Weirdness in dog training

[Labradorks]

Many years ago, I kinda thought some good friends of mine who are super into obedience and field were kinda...weird. I loved them dearly, but seriously, spitting food at your dog? How is that normal?

Fast forward 15 years and I'm thinking about how I spent several minutes today throwing around a dead, mostly frozen duck inside my house for my dog, so I could work on the hold command. That is actually pretty gross. And, no, I did not mop afterward. I barely remembered to wash my hands when I was done.

What about you? What weird things do you do in the name of dog training?

[sheltieluver]

Hahhahah funny you should talk about the frozen bird. just for fun I would tie a dead frozen bird on a line and drag it around the yard then hide it and let Gauge find it and bring it back and then do it again. I always said to my husband I wonder what the neighbors think when they see me dragging a dead bird like I'm walking it.

[POPTOP]

Don't know about spitting treats at a dog, but have seen plenty of handlers keep a treat in their mouth so their hands are free.

[Tanya]

LOL! I do plenty of crazy things but i haven't held dog treats in my mouth - never though of it. And if the treat I am using is cheese odds are good I will just eat it VS hold it LOL!

[windycanyon]

I have done field and obed for many years but never field w/a duck inside the house. I'd reconsider the mopping.... those ducks are really filthy! I had a girl bloat after a bacterial overload (she was first to do the training session out in the field w/ a pretty nasty duck that had been frozen/ thawed once too many times) ~15 yrs ago and thought I was going to lose her. Our dogs' guts are much more resilient than us humans. Think salmonella or e.coli.

Working on hold can be (and normally is) done just as effectively w/ inanimate objects.

[Annette47]

I agree with the duck inside the house being a bit much (although I’ve had some in my yard and have had one in my freezer for 3 years now, LOL. I doubt it’s any good even for dog training at this point, LOL).

Spitting treats though, I do all the time. Mostly hot-dogs or cheese. My emergency treats that live in the training bag in case I run out of hot-dogs or cheese are Pupperoni. Chloe LOVES them, but I do not like spitting them because they taste NASTY! They don’t need to be refrigerated and are higher value for her, so work well as emergency back-up.

[Tanya]

so the spit out method - you are spitting it out for the dog to catch?

Penny already loves to lunge at my face so that would be interesting

[Labradorks]

I have done field and obed for many years but never field w/a duck inside the house. I'd reconsider the mopping.... those ducks are really filthy! I had a girl bloat after a bacterial overload (she was first to do the training session out in the field w/ a pretty nasty duck that had been frozen/ thawed once too many times) ~15 yrs ago and thought I was going to lose her. Our dogs' guts are much more resilient than us humans. Think salmonella or e.coli.

Working on hold can be (and normally is) done just as effectively w/ inanimate objects.

Thanks for the tip. While ducks ARE gross, I do not hold onto them for long. This one was shot for my dog, thrown three more times, then placed directly into my freezer after a 1 hour drive to my home. It's been there for a while, and then yesterday I was cleaning out the dog freezer, and there it was, so we worked on the hold, and before you know it, we were training.

[Annette47]

so the spit out method - you are spitting it out for the dog to catch?

Penny already loves to lunge at my face so that would be interesting

Yes ... helps teach them to stare at your face (attention work). Otherwise they tend to focus on the hand or pocket you keep the treat in. Does wonders for straight fronts, LOL.

[Tanya]

Yes ... helps teach them to stare at your face (attention work). Otherwise they tend to focus on the hand or pocket you keep the treat in. Does wonders for straight fronts, LOL.

we are working on fronts!

I will experiment