Gun Dog Training - Help

[shell477]

About to start some serious training work with dads 8 month old gun dog.

I've done basic commands with her: sit, stop, here, walk, fetch.
She knows them, but is disobedient and will only do them if she feels like it or while she's still interested.
Have ordered some retrieval training items off the net to start some serious work with her.

Any do's and don'ts for training retrieval dogs?

 

[CrystalMoon]

Dont make it a chore.... they are only Babies at that age so dont expect too much. I am a firm believer in treats and only short bursts of training with young pups. Gun dogs can be quite scatty till they are around 18 months to 2 years, by scatty I mean a little hard to keep focused I would seriously recommend Obedience and trialing if the pup is not going to be worked, just a thought You can also encourage more "concentration" from her by getting her to seek out treats/toys from where you hide them make it a game but you are actually training her at the same time.... remember though they really do have very short attention spans till they are older ... all I can think of for now lol

 

[guzzo]

This is what I do to get a dog to come when it's called......I get a horse lunging lead and attach it to a choke chain......Itake the dog to the park or equivalent and let it wander about.....when it looks interested in something (other than me) I call it once Eg.."Harry here" and if it does not come immediately I pull it quickly to me....now..... very important....when I pull it into me I heap on the praise..... and then let it go again and when it is distracted I repeat the above.

A lot of people call a dog and when it does not come they chase it down and smack it.....In the above way when you call your dog and it does not come it experiences an unpleasant dragging but when it gets to you it gets heaps of praise....it quickly learns that when you call the best place to be is with you as it gets heaps of pats rather than an unpleasant pulling.
There is more to this but this in effect is the basic idea.

 

[Vixen]

I just sold a whole heap of Gundog Magazine issues on ebay, they would have been perfect for you!

I have a 2yo German Shorthaired Pointer, he's quite the handful. He is very very smart and usually obedient, but also very very hypo - he will do anything for food but needs some work on doing what he's told whether there's food involved or not. ( especially applies to 'COME', if I don't have any treats on me he does NOT get let off the leash anywhere, he will just bolt. )

Had a bad experience where he ducked out the front gate and got clipped by a car when he was about 8 months old, luckily there was no harm done but that's scared the living daylights out of me now. I am paranoid about him running away or getting hit - I can't wait until he hits the age where he starts to calm down a bit.. I always dreamed of having a dog that could come everywhere with me off leash and just stick with me, maybe one day!

 

[shell477]

Thanks for all your advice everyone!

Vixen, she is also a German Short Haired Pointer but crossed with an English Springer Spaniel.
Heres the beautiful girl here:

The pic of her in the car was on Saturday, after a BIG morning at duck open, where she failed dismally. She is still scared of the guns, but she is getting better. And she is very boisterous too, but thats a puppy for you

 

[12-08-67]

Ha - i really dont think she likes driving either very cute
Bribery (treats) and positive re enforcement goes a long way as guzzo and crystalmoon have said, good luck

 

[MissFuller]

all good ideas id try shooting ya self a duck or what ever you are hunting for and get it ya self and play with ya dog with it make it in to a game and repeat your camand you want wial playin with her with the dead duck ect fetch thats wat id give ago but im used to chasen pigs hole difrent approach

 

[guzzo]

One other tip when training dogs......keep all emotion out of corrections and give heaps of emotion in your praise. Once your dog is performing for you with it's obedience start to add distractions eg if your dog is coming when its called every time start adding another dog or a chook in a cage etc and train around that. this is how you build a bullet proof trained dog.

Quite often you will hear a trainer say something like "oh he is usually very obedient....he just gets distracted around livestock".....the answer to this is then train your dog around the livestock (or whatever is distracting him) until he is no longer distracted. I trained my dogs around every distraction I could thing of..food included.

Good luck!