Morse and I aim to enter a Working Trial in October 2004, so we're having fun training the Control and Nosework elements ( too young to jump). Found the thread on Teaching Tracking really useful and he can follow a line for a good bit with encouragement and treats on the track, he can find a child/pig ear in any cover and can fetch a thrown article but drops it at my feet. Were working up his stays and he can manage 5 minutes with me out of sight in classes, and settles happily for 9 minutes down outside while I sit on the end of the long line. Heel on the lead is passable at the 3 paces and off lead he gets distracted but keeps at it for 10 paces or so.

So are we making progress, and what should I do next?

Wow, sounds as if you are making absolutely excellent progress! :)

Have you done any work on those old Sendaways?

I am very proud of my Terv's Sendaway, she is starting to do a real "send away " to nothing, as opposed to a "send to..." such as a marker. I am thrilled but you never know what will happen on The Day....(and her worst exercise is Stays :D LOL ).

The Sendaway is a hard exercise in trials because although often in CD you will have a pole, or other obvious marker, at some you will be sending to a hedge or similar. The dog has to be really confident to go out and run fast to the spot indicated. At the last trial i attended, the CD Sendaway was to a shady hedge, across a sunny upward slope, with of course the usual smells of rabbits, horses etc.!!! :D Many dogs only went out a few feet, or some halfway.

But done well with a happy confident dog, it is beautiful to see..... :)

Lindsay

THere are no marks for speed in a sendaway exercise!

The articles on a track tend to be a little smaller than most children :)

Well, we have to start somwhere tohme :) I have a bag with carpet squares, an old key, rubber hose to be cut into bits. Do you teach them to track first then put the articles on the track and start with big/important things first then work down to competition size or do you just go for it? Morse is still learning to fetch without dropping things but he is doing well considering he is not a natural fetcher which is why I havent placed anything on a track yet.

Lindsay Id love to see your Terv at work. :) How did you teach her to Sendaway? When Morse is galloping towards a gate I shout WAIT as he gets close to it and keep him at the gate till I reach it, but thats it. I could call him back to me from the gate to make it a Sendaway I suppose.

Well I don't think anyone trains their dogs to track they just do it naturally we just encourage concentration and accuracy. It is more important to make sure that the dogs have the drive to track prior to introducing articles but most dogs track as a means to an end whether it is food or a game with the article. I introduce a ball at the end of the track and then very big juicy articles like a 6 inch length of rubber hose, huge piece of carpet that I can have a really good old game of tuggy with. Even when my dogs are working ticket I never make all the articles minute, all the tracks competition length or 3 hours long; I mix it up to keep the dogs interested. Dogs are not required to retrieve articles on the track only to indicate; some dogs retrieve some dogs point and some dogs lay down you train to your dog's strengths.

Calling your dog back from the gate does not make it a sendaway?

You can teach dogs to run to food, toy or a marker and then you gradually fade the food, toy or marker. It takes about 2 years to train a reliable TD sendaway and redirect.

HTH

Wow, Where do you get childs ears from? :D

Jesse

LOL Im running out fast so the next child I catch with a firework better run fast! :)

Lorelei,

Teaching the Sendaway is a bit long winded to type up on here, it owuld make a long post! :)

Basically you get a pole (broom handle with a nail in bottom to stick it in the ground) and a cup hook on the top to put a toy on a rope on.
Set up the pole and dog runs to it, (i won't go too much into how to set up etc.) and praise, then get the dog to Down (well i use down) and reward with praise and toy thrown. Gradually lengthen distance and start to put pole next to hedges, also trees and bushes. On walks, have special places to Send away too, where you put the pole, and use the same spots, or the dog will remember and run to the spot you did the day before if you change it :D and if this happens it could be 15 metres from where you wanted your straight Sendaway!!

As Allyson says, dog doesn't have to be fast, don't get points for that <g>.

The dog does need to be very toy orientated :)

I would suggest getting Terry Hadley's Sendaway booklet, www.k9education.co.uk it's quite cheap ;) and is excellent, i did mine a bit differently to how he suggests and also found that it took my dog much much longer than he suggests in his booklet.

