Dog Checking In
Dog Checking In
I ran my first field trial today with my 6 month old in puppy stakes. I was very pleased with her performance, she worked her butt off for me the entire 15 minutes and covered good ground. The only real issue I think we had was that I've never ran her with a brace mate, especially one that is verbal with their dog. I think my pup was easily confused and kept returning to him thinking she was being recalled. Anything I can do in training to help her with this issue or to reduce the amount of time she spends returning to me on her own?
Re: Dog Checking In
Verbal handlers in a brace can definitely be a problem. I found my dogs got used to it and learned to zero in on my directions. Very common for a puppy ; I wouldn't worry about it. I'd try to be as silent as possible yourself when training in the field and in the brace. In a brace I can't understand what all there is to say. I have a command for "We're changing direction now." and that's about it.
When pup does return , say nothing. Even a reprimand or "Let's go now." is attention for the pup which you don't want to give at that time.Pup comes back = no attention. Eyes ahead; keep walking.
Did you have fun? (Yes, judges are looking for independence in the puppy stake . )
When pup does return , say nothing. Even a reprimand or "Let's go now." is attention for the pup which you don't want to give at that time.Pup comes back = no attention. Eyes ahead; keep walking.
Did you have fun? (Yes, judges are looking for independence in the puppy stake . )
" We are more than our gender, skin color, class, sexuality or age; we are unlimited potential, and can not be defined by one label." quote A. Bartlett
Re: Dog Checking In
I did have fun. I'm always looking to improve on anything I do so I'm always looking for advice on fixing where we failed.
Re: Dog Checking In
Complain right away to the judge. That verbal garbage is not supposed to happen, especially in a puppy stake. That's little more than a handler trying to take out your dog!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!
Re: Dog Checking In
Come on, Don. The other handler trying to take out his bracemate in a 15 minute puppy stake? :roll: The other guy is probably just clueless, or nervous about keeping control of his pup. Unless you were there to hear him, you don't know if he was simply overhandling or or hacking his dog.
OP, your pup will get used to being on the ground with a noisier handler. If you can get a training partner, you can run dogs together to help acclimate your pup to a bracemate and the other guy's commands. Otherwise, follow Sharon's good advice. Many clubs don't put birds out for puppies, so the inexperienced dogs are more or less on an outing, a run in the park and are more running around than hunting. But after your pup finds a bird or two on course, it'll be all about finding more and the other handler won't matter much.
You don't want to go complaining willy-nilly to judges over this stuff UNLESS it's truly hacking...which is pretty much constant yelling and screaming or use of a whistle that really interferes with your handling of your own dog. What is too noisy to you may be normal handling noise to everyone else. Some experience will teach you the difference. Stuff happens in braces - noise, the other dog tagging or heading, the other dog taking out your dog's bird, blowing backs, etc. All of it are situations that you train against and learn to counteract by your own handling.
If you are in a brace where you think the other guy is really interfering with your dog, certainly bring it to the judges' attention. Depending on the situation, they may have you separate somewhat, or tell the other guy to can it.
I hope you had a great time anyway, it sounds like your pup did fine for you. Good luck in future braces.
OP, your pup will get used to being on the ground with a noisier handler. If you can get a training partner, you can run dogs together to help acclimate your pup to a bracemate and the other guy's commands. Otherwise, follow Sharon's good advice. Many clubs don't put birds out for puppies, so the inexperienced dogs are more or less on an outing, a run in the park and are more running around than hunting. But after your pup finds a bird or two on course, it'll be all about finding more and the other handler won't matter much.
You don't want to go complaining willy-nilly to judges over this stuff UNLESS it's truly hacking...which is pretty much constant yelling and screaming or use of a whistle that really interferes with your handling of your own dog. What is too noisy to you may be normal handling noise to everyone else. Some experience will teach you the difference. Stuff happens in braces - noise, the other dog tagging or heading, the other dog taking out your dog's bird, blowing backs, etc. All of it are situations that you train against and learn to counteract by your own handling.
If you are in a brace where you think the other guy is really interfering with your dog, certainly bring it to the judges' attention. Depending on the situation, they may have you separate somewhat, or tell the other guy to can it.
I hope you had a great time anyway, it sounds like your pup did fine for you. Good luck in future braces.
Re: Dog Checking In
Yes I know a lot of handlers that did just that in puppy stakes. They don't want to run any more puppy or especially derby's than necessary to get the puppy and derby points and get out. Puppy stakes and particularly derby stakes can be good places to teach young dogs bad habits. You watch those guy's that do that hacking and they do it in broke stakes too. They teach their dogs to run with that hacking. Dogs not run like that often fold, eliminates one dog from the competition. There is no reason for a handler to hack or even loudly handle a dog in a puppy stake. if one does, complain to the judge and get the guy shut up. You get a judge that won't shut the handler up, your probably gonna get took out unless you also teach your pup to run to that garbage. all that loud constant handling is garbage, nothing else!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!
Re: Dog Checking In
It sounded to me more like hacking than over handling but it is what it is. Everyone at the trial was more than helpful, friendly, and as usual had a lot of great info they were willing to openly share.DonF wrote:Yes I know a lot of handlers that did just that in puppy stakes. They don't want to run any more puppy or especially derby's than necessary to get the puppy and derby points and get out. Puppy stakes and particularly derby stakes can be good places to teach young dogs bad habits. You watch those guy's that do that hacking and they do it in broke stakes too. They teach their dogs to run with that hacking. Dogs not run like that often fold, eliminates one dog from the competition. There is no reason for a handler to hack or even loudly handle a dog in a puppy stake. if one does, complain to the judge and get the guy shut up. You get a judge that won't shut the handler up, your probably gonna get took out unless you also teach your pup to run to that garbage. all that loud constant handling is garbage, nothing else!
I didn't know if that level of verbal handling was the norm, so I kept my mouth shut. At the least, it was a learning experience.
My pup ignored the horses, it was the first time in her life she's ever seen a horse. She left the other dog alone (for the most part) during the brace. And most importantly she didn't embarrass me by completely disobeying my commands. I was real happy with her and left satisfied with what she accomplished for me.
There's another trial in four weeks so we'll get back to the training this week and hopefully make some more progress with her at the end of this month.