Pickup Distraction-proofing

Mt. Ararat

Before starting our training session today, Gaby and I reviewed a TO DO list we'd made up a few weeks ago of what we wanted to work on this winter. Given the limited time and frigid conditions, we decided to work on distraction-proofing the pickup for our four dogs.

Gaby ran all four dogs, while I did all the throwing.

This describes the drill we ran each dog on:

1. I call hey-hey and throw a frozen duck at 50 yards.
2. I walk the opposite direction 30 yards.
3. Gaby sends the dog.
4. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw a WD 10-yards in the direction of the dog, so that it lands about 20 yards from the dog.
   
5. If the dog drops the bird and heads for the WD, I run to the WD and say "no, go get your bird". Gaby calls the dog to heel and we run the mark again.
6. If the dog is successful on the first retrieve, I walk 20 yards toward my first throwing position, call hey-hey, and throw another frozen duck.
7. I return to the same position I threw the first WD and Gaby sends the dog.
8. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw the WD as before, so that this time it lands about 10 yards from the dog.
9. Again, the dog is not permitted to pick up the dummy.
10. Once the dog is successful on the second retrieve, I walk 10 yards toward my first throwing position, call hey-hey, and throw a frozen chukar.
11. I return to the same position I threw the first and second WDs and Gaby sends the dog.
12. As the dog is picking up the bird, I call hey-hey again and throw the WD as before, so that this time it lands close to the dog.
13. Again, if the dog drops the bird and attempts to pick up the WD, I call "no, get your bird," and when the dog gets back to Gaby, we re-run the mark.

Gaby's first dog, a Lab named Buster, did great on the first two retrieves, but tried to get the WD on the third retrieve. He had no difficulty on the re-try.

Gaby's second dog, a Chessie named Gus, had difficulty with all three retrieves, so I used more distance for him and he didn't have to deal with one WD thrown right next to him.

Lumi did exactly the same as Buster.

Laddie had no difficulty with any of the retrieves, barely even glancing at the WD even when it landed right next to him.

In the few minutes before I had to leave, we used a new location and ran Gus on the same drill again, this time throwing in the opposite direction. He had made improvement during the first series, and continued to make improvement in the second one.