my 18 month old lab has always loved to chase birds etc but recently she has been gettin to good at it in the last 4 weeks she has caught 4 and although she is trained to she wont let go of them!!! i no this is what dogs are breed to do but is there eny possible way that i can stop her from doing this she manages to catch them whens she off and on the lead!!!

<<i no this is what dogs are breed to do>>

Actually no, this is not what Labradors are bred to do! In working gundog circles it is known as "pegging" the bird and is definitely frowned upon.

Now that your dog has learned the trick it will be hard work for you to "Untrain" it! We are in a rather different position to you in that I have access to so many birds so have the "Equipment" on hand to teach with. At the time of the "Foot and Mouth" outbreak a few years ago Anna was still a puppy and as I could not get onto the land I had to find alternatives. We have quite a few squirrels which come into the garden so I did plenty of control work around them, stays and the like. Also I was able to get to the banks of the river at a public park where there were plenty of ducks. A few slices of bread and I had all the birds I needed. Heelwork and stays, with plenty of "Leave" commands helped her to get the message. When the Foot and Mouth outbreak finished I used to sit her in a clearing in a wood where I knew the squirrels collected and leave her. With her sitting on one side of the clearing and me on the other. Another place I use is my cousin's chicken run!

As she grew up I regularly leave her outside a Pheasant rearing pen whilst feeding with young poults tripping over her paws and can walk her at heel through the pens without her batting an eyelid. I can also send her to retrieve a shot bird without hesitation.

Regards, John

I agree with John, its VERY bad for your Lab to be chasing and catching birds, very bad.
Dawn.

leading on from this thread, my setter (Fagan) is 6 months old, I would like to train him for field trials and have started the basics of left, right and recall with a whistle which he is reasonably good at.  I take him out in the stubble field at the back of my house where there are always loads of deer, rabbits, pheasants and partridges (I think they are partridges - little pheasant looking things :P ) and the occasional fox.  He is great at tracking, his nose goes to the ground his little tail spins in circles and he is off following the scent of whatever :)  when he is on the scent I can recall him or tell him left or right, however once he sees what he has been tracking he chases and doesnt listen to me until whatever it was has gone. I know the stop command - but how do I teach it to him ?

Claire

Has he started pointing yet?  You need to get him on birds that are likely to sit still so he can start pointing.  Setters, on the whole are air scenters (I believe, my breed is pointers, not setters so I am willing to be wrong), although they will follow some foot scent but you don't want him following running birds if you are wanting him to trial.  You have to get him pointing. 

When I start training the stop whistle, I make sure that they are 100% sitting.  When they are, I start telling them to sit and immediately after, blowing a long blast on the whistle.  They should be in the process of sitting anyway.  I do that a few times and then start only using the whistle - when they are next to me.  If they don't sit, I go back to saying sit and then blowing the whistle.  When they are sitting 100% on the whistle next to me, I start introducing it at a slight distance.  I only do it when they are looking at me and are about 6 feet away from me.  I don't want them to fail at this point but if they do, I am close enough.  Again, they have to be 100% before moving onto the next stage.  I then put them in a sit and walk away from them.  I call them and when they are running to me, I blow the stop whistle.  If they ignore, I run towards them with my arm in the air (that is the handsignal I use when I tell them to sit as pups and carry it on).  They usually sit then but if they don't I go back a step.  Again, when they are 100% at this, I start to blow the stop whistle when they are further away from me, sniffing etc. 

Before you move onto a next step, they must be 100% on that step.  It's how I train mine to the stop whistle and it does take time.

Helen

Thanks Helen, that makes sense - I will start on that straight away :)

He has started sort of pointing - he doesnt point at actual birds (cos he is too busy chasing them :rolleyes: ) but he points at hedges where there are rabbit holes or where the pheasants ran.  He does sometimes air scent (usually as soon as he gets in the field) but as soon as he has the scent of something he is off on a mission.

I spoke to a man a while ago who works Irish Setters who said I can go out in the fields with him and his dogs in February as long as I have Fagan trained in the basics he would help me train him.  Although he seemed a nice enough guy he was very much a "working setter" man and I dont think he thought too much of Fagans "show" looks although I will take him up on his offer if I have Fagan trained enough, I do have the email address of someone who does Field Trials with Setters who I am going to email later today because apparantly they sometimes hold training days which will be quite useful :)

Good luck with it all.  I would be interested to hear how you get on. 

Helen

Helen

I wonder if you could also give me some advice.

I am in the process of training Maddie 19 month old Gordon. She went through a chasing everything that moved phase which I have been working on with a long line and the "Here command". We have finally gotten it down to a fine art, she takes off after the bird I give three short sharp blows on my whistle she turn around and comes back every time, even without the long line now :D  (How proud am I?) She also sits on command and whistle however, I am trying to train her to sit at a distance and she refuses to stop even a couple of feet away from me, if I tell her to sit she keeps coming and sits at my heel. I just wondered if I was doing the right thing by taking her back to the spot I first asked her to sit and making her do it there? She just doesn't seem to be getting the point at all, she is however very very good at sitting lol.

Hmm sorry to but in on the thread, but I need help :) In more ways than one :D

Alli

This is what happened with Pippa, my young spaniel.  She thinks that the command sit, means at your heel.  Have you tried telling her to sit as she's approaching you and running towards her with your arm up (the sit hand signal).  That's what worked with Pippa.  I found that moving her to the spot where I told her to sit confused her but it worked with my gwp. 

You could also try tying her to something and telling her to sit - this is another method that worked with one of my dogs.

Helen

With a young puppy, when I am doing stays at a distance, I raise my hand in the stop signal and tell my puppy to sit. As it is already doing that it is already complying although it is doing it at a distance rather than at my side. It is the using the commands AT A DISTANCE rather than close that starts the dog thinking about complying at a distance. Usually we tell our puppies to sit when they are quite close to us and in the pup's eyes this distance is part of the command. It is only by using the command at a distance that the pup will learn that it must obey no matter what the distance.

If you read my post on the "Visitors Questions", "My Field Lab" you will see how I use the stop whistle when training directions to a retriever. Again it is the use of the stop whistle whilst the dog is already in the stay that is the important part.

Regards, John