02 21 05 328 W, 8 I - + 151 - 150

President's Day Training

Early this morning we went to an Office Park near my home. We began by walking through the puppy obstacle course.

Cha Cha is the fourth puppy I have had follow me through the course. At first, each of the puppies will hesitate before entering the culvert, whining when they first see it.

When they learn that I am not going to slow down or return and carry them over the culvert, they somehow manage to wend their way across.

The same is true for the boulder field.

When they see me just keep on trucking, they find a way to traverse the boulders. I think that by going to different places where the puppies must learn to find their way through a variety of obstacles, you teach a puppy how to power through difficulties.

At this same office park, there is an area where I like to throw puppy marks. I begin with hand thrown marks. There is a wide dip. I stand back a bit, then throw the bumper across the dip to the other side. The throw is probably 30 yards at most. The puppies can see the mark land on the other side. But the bumper is invisible to them while they are in the dip. I like to think it is the start of developing a marking memory.

Here is a photo of Cha Cha returning through the dip.



And then some close-ups of her retrieves



Four marks, then I call it a day. I know she could do more, but I want to end with her hungry for more.

She is a wonderful little puppy!

Ted the pup looks like she is very bold for such a young age, and is doing very well on the early retrieving. I really enjoy starting pups, as it seems you do also. It does’nt take much effort to unleash all their biological talents. That dummy in the last photo looks almost as large as the pup?
Jay MIller (Email) - 22 02 05 - 21:39

Jay,

I do love training the young ones and setting the foundation for what is to come. I use firehose dummies. Very soft and light so that they are easy for puppy to carry – but also hard to throw very far.

In a few weeks, I will switch over to the regular plastic dummies.

Ted
Ted (Email) - 23 02 05 - 05:21

Get pictures Ted, and looks like a wonderful return. How old is she?
Dan Lawler (Email) - 24 02 05 - 06:30

Cha Cha is 9 weeks old
Ted (Email) - 24 02 05 - 07:18

Follow your dreams, you can reach your goals.
billie (Email) (URL) - 30 04 06 - 05:24


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