When the dog is very very good at a Sendaway, you can then think about Redirect, but taugth too soon, it can muddle the original sendaway! You will also hopefully learn to do the true Sendaway - to nothing :D ie no pole, hedge, or tree, just dog trusting owner to go and then stop when commanded. Takes a lot of training.

I used a clicker to start, then as distances gotlonger, lots of verbal praise and toy for reward :) Remember to actually praise the outrun as well as the down.

Hth a bit anyway

Lindsay

Lorelei,
How old is Morse now? So jealous of those stays - impressive stuff! Sparky can just about manage a minute at home, and sometimes in class, but it's always touch and go. He's also getting a bit cheeky - trying to anticipate the next command when we are training the basics - so as soon as we treat him for a sit, he goes into a down without being told - we are having to vary the routine all the time to keep one step ahead of him. ("Just hurry up and give us the treat, mum") We've started to do sendaways with him, and he's doing OK - but it's early days - in the kitchen, on to his blanket. His recall has begun to improve, though he does have his moments, especially if the gorgeous whippet/collie cross (you've never seen anything run so fast!) is on the park ;) - fancies her like mad! We are also practising getting him to stop at gates and stiles etc. - he does quite well on the whistle, but do you still have Morse on a long line for this? I get knots in my stomach every time we go near a gate in case he bolts through before I manage to get him back on lead.
Sadly, just when we were starting to really enjoy things, he got quite a nasty nip from a GSD today - they started off playing but it all got out of hand and Sparky ended up with a hole on the back of his neck :(. Just hope it doesn't make him nervy. Keep us posted on your WT!
Tracy

Hi Tracy, poor Sparky did you go to the vets and hows his punctured neck? Morse is a year old. When he's good hes amazing and when hes mischevious he does go for broke :D Like Sparky he tries to anticipate commands to get his treat and thinks a quick down or paw will smoothe over mugging guide dogs etc.

I dont have my trusty long line for the gates as theyre at our running place. The other day he nipped through the gate after being told WAIT and sat in front of it waiting for me. Very funny, Morse, Null Points. :)

His stays are good, he holds the position although he fidgets enough to lose competition points. We practised the handler unseen stays the other day using the long line. I sat him on one side of a fence corner and went round it. Morse kept getting up to peep round and I patiently put him back again etc. Then a man walking 2 Lhasa Apsos tapped me on the shoulder " What are you about, this is a Neighbourhood Watch Area!" I nearly wet myself and had difficulty explaining :D

Thanks Lorelei - that made me smile! I feel like a nutter most of the time, too! Rang the vets in mad neurotic mother state, but they told me just to bathe it with salt water and keep an eye on it for infection. It's only a little hole, about 1cm long, and so hard to find under all the long hair on his neck, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. Makes me laugh, really, as the kids come home with all sorts of holes in their legs and I just tell them to stop whinging and give it a rub! ;)
Glad to hear we have a few months to go before expecting long stays. Our "wait to go over the bridge" routine is currently the "wait there for a sec, then pelt across as fast as you can, knock me over for a few extra points, take a short cut through the trees, then come around the back of me" routine. Then he sits at my feet and looks up as if he really deserves that piece of liver in my pocket! Great fun though.
Tracy

Another way to teach the sendaway is very similar to Lindsays.

Put a toy (or treat) which ever your dog works for by a pole/cone etc and show it to the dog. Walk a few yards away with dog and put him in a sit/down, walk back to the toy, make sure he has seen it and say "away or Go" whatever your sendaway word will be and he will almost certainly come to you, as soon as he arrives give him the down command (if this is required in WT) and praise lots, play with toy (next to sendaway point) or give treat.

Increase distance he will go with you at the sendaway point.

Next you stand with him and send him, following close behind to ensure the down (if required)

Progress to sending from longer distances without you following.

In obedience the next stage would be to walk towards your dog who is nicely in a down having done the sendaway, change direction, and call him to heel and carry on with heelwork

Christine

Thanks everybody for all the pointers on Sendaways and the tracking articles :). Morse will love the pull game with a big bit carpet! Its good news he dosent need to fetch everything although Im dead chuffed that he can. He enjoys nosework and does tigger impersonations when he sees the harness coming out. We probably wont be ready next year but it gives us a goal and we'll go on having fun together. :)