and now my laziness has come back and bitten me on the bum

There is 6 months between Fagan and Alfie (Fagan being the elder of the two ginger hooligans :rolleyes: ) Fagan has always been good and ive never really had any problems with him although I did spend a lot of time outdoors training him (well it was summer ;) ) Alfie came along just before christmas we got the basics done really quick - house training, sit, stay etc - but due to it being winter and him having kennel cough first, then a bad leg (yes im making excuses :( ) I have never spent as much time training him as I did Fagan and now he is 8 months old I am paying dearly.  As a pup he would follow Fagan so never went too far and always came back when called, now he has got a bit more confidence he goes off on his own and doesnt bother coming back until he is ready   I usually walk through the fields/woods etc near where I live and he generally comes back on my first whistle and we dont really see any dogs for him to get interested in.  On Mondays I play netball so I take them with me and throw a ball in the park for them for half an hour before I play, Fagan loves this and is so obsessed by his ball he isnt bothered with other dogs, whereas Alfie on the other hand is a little sod, he goes off and will not come back he would rather follow other dogs I end up screaming myself hoarse at him and then having to go and get him :(  He has a real thing for female dogs at the moment (must be the hormones) and tonight he was trying to hump an elderly castrated pointer whose owner was most unimpressed :(  So really I need some help now, he is good at training and good without distractions but its other dogs (especially bitches) which make him just go deaf to my calls.  I know I should go back to basics, should I get a long line for him ? what do you use ? I have a flexi but I assume this isnt long enough ?

He is also a little git on the lead and pulls like a mini train, I do have a dog alter (halti thing) for him which he is excellent on but to me this is going around the problem and not actually curing it :(

Any advice and wrist slapping most appreciated :o

Claire

I know exactly how you feel Claire, Idõ is 6 and a half months and is really getting into the swing of the ''it's sooo much more interesting to carry on sniffing this dog/bush/tree/pile of dung, than to listen to Emily'' thing :D

He's usually very good with the whistle but more and more he's not listening so looks like the long line will be making an appearence out on walks soon! But saying that I don't take him on many walk, sounds bad, but I don't want to over exercise him, he goes into town and to shows for socialisation and I have a couple of (gundog) training seshes per week, ie recall, stays, water work, retrieves(another thing which is falling aprt - more fun to run around while holding dummy while i run away/lie on the floor/make silly noises in an attempt to get him back in my direction :D ) which we also practice in the garden, house and garage. I try to keep it fun and give him plenty of praise when he does right but obviously he is finding other more interesting things to do....no humping of poor old dogs yet tho :D !!!

Ah, the joys of training pups, I know it will all come together in the end, we just need to stick in there :)

You can PM if you like, or I'll PM you, sounds like we could do with the support as we are in the same boat, training can be isolating and frustrating....at times!

Emily xx

Hi Emily, im glad im not the only one tearing my hair out ;)

What do you use as a long line ? and how long is it ?

Hi Claire, have PM'd you :)

Hi Clair,

I've had most success with lead pullers by becoming unpredictable :D

Every time the dog tries to pull on the lead I go in the opposite direction or at least a right angle :)  the dog will find this loads of fun :D
you may need to find somewhere away from roads to train this tho :D

Every time the dog starts to pull do a right/left/about turn and walk away, keep the hand holding the lead glued to your side (may need a waist strap if the dog is big/strong) this way the dog doesn't know which way you're going and will start to pay more attention to you and follow rather than try to lead :D  when the dog is following nicely praise :)
I've used this to lead train a Mini Scnauzer who had no idea how to walk on  a lead and it took about 10 mins before he started watching me and following.  This method can be used near a road by walking backwards too :)

It will take a few days/weeks before the dog is walking on a loose lead but it will happen :) any lapses can easily be cured by becoming all unpredictable for a few seconds/minutes :D

RE - Recall.
Someone on the forum (recently) had similar problems to you and used a whistle to train the dog to a recall with great success, so if you do a search...... :)

Ive tried this, unfortunately I usually have two dogs with me so it all gets confusing :p

Looks like I will have to go back to walking them individually until Alf sorts out his pulling.

Definately, otherwise Fagan might pick up some bad habits too :D and ALF will need time on his own with you to learn what he's gotta :D

Edited to say :

the Whistle training topic is by Annaberry :D

No worries about Fagan, I only have to look at him and he does as hes told - such a wuss :D :D :D