The big yellow guy and I had a phenominal training weekend with one day of field work and two days at a Denise Fenzi clinic where we had a working spot today.
I took Friday off and met my field trainer and a few others at a beautiful private pond. Last lesson there was a lot of dawdling on the way back with the bird. My trainer suggested an e-collar and I suggested working with him to understand that it wasn't a play retrieve, but work. He has a beautiful formal recall, so there's no reason why he should not come running straight back with the bird. So, this time, I did not let him loose in the field, but kept him on leash and tuned in. Before we did a land retrieve, I placed him about where the bird would land, walked to the spot where I was to stand, and did a formal recall over 100 yards. Perfect. We then threw the bird for him and what do you know? Perfect recall delivering the bird to hand. No peeing, sniffing, etc. We then hit the water and had some great retrieves. I could not have been happier with him!
Then, Saturday and Sunday was the Denise Fenzi clinic. My advice? If she is in your town, GO!!! Even if you just audit because maybe you are not competing with your dog, it is super interesting to watch her work with so many different dogs. We had all types, all levels, all ages, all breeds, tons of different issues (though the biggest issue by far was attention in the ring, especially while heeling), and, of course, LOTS of different human personalities and experience levels as well. Lots of performance folks thinking they had problems, but didn't. They were just being too hard on themselves and creating pressure for their dogs. Once they turned off the pressure, the dogs performed beautifully and freely, and actually wanted to work.
When it was our turn, we showed her what we were doing and in the end, we worked on heeling as it was the only place where she could see I was having some struggles (surprisingly, he's where he should be on the hold command based on how and when I started teaching it). We have a hard time with the first step from a stop and the about turn (when he is on the outside). I tend to lose him and lag on both. Same with the fast command. Turns out those were easy fixes. Denise worked with him for a moment which was so fun because I got to see him from another point of view (and with a professional trainer). I have to say, he is really fun to watch! :) She showed me how to use the pocket hand with him as I was having a tough go of it due to his height and size, but turns out I just needed to fan my fingers and when needed, I can control his head with a pinky finger. She said he was doing great, could move surprisingly well for such a large dog, and was a pleasure to watch work in the ring. It made me realize just how lucky I am to have this dog; he tries his heart out and makes me look good!
Denise has a beautiful and simple training philosophy that made me realize that sometimes we make it more difficult than we need to and fight with our dogs when it's not at all necessary. We also make bigger deals of things that are really minor and find frustration in areas that are actually going fairly well, and often the answer is to let it go -- treat for good tries, let the dog figure it out, give the dog a choice, and respect your dog. It was really great!