Distance & directional training ???

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Hurtseverywhere

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OK so up untill now I have stayed away from Gamblers completely.

1. Because Cosmo is really only is only able (or willing) to work close at this point 3 to 5 ft max about the farthest I have managed so far is 7 ft laterally and never from behind only ahead.

and

2. We have never been have taught any directional commands.

But Now that we have our Jumpers title & have been close to a couple of Snooker Q's I figure it's time to start training for Gamblers.

I have recently started to try pushing him farther away from me with very limited success and trying to teach some directional command( out, Close, Back), so that we can attempt Gamblers hopefully this spring or summer. I have encountered other sheltie owners that are experiencing problems getting there dogs to work at distance, seems they tend to like to stay close, so for some of you that have been successfull at getting your dogs to work at distance and on directional control . what methods did you use if you don't mind sharing.. Cosmo is not at all toy oriented but works well for treats and is good on either side and listens well. I have looked at a couple of suggested methods on the web but I am always open to more ideas or techniques that have proven usefull to others.

TIA Robin
 
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I like to break it down and work on two things separately before trying distance on the actual obstacles.

1. Sending to targets.*
-stick a target on the ground and shape a nose touch (rewarding by throwing the food out at the target, not by you).
-move the target out further and further away
-bring them in closer and add more targets (one by one), asking for discrimination
-combine the elements of distance and complexity

*I do the same thing with cones after shaping the dog to go around a cone

2. Building value for obstacles
-spend time with individual obstacles making it really rewarding to perform them. You need to make performing the obstacle as or more rewarding than being near you in order to get distance

Then combine the two. If you can send to targets/cones and your dog has high value for the obstacles then it's time to put the two together.

Just a note, try to be aware of your motion and what you are cuing your dog to do. Be consistent in what you are asking of your dog and distance training will go a lot better! (sometimes this takes sitting back and planning your movements before training with the dog)
 
Here's something my friend suggested to me for my food motivated dog. By having my dog come to me for food, I'm just reinforcing them to be near me. Like you, I am working on distance. I can throw something with food in it, but he gives up too fast and comes to me for food.

I bought this thing: food tube
I throw it and Koji paws at it trying to get to the food until I get there. However, I wnat him to kinda treat himself. What I'm doing now is shoving a bully stick in the hole on top, where the food come out. I throw the container with the bully stick STICKING OUT. That way, when he gets to it, he can start chomping on it and yay, he's rewarding himself and he's not coming to me for food/reward.

Honestly, it's been helping him stay out. Granted, he'll always come to me for food, but it's the only thing that has worked for me so far. Jackpot pouches don't work either, same reason that he can't get into it, so he gives up and comes to me (without it).

Good luck. You may want to find my thread on velcro dog, see if it has anything of use in it.
 
DogIsMyMantra has good suggestions.
If you need to be able to treat off of you, and reward your dog for being off of you, you may look at this toy:
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1669&ParentCat=52
Just fill it up with say... peanut butter or spray cheese, or kong filling, and toss it out to reward. I've used it for training 2x2s, as you want to reward the dog on the reward line, not on you. It's nice because your dog can reward itself right there, and there is no need for you to hand out the treats, which keeps the focus off of you. The treat squeezes out through the tiny holes when the dog grabs it. It's nice for dogs who may otherwise not be very toy driven.
If I were you, with a velcro dog, I wouldn't reward your dog on yourself at all. I do know it CAN be done to turn a velcro dog into an independent dog. My Athena was a velcro dog, but not now. So long as the weaves aren't in it, she can do any send. What helped us, in addition to teaching go on, and get out (using the cones), was using the Go The Distance book. It has some good suggestions, and a lot of good exercises. Athena learned all of her distance work in our Go The Distance class, which was taught based on the book.
Once you have taught a go on and get out, I would slowly start implementing it on course, gradually increasing the distance you ask your dog to work away from you at.
 
not that we know very much yet, but our team, Che and I, operate on following...
right and left command we learned just for fun, during our usual walks,
I have one jump in the living room so I taught Che to go around one pole from different spots,
and the most important principle if the dog has obstacle in front of him he has to take it unless otherwise directed. By HopeShelties recommendation we got Go the distance book and it is very helpful.
If my dog is close to me my body movement should be sufficient for us to go over the obstacle. Once I can not give directions with my body it is hand and verbal command.
As DogsIsMyMantra said I also heavily reward individual obstacles when training- I am working on name recognition and differentiating obstacles now.
 
Thanks For the suggestions everyone, that gives me some other options to try, and that's what I was looking for. I am going to start trying to move him out a bit more at practice tomorrow night & Saturday, and I found a couple of simple 3 jump distance, push & pull drills I want to try out as well, at least this isn't something that needs to happen like tomorrow, & I have lots of time to work on it .
 
Distant

:biggrin2:I taught distant with a tree and jumps.It worked for me.I have a dog that works away from me and close to me when need be.He runs a baseball diamond on command. That is awesome distant work.
 
Sharon said:
:biggrin2:I taught distant with a tree and jumps.It worked for me.I have a dog that works away from me and close to me when need be.He runs a baseball diamond on command. That is awesome distant work.
Click to expand...

So How does this tree method work Exactally LOL: set one jump in front of tree another off to the side of tree, run over first jump head towards tree , push dog out to jump before hitting tree, if successful move jump farther away from tree.. continue increasing distance from tree to push out jump???

This is a method I was considering but using a big square garbage can they have in the training hall instead of the tree :biggrin2:
 
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Well Last nights exercises went extremely well, much better then I had expected, right up untill I switched him from the left side to the right, then we had to go right back to square one:rolleyes2:.

I actually got Cosmo working 5 to 8 feet away over most of the course I had set up last night with me pretty much staying in the middle & not running with him, and 12 feet away on the Go Out set of jumps I had set up when working him off my left side, when we change direction & I started off the right side he became glue again, I was eventually able to get him out about 6 feet off the right side before we called it a night as , I could see he was starting to get a bit stressed, & confused so we did a few individule obstical exercises & called it a night. all in all for a first attempt at desticking, I am pretty happy with him & the result.
Will Try some more on Saturday morning if it's not too crowded At the training hall.
 
k9kreationz said:
I bought this thing: food tube
I throw it and Koji paws at it trying to get to the food until I get there. However, I wnat him to kinda treat himself. What I'm doing now is shoving a bully stick in the hole on top, where the food come out. I throw the container with the bully stick STICKING OUT. That way, when he gets to it, he can start chomping on it and yay, he's rewarding himself and he's not coming to me for food/reward.
Click to expand...

Just so you know, you can get the food tubes at home depot and lowes as well. They market them for screws and nuts and bolts, etc. And they carry them on the end of the aisle for the screws. :wink2: Edited to add a link http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
 
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