10 month old Pup scared of training

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karlk
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10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by karlk » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:15 pm

I have a 10 month old female GSP. Last summer and fall I did some basic training with her such as sit, come, lay. I did a little bit of heel and woah as well. I took her out for runs frequently. I took her out a few times on a hunting trip last fall and she even flash pointed a Woodcock. She seems to have great hunting drive and tears through the cover. Over this past winter I didn't work with her much. Now the Spring is rolling around, I want to start up again more seriously. She is 10 months old. I plan on doing short sessions every day (I am attempting to follow the book "The Training and Care of the Versatile Hunting Dog"). The problem is that she is very frightened when I do heel and woah training. Her tail is tucked, she looks really sad and scared, and she would prob run away and hide if she wasn't on a lead. She wont even eat a treat if I attempt to give her one. She is a partial house dog. She is great around people. Getting rid of her is not an option. Can anyone offer training tips for a dog that is scared of training?

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gonehuntin'
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by gonehuntin' » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:35 pm

Dog's don't come out and not want to train when they haven't really been trained much; they look forward to it. There's something missing to the story here and it's hard to help you if the whole story isn't told.
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bobman
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by bobman » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:55 pm

Quit all that B$&@. sh@$ obedience nonsense and let her enjoy her time in the field like a pup should

buy a roll of duct tape peel off 6 inches of it and place it over your mouth before you take her for a run


you are the problem
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Sharon
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by Sharon » Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:28 pm

gonehuntin' wrote:Dog's don't come out and not want to train when they haven't really been trained much; they look forward to it. There's something missing to the story here and it's hard to help you if the whole story isn't told.
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llewellinsetter
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by llewellinsetter » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:25 pm

if something is missing, i would bet an e collar was used at some point! sounds like a pup that needs to start from the beginning and make everything fun again.
The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel Butler

GSPONPOINT32
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10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by GSPONPOINT32 » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:36 pm

That dog should love training. I do 5 minutes of training and 30-55 minutes of exercise with my 15 month GSP every day. When we start honoring this spring the ratio will change. When I'm doing something serious I watch his body language and break the training up with some fun bumper throws. You also may want to re-evaluate the "program" you are utilizing.


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Shellottome
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10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by Shellottome » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:09 pm

Karlk dogs go through the second fear period at 10 months same as the first fear period at 10 weeks. If you have scared her or hit beat or scolded out of your own frustration she will react poorly at this age. Give her a few months off and just let her be a pup and be NATURAL to what she wants to be. I'm thinking gonehuntings intuition is correct here.


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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by Trekmoor » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:08 am

I'm another one who thinks you are the problem and not the dog. Heelwork does not have to be "Obedience Arena" style or standards for a pointing gundog. Loose heelwork works fine. By that I mean the dog just keeps within about 6 feet from you.......relax a bit more and let the dog relax.

I do not train "Whoa" in the sense I think you mean. I train stop to whistle and insist on a sit/stop for younger dogs. This is never used in a game pointing situation , I let the gamebirds "teach" pups to point and the game always does that very well but doing things in this way takes time and regular outings to get to game. Game has it's own way of "correcting" pups ........game flies away ! It is a less stressful way of obtaining a "Whoa!" than me doing it.
I know this is not the American way of doing things but it works for most people on this side of the pond. I don't think anyone follows "Programmes" over here but our dogs still point and stop to whistle. Or they do if the handler has done enough work ! :roll:

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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by setterpoint » Thu Mar 23, 2017 8:31 am

i tried to post this yesterday .the pup may not be mature enough .or you may be to rough on a young dog.but i have had dogs that didnt like training sessions the tail droping and and acting scard can be a sign of in the dogs mind saying i dont want to do this i want to run and play i would try this let the dog run and play some first then do some short whoa training it seems to take some of the play out of them after this if the dogs still acts scard i would quit the training for now and just let the dog out to run you can still make the dog turn and go with you and can call the dog to you its still things you need to work on any way so your still training without to much control latter you can go back to whoa when the dog gets a little more age

Timewise65
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by Timewise65 » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:43 am

I work with retrievers, so you have to take that into account of what I am saying.

My newest dog has the best pedigree for a field dog I could find. She is a small female, red Golden. Both her parents were MH and had added field titles. As she will probably be my last retriever, after completing my initial obedience with her I took her to one of the best retriever trainers I know for field training. I dropped her off telling him I wanted her trained up through SH level. (In retrievers this is a complete field trained hunting dog.)

After a couple of weeks my trainer called, and said that he was not sure, but he thought she was immature, even through she was at 10 months. I was very disappointed, but after thinking on it I did recall some struggles with her basic obedience, she would lose interest and just stop responding to commands. Note I did not use an ecollar on her. But I never imagined it was mental immaturity! My trainer said come pick her up and bring her back in two months....that we did and she went on to be the best trained retriever I have ever owned. She is now 4 years old and has had her SH and WCX titles that we earned during the year following her formal training. I believe she could go on to be a MH or possibly be a trial dog...but what I wanted was a wonderful hunting companion....which is exactly what I have...

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karlk
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by karlk » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:51 pm

Thanks for feedback everyone. Here is a little more background info. I would first like to state that I don't believe that I have ever mistreated her. My wife and I spoiler her a lot, she is a member of our family now. That being said, I don't deny that I am most likely the problem. Just looking for some advice. We live in a neighborhood and the house we bought had an underground fence installed on it, so we introduced her to an ecollar in that way.

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Featherfinder
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Re: 10 month old Pup scared of training

Post by Featherfinder » Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:33 pm

Karlk, while you may have done something that has contributed to your dog's current situation, the main thing is to get things back on track. You aren't, nor will you be the only person to get something wrong....assuming you did.
To begin with, I believe you need more current reference material, but I digress....
For now, take your dog out for runs - no birds - no expectations - no VERBALS (other than "come" as required) and just enjoy the great outdoors with your canine buddy.
You need to exercise your intuitive dog-trainer nature by trying to read your dog rather than jamming someone else's understanding of training into her. Try this at home just as an exercise. Put a short lead on your dog and a few savory treats in your pocket. Just stand there (hold the lead so your dog can't wander off) and stare at your dog. Do this in an area of little distraction. Just be completely quiet, stare and....wait. I expect your dog will turn to you or even sit down in front of you (could also yip, bark, jump up on you, etc.) without a word said from you! Smile, give her a treat if you like what she did (ie. - sat down), say nothing. She will know you are pleased, and you will know she is pleased.
Build on this and become a better trainer/owner/handler. The less you utter the better. Forget the hacking, whistle, or arm flailing! If I've had a bad day, my dogs will skulk into their kennels EVEN IF I TRY TO GREET THEM WITH CHEERFUL WORDS. They know something is wrong and will become unsettled. If dogs can detect this, why am I hacking, whistling and flailing?!?!? It's 2017 and time folk realized that dogs are:
1- no humans
2- smarter than we give them credit for.
Lastly, dogs won't follow lost leaders. Pick a small aspect of training, get all your "stuff" together and lead for success confidently. If you aren't sure of what to do, DO NOT TRAIN! Get the support of those that have been successful with dogs or do much more research. There are some very salient dog training sources out there today.
One out there might just "Perfect" for you.

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