Interesting visit with the behaviorist

[TuMicks]

Background: Ram Jet Rocket Dog is a talented high-roller field bred lab. She's coming along. Marks well. Does fairly sophisticated blinds. Usually handles well. Her major problem (which is improving but will probably alway be in maintenance mode for it) is her hyperactivity at the line as the birds are being shot. Very common issue with these types of dog. She can put on a real creep-o-rama at a hunt test. We've been working on it for a long time. It's getting better.

Now we're in the off season where we are not in the field training with the group. So we're looking for things to keep her occupied and will start doing nose-work later this month. BUT... meanwhile, I got to thinking... heck. We have this behaviorist who runs a training operation not far from me. She helped Rocket Dog a year ago with her dog aggression, why not consult her about the dog's reactivity on the line, her barely-there self-control when self-control really, really matters.

It was really a pleasant hour long discussion (consultation.) I took in my computer and showed her a clip of a big retriever guru (Dave Rorem) walk a young high-roller from the holding blind, sitting him down and making him watch a triple going down. It was about a 4 minute clip showing him run the dog on the marks. So that gave her an idea of what we want RD to do. Although the behaviorist is not a retriever person and has otherwise not seen the type of work, she was really interested in trying to help out.

They just hired a new trainer who has been doing bomb-detection work with the armed forces. (How cool is that?) And he is also a big waterfowl hunter. So (a) he knows how to work with very intense dogs and (b) he knows how to drop a bird and send dogs to retrieve them... even if he doesn't do it in an AKC sport situation. The game plan will be to begin with tennis balls and making RD honor other dogs while they are charging around after them. I'm really stoked. This will be really useful for me and the dog.

I very much appreciate this behaviorist because she is not locked in to one method of training dogs. She uses whatever tools it takes. When she asked me how I'd worked RD on steadiness up to this point, I told her partly with the electric collar, partly with a heeling stick but more recently with very high standards and refusal to allow her to have anything (dinner, exit/entry through doorways, whatever) without a rock solid sit in proper heel position. She was not put off by any of this. And, though it would have been useful if RD had been hyper today... she's gotten more mature and reserves her crazy for retrieving situations

[SunDance]

Sounds like this might be just what you need...success thoughts on their way. Let us know how RD progresses.

[barry581]

Sounds like RD is on a good path!!!!