Good stuff! I have a 2 year old yellow lab that I worked with a little in the past but I am hoping to get more time to work with her in the near future.
Leo being a natural proves what I believe. Some dogs are gifted at birth with the drive, ability and willingness to please before they walk. Others have to be trained to put it together. In the 1980s I taught elementary P. E. for 8 years. When you got to work with a natural athlete, it was mind blowing to see them master skills in a couple of days when average athletes would take months and years to develop it. Scotty's greatest assess is his willingness to please. The less correction gets him determined to do what I ask. He would make a great service dog. He is tall, long and strong at 96 pounds. I wish that was 90 to 92 but winter has hurt how much I work him. I hope Leo and you have a record setting year. Scotty and I will because it is our first year chasing wild antlers together. Right now I am going to take him out and exercise him. Wayne
Moose is a great name for a shed dog - especially in Moose country. Let me know if I can help in any way with the process after you get some training resources. Wayne
It is surprising what you can do in a hallway, basement or garage in training a dog. We are building habits and commands so plenty of what we do is in a small area. Making them steady to sit, hold conditioning when walking, fetch, searching for the object (antler, bumper, tennis ball). Making a dog sit steady while they look at their morning or evening meal - then releasing them with the command (name, OK, what you use). Place conditioning in the house is great because of all of the distractions. Five and ten minute sessions can help build the habits we need in a dog. My labs stay inside at night. Wayne
Looking at Jeremy Moore's training antler dummies, is there an advantage to the white rubber antler over the brown one?
HuntMaine, I have four rubber antlers: 2 white and 2 brown. A dog does not see colors like a human does. If you see a person put orange flaggin tape on their hard antlers they are training their dog with - it is for them to see the antler because they can see orange clearly. Dogs see in shades of gray. I use the white ones with a young pup and early in training especially when I am working in my backyard and want success for the pup. When the dog gets better and full of confidence, then I introduce my brown rubber antler. Brown is harder for the dog to see and puts the dog in position of letting their nose lead them to antler. When I put the four rubber antlers down in the leaves - the brown ones almost disappear right before my eyes. The dog relies on his nose - I have to slow down and look very hard to find it myself. I hope my answer makes sense. I like double antlers in my possession in the woods. I sit the dog and throw one he sees. I send him - while he runs away from me I immediately throw the second one in the opposite direction so he can't see it. Now we have a marked antler (first throw) and a blind antler (second throw). Dog makes first retrieve and get great praise and verbal reward. Then I immediately move quickly toward the downwind side of the blind throw. Now my dog gets to use his nose - where on the first throw he used his eyes and memory. Moving thru the woods I can get in numerous doubles like this and improve the dogs hunting / searching ability. Wayne
Makes perfect sense Wayne, thanks a lot for all of the info!! Going to Cabelas this week to see if they have any in stock.